Yes! I want Rio to start (as long as the physios are OK with it minutes-wise). Absolutely need to get Anfield rockin' early on.
In CL history, no club has blown more 2 goal first leg leads than PSG. There! I’ve done my bit for optimism.
Just read this: Despite Liverpool's woes, he only appeared for a combined 42 minutes in the league between 30th November and 11th February.
The selection decisions in this game are a real Rubik's cube for Slot, esp re: Rio and Isak. Start either of them? ... hold them for later? How many minutes can either be expected to give? Hold someone back in the hope we can take it to ET?
Starting Rio = we send a message to the team and the fans that we're going for it, plus (lesser issue) doesn't mean we'd end up send a kid out when we're desperate. There's value in doing it I think. Damned glad I don't have to make the selection decisions.
That just means he won't be match fit... why you need to be rotating players, even when your starters are fine. I honestly think Slot and his coaching team have yet to figure out how much more physical the EPL is and that you cannot ask your healthy starters to play the entirety of the season. He might have gotten away this sort of strategy in Eredivisie when players could take some time and get a blow during the match, but here it's full on for 90+ minutes every game. You have to rotate the squad, and figure out how to do that while not compromising the tactical strategy during the game. Both years of his tenure he's driven his top players into the ground by overusing them. You might have thought he would have learned this when his team crashed during the final portion of last season...
I think you start Rio and give him a go. You pull him off when he's worn out, and rejigger the offense with Gakpo, and then you bring on Isak for the end. PSG will come in and play fairly conservatively; there is no reason for them to take chances. Give Rio a chance to go at them, and hold Isak back for experienced firepower if you need it late in the game. Putting on Rio to begin with gives him an opportunity to do something special and to harass the PSG defense, but if you tell him you are going to take him off after a prescribed time, you take any pressure off him. Just send him out there and tell him to do what he can for the time he has. The game is not decided one way or another. So even if he crashes against the shore of a stalwart defense it's no big deal, he knows he's just there to do the best he can and wear out the defense if nothing else. You bring in Isak when the pressure is high at the end, but also when he's going up against tired defense. If the game is still in play, his experience playing with high stakes won't overwhelm him (like it might Rio), and you hope you get a moment of brilliance. But if you don't heck, he wasn't able to be out there earlier because you needed to bring him back up to speed. He did what he could in the limited time he had... Of course this all assumes we don't crap the bed and quickly go down a couple of goals - essentially making it a time management exercise.
^ don't really disagree with that approach Hubba, but the potential for extra time has to be a factor in the decision .... somehow .... especially given that the squad looks gassed in almost all 90 min games this season. Apart from possibly holding Jones back (assuming he even is available that is) we have only one other ET sub option to bolster the attack I think - Chiesa. Meanwhile lets' remind ourselves that the French league have given PSG breaks from 2 matchdays to help them be ready. UEFA need to ban this!!
As long as Gakpo doesn't start and Salah does, I'm ok with pretty much any lineup Slot puts up. See you guys finally found religion on Rio. I've been advocating for more minutes and starting some matches since January. He needs to play today.
Can we do this? For me it will be all about the first 60 mins - if we don't make our move then - I believe it will be very hard. PSG has a pretty decent defense. Additionally, we don't seem to be scoring much in the way of late goals, especially given that we seem to run out of energy at 65 minutes or so. We've got to get inside their heads early by getting a goal and making them a little bit confused and concerned because otherwise they are very very strong on the counter and can hit us at any time
Rumor: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Isak, Ekitike