I suspect Jesse Marsch is going to be spoilt for choice on Saturday and will have some head scratching to do, so hopefully he has had plenty of time to work out not only his tactics but which 11 he puts on the field. A great selection headache to have Also this selection problem will be the first time this season. Thats how bad our injury headaches have been. Lots on here saying injuries are bad yes, but the problem's were deeper. No point arguing the toss over spilt milk, but lets see what happens. Bamford, Roberts and Firpo guaranteed out, everyone else available Meslier Ayling, Koch, Llorente, Cooper, Struijk Dallas Phillips, Koch, Struijk, Forshaw Klich Raphinha, James, Harrison, Rodrigo, Dallas Klich Gelhardt, Greenwood, James, Rodrigo Choices choices choices, so lets hope we dont go down the 3 at the back system we usually do against Southampton. Which 2 CBs do we play and Cooper is a better leader on the pitch than Bill. Which 2 up top because I reckon James and Rodrigo will be it and Gelhardt replacing James who will replace Harrison at some stage. Will Phillips start, will Dallas play LB as we need some pace against Walker-Peters Whats you preferred starting 11
......................Meisler....................... Ayling...Llorente....Koch....Dallas ............Forshaw....Philips............. Raphinha.....Rodrigo........James. ....................Gelhardt.................. Got Struijk and Cooper to cover back four Klich for DM if need be Harrison and Greenwood for the front four if need be. This is JM acid test, hes been here long enough to evaluate the squad, lets see what team he sends out.
What Jesse is seeing in training this week will be absolutely key. Wiith that in mind I’m not going to speculate on the starting line up but I do hope that the team is picked wholly on merit for the rest of the season. If someone is flying in training then give them the nod and likewise on matchday anyone not doing it needs hooking. We can’t afford to carry any passengers and it has to be full on from everyone at all times.
After todays presser we now know that Phillips and Cooper are ready to start but he is only going to start with one and bring the other on. We know Raphinha, Rodrigo and James are starting, but we also know Joffy could start too and he likes Sam Greenwood who he says he is spending time with to give him some ideas…..
Due to paddy and Roberts out I guess he has to big up greenwood whether he believes it or not. be interesting to see whether he goes with kp or coops to start. Guess we would all presume it would be kp, but Given the form of struijk and llorente recently it wouldn’t he a total shock if he thought the centre halves were a bigger priority.
Last game, Cooper was penned to get some game time, the injuries prevented that, Phillips was on the bench but was never going to be considered. For this reason I’d imagine Cooper will be the one starting the game. A tricky one as including either to come off the bench isn’t ideal if you’re chasing the game, let’s hope we don’t go a goal behind. You’d assume Koch starting in DM and when it’s time for KP to come on, Koch replaces Cooper at the back with KP taking over in his usual position
We’re still not sure if Marsch prefers a left right CB combo. If he does we could see Llorente and Struijk/Cooper combination then sub. As far as DM goes we have Koch, Struijk or Forshaw. Would love us to start with Phillips
