Pre Match AEK Athens v Leicester

[Jeff]

BT Sport ESPN. At the traditional time of 5:55PM on Thursday.

 

[Miles Away]

Will be some heavy legs here.

Surely Fuchs will need a rest. And we are at risk with Mendy, Castagne and Tielemans in particular.

 

[Skitzo]

I’ll guess at

Kasper

Justin Fofana Morgan Thomas

Hamza Praet

Under Maddison Albrighton

Iheanacho​

 

[SJN-Fox]

Castagne seemed to be struggling towards the end of the match yesterday.

 

[mabrah]

I have absolutely no idea about this one (not that I have much of an idea at the best of times) What I can say is that I hope we are able to rest a few players. For me, Mendy needs a breather and Youri, well, he always looks knackered.

It seems almost impossible for me to believe this, given how much stick he has taken in the past, but Mendy is both important to us and delivering the goods at the moment. I think Praet can play that role too (I think he did in Italy) but I don't see him having the work rate that Mendy does. And the thought of Headless Hamza being let loose, well... after much promise, I reckon he needs a refresher in control and responsibility.

 

[Graz]

Hard to know which way he'll go with this one.

I feel it will be more or less the team that started on Thursday and yesterday - expect Nacho to start, with one of Praet, Maddison or Tielemans dropping to the bench. Maybe a rest for Fuchs or Evans.

I'd like to see Thomas play and rest Castagne.

I don't see him making huge changes though - we played a more or less full strength team against Zorya, and this is a tougher game.

 

[Funky Fox]

The Bench might as well have some kids on there from the Academy as long as the email is not 14 seconds late of course

 

[David Gwilliam]

One of the pleasures of foreign matches is the translation. I noticed that however banal Brendan Rodgers comments were the translator made them seem profound This will probably be equally true of the Greek translation In fact all foreign languages seem to be profound except Welsh.

 

[Blaarev]

In fact all foreign languages seem to be profound except Welsh.

That may be true. I’m not totally convinced by English myself.

 

[Miles Away]

If you look at our fixtures the reality is we are going to need to use every member of our squad whether we like it or not. That includes Choudhury, Perez, Albrighton, Thomas...possibly even Gray and Slimani (in the Prem).

This week isn’t quite as bad because we don’t play until Monday. Also, this is probably the most important game to win in this group, so I expect us to go for it:

Kasper

Justin
Fofana
Evans
Fuchs

Mendy
Praet
Maddison

Barnes
Nacho
Under

 

[pork pie fox]

If you look at our fixtures the reality is we are going to need to use every member of our squad whether we like it or not. That includes Choudhury, Perez, Albrighton, Thomas...possibly even Gray and Slimani (in the Prem).

This week isn’t quite as bad because we don’t play until Monday. Also, this is probably the most important game to win in this group, so I expect us to go for it:

Kasper

Justin
Fofana
Evans
Fuchs

Mendy
Praet
Maddison

Barnes
Nacho
Under

I could see Perez being started ahead of Barnes. I also wonder if it's a bit of a risk to play Mendy, with him being pretty vital to our set up while Ndidi is out, so maybe Choudhury could start there? I don't think you'll be too far out with that though.

 

[Brown Nose]

From the team selection last week, my impression is that BR intends to go strong for the first three fixtures in the hope that we can then ease off and rotate for the last three.

So I'm expecting a line up very similar to the Arsenal game. It's risky but then every choice is at the moment.

 

[fitz]

Pick them team by selecting the most aesthetically pleasing players. Feckin Greeks

 

[Miles Away]

Pick them team by selecting the most aesthetically pleasing players. Feckin Greeks

View attachment 15539

Kasper can't start by himself. PHWOAR

 

[Miles Away]

From the team selection last week, my impression is that BR intends to go strong for the first three fixtures in the hope that we can then ease off and rotate for the last three.

So I'm expecting a line up very similar to the Arsenal game. It's risky but then every choice is at the moment.

I still think Justin, Nacho and Under will start and that Castagne and Youri will be rested.

 

[SilverFox]

Pick them team by selecting the most aesthetically pleasing players. Feckin Greeks

View attachment 15539

Good for you father!

 

[tedfoxxx]

Should we all be racist now? Only the farm takes up most of the day and at night I just like a cup of tea.

 

[homer]

Should we all be racist now?

It’s part of the EU exit discussions, so I’m afraid we all have to be from now on

 

[popillius]

Should we all be racist now? Only the farm takes up most of the day and at night I just like a cup of tea.

****ing hell, I have to go and watch this episode now. Genius stuff.

 

[Brown Nose]

The best indicator for this match is that BR took Celtic there in August 2018 for a Champions League qualifier.

As a result, you would expect him to be well aware of some of their players and their likely threat so I guess he will know how strong to go.

The report from the match is an interesting read: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45170727 WIthin a couple of weeks, he'd added some new recruits including Benkovic from us.

On this basis, I'd expect him to go strong. Athens knocked out Wolfsburg to make the group stage. One final point, the last time that they played a side from the East Midlands in a European competition, back in the late 70s, that East Midlands team went on the win the cup. Although they don't like to mention it.