oldishowl

Might be 343 like Saturday with Reach on the right and Matias on the left of a front three

So people moaning cos he has picked a stronger team than expected.

In that case I will go and ask them and we will do without the journalists. Are they not capable of asking the right questions. What do they get paid for?

Got to be a good idea. Just mix it up as much as possible for the older ones in the crowd, including me. I remember Milburn being a batsman. Yesterday I must admit I didn’t listen much as I was busy catching up with people who I hadn’t seen since May although I think I heard Disco 2000 , one of my favourites. Go on tell me they didn’t play it.

I think that is totally unfair . For a start it was 2 changes really because Nuhiu was suspended. If we then make 7 changes it will be less than most championship clubs will make, the norm under Carlos was 10. We also need to give players like Matias, Boyd , Joao If fit a game. If we lose so be it. Looking at our squad we don’t have the depth to be playing lots of midweek games . We need to concentrate on doing the best we can in the league because a couple of injuries to key players could see us in a relegation fight.

I understand what you are saying but for me Reach would always be in our team. He is up there with Bannan , Lees, Hutch, FF as a must play. If you couldn’t fit him in anywhere else he would play wing back but I agree that with 3 centre halfs we might get away with him and Bannan in the centre. I cannot envisage a team where Pelupessy starts and Reach doesn’t irrespective of positions. You need your best players on the pitch.

I think this is Pelupessy’s problem. He always needs a touch of the ball, cannot see a pass early enough to move it first time so often gets caught in possession. When he does move it first time tends to give it away, like that fancy flick yesterday.

That was right in front of me and still not exactly sure what he did but he left the defender completely for dead. A brilliant bit of skill.

Having seen our two league games so far I wouldn’t play Reach at wing back next game. Not saying he isn’t potentially our best wing back if all things were equal , I just don’t think we can afford to play him there at the moment. Having said that he was not good enough at Wigan, neither did enough defensively nor created enough problems going forward. Gave Pudil very little help. Whether people like it or not we are not a good enough team to have wing backs who simply bomb forward. They need to defend , we need to make sure we don’t concede and if that means we end up with 5 at the back a lot of the time, tough. I would play Thorniley. Given our current available players Reach is the only one we have who is capable of the running to link midfield and attack. Whether that be part of a three man midfield or wide as one of a front 3, like he played yesterday , depends on what system we play. I feel he just contributes more to the team this way. I would rather play 433 than play Reach at wing back at the moment.

We need to be solid at the back. Easier said than done but you do not pick up wins in this league if you are fragile at the back. If it is going to be 3 at the back then I would play Thorniley left wing back because he is our best defensive option there, Don’t really care about his attacking capabilities. Didn’t like Reach there at Wigan, he didn’t defend or get forward well. With the forwards we have we will always have a chance of scoring but need to get that solidity at the back. We also need to be realistic. We ain’t a top 6 squad, we will need to improve to be top half

Don’t they call it a back 4

Of course it depends on who is available but we are fooling ourselves if we think we are suddenly going to have 5 or 6 fit strikers. However I think these two would prove a handful for a defence. Nuhiu needs players close to him and Fletcher has just enough mobility to stretch a defence a bit. They would also be a physical test for a defence.

Expect both to start against Sunderland If we can’t sign anybody we don’t have enough numbers to discard anybody

The problem with 3 at the back is teams have sussed how to play against it. I am not sure we are good enough at it to prevent teams from exposing the problems it gives you out wide, nor do we have the players in certain key positions for it. I would be tempted to go 433 as I don’t think that as a system it has such obvious deficiencies . We would be , to some extent, cobbling a back four together but I just think it would suit us so much better in midfield and up front But I can’t see us changing now.

We probably should given the chances Fletcher had but believe me it was a massive improvement on last week where we should have lost by a lot more than one goal