Bilbao Chat

No cover at CB

Messed up. Mercado’s absence means both no CB and no RB backup.

With kjaer, lenglet, Geis, Carole and Escudero to pick from I think we should be ok

The internationals need to be rested so no Banega in the squad either, I know Bilbao are without Munian but having some cover on the bench as cover wouldn’t be too bad. I have no idea how this match will go down.

Very thin on defense today. Midfield without Banega will not be great, but hopefully good enough to get something positive out of this match.

Bilbao have been in a very poor form lately, but the international break can sometimes help certain teams to go into a good run and other ones lose it.

Will be an interesting match, but as KIR mentioned, no freaking idea how this match will go down and can’t predict anything as anything literally might happen.

Official lineup:

Rico

Corchia Kjaer Lenglet Carole

N’Zonzi Pizarro

Mudo

Navas Correa

WBY

Christmas Carole starting instead of Escudero, a bit weird. Also don’t like WBY before Muriel there, especially in these matches, but hopefully WBY will prove his worth today.

I fancy Sevilla today, should win, have a bet, Athletic are poor. Aduriz the dirtiest player in la liga with his elbows, he’ll be annoying Nzonzi Lenglet Kyaer and Pizarro, trying to get a reaction, I hope the ref takes care of it.

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Yeah the day Aduriz retires will be a cause for celebration in La Liga… a very dirty player.

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Berizzo promised ‘verticalidad’ today but it’s all indirect so far.

N’Zonzi off for several minutes now. MKD getting ready.

Good morning monchi’s men! Nice to be back after a long break. Looking like we haven’t lost much of a step although sucks to see N’Zonzi go out with injury. Hope to see him back for champs league. Vamos!

Carol with a great interception there, but his pass was poor. He had WBY on a through ball that would have put him in on goal.

Carole looks a great player, still not sure how good a defender he is, but going forward he’s good enough.

well shit!!!

Oh Bugger !!

Nice goal by Bilbao. So we have tons of possession, no goals, a missed breakaway by WBY and we’re not winning. Seems about right for halftime this year in Liga. Time for Muriel and Banega. MKD looks a little rusty out there but Carole looks like the next Mariano

WBY is weak, should never ever start, Berizzo at fault for this. WBY is used to tap-ins and having fun vs. teams like Maribor. Muriel should start in important matches as he’s the only one who can do a lot of damage. Missing sitters goes for both, but Muriel works way harder. He should have started as he didn’t play 1 minute for Colombia, only traveled.

Banega should’ve also started in this very important match, so that we don’t lose foot of top 4. With a loss today, we can start thinking about the EL places. Valencia is in an extremely great form and we all know Atletico won’t get below top 3.

A pity that N’Zonzi is injured, but hopefully not for a long time. Carole looking good there, but Escudero should’ve started. Berizzo underestimated Bilbao and overestimated the bench players. We can’t reach top 4 with B teams. Field the A team players and win the important matches, that’s the sane logic that should be used. Rotation doesn’t mean not playing the first team players ever together, or once a month, that just doesn’t work.

Bilbao wanted the goal way more and they had at least 1 penalty not given (that Lenglet hold of Aduriz was 90% a penalty), though they scored with a lucky flick.

Hoping for at least a draw and hoping not to see WBY ever start an important match again, in his career.

Yeah Carole gradually becoming Mariano of the left flank.

Not a great second half so far.

Interesting - Nolito for Corchia. 3 in the back now?