Ruiz or Duff against Spurs

Who will Jol play Duff or Ruiz against Spurs.
There is a case for both.

Duff played well against Wisla he works well with Zamora and Johnson,
but you would think Spurs players know how they play and will feel comfortable playing against them.
I just wonder if putting in an relatively unknown Ruiz will unsettle them a bit more, could he exploit Walker or Ekotto going forward. The only thing is I think Ruiz doesn't have the same defense quality Duff has in tracking back and tackling.
Which is why I think Jol will do safety first and chose Duff.

Will Kelly keep his place or will Grygera be preferred to look after Bale.

Dembele had a good home game against Tottenham last season but who would be left out for him ? Could be Johnson if he picked up an injury against Wisla.

 

I'd play Duff given his great performance on Thursday, but does he have the legs? Doubtful.

 

Maybe we should rotate heavily for this one. Zamora should start, as no one else quite does his role, and Murphy should start if he's up to it on the same basis (but I have doubts about that, due to tiredness). It would be tempting to replace Duff, AJ and Dempsey with Ruiz Dembele and Kasami (or, for that matter, Briggs), just to freshen things up. I wish we had a younger alternative to Murphy with his eye for a pass. In defence, I'd put Grygera in but other than that keep the rest of the back four from Thursday night. I think Grygera, Baird, Hangeland, Riise is rapidly emerging as our strongest back four, despite claims that the Hughes and Briggs supporters might make for their men.

 

My team would be:
Schwarzer
Grygera, Baird, Hangeland, Briggs
Sidwell, Murphy/Kasami (Depending on Murphy's fitness)
Dembele, Dempsey, Ruiz
Zamora

I really think this 4-2-3-1 would be top class for us.

 

Looks good

 

Looks pretty good, except I'd rather Etuhu come in for Murphy instead of Kasami. I don't know if Kasami quite has the discipline yet to sit deep.

 

Agreed, I like Kasami and his role is much more attack focussed.

 

I feel we need a better passer in that slot and feel playing Etuhu is a bit risky. But if Etuhu plays well he can be a massive asset as his tackling is superb.

 

Yes, I like Diksa - as a stopper, I think he is poor/v.poor as a creator

 

I think if we were to play that front line there would surely be plenty of creativity in Ruiz, Dempsey, Dembele and Sidders. We'd need to Dicko to break up play.

 

Fair enough. I thought Sidders could break up play with Kasami backing up/moving up and supporting the front line with some connecting passes.