I know nothing about French football. I should say that from the off. I also have very little interest in the Champion’s league normally, because I find it frankly boring, with practically the same teams involved every year.
But obviously, I’m taking more notice this year and have been watching the games.
I’ve come to the conclusion that while some sides are very good, it seems to me that many are overhyped. Or is it just that we’ve excelled in our previous qualifiers? It’s a very subjective thing, but I don’t think we’ve looked very good in our games, the Bayern one apart. Mind you, I don’t think we’ve looked very good for most of the season, but the reality is we’re still very much in the mix.
That’s not to say I think Monaco are rubbish. I don’t think much of Ligue 1, a few teams apart but they do have a few decent sides, of which Monaco appear to be one. They’re a very young side, the third youngest in their league, but reading around tells me they’re very tenacious. They’ve made the most tackles, ball recoveries and second-most interceptions of any team in the French top flight. They’re also fourth in the table. So definitely no mugs then, although I should probably add that they’ve been on a poor run of late.
Hence it would seem it’s by no means going to be easy. My lack of European football knowledge makes it a bit tricky to give an opinion, but I can have a guess or just give my feelings.
And while I don’t want to jinx us, I do think we can get something from this game. A win wouldn’t make us mathematically certain to qualify automatically, but it would put us in a very strong position and however you look at it, that would be some achievement.
A draw obviously wouldn’t be as good, but you’d have to think that with our last game being Celtic at home, we would still be in with a very good chance
And that’s what I’m going for.
We always look like we’re going to concede, although it seems we’re looking to address this weakness, with a young full back, Andreas Garcia announced as having been signed from Levante just this morning and a central defender being in the offing who will replace Diego Calos who is apparently going to Fenerbache, if Wolves can’t persuade him to join them.
Squad news and John McGinn remains out with injury. He’s also looking doubtful for the Celtic game. Amadou Onana limped off against Arsenal on Saturday and is also very doubtful. Ross Barkley and Pau Torres are both injured and Diego Carlos is suspended, which is probably academic anyway, if he is indeed off to Turkiye. New signing Donyell Malen isn’t eligible.
As for Monaco, it’s all a bit vague but from what I can see, they have several players coming back from injury or illness, with Denis Zakaria, as well as Aleksandr Golovin who was ill, Christian Mawissa and Wilfried Singo all available and it appears they’re practically at full strength.
So if Monaco are going to get one goal, logically we’re also going to get one. In which case, could it be Duran who gets it? My guess is yes he will. The big question there is will he start or come on as sub?
Either way, that’s my prediction. A 1-1 draw.
UTV!
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