« on: April 13, 2022, 06:29:39 pm »
Officials
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
Assistants: Joost van Zuilen (NED) & Johan Balder (NED)
Fourth official: Tasos Sidiropoulos (GRE)
VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED) Assistant VAR: Dennis Higler (NED)
Well here we go again with another very important match, this time in the quarter finals of the Champions League.
Even though we we're all a bit disappointed by the result against City, we played against arguably the best team in Europe and drew. We need a bit of luck now in the league but we are breathing down their necks.
To be in the quarters of the CL, the semis of the FA Cup, one point behind in the league and with the League Cup trophy already won, it has been a great season so far, and it's not over yet.
Back to the match against Benfica........
On the previous two times when we beat Benfica home and away in the CL we have gone on to win the competition. Ok so that fact has no bearing on what may happen this year but it's a nice fact.
Benfica have only won one of their previous 9 away matches in the CL and I don't expect them to break that losing habit. Although they did score against us in the home leg, we showed that we are so much stronger than they are. I expect us to dominate the match in every area and to come away with a straight forward win.
In the competition, Salah is our top scorer of all time; he has scored 33 for us and 36 overall. For Benfica, it is Eusébio with 46 goals. He was one of the all time greats and probably Benfica's best ever player. If he had played in the modern era then he would have been up there with the best in the world. He doesn't tend to get talked about a lot but he was really good.
Benfica's last match was a 3-1 victory against Belenenses on Saturday with Darwin Núñez scoring all 3. He has 24 goals in 24 league games this season and so is one player who we will need to watch carefully.
That's as far as I am going to discuss the history between the two clubs as jackh has done a great job for the first leg here:
https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=352082.0
Instead I'll mention some players who I think will start the match on Wednesday and who sometimes don't always get the game-time they deserve. It's a testament to the squad that Klopp has built that our bench is now packed with excellent players who can come on and the overall quality doesn't diminish.
Joe Gomez has struggled to get back onto the first team after his long injury. It's not that he has played badly; it's just that the competition in our backline is so strong. Let's not forget that he is an excellent player and recently he has shown that he can provide decent crosses into the box. I don't feel the team will be significantly weakened by resting TAA and playing Gomez. Not so long ago we were saying that he was developing a great partnership with VVD and he does deserve some time on the pitch to show his quality.
Next is one of my favourites....Tsmikas. What a joy it is to watch him play. He's not quite as good as Robertson but he's not that far behind. He defends well and can whip in good crosses into the box. He is possibly even better at crossing than Robertson. Once again I don't think the team will be significantly weakened by playing Kostas.
My centre back change is to bring back Konaté. He did have a bit of a brain-fart in the first leg to concede the goal but other than that he has been excellent when he has played. Nobody bullies him and few outrun him. He is a very good replacement for Matip and the drop in performance is almost nil. Let's not forget how thin we were on the ground with centre halves a while back and now we have VVD, Matip, Konate and Gomez. Remember how he swatted off Fred?
In midfield I think we'll see Keita start. Of all the players that Klopp has signed, I think Nabby is the one who has disappointed most. He has had a terrible run of injuries and has found it hard to settle into the first team. However that has changed a bit this season and he has had a run of very solid games. He still has a bit to prove but I think he will continue to improve provided he stays injury free.
Lastly there's the phenomenon called Diaz. What a player we have signed. He is great on the ball and his close control is brilliant. I think he will destroy Benfica down our left. I just love watching him as he is an exceptional player.
My suggested team is therefore:
Alisson
Gomez Konate VVD Tsimikas
Thiago Fabinho Keita
Salah Firmino Diaz
So I have brought in 5 players who may not be starters for every league match (Diaz and maybe Keita do get some starts).
I don't think there's any big drop in quality with these players and that shows the versatility of our squad. We do need to win this match as it then gives us a great chance of reaching another CL final and then hopefully winning it again. If we play to our best then we have a great chance of winning but let's make sure that we don't put ourselves under needless pressure against Benfica. We'll need to concentrate and to dominate the play; if they get the first goal then suddenly the tie doesn't look so safe. We should have enough to win the game quite comfortably but this is Benfica's biggest game of the year and they will be trying their hearts out. In particular, we will need to keep Núñez quiet.
Who would you play and how do you see the match progressing?
« Last Edit: April 13, 2022, 09:41:36 pm by TepidT2O »
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