I said I would reveal if I was wrong. Hopefully it will show I wasn't talking rubbish though and when I do post info it is from a trusted person.
What other options did we have in midfield? Considering it was more or less a given that Belaid wouldn't start.
could have stuck koren in the centre with evans and devitt on the right, stewart or barmby on left, id have done that personally but lets hope cairney can up his game.
Guzan, McShane, Gerrard, Chester, Dawson (c), Stewart, Evans, Koren, Cairney, Mclean, Fryatt Subs: Duke, Barmby, Devitt, Simpson, Solano, Bradley, Belaid
Most people (including me) expected Koren to go in to the middle and put Devitt on the wing. Cairney has been the forgotten man since earlier in the season, not even getting time off the bench, so it was a bit of a shock I think.
Will it be a 4-3-3 line-up though? Evans and Cairney sit, and Koren just infront of them, Stewart upfront left hand side, Mclean right hand side and Fryatt in the middle?
Could Stewart be playing on the right and Cairney on the left leaving Evans and Koren for the middle?
Well Cairney got his chance, for me he didn't make the most of it! Looks like Nige as had him on a diet looked a good stone lighter, but it hasn't speeded him up, didn't win many headers and tended to play backwards a little too often for my liking. We looked better through the middle when he was replaced by Barmby. Nicky gets stuck in, chases down and plays forward so no surprise that we started looking a lot more dangerous from that point forward. Get Belaid in the middle !! Quick and strong for his 10 minute cameo today.
Good call premiertiger Cairney didn't impress me today either, though as Pearson said after the game, he's lacking match practice(though it's obvious that he's lost a fair bit of weight). I'd still have Koren in the middle, with Devitt out wide, but it looks like he's out with a groin strain for Preston, so maybe it's Belaid's time to show what he can do.
Cairney needs more game time, looked sluggish today, but pinged a few neat passes around. Not sure Belaid is ready to start yet, think Devitt deserves a start against Preston.
