[Albion] Serie A and Roma

[SeagullsoverLondon]

Probably more the standard of Tottenham I would say.

It really is a big task. Not impossible, but big. The key is staying in the game for the first 90 minutes.

Well hopefully RDZ will be a bit more pragmatic for a two legged game. Maybe play 6 defenders to stop then scoring at home....oh just realised didn't work too well against Fulham
I think our strongest possible 11 and go for it. I think when we believe in ourselves we can do it. We are always usually competitive against the bigger teams (except perhaps Arsenal before Christmas), so have nothing to fear.

 

[GloryDays]

I may be clutching a straws here but looking at games where we've been stuffed under RDZ we almost always dish out a spanking in our next game, in fact there's a pretty incredible pattern.

Every game since RDZ took over where our opponent has put 3 or more goals past us we've followed up with a victory, often a thrashing. The only exception was after the Villa 6-1 where we clawed back a draw away at Marseille.

Oct 22
3-1 defeat City, follow by beating Chelsea 4-1

Dec 22
4-2 defeat Arsenal, follow by beating Everton 4-1

April 23
3-1 defeat Forest, followed by beating wolves 6-0

May 23
5-1 defeat Everton, followed by beating Arsenal 3-0

May 23
4-1 defeat Newcastle, followed by beating saints 3-1

Aug 23
3-1 defeat west ham, followed by beating Man utd 3-1

Sept 23
6-1 defeat Villa, followed by coming back from 2 goals down at Marseille

Dec 23
3-2 defeat Chelsea, followed by beating Brentford 2-1

Jan 24
4-0 defeat Luton, followed by beating Palace 4-1

Some rare and excellent research on NSC. I hope you're right! Thanks for sharing.

 

[raymondo]

I will be watching from home, hoping an RDZ masterclass will secure a draw. Either way I'll try to enjoy this amazing part of the club's history.
Those of you going to the game...enjoy it, enjoy the memories it will bring..."you woz there"!!

 

[LamieRobertson]

I will be watching from home, hoping an RDZ masterclass will secure a draw. Either way I'll try to enjoy this amazing part of the club's history.
Those of you going to the game...enjoy it, enjoy the memories it will bring..."you woz there"!!

Exactly….cracking moment in our history …if it’s a draw great ….narrow defeat so be it …just ask for a chance to still be in it for the home leg which is going to be some occasion

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Exactly….cracking moment in our history …if it’s a draw great ….narrow defeat so be it …just ask for a chance to still be in it for the home leg which is going to be some occasion

After the last few results and performances, that is exactly where I am at, all I want is for us to be still in with a chance of progression to the next round.
A resounding defeat on Thursday would be catastrophic really, to have the Amex full with expectation and anticipation would be my dream, a heavy defeat and the atmosphere will be horrible and more than likely have a negative knock on for the rest of the season, and I could see us nose dive and certain RDZ walk.

 

[Nicks]

If the atmosphere is anything like Marseille with the flares etc we are in for another Unforgettable night whatever the outcome

 

[Randy McNob]

why not having one Roma thread?

 

[Lenny Rider]

I’m under no illusions, re our ongoing football journey and the current scenarios re fitness and form, there’s going to be no grey area in Rome.

It’s either going to be White Hart Lane October 1981 or Selhurst Park October 2002 ️

But will enjoy the ride whatever

 

[GJN1]

I think our strongest possible 11 and go for it.

Which is?

 

[Hamilton]

I don't think we stand a chance.

We can't score for a toffee and we've proven that we'll nearly always gift the opposition a goal.

 

[London Irish]

We're underdogs but the overall strength of the EPL means we'll be competitive. If it ends here, it will have still been a hell of a ride but we have a chance

 

[kojak]

They have scored 33 goals in 14 home games
Only Inter can boast better
If Carlisle can do it ,then so can we

 

[JBizzle]

I may be clutching a straws here but looking at games where we've been stuffed under RDZ we almost always dish out a spanking in our next game, in fact there's a pretty incredible pattern.

Every game since RDZ took over where our opponent has put 3 or more goals past us we've followed up with a victory, often a thrashing. The only exception was after the Villa 6-1 where we clawed back a draw away at Marseille.

Oct 22
3-1 defeat City, follow by beating Chelsea 4-1

Dec 22
4-2 defeat Arsenal, follow by beating Everton 4-1

April 23
3-1 defeat Forest, followed by beating wolves 6-0

May 23
5-1 defeat Everton, followed by beating Arsenal 3-0

May 23
4-1 defeat Newcastle, followed by beating saints 3-1

Aug 23
3-1 defeat west ham, followed by beating Man utd 3-1

Sept 23
6-1 defeat Villa, followed by coming back from 2 goals down at Marseille

Dec 23
3-2 defeat Chelsea, followed by beating Brentford 2-1

Jan 24
4-0 defeat Luton, followed by beating Palace 4-1

I will take that as a huge positive going into Thursday.

As another point, we do seem to take more than our fair share of spankings under RDZ. When we're bad, we're really bad. I know it's a result of style, but we only conceded 3 or more in 6 games in Potter's entire reign, and of those 6, 4 were 3 goals and 2 were 4. No 5's or 6's. We're at 10 "stuffings" under RDZ now.

Let me be clear, I'm aware that Potter had his failings (goalscoring and looooooooooooooong stretches without wins) and RDZ is a far more enjoyable manager, hence more coals scored and conceded. We knew it would be high risk, high reward but thought it was interesting as a one-eyed comparison

 

[warmleyseagull]

I don't think we stand a chance.

We can't score for a toffee and we've proven that we'll nearly always gift the opposition a goal.

I cant stand all this positivity.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Roma are favourites in my mind.

Before the Mitoma injury I was confident. But him on top of Pedro was a devastating loss.

We're not out of it, we're capable, but we will need whoever we can get out there to have 2 x incredible games. We're not showing the signs right now.

 

[dstanman]

Is Pedro definitely out for this one, or is there a chance we may see an appearance from the bench

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Come on guys, chin up and all that.

The worst case scenario is we get absolutely spanked. So what? We've been spanked a number of times under De Zerbi already. We've also handed out our fair share of absolute batterings too.

But, if the worst happens and we get our arses handed to us we've done it in Europe, somewhere we never thought we'd see the Albion play competitively. And for those of you luckily enough to be going if this is our final stop Rome isn't a bad place to get off the train. Especially after having also stopped in Amsterdam, Athens and Marseilles.

Plus even with all the players missing we're still going to put out a half decent team capable on their day of giving anyone a game. A team along the lines of Ver Bruggen, Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Estupinian, Gross, Gilmour, Enciso, Buonanotte, Adingra, Welbeck with Lallana, Lamptey, Ferguson, Fati as options off the bench.

Basically, stop worrying and enjoy the fact we've got a half decent team and we're going to be playing Roma.

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

Which is?

Given injuries and form etc, currently

Bart
Igor
Dunk
JPVH
Lamptey
Gross
Gilmour
Adringa
Buonnanotte
Enciso
Welbeck

 

[The Grockle]

I will take that as a huge positive going into Thursday.

As another point, we do seem to take more than our fair share of spankings under RDZ. When we're bad, we're really bad. I know it's a result of style, but we only conceded 3 or more in 6 games in Potter's entire reign, and of those 6, 4 were 3 goals and 2 were 4. No 5's or 6's. We're at 10 "stuffings" under RDZ now.

Let me be clear, I'm aware that Potter had his failings (goalscoring and looooooooooooooong stretches without wins) and RDZ is a far more enjoyable manager, hence more coals scored and conceded. We knew it would be high risk, high reward but thought it was interesting as a one-eyed comparison

It's a patern that by no means suggest we'll win on Thursday but certainly gives some insight into our attitude after we take a heavy beating.

 

[Eeyore]

Without Mitoma or Pedro our two match winners it’s going to be a tall order.
They also will have one of there biggest or if not the biggest crowds of the season if reports are true.

The 75,000 at Old Trafford didn't bother us. They'll soon turn if we take the lead.

Last sentence could be the sticking point.