Be interesting to see how Rosenior reacts after 2 below par performances up front. These lot have the 4th best away record in the league so aren't to be laughed at. As per any Preston game this season will probably be low scoring 1-0 to City
Drop Oscar and play Tetteh as a battering ram cf, using his height, touch and physicality, Pelkas just behind and back to 4231. You're welcome.
We ended the Norwich game like that. And it was really obvious that Tetteh may be a big guy, but he isn’t that kind of player. The only other player apart from Oscar that has been successful in that role this season has been Ryan Longman.
Can't see it being pretty, neither side is particularly free scoring. Can't recall many home wins against them. 0-0 or 0-1 and plenty of whinging and moaning from the blokes behind me in the SE corner
We really need to get a win out of this game and get back to playing well. I went to the away game before coming back here and they look well organised defensively, so we need to find a way without Connolly to open them up.
Norwich didn’t have an Oscar , they had movement , pace and control - we’ve got some players like that - let’s try it
Just need to ensure we keep turning the points tally over. 2-1 City...in a soon forgotten, end of season type kickabout.
Shanks forgot to mention Finney could tap dance around any opposition player whilst wearing drainpipes under his overcoat !
This is a game we can win and we should see lessons learned from the Norwich game. I really hope we don't see Seri and Woods as a pair, it just doesn't seem to work as well as it did when they first started together. I sometimes wonder if I'm giving Woods the Meyler treatment and not appreciating what he does as he does seem to keep the ball fairly well when on it, but his passing seems to be very inaccurate and he doesn't try hard enough to win back possession. Tufan would be the obvious choice given his quality but there seems to be an issue with Rosie playing him through the middle, ditto Slater who I have to say looks much better when playing centrally and given the freedom to roam. I'd like to see Simons in there, I think it's the kind of game he needs to be involved in, it's not an opponent that are going to look to dominate us and I think he will do well next to Seri as he has lots of energy. I think Tufan needs to be in the team given his quality and while I've been quietly impressed with Longman's growth in confidence over the last few weeks, I can't leave out Pelkas if he's fit enough to start. Tetteh and Oscar up front has to be the combination given the lack of other options. -----------------Ingram------------------- -Christie---Jones---Macca---Greaves Tufan---Seri-----Simons/Slater-----Pelkas ---------Oscar--------Tetteh-----------
It was 70 minutes in on Tetteh's first start for about 5 months and he was obviously knackered. He's not only big and physical (look how he won the header for Greaves' goal) but has excellent touch and game intelligence, as evidenced by the amount of assists he has. One of our big weaknesses is the fact that Oscar cannot hold the ball up and rarely wins the physical duels, especially with his back to goal. If we're going to carry on with this system it's obvious that Oscar isn't the man to make it work and it's nuts not to try the 6'5" bloke that's already "in the building".
People also forget how much harder it was playing in those days. Picking out your teams mates when everything was in black and white must have been a nightmare.
I think it's a bit harsh to say Oscar can't hold it up. When he's on it I think he's really good at winning physical duels and holding the ball up for others. Like everyone he has good and bad moments but I don't think his hold-up play is a major concern.
Woods is a very 'neat & tidy' footballer, but not a battler like Myler and he's slow. Ok-ish as a Seri replacement when needed. Simons looks more like the sort of player we need to complement Seri, but Rosenior doesn't appear to think he's ready. Looking at the team you go for, we are still so short of pace. For me, Malcolm has looked attrocious & completely lost in his cameos so far; hopefully it's just lack of match fitness as we desperately need pace & trickery adding to the side. Hopefully we have Traore and Allahyar back shortly and Malcolm finds his fitness & form.
