Wednesday on a Saturday Afternoon .

[The Blobster]

We head back up north ( again ) to face a side that lately have shown an improvement in form under their new temporary manager.
Improved form or not we have a much better squad and should come away with another 3 point haul and a clean sheet .
Nice to have a Saturday game with a 3 o clock kick off for a change !

 

[Behindthegoal]

Bid well to score. It’s about time.

 

[CroJack]

Nothing to worry about.

I've just had a look at their recent "form". Well, they've won each of their last 5 home games: Coventry (1:0), Middlesbrough (2:1), Derby (1:0), Preston (1:0), and Wycombe (2:0). Apart from the Wycombe game they've been outshot and outplayed in each of these games, and they've won them against the run of play. By the way, Wycombe are by far the worst team in the Championship, they've only won 3 games this season and one of the teams they've beaten was Sheffield Wednesday in the reverse fixure.

Yes, Sheffield Wednesday have beaten Bournemouth recently, but look how Bournemouth gifted them the first goal:

The second goal is also a combo of poor defending and goalkeeping.

My conclusion is that they've been lucky.

 

[IanABS94]

Match called off due to frozen pitch. We'll have a couple games in hand over rivals soon.

 

[CroJack]

Match called off due to frozen pitch. We'll have a couple games in hand over rivals soon.

Not good. They'll put a pressure on us.

 

[IanABS94]

Not good. They'll put a pressure on us.

I was also looking forward to being a lazy bastard and sitting on the couch all day watching footie and the Swans. Great now I'll have to watch some crap PL game like Palace vs Burnley.

We can hope both Brentford and Norwich lose tomorrow though...

 

[KVetch]

They can't thaw out a pitch in time for the match? Well I hope the players get a good rest from this. What does everyone think about starting a front of Ayew, Morris and Lowe?

Personally I would put Lowe and Morris as wingers. Ayew plays as a striker in the middle but on defense he would be playing around the halfway line and causing problems in the middle for the opposition. Ayew has shown his ability to defend time and again. Grimes/Fulton and Hourihane cover the midfield.

In attack Roberts and Bidwell can link up with Morris and Lowe. You can put 3 goal scorers in their box. This setup wouldn't work against every team but we need to score goals to keep up with the likes of Brentford. The best defense is a good attack.

 

[ivoralljack]

Had we had a crystal ball Cooper could have played a full strength team against Citeh instead of resting a few. That would have given us a far more accurate indication of where the lads are at in terms of playing quality opposition. For instance Bennett would have added more stability at the back instead of Lati (who did reasonably well in the circumstances) and Ayew would certainly have created some problems with his nous and experience. We probably still would have lost but given a better account of ourselves. As a theoretical scenario, I'm sure that Ayew would have won a free kick or two in their third and with Hoory in the side who knows.......... ?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

They can't thaw out a pitch in time for the match? Well I hope the players get a good rest from this. What does everyone think about starting a front of Ayew, Morris and Lowe?

Personally I would put Lowe and Morris as wingers. Ayew plays as a striker in the middle but on defense he would be playing around the halfway line and causing problems in the middle for the opposition. Ayew has shown his ability to defend time and again. Grimes/Fulton and Hourihane cover the midfield.

In attack Roberts and Bidwell can link up with Morris and Lowe. You can put 3 goal scorers in their box. This setup wouldn't work against every team but we need to score goals to keep up with the likes of Brentford. The best defense is a good attack.

Can't start Morris as suggested. It would disrupt our midfield or our defense to fit him in alongside Ayew and Lowe. And, frankly he's not worth the disruption.

We are starting to see solid production out of midfield in terms of goals. Our wing backs are still our assist leaders. Our 3+2 is the best defense in the league. Why disrupt that to fit in an unfit unproven.

Whittaker on the other hand ... still wouldn't disrupt anything to fit him in ... but if we were to, he would be my go to! Whittaker is competition for Lowe (definitely) and Ayew ever so slightly possibly as a starting forward. Late in the game Whittaker is going to be my go to sub.

 

[KVetch]

Can't start Morris as suggested. It would disrupt our midfield or our defense to fit him in alongside Ayew and Lowe. And, frankly he's not worth the disruption.

We are starting to see solid production out of midfield in terms of goals. Our wing backs are still our assist leaders. Our 3+2 is the best defense in the league. Why disrupt that to fit in an unfit unproven.

Whittaker on the other hand ... still wouldn't disrupt anything to fit him in ... but if we were to, he would be my go to! Whittaker is competition for Lowe (definitely) and Ayew ever so slightly possibly as a starting forward. Late in the game Whittaker is going to be my go to sub.

I wouldn't change the back 5 but swap out a midfield position for another striker. Morris and Lowe would have to cover midfield as 5-4-1. Could be a lot to ask, I'd like to see them all on the pitch. Smith is probably the best option in Midfield along with Hourihane, Grimes/Fulton. I hope Whittaker develops on an upward trend. He should get time but he's got a lot of competition for minutes. We have a crowded squad sheet now. Freeman, Arriola are just depth pieces I'm assuming. Cooper can still make up to 5 subs. I feel confident about getting 2nd or 3rd place now.