vanojoh

Yup. My mistake. We basically played for a draw that day so I automatically assumed it was away, In fact it was at home.

Er, hold on, we've got Atsu haven't we? I forgot all about him!

Bad news, that. Even though Mirallas has been off form, I fancied him to turn up against Kyiv. No way is McGeady fit! If he makes it on for the last 15 mins I'll be surprised. The absence of any natural wide men means we're pretty much assured of setting up with a 4-3-3 - not a formation which has brought us much joy this season, unless you count the 0-0 at Anfield.

Agree with the above, but Hafnia is also right when he says Rom has been "hit and miss from game to game". There was a home game a few months ago - I can't remember which one - when Rom's control and lay-offs were excellent. I thought "Great, he's cracked it!" but next week the ball was ricocheting off him again. Fact is, RM should have been playing 75% to his strengths and 25% to the other parts of his game that need improving. Bizarrely, it was reversed so we seemed to be mainly playing to his weaknesses! In the long run that might be a good thing in terms of improving his all-round game, but it made him look bad in the short term. As we know, strikers have runs, both good and bad. My god, we could really do with the lad going on a good run right now!

Swap Osman for Barkley and I think you've got it. Not sure Ross is going to be trusted to start.

I think Mirallas will be arsed for the Europa. It's a glamour tie - he likes those. Unfortunately, you can't just turn it on when you want to, so he'll probably be up for it but perform badly. It's a pity, as an on-form Mirallas would fit perfectly into the counter attacking game we're likely to play. Anyway, if not Mirallas, then someone else is going to have more space if they gang up on Rom.

Whatever we think of him, Dynamo Kyiv are bloody terrified of him! Take a look at the English translation of their official website. Presumably that means they'll be going out of their way to stop him. If they decide to double mark him then that will leave spaces for other people - Mirallas, for example.