Fabinho is subject of a bit of negativity at the moment? Expect him up to speed and breaking up attacks and starting counters. Keita and Jones ahead of him in a three. Only other query is Matip or Gomez.
Comfortable (hopefully!)
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Bit confused here…but I’ll get there I’m sure…
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What’s this discobot???
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Don’t click on that. Bad news. It takes you to @cymrured’s ABBA website.
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As ever the front 3 picks itself. As does the defence. And goalkeeper. And most of the midfield, bar the choice between Jones and Gini. If Gini’s head is in the right place then he starts.
Bench will be Matip, Milner, Jones, Minamino, Divock. Thin.
These will fancy their chances. We need to put them straight and send out a message to the rest of the division that we’re going to defend our title.
Maybe Hendo will make the bench and get a few minutes. I hope so because we’re a different team with him in it. Having him fit and signing Tiago (or similar) will have me feeling a lot more confident than I do right now.
I see a narrow 2-1 to the Reds, Mane and Salah.
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I just want a win…against these bullies.
You got something against ABBA???
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Very interesting opening game, could be a cracker for neutrals, it should attract a lot of attention.
Team selection isn’t really straightforward for Klopp. The final test was without some key players + we played a different system, not sure if we’ll do it here.
I’m very interested to see how our players react from minute one on the pitch, what’s our midfield selection and structure/formation.
I’m not sure if it was Fabinho, but I think Klopp was angry with his performance in the first half yesterday. Keita’s wasn’t much better in my opinion, though he improved in the second half. I think it was also interesting to see Keita completing 90 minutes, I don’t think that happened too much since he’s here, very rarely in fact.
Trent will probably have enough to come in for his first start, the rest remains as it is in defence.
Midfield I’m not sure what we’ll do. Gini even in this situation, with the players fit/out (we’ll see if Hendo makes the bench), remains our first pick. Then it depends, we need two out of; Fabinho, Keita and Milner. Or we flip to 4-2-3-1 and Minamino gets a place. I think there’s a good possibility of that, too. Maybe a double pivot of Fabinho and Gini, with Bobby and Taki between the lines.
I do expect Leeds to show initially a lot of what they’re made of, at least try to. There could be some rewards, considering some of our not great reactions in defence lately. But they’ll still need to be very careful not to rush too much because it could be over by HT, like it was last season against Norwich (different team, but they did create us a few problems).
Concentration will have to be at the highest level. Let’s not make a meal out of this and attack the right spaces when we see what they’re leaving more open.
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Some considerable concern for me with this game, mainly due to the performances Gomez and Fabinho have put in over the last 6 months or so, particularly Fabinho. Leeds will play with a lot of energy like Norwich last year but I suspect they’ll have more quality. With Rodrigo and Koch away with their national sides hopefully they’ll not be starting for them and they’ll have lesser quality in their place.
I suspect we’ll see the 433 shape with Fabinho, Wijnaldum and Keita in midfield. Fabinho will have to remember how to play as a holding midfielder again or Leeds will exploit that space he leaves. I think we’ll only see Henderson off the bench. I hope we don’t play the same midfield as against Arsenal, that’s just handing the initiative to the opposition.
Trent being available would be a big boost. Without him and Henderson our results really do suffer.
I watched Leeds against Arsenal in the FA Cup and they were seriously impressive that night and unlucky to lose. If they play like that against us they’ll give us the same problems Salzburg gave us. I think we’ll win, but it won’t be easy and they will probably score.
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Bielsa vs Klopp should almost always produce a fun match. Fun, but they’re getting smashed though.
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I am in. Place looks good but I feel like I’m cheating on TIA.
4-0 win.
Ali
TAA (Neco) Gomez VVD Robbo
Fab Milner
Salah Minamino Mane
Bobby
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Tough opener as Leeds will want to show what they can do, and their manager is a clever tactician. They have been out of the big time for a while, but will want to put down a marker to say they belong. Big club and I hope they stay up.* We won’t be fully purring yet, but our quality should see us through.
2-0 to the mighty reds.
Mane and Salah.
- Provided no trouble. If they bring some old aggro with them, I hope they are relegated quickly.
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They are going to open the game , expect a lot of space for the front 3 to exploit
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Pity that our front three can’t score.
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Bielsa vs. Klopp. Should be a cracker for the neutrals. But it would be a cagey attrition.
The entire team seems to have cobwebs all over them. But that was preseason. These lot have proved, time and again, that they are game when there’s a game.
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Current from Physioroom Premier Injuries
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Henderson | Knee Injury | Sept 05: “Timing-wise, not perfect that he cannot play today, but that’s how it is. We will see how he develops, [there are] a few days until Leeds.” | 12/09/2020 | None | 50% | |
| Konstantinos Tsimikas | Other | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) | No Return Date | Currently Being Assessed | Ruled Out | |
| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Knee Injury | Aug 21: “It looks like it is very similar to what Hendo had, which keeps him out for we don’t know for sure exactly how long, but for sure this pre-season he will not make a game.” | No Return Date | Currently Being Assessed | Ruled Out | |
| Xherdan Shaqiri | Other | Undisclosed | No Return Date | Currently Being Assessed | Ruled Out |
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Is Shaqiri the one with Corona? There was rumours about a player with Corona during the preseason. That undisclosed is unnerving.
Been next to his name for a long time now, I agree, it’s a bit of a worry.
Mmmmm, not overly optimistic right now, difficult match with a late winner, 3-2.
I think ‘hair transplant’ might be more accurate than Covid-19.
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