Well, since no-one wants to bite the bullet, I’ll start this one…
This is our last Champions League group game against Qarabağ FK, the Azerbaijan champions. A big Anfield European night. What could possibly go wrong?
I know very little about Qarabağ, or Azerbaijan for that matter. It looks great for Scrabble and might have featured in one of the Harry Potter books.
The on field officials are from Slovakia, with the VAR from the Netherlands. Let’s hope Arne hasn’t insulted him in the past.
Referee: Ivan Kružliak SVK
Assistant referees: Branislav Hancko SVK, Jan Pozor SVK
Fourth official: Peter Kralović SVK
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jan Boterberg BEL
Slot’s press conference is scheduled for 15:30 tomorrow:
The maths are that we are guaranteed at least a play-off place. We are currently 4th and a win would secure a bye to the round of 16. A draw would leave us at the mercy of others results. Spurs are a point below us and an incredible 8 teams are on 13 points. A point could be enough, but our goal difference isn’t brilliant. A loss would make us even more dependent on others having bad results.
Qarabağ realistically need a point to guarantee progress, but they still have a reasonably good chance of progressing if they lose.
It seems to me that this team will likely park the bus and will probably be satisfied with a point to advance to the intermediate round. Normally, we also need only a point to reach the last 8 and thus advance to the next round.
Beating Qarabag won’t buy Slot time. Newcastle is the big one this week.
A point is enough for them. A point should be enough for us. I know they can be a difficult team to play against but at Anfield we should be able to beat them with the Starting11 I’ve posted above.
We back! We turned the corner! Where has this performance been hiding! The side is clicking! Blah, blah, fucking blah.
After beating this lot.
The game should be over in the first 45, unfortunately we only start playing after 45. I expect an uncomfortable win with a score line that doesn’t reflect the game, against an opponent that shouldn’t be in this competition.
I think the only thing keeping him his job is the Champions league, so a win against Qarabag keeps the Champs league hopes alive and with us in the top 8
From the highlights I’ve seen of them in the CL, they like to try get the ball down and play and are involved in end to end games so I see this one going similiarly to the last 2 games.
Going for 4-1 win with Rio getting his first CL goal, making him the 7th youngest ever goalscorer in the competition!
Thanks for the OP. Nice Harry Potter reference too! I hope we win and advance to the knock out stages comfortably, without having to rely on anyone else.
Then it’s Newcastle, Man City and Sunderland, and somewhere in the midst of that lot I suspect things may come to a head for Slot. Let’s see.
Sorry, I think both are big but we start by beating Qarabag, then we are guaranteed not having any extra games and as I said, it is where we are in the Champs league that is probably keeping him in the job as I don’t see our Premier league position improving unless he comes up with some better tactical solutions.
