SENTINELCELTS

I cannot be annoyed with International, I won’t even tune in to Ireland versus the auld enemy in Dublin today, and besides as soon as the games start up, they get closed down for a stretch. Ridiculous and the fixture calendar definitely needs looked at.

Anyway enough of that, when it comes to club football, like that special team under Lenny I just can’t get enough, and hopefully the wait will be worth it as upon our return we have two cracking fixtures both at home.
Hearts on the Saturday afternoon.
Slovan Bratislava on the Wednesday evening.
Manna from heaven for the proper games craving supporters like myself.
But I tell you what, I don’t envy the managers selection headache over those five days.

For starters, you don’t give debuts in a ‘gotta win it’ Champions League game.
In other words if Trusty or Valle are to be starting on the Wednesday under the lights, logic dictates they start on the Saturday.
However logic also dictates you don’t fix it if it’s not broken!
This is a big call because if (heavens forbid) our left side is a sore spot against Slovan, he will either be advised he should have started with the other bloke!
Scales has a ‘mare, everyone will say why not start Trusty!?
Taylor has a ‘mare, same about Valle.
Valle has a mare, he will get criticized for changing the winning team.
Ditto Trusty.
Winning the game with whoever is selected is the only way to emerge with credit, anything less than a win invites criticism.
So I’m very confident that whoever starts in defense against Hearts will start in the midweek European game.
For the record I’m in the ‘leave it alone’ camp.
Besides, not long ago we had a 20 year old sent off in the CL, they can be too enthusiastic rather than canny. Let Greg start both games and access from there if Valle needs brought in at all.

Brendan’s biggest headache is probably the midfield area. Engels joined the club to play in the Champions League, his old manager said so. Callum ain’t getting dropped obviously, however both Paolo and Reo can and have won games almost singlehandedly at times. Their current form makes them undroppable, but I cannot think of a better occasion to play Arne, home against weaker opponents on paper. A game we are expected to win.
So who drops out?
I’m opting for Reo based on the following.

He gives the ball away more than Bernardo, at least to me he does.
I believe he reads the game better and tackles stronger (yet sensibly) than Hatate, highlights show Engels is a tackler/battler also, ditto Callum, so that would be three hard to bypass players which offers promise given the much repeated comment that ‘they waltzed through the middle of the park and scored’. Reo was generally in the ‘victims’ team. Last year Brendan often turned to the Portugese midfielder, surprise surprise we beat Anges points tally with the guts of Ange’s team.
Reo is creative, Paolo is industrious,,I’m of the opinion while at Europe’s top table, we opt for a more workmanlike system, one that’s hard to beat, a midfield that cannot be cut through easily, because there’s goals in our attack we should probably ‘sacrifice’ the attack minded midfielder for a box to box player. Reo’s good, very good, but I wouldn’t describe him as an excellent box to box player.
I’d go with Callum, Arne, Bernardo to start the next two games.

Now you might be pulling your hair out thinking ‘Mahe the Champions League is about creating chances and taking them, so we need Reo’s vision to provide those chances via a delish pass or two’ and I get that, I honestly do. He can score, he can pass, he’s got experience at that level and doesn’t look out of place. I would not complain if he was starting on Wednesday.

But I yearn for better, I yearn to never again read they went through us like a knife through butter, I long for a different approach to European football. Under Ange-ball most of the team attacked, and his philosophy was to outscore the opposition. Outscore? I want to stop them scoring, because in that competition goals are like gold-dust, at both ends. I want a team that’s a bitch to play against, at both ends. The attack looks sorted now that Kuhn, Kyogo, and Maeda are fully upto speed with each other, we stop the quick thrusts through the middle and we have a much better chance of reaching the hallowed ground of going through to the last 24. I want Brendan to do whatever it takes to stop our midfield being easy to pass through by any means necessary, and if that means benching Hatate then so be it.
Do you agree?

By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com