Everyone has embarked on the trip to Romania, except for the now officially transferred Daniel Carriço. Our last remaining player from our EL 3-peat will be leaving us to head east to the Chinese Super League.
Projected XI: Bono; Navas, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Escudero; Jordán, Gudelj; Munir, Suso, Nolito; De Jong.
With a league form in free-fall, the Europa League will offer a bit of respite to a squad trying to find its feet again. We were offered a glimmer of hope in the emergence of Suso, who spared Sevilla’s blushes on his 1st start at the Pizjuán. Will Jesús of Cadíz be enough to turn around this current abhorrent spell?
I wouldn’t worry too much about this match if we had Ben Yedder up front. How he scored two goals straight against Man Utd away from home is still in my memory. The man was a beast.
Hopefully we can get through this tie with not too much trouble and a decent draw in the next round. (by decent I mean somewhere close to UK for an away trip lol )
How bad is Rony Lopes actually btw? To always be in the squad and never actually plays. I liked him at the start of the season in some glimpses and then not sure what happened. But he still is always there. Anyway. We have Suso now.
Just looked at the squad of our opposition some names jump out vaguely to me like Lacina Traoré and Deac, also many players with history in mid tier Portuguese teams. Another game where there is actually no excuse to not win, although we have been getting shown the contrary way too much lately.
Very pedestrian in the matches he has played. I could only remember the away match vs Dudelange where he was decent. Other than that, it’s strange. Doesn’t seem to want the ball as much, and just hopes to be played in or be found by one of our playmakers. Judging from his posts, he’s still determined to make his mark.
This looks to be Lope trying out a back-3. He likes to put Gudelj back there, then to have Jordán & Fernando as a double pivot. Would free Navas a bit on the right.
And if he really about that life, Lope could find a away to morph this to a 4-2-3-1:
