Why is everyone overlooking Mayuka, he looks raw,quick and talented and I think Fulham is the perfect game to get him in and scare the hell out of Fulham!
Boruc (if fit, he did play against Stoke U21 and I don't see fitness being a huge issue for keepers.) Richardson Fonte Yoshida Clyne Schneiderlin (if fit) JWP Puncheon Ramirez Lallana Lambert Rodriguez for me is still bedding into the team, Puncheon shouldn't have been dropped against Everton and Mayuka will be more suited as an impact player.
If you look at my post then I was tempted to start him instead of Puncheon but thought Mayuka would be better as an impact player in our shape
Claridge has just made a good point that in the premier league(indeed any league) you have to make the opposition work for a goal. You're going to concede because of the quality but don't give goals away. QPR have just done that again. Out of the 18 we've conceded what percentage have been down to quality? I'd say less than half, so I think we need to be more defensive. If you're going to play attacking full backs then you need more defensive wide players. For example the successful Marsden and Bridge combination. For me I think we should look at Chaplow wide right for away games. He may lack the quality on the ball of Puncheon but if asked he will protect that flank and allow Clyne to get up and down.
Lucky goal for West ham to be honest , one for the misplaced shot going where it did and two for the header .
I personally feel that enough questions have been asked regarding our alleged failure to bring in defensive players. Nothing can be done before Xmas, and we don't know whether we nearly had another player such as the likes of Buttner who elected to go somewhere else. Disappointed as we may be the time has passed and now all we can do is be a very vocal 12th man. If a player has a mare fine say so after the event but cheering the team whilst playing has to be our prime objective for now. Let's see what January brings.
Seaborne in at left back with instructions to defend only. We have to tighten up at the back first. Going forward we have so many options that we don't need two attacking fullbacks.
Why are people suddenly calling for CB at LB, if we wanna tell someone to just defend we would just do it with someone like richardson.
I could not watch the game this weekend due to the stop/start stream, but from most comments it seems JR does not track back to defend as much as we need. Puncheon does seem to doing that. Other than giving the ball away near our own box for the Villa goal, he was helping out a lot and we had one of our better defensive games (weaker team than Fulham no doubt). For me JR should be replaced by Puncheon. I like the Richardson/Clyne pair better than Fox on the field and I think we need to stay with that. Yoshida should start as well. Fonte seems to be playing better now and i wonder if that is Yoshida's influence. No Morgan in the middle hurts. If he cannot go then Davis and JWP should start with Chaplow on bench. We have to have a midfielder on the bench. I give credit to NA on making the change to Gazz. Is it time to make another change? I'm not sure one game with the U21's is enough to put Boruc in yet.
Seaborne played left back a lot in his early days and is naturally a left sided player that should give us a better balance defending and even on set pieces etc. I am not saying he is the answer because we all know a venture into the transfer market is on the cards in January but playing Clyne their will not help his confidence in a back line that is conceding lots of goals. He needs to be playing right back. I think Seaborne is NA only other option at the moment to try and tighten at the back.
------------------Boruc----------------- Richardson-Yoshida-Hooiveld-Clyne -------------Schneiderlin-------------- -----Puncheon Davis Lallana-------- -------------Ramirez------------------- ------------------Lambert-------------- If Schneiderlin isn't fit I would either put in JWP or Chaplow. (Maybe swap them around with Davis)
Ha! Well It means they might just keep their backline and catch a couple offside. Or trip them up. Either way!
Gazzaniga, Richardson Fonte, Yoshida Clyne, Lallana Spiderman Davis Puncheon, Ramirez Lambert Subs: Davis, Seaborne, Fox, Ward-Prowse, J-Rod, De Ridder, Mayuka I honestly think Mayuka could be key for us, thought we should have bought him on a lot earlier at Everton. He should be above J-Rod in the pecking order in my opinion, is a great impact player and think he will create key goals for us this campaign. Also I hate to see J-Rod on the wing, he isn't a winger and Nigel should know that, he'll come through up front eventually, he's still young.
JRod is on the wing because we paid a fortune for him and he can't play in his preferred position (currently occupied by Saint Ricky).
