FC Bayern Forum

MUTU wrote:

We're now (very) slight bookmaker favourites to qualify. [source]

Well, "all" we need is a win... To be honest, there are more possible score-lines that would result in Liverpool advancing.

MUTU wrote:If Robben recovers:

Hmm, did we watch the same game? Clearly Martinez should play, he was arguably our most important player yesterday (?).

You can't just replace Javi with Goretzka and expect the result to go from 0-0 to 2-0. A more realistic scoreline with Goretzka would be 2-2.

I'd sooner replace James than Javi in a match like this.

MUTU wrote:If Robben recovers

If Robben recovers put RL9 on the bench

Boateng is more useful than Sule if you want to score goals from long crosses.

I know that Liverpool will have at least Van Dijk back and Lovren too, and perhaps they will rise up to the occasion but Liverpool home vs away in UCL has been two very different teams.

By my count, since Klopp has taken over, Liverpool's home/away records in Europe:

Home: 12 wins, 4 draws, 0 losses; 41 goals scored, 11 goals conceded, +30 goal differential
Non-Home games (Away or "neutral" site matches): 4 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses; 23 goals scored, 25 goals conceded, -2 goal differential.

Still, I would not make too many significant changes. I think the plan we had in the first leg was largely the right one. If Robben is fit I'd like to see him play (and I think if Coman was 100% he would have had a much greater impact). We'll have Rafinha in too, of course, and while I'm not too worried about that part, I would like to see the team set up in such a way that helps him succeed. I think in the past players like Rafinha, Bernat, etc have gotten hurt as the "setup" is less forgiving on individual mistakes. With the defense we put out yesterday - I won't say that individual mistakes aren't a problem, but I think we can set up to at least minimize their impact, which could be important. I don't want another scoreless draw (though it does leave the possibilities of penalties at AA, so not a total loss), but I think that I'd rather have Javi's defending over Goretzka's attacking, if I had to choose. But as said, I'd consider dropping James too maybe, I don't know. Of course I rate him but I think that yesterday's type of game simply doesn't suit his skillset so well.

I want Sule as a RB and Boateng as a CB. No Rafinha please.

Any updates on Tolisso's injury recovery ? Will he be able to sit as a bench option in 3 weeks from now ?

Tikoubaouine wrote:Any updates on Tolisso's injury recovery ? Will he be able to sit as a bench option in 3 weeks from now ?

Three weeks might be a little soon, but you never know...He's been back training with the ball, individual training for a week now. Earlier they were saying (well, the papers, nothing official) that he'd return by end of February at earliest, but most were projecting March for a comeback. I think he was hurt Sept 18 and projected a 6-mo recovery time, which would be just a few days past the second leg. So I think it will be a bit of a stretch for him to be ready to make the bench for that match, but shortly after that could be conceivable.

At the same time depending on how things shake out - if we get eliminated by Liverpool or lose the next couple of league matches or something - I'd probably consider just shutting him down for the rest of the year altogether, but I dunno