It’s a good point. If we were offered Stones for a year or Van Dijk for a year we’d want cash to persuade us to take Stones.
And lots of it.
Good try Bitton
This was never going to be straight forward but I’m happy enough so far.
Lads, if we come through, who are our potential opponents in the play off round ?
Ok half I guess. Nervous stuff from both sides.
Izaguirre has been good but he gets in trouble when he can’t even hack it clear on his right foot and gives it away as a result. Bitton is class. Van Dijk has been excellent too.
Not convinced by Boyata back there - he’s new to the back 4 but he’s definitely looser in his marking.
Midfield have been mixed. Bitton good as I said, Brown has been so-so. Couple of good interventions but he got done once or twice and needs to be more disciplined in his pressing. Johansen the same - think his energy breaking in the second half will be crucial. Armstrong has been tidy and fairly impressive, nothing coming off for GMS at all. Should be running himself to a standstill for 15 minutes and then Forrest if things don’t improve. Not sure he’s at the races defensively either.
Ciftci has battled well - not getting many decisions and he hasn’t had much of a goal sniff but he’s battling well. Griffiths chasing the ball into the corners will be the option at some stage. It’s awful basic stuff but it’s a horrible pitch and if they’re playing with their backs to our goal and have Griffiths hounding them they’ll make mistakes.
And I’d be getting GMS/Forrrest (when on) to be more direct and wide too. Corners could be crucial here. They panicked on that one we had. I’d be emptying the box and have lots of late runners and let them wrestle us to the ground. But we need to be playing wider and try and force corners rather than expecting them to come from intricate play which is just too unlikely on this surface.
Teams in green seeded to go out:
A bit off topic but it’s sickening to see so many Irish people enjoying some evening Canary Island sun instead of watching a massive game for the country.
Even Mrs DB saw the light after less than 10 minutes 
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Could it be a protest against the poor pitch quality?
This is appalling refereeing.
We have consistently given up long shots from corners over the past few years. Surprised nobody has addressed it yet.
Great feet from Bitton.
Get Forrest on for GMS.
Not a bad effort from Armstrong. He’s continued well in the second half.
Sloppy from Virgil there.
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Yep. Johansen had to pick up a yellow to cover for him.
Ah this is fucking ridiculous refereeing.
GMS has been working his socks off in the second half to his credit.
Yep. And he’s been better but he’s definitely the most replaceable of those attacking midfielders, assuming none of them have niggles.
Fuck that was a chance. Boyata stood up well but we got caught very narrow again.
Griffiths for Ciftci.