Aye, it doesn't auger well that we've heard nowt else about Forshaw's toe injury. If nothing else, he's missing vital training, both from a fitness & match prep perspective. I don't expect him to play Sunday. I also wonder about Pontus & Douglas. If you were Bielsa, would you disrupt the defence you've pre-seasoned for your opening match by including someone who hasn't been involved? I can't see either Pontus or Douglas playing as the defence has been fairly settled. Up front is another matter. We're not firing right, so he can take a risk there & slot in Bamford &/or Harrison. My inclination is both will feature, either as play-and-see starters, or as subs. Finally, Saiz has done nothing pre-season, either in effort, excitement, end product, or body language. Got hooked after 45 last match too. Clearly wasn't tactics - he was simply crap. So my guess is we'll line up as follows. GK - BPF LFB - Cooper CB - Phillips RFB - Berardi LWB - Dallas DCM - Klich RWB - Ayling ACM - Hernandez ALM - Harrison CF - Bamford ARM - Alioski Bench - Blackman, Douglas, Jansson, Baker, Saiz, Roofe, Roberts Total guesswork on my part. Who can read Bielsa at this early stage? (Will we ever?).
To be fair. Bambford is a good player when on his game, but on £25K per week he didn;t do it enough. Was great for MK Dons in League 1, but then rubbish for Palace, Burnley,Norwich and Derby, but much better at Boro. Not sure why Boro fans are moaning, they bought him for £5M and are selling him for £10m. They have Assombolonga, Fletcher and Gestede up front - all much better than Bamford imho!!
Unless any had signed for Leeds instead in which case they’d be much worse than Bamford in your humble opinion
Think this could be the starting 11 but wondering if Bamford has joined too late and Roofe might start? Douglas a definite non starter as by all accounts Wolves excluded him from preseason. A shame this weekend isn’t another friendly and we weren’t starting for another week
Hold that thought for if we miss out on promotion or get relegated for the want of 3-6 points. Nearly every fecking year we don't get our business done in a timely manner.
