With Rafa Benitez being known for his squad rotations, a home tie against Swansea in the cup probably won't see Rafa send out his strongest 11. I would send this team out.
Turnbull is an obvious starter, with Petr Cech expecting to be out for another two weeks after his thigh injury at Goodison Park.
I'm expecting a solid back four of Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and Ryan Bertrand. With JT expected to be back in the side for this weekend's game away to Stoke, I think this will be a chance for Gary Cahill to show he is still worthy of a starting place after the skipper returns to the side. I think Ryan Bertrand will start this game, giving Ash a well earned rest. Ryan is a promising young left back who had broken into the England squad three times, so it's sure he can do the job.
Luiz and Lampard are the two that I have picked for the double pivot roles, with Oriol Romeu being out injured for the season, and Jon Obi Mikel at international duty. Our only other option in this position is Ramires, and we can't afford him to slip out of position against a decent Swansea side. Oscar has also made a few appearances in this position, but I don't think he is of the physical build to suit it.
My 3 attacking midfielders I chose were Marko Marin, Juan Mata and Oscar. Marin had a shocking performance against QPR, but at least he looked like one of the only players who was willing to try and beat a man. With Moses at the AFCON now, this is Marko's chance to prove he was worth his £7million price tag. Juan Mata is a must in this game, simply because he is the best midfielder in England. He has shown no signs of looking fatigued over the busy Christmas schedule so I'm sure he'll do fine. Oscar makes up my third attacking midfielder, as I think his passing ability and trickery can fool the Swansea defence. He also hasn't been playing an awful lot recently, which is a shame because I really like him, and think he contributes to the team very well.
Lastly, I've opted for Demba Ba over Fernando up top, simply because he scored two the other day. How can you drop him after that!?
I think we'll comfortably win this game 1-0. The most important part is stopping Swansea from getting any away goals, and a loss would be dreadful with the second leg in Wales. Danny Graham is my man to watch. The typical English poacher has scored six goals this season, including one against Arsenal last weekend.
I'm expecting a solid back four of Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and Ryan Bertrand. With JT expected to be back in the side for this weekend's game away to Stoke, I think this will be a chance for Gary Cahill to show he is still worthy of a starting place after the skipper returns to the side. I think Ryan Bertrand will start this game, giving Ash a well earned rest. Ryan is a promising young left back who had broken into the England squad three times, so it's sure he can do the job.
Luiz and Lampard are the two that I have picked for the double pivot roles, with Oriol Romeu being out injured for the season, and Jon Obi Mikel at international duty. Our only other option in this position is Ramires, and we can't afford him to slip out of position against a decent Swansea side. Oscar has also made a few appearances in this position, but I don't think he is of the physical build to suit it.
My 3 attacking midfielders I chose were Marko Marin, Juan Mata and Oscar. Marin had a shocking performance against QPR, but at least he looked like one of the only players who was willing to try and beat a man. With Moses at the AFCON now, this is Marko's chance to prove he was worth his £7million price tag. Juan Mata is a must in this game, simply because he is the best midfielder in England. He has shown no signs of looking fatigued over the busy Christmas schedule so I'm sure he'll do fine. Oscar makes up my third attacking midfielder, as I think his passing ability and trickery can fool the Swansea defence. He also hasn't been playing an awful lot recently, which is a shame because I really like him, and think he contributes to the team very well.
Lastly, I've opted for Demba Ba over Fernando up top, simply because he scored two the other day. How can you drop him after that!?
I think we'll comfortably win this game 1-0. The most important part is stopping Swansea from getting any away goals, and a loss would be dreadful with the second leg in Wales. Danny Graham is my man to watch. The typical English poacher has scored six goals this season, including one against Arsenal last weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment