If Ricky is still injured who should play up front against Blackpool? Would be sods law if Brett comes on for them and scores against us!
As I mentioned on another thread, I saw Ricky step off the team bus on Saturday at the Keepmoat and I saw him wince with pain and limping quite noticeably. Does not bode well.
Guly and de Ridder de Ridder so his lack of defensive capabilities is not such an issue. Also because I doubt Barnard will be fully match fit for some time. I just hope we don't see Morgan, Hammond and Cork at the same time again. I would like to see... Fox or Holmes on one wing and Lallana on the other. Cork and Morgan in the middle. Harding at LB and the rest as per normal. But we shall see..
I wouldn't have De Ridder anywhere near the starting 11. He is an impact player at best. I would go with Guly and Barnard and play the latter for as long as possible.
I would be more concerned about Kevin phillips if he's fit. Butterfield at RB pushing Richardson further forward. Fox and Harding on the left. Lallana floating Guly up front.
Indeed. The difference between Phillips and Ormerod is that with Phillips, you don't just get an ex-Saint but you also get a top goalscorer. Except to see Kev's name on the scoresheet this weekend.
I remember our fans jeering him when he was at Birmingham til he scored the winner against us! was it a cup match?
Carling Cup match off the top of my head. Think I was at the Rose Bowl at the time (watching a fantastic one-day match evolving), and following the game on my phone.
I would still go with De Ridder up front if Nigel has faith in him. I agree with some of the others that if he's used as constant impact player then he'll never get used to 90 mins. However, should just tell him to take people on and play his game a little bit. I'd like to see him do more of what Holmes did when he came on Sat.
Would definitely not start with De Ridder! he is nowhere near being a starter and he could of grabbed his chance on Saturday but he didn't.God knows who will play instead of Rickie,probably Barney and Guly but then you have the problem of who plays on the right wing.This may get shot down but i think we should go with Richardson at right back with Butterfield right midfield,he has played there before and he had a great game against Middlesbrough.Just goes to show that we needed a striker in the summer.Can't wait for January so we can get some much needed back up in.
A good portion of the team had an off day in the final 3rd on Sat and the best way I have of describing it is Walsall away repeat. I would still give De Ridder another chance and will 100% support what Nigel goes with
Adkins has talked about Holmes playing RM in the past, and he got his goal vs Watford from there. I wouldn't have much problem with him starting. But yes, Butterfield could too be an option. I'm not convinved by all this talk of moving Lallana over to the right, and then pushing Fox into midfield, and then bringing Harding in at LB. Just too much movement and disruption for me. We've got something which works at home, so why change it any more than is absoloutely neccessary?
Actually yes,good shout,i forgot about Holmes! he was at least trying when he came on at Donny,i'd rather him than Spiderman to be honest,i love the guy but he's just not comfortable on the right.
i think the most important part of saturday will be us lot..... we MUST get right behind the team and be as loud as possible for the whole game. If we start to get frustrated it will effect the players. Get behind the boys. COYR
I wouldn't mind trying a 4411/4231 like we used against Preston in the Carling cup with Reeves playing behind the main man. It's the only way we can have width AND an extra man in midfield, which we'll need without Lambert. Could also be Lallana in the hole. Not sure if Barnard is fit enough, but if he is I think I'd put him up top on his own. I'd put Guly back on the right as there's less pressure on him that way. It's probably not his best position, but he can still come up with moments of magic from nothing even when he plays badly. He doesn't touch Lambert in the target man role and is too incosistent for that role IMO. ....................Davis................... Richardson...Fonte...Hooiveld...Fox .........Hammond...Schneiderlin...... Guly.............Reeves..........Lallana ..................Barnard................... If Barnard is only bench-fit, swap him for De Ridder and put Guly up front.
Barnard is taking an incredibly long time to get ' match fit' isn't he? Anyway I predict iron man Lambert will play on saturday and Chaplow will make the bench.