So…who do we rest this week? Poor Marcão is most surely out…my guess is 3 more months, maybe forever.
Who else gets to rest?
Acuña is suspended, Jordán y Marcão out for injuries
I think Navas, Ocampos, and YEN should sit.
Dimi,
Montiel, Bade, Gudelj, Telles
Fernando, Pape
Lamela, Suso, Gil
Mir
FFS really?
Have we checked if he is made of glass?
I suspect there will be a bit heavier rotation, since the last two weeks have been super intense for the squad, as this is the first real “lose-able” game on the schedule. Not that I want to lose it, but the team is sort of fine in the standings if we do lose it. I think if we win this match, the La Liga season is basically over (in a good way…nay, in an AMAZING way), so that would be the bright side of fighting for these three points.
I think I read analysis somewhere suggesting 38 is likely the golden number this season, which is what a win will get us. But then again, I’d feel much happier with 40+ points before we can truly call the season over. As a reminder, Valencia and Espanyol are both tied on points with 27. In theory, if both those teams pick up all of their remaining points, that would put them on 54 points. Obviously 38 points looks far less safe when you think about it that way. Since VAL and ESP play each other in week 37, that would imply a slightly lower limit…but in any case, while I think we can safely assume the relegation zone creeps up by about 1 point per matchday, which would put the relegation zone at about 36. If somehow relegation zone creeps up at 2 points per matchday, that would mean we need 45 points.
I’m overall feeling pretty ready to start rotation in favor of UEL, but picking up some points against Villarreal and Athletic in the next two dates will allow us to go all out rotation in the weeks leading up to UEL semis, ie. Girona, Espanyol, and Valladolid. If, on the contrary we drop 6 points in the next two weeks, I can picture Mendilibar getting a bit more pressure to play his starters against Espanyol and Valladolid right before the Juve matches.
Each spot we climb is a bigger share of the earnings though, which we all know we need. Need to climb as many positions as possible by the end of the season imo.
Reportedly at least 2-3 months, so he’ll miss the rest of the season 
That looks like a decent formation with the available players. The only worry is Mir…
However. I’d rather have us play with a pure striker up front than without.
Glad we only paid 8 million for him, because the reality is that we are most certainly losing money, so I’m glad that we’ll only be losing 4-5 million on him. Who is going to buy him after watching him get injured three times for prolonged periods in one season?
:poop: down 2-0 currently at Osasuna
I take back all the things I said about ending La Liga lazy. Let’s fight to overtake 
. Show that even in our worst season we’re about as good as they are in their best season, lol
They are all the same injury though. Damn hamstrings. With proper rest and training, he may never pop another.
Let’s see if we can start better than Spurs.
A win tonight would be very important, not only for the relegation battle which is still not over and might not be until the end, but also for hopes of reaching the 7th place that will send us to Europe (if RM beats Osasuna in the CDR final). But then there’s not much of a difference between 5-7 positions so anything can happen.
We simply need to keep winning. By the end of the match vs. Espanyol at home (4th of May) we’ll have a much better idea on where we stand. Anything more than staying in La Liga is a bonus anyway… but we sure like sweet surprises, and we’re still eyeing the EL trophy!
Curious to see how we lineup, cause the players gave everything in the match Thursday night. I have never seen us run that much, so i could forgive them if they’re not as sharp today. We still have players that can cover so it’d be nice to see what the fringe players can contribute.
I see today as our last chance to catch Villarreal if we want to make the final weeks of La Liga interesting.
Heavy rotation, as expected. Still, the only worry is Rafa Mir, the others should be fine.
VAMOS!
Although expected, I really don’t think that front 4 can do much. Bryan’s decisions are still poor, while Oliver plays too safe, and Suso needs 6-7 bad touches till he makes a good play. That leaves Rafa “I have the ball, I shoot the ball” Mir, which equals to no cohesion at all up front. At least the Gueye-Rakitic pairing is decent.
All they have to do is keep it simple… which is the most difficult thing to do in football unfortunately 
So Rakitic doesn’t get tired?
It’s a bit too B side for me but let’s see what happens, maybe we are born again.