Squad flies out to Ukraine

I write in half jest and hope. Hope our travelling fans have something to cheer and savour on the journey back home.

Howard
Coleman Jagielka Alcaraz Baines
Besic Barry McCarthy
Barkley Lukaku Atsu

Rest Gibbo & Ossie for QPR. Barkley would be high on confidence and playing away from Goodison, Atsu has shown some deft touches and must be itching to play and he will provide some width.

SUBS: Joel, Stones, Garbutt, Gibson, Osman, Kone, Naismith

I’m not sure whether the players didn’t have access to train on the pitch or whether they chose not to, but it’s looking like a tricky game ahead. We should really have been going there with a two-goal cushion at least. Never mind; we will have to do it the hard way as usual... Only another 22 hours to go now.

Robles

Coleman
Baines
Jagielka
Stones

Atsu
McCarthy
Gibson
Osman

Kone
Lukaku

I fear we’ll need to score to get through as 1-0 will be enough for them. We won’t want to be going into the last 20 mins at nil-nil or there will be some big decisions to make.

Dare I say it, this could go to extra time and the dreaded penalties.

My resentment of Martinez is waning after the last two games, but I still fully expect him to pick an unbalanced team lacking any sort of incisiveness. Please prove me wrong!

Come home safe and with your name in the hat for the next round.

Sunday’s team looked the best balanced team for some time, Gibson and McCarthy offer us so much more than putting Besic and Barry in there and we looked more solid on Sunday than we ever did with those 3 in front of the defense.

Same team as Sunday with Atsu in for Lennon and the same positive work rate thank you very much and we shall come away with a positive result. Let’s salvage something from this miserable season

COYB

Howard

Coleman Jagielka Stones Garbutt
Naismith McCarthy Barry Baines
Barkley
Lukaku

Subs: Robles, Kone, McGeady, Alcaraz, Gibson, Atsu, Besic.

Of course, I believe we would have a few more except for teacher’s pet aka Laughing Boy.

I maybe wrong but I seriously doubt you watch many Barca games.

Probably not the game to try it o guess but maybe QPR is. Coleman has looked lacking for a while. I think, his and Baines form has been a large part of why I feel we’ve underperformed versus last year in the PL.

I do see quite a few of their games on Sky. Some of their defending tonight was chaotic, eg, when their goalie decided he should play right back for a while and lost the ball.

My throw away line was underscoring the Roberto philosophy, which I think is to follow the Barcelona model to the extent that it doesn’t matter how many the opposition score, because we can score more.

I think the philosophy is great ... when you have Messi and Co. in your team. It is a little more difficult to play this way when you lack their players.

Likewise, our best chance of progressing is to get on the scoresheet, as has been mentioned, trying to sit on a 0-0 is foolhardy in the extreme. Playing the counter is one thing, but the suggestion of a midfield of Besic, Barry and McCarthy made above sounds like a massive negative step back to me.

I hope the players unplugged the phones in their hotel rooms, and that the team has security guarding all the fire alarms so they don’t "accidentally" go off in the middle of the night... many times, and that they’ve been able to locate a reputable bus driver who doesn’t get lost on the way to the stadium, and manages to arrive about an hour before game time. (Smiley face since I can’t do text speak.)

Save Kone for QPR and let Naismith in, he should be raring to go after being rested for Newcastle. We should not forget that QPR is an away fixture for us.

Introduce Barkley and Gibson, together for the last 30 min. Gibson’s intelligent forward balls and Barkley’s speed if introduced suddenly and together, will too much for some tired legs.

With Mcarthy, Gibson and Besic, Barry doesn’t fit into the team. Besic should start because (a) he is a natural centre back, it’s important not concede goals in the first 30 min (b) he has the experience of playing in this part of the world

Howard
Coleman Jagielka Stones Baines
McCarthy Besic (60' Gibson)
Atsu Osman
Naismith (60' Barkley)
Lukaku.
4-2-2-1-1

Keep the faith!!

Yes the mechanism is there for, say, Italy to replace one of the other countries, but the fact that the co-efficient is calculated in aggregate, rather than average, makes that well nigh impossible unless England has a lot of teams consistently failing in Europe, and Italy wins everything.

Or their broadcaster suddenly ponies up a lot more for the TV rights.

Anyway, haven’t checked in a while but I think England were 2nd of the 3 "super leagues".

Currently Everton are ranked 71 and LFC are ranked 40. The highest we can get this season is around 50th, but a win tonight would move us up to the mid 60s. This matters for future European competition draws.

My worry is that Lukaku will be played one striker and will be too isolated and struggle to hold it up. Hopefully whoever plays as support striker/winger will make sure they are close to him as we saw how good he can be when he has support runners against Newcastle.

Yarmolenko will be their dangerman and if we can keep him quiet we will go a long way towards winning it.

My gut says they will get an early one again. Then we will start playing better but they'll catch us on the break. We'll then get a heroic late equaliser to take the tie into extra time...and thats where my foresight cuts out!

Mcgeady has experience in this part of the world and plenty of European games under his belt. If he is fully fit I think I'd give him a go over Atsu as he has the superior work rate and discipline.

Very tough line up to choose but think i'd go:

Howard
Coleman Stones Jags Baines
Besic Barry McCarthy
Mcgeady Lukaku Naismith

That gives us alot of energy around the park and I would tell Besic and McCarthy to take turns to get forward and be there for Lukaku when the direct balls come in.

For some strange reason I am feeling curiously optimistic.

2-2

Up the Blues.

Martinez’s love of this sub-mediocre player - without doubt the worst player in the PL at present - is evidence enough of why RM should be replaced as soon as we are safe.

Howard
Coleman Jags Stones Baines
Mcarthy Barry
Mcgeady Barkley Osman
Lukaku

We will need experienced heads, and our best defenders on the field. Osman should play as despite not being a natural winger, he actually stayed wide and stretched the pitch against Newcastle. Naismith could be handy for this kind of game too, we need to disrupt them all over the field. (not sure where he fits in though) If we can play with the kind of desire we showed against them in the home leg (or at least half of it) and in the Newcastle game, we should be too much for them.

Score draw for me too Colin.

Robles Alcaraz Garbutt Osman Barkley McGeady Kone

Hopefully they will play with freedom and pace last thing we need is a slow nervous performance.