He has spent the best part of 3 years out with a succession of ailments related to an inability to physically deal with the stresses of playing and training. He has accumulated only about 20 games in that time and not because he was not being given his chance, but because physically he was unavailable. It is great that he now appears back to a degree of health, but that is not the same as being fit and available. And it certainly not is the same thing for a player who is coming from where he has been since 2022.
It would be fantastic if they thought he was ready to contribute as part of the solution for this period. But in evaluating how realistic that is we should factor in that after the palace game he was kept out of the next several days of training as part of his individualized recovery program. That by itself is an indication that he is still a fair way from being able to call upon outside of limited opportunities. This is supported by Slot not referencing him at all even as one of the back up options.
So we got 3 senior central defenders and Arne is afraid to use one of them competing in 4 different competitions and then when asked about signing a cb in January he says other positions are in more need..
I think it will be Dom at right back, as he has done well there when called on this season. The downside is we will miss what he brings to that midfield, although Jones is a good player to put in.
I’m a bit concerned with the attack as I don’t see too much ability to beat a man on the flanks, so hopefully Gakpo and Salah have good games, even if they’ve not had greats starts to the season.
I’d like to see Isak come off the bench and make a telling contribution. Any win, no more injuries, and that will be enough, for now.
I don’t think it’s a matter of whether he can play at all. It’s just going from not playing at all to playing a full 90 over and over again is a recipe for disaster for Gomez.
As some has mentioned, from today till the new year’s day, the fixture list looks way kinder to us compared to the last month or so.
We should be winning all of them barring 1 or 2 draws. A Loss or two in both leagues will be catastrophic.
A streak of draw or god forbid, a streak of losses will probably see Slot not get his contract extension and even see an outsider chance of being sacked at the end of the season.
Following the excitement of the Scotland vs Denmark World Cup qualifier in the week, there was a lot of discussion about the most exciting game people had seen.
I was really reminded of our league game against Forest in 1982. We were losing 3:2 with 80 minutes gone, but somehow managed to grab all 3 points with two late goals, including a winner from Rushie:
That was also a match between two top class teams, with us having won 5 of the previous 6 European Cups between us. In fact both managers had been in charge during that time.
We hate Nottingham Forest …