Thanks RTB yet another belter, cant see anything other than a convincing win, I would bring Cirkin back in, I thought he would have played on Saturday from the start. I missed the match Saturday so looking forward to getting there tomorrow, I think we will win 3-0 with Wilson getting back on the scoreboard.
RLB: 'We are in a good position. Luke O'Nien was ill over the weekend so we will monitor him but everyone else is okay...' Mepham is straight back in, Rigg and Jobe both avoided supension. We have 7 games ahead of us and need the full squad, we need Rigg and Jobe on the pitch. “Dennis was out for two-and-a-half weeks, It was a long period with his surgery, and he needs time to rebuild his foundations. It depends on the profile of the player, but Dennis is explosive so he needs a little more time. When he is ready, it will be very useful for the team because he is a good player.” 'I am very happy. We showed consistency in different phases. We never gave up and I believe we deserved to win the game...' 'We will have to play our best football against a very good team. We analyse their strengths and weaknesses and evolve to try and win the game...' Tommy: 'I have been really impressed. Not just Saturday but also the Sheffield United game. It is up to him now to repeat those levels of consistency...' “We manage game-by-game,” said Le Bris. “With efficiency, better control of the ball out of possession, we can become more efficient. “We can manage the game better. Players are like that, they like playing. They can recover quickly by playing their best moment in football. If you enjoy and feel improvement game after game, you can recover quickly so that is important. “These players like playing a lot and if we have to manage the rotation, we can do that. We can play many games in a row without a problem.”
I’d have Mayenda in for Roberts, don’t think there’ll be too many changes though - there never is with RLB.
I'll be surprised if O'Nien starts tbh. He ran himself into the ground and was one of the first off the pitch at the end ... ... him and Wilson are usually the last, in fact I think O'Nien locks the place up at night
He wasn’t his usual self on the behind the scenes video either, didn’t think anything of it at the time but makes sense now, wouldn’t be surprised if he plays through it and plays well again like, wasn’t long ago he played for months with a dislocated shoulder they don’t make many like him anymore
Sounds like RLB is going to use Luke’s illness as a reason to play Mep and Dan. It’s the excuse to ‘rest’ Luke and so keep them (3) happy although if both Luke’s arms fell off he would still want to play (like Monty Python’s Black Knight) Be interesting to see how they play without Luke because I believe he brings the best out of whoever he plays with and for me would be the ever present one with Dan and Meps fighting for the other place. It’s great the options we have there with Alese also very good. Similar to LW when Mundle comes back. We might start seeing RLB making substitutes before the 80th minute with these options. The midfield has few options, with Browne injured virtually nobody except Adil. L/R fullbacks a bit light but the Onion can play there if needed and Alese can do LB as well. I wonder when we will see the 3 unknown lads, Abdullah, Samed and Aleksic (who has had a few minutes to be fair)
Brilliant thread again RTB. Thank You for your sterling efforts, week in week out. Most of me expects 3 points tomorrow night, but Bristol City are one of those mid table sides who pull rabbits out of hats now and again like they did at Boro. Also, because of my age, I am able to remember the season when we won every home game.... except the ones against the two Bristol's. So, every time we come up against them, I'm wary. We've got ourselves right back in the mix and confidence should be high after 2 very good performances, even though we cruelly lost 1 if them. I've gone for a draw on my predictions, but that's because it's Bristol. If I was being sensible, I would say 2-0 and two-thirds of the way to repeating our 3 wins in a week like we did in October. Would like to see Isidor net one to keep his confidence levels up. HTL!!!!
I think I’d maybe use this and allow Onien to drop to the bench for this game. I wouldn’t do that otherwise (think he’s been better than Ballard this season) but RLB has created a bit of an issue for himself where changing the team is seen as being dropped rather than merely rotation. It’ll take a little time to normalise him changing a winning team. Think we could do with doing it when it doesn’t cost us much, though.
With the options we have at centre half now there’s no bad pairing so I’m fine with whoever is selected, I do want to see how mepham and Ballard will compliment each other so this could be the perfect chance
If Luke is fit,he'll play alongside the returning Mep....with Dan on the bench....Denis back at left back.....no changes elsewhere.....would be my guess.
I still want more from Patrick. Only because I know he’s capable of a lot more than he’s currently showing
I've got a sneaky feeling we will sell Ballard as he has strong interest in him this window.And use the money to buy Mepham. if we do go up they will need cash for better players, so expect a few to go
O9 sounded awful on the YouTube video. you could tell he was relieved when Watson scored he dropped to his knees on the floor. what an absolute warrior of a man and an inspiration to everyone else
