A Saturday 3:00pm kick-off
and not on the telly feels to me like a nice, dare I say, old-fashioned change
amidst ‘the
noise’.
“Programmes! Get yer
programmes”
v Ipswich Town
Some rotation soon was, understandably, suggested by our
manager during his pre-match press conference and some of that might include
the starting 11 this afternoon.
However, I’m going for a similar line-up to what we’ve
seen in recent games; with the use of all-5 subs ASAP depending on the flow of
the game.
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
Number correct from the starting
line-up in the last game: 8/11.
A fluid 4-2-3-1 / / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
_____________________Haaland(VC)_________________
__Doku__________________________________Ndiaye_
______________________Cherki____________________
__________Fernandez_____________________________
_______________________________Bouaddi__________
O’Reilly____________________________________Nunes
___________Guehi(VC)_______________Dias(C)_________
___________________Donnarumma(VC)________________
Subs: Rulli, Lewis,
Gvardiol, Khusanov, Anderson,
Kovacic, Foden, Elias and Semenyo.
Gianluigi to continue in goal, hoping to keep a clean sheet following the
midweek, first half onslaught.
A back four I’m going for Nico, Marc, Ruben and Matheus, although I half expect
Khusanov starting instead of our skipper. We’ll see soon enough of course.
I think we might see Ayyoub given his first league start with Enzo and Rayan-C-
ahead of the 19-year-old in the engine room.
Jeremy left, Iliman right and Erling up top.
Geronimo as reserve keeper; Rico, Josko and Abdukodir are just three
defenders on the side waiting their turn. Midfielders / wingers / forwards come
in the form of Elliot, Mateo, Phil, Allan and Antoine, who might just come on
as centre forward for Erling at some stage.
Notable absences:
-
Marcus
Bettinelli – Not selected.
-
Rayan
Ait Nouri – Not selected.
-
Vitor
Reis – Not selected.
Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted)
line-up?
Yep.
Result?
They fight to the
end. The Suffolk Blues have a bit of a
reputation for late goals and following their last outing, a home win against Fulham in which they scored in the 88th and 91st
minute to turn a 0-1 scoreline into a 2-1 win, it was pointed out how much
fitter Ipswich Town appeared to be over their opponents.
For a newly
promoted side, they have a more than reasonable 50% success rate having played 6,
won 3 and lost 3 in the league.
So, they have no
issues leggin’ it around for 90+ minutes and have it within them to more than
hold their own by grabbing crucial wins. However, their Achilles heal appears
to be their inability to keep a clean sheet, something they've failed to do all
season; even at home in the League Cup against League
One opposition.
What does all that
tell me with regards to today?
Ordinarily I would
suggest that they’ll be goals at both ends because they've proven several times
that they know how to hurt teams and will certainly punish sides who run out of
steam. However, Enzo Maresca has told reporters that he doesn’t like to concede
goals, so he would have been well irked seeing his side breached four times last Wednesday;
albeit against a very impressive PSG side.
With Ipswich’s
fitness levels being highlighted a week ago and our manager admitting that legs
are getting a little tired in his regular first 11s, it’ll be even more
important for us to utilise the bench ASAP in this afternoon’s game. That’s
another signal that our defence could leak for a second game running.
Regardless of
whether we do concede – and I’m actually going for us to tighten up after
midweek and keep a clean sheet today – this is home win for me. 3 points to the Sky
Blues.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match
prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions
during the game: Quite sunny, dry and a chilly, but certainly not unpleasant, 11C. A perfect feel for a 3:00pm, Saturday afternoon October home game, I would say. Enjoy. 🧥🧣😎🥧🍵🍺⚽
 |
| Solidarity against both Putin and now Trump |
