Sounded like we came into the game towards the end and a point was probably about fair. Ramirez should definately play the floating role between the midfield and the final third. With the Stoke game so soon after this one, I wouldn't be surprised to see some rotation.
I'd be tempted to play a 3 5 2 against stoke with hooiveld, fonte and yoshida at the back, clyne and shaw as wing backs, a midfield 3 of cork schneiderlin and a more advanced ramirez, with a front two of lambert and rodriguez.
I like this idea, I was thinking about that myself earlier today and it might be effective against Stoke, my only difference in thinking was Cork/Davis/Morgan in the middle and Ramirez playing behind Lambert, though. I think it would make us really tough to break down and Shaw/Clyne have got the legs to get forward on the break. A point at Stoke would be excellent.
I'm not sure we should be putting all our eggs in one basket, just in an attempt to get a point away to Stoke - even though it would be a very impressive point. Four games in eleven days is tough. Either people will need to be rested over these next two games, or we can forget about getting anything at home to Arsenal. Just look at Liverpool away at the start of the month. We were tired, very tired. We couldn't handle three games in seven days. But I didn't mind too much then, because Newcastle and Norwich were the big two games that week (plus we had no fourth game following the Liverpool one). If we put out pretty much the same XI on Saturday, we might, with a cracking performance, take a point. But Arsenal will then walk over us three days later, especially as they had today off. Wooo, Villa collapsing again.
Pleased with a point today and we got a penalty when it mattered! Pissed that Sunderland won but at least Reading failed to beat Swansea at home. They are down for me.
A point away from home with results going for us turned out to be a decent result. Leaving it to the last few minutes just made it feel sweeter. It was very important not to get consecutive defeats...all about confidence. Have to stop leaking stupid goals.
And Villa is getting crushed again, as well. The mini-league is shrinking for the time being, but we're in fairly good shape among the current five contenders.
Very interesting, the main shortcoming of 3 at the back can be when you get overloaded outwide, but Stoke aren't particularly a team that attacks with their fullbacks so we wouldn't run too much of a risk and it would set us up nicely in other areas. On paper I think that could set us up quite nicely, but would take a bit of work on the training ground which we don't have time for, and I don't see Nigel surprising us with it on Saturday.
Likely to be Us, Wigan and Villa competing for 18th place. And i think most people no better than to bet on Wigan going down these days.
I like the 3-5-2 thought for Stoke (A). The players might well have been getting used to it during our week off from competitive games when Nigel mentioned trying different combinations at training. Who knows, only a few days to wait and find out though.
Having 3 central defenders doesn't necessarily make you stronger at the back, it just means you have 3 players in an unfamiliar setup instead of 2 who know what they are doing. Can't see it happening, and really can't see it working if it did happen.
I'm with you. Juventus make that formation work extremely well, but the wing-backs don't have a lot of defensive responsibility, and the centre-backs are very well drilled in their positions, and are responsible for chasing both strikers and wingers. Also our threat down the flanks would be reduced, as Clyne and Shaw would have to man each wing by themselves, and we'd have to play a slow side-to-side passing game to give them a chance to advance up the pitch for attacks. Counter attacks would be hard to deal with.
Certainly not looking forward to Stoke on Saturday, they look like the sort of team we wont be able to match at all.
And that's why I have highlighted the Stoke game for quite some time as being the game during this Xmas period for us to rest multiple players. Stoke away is hard for the big teams, let alone us. I don't see us getting anything, and I really, honestly believe that it will be a tougher test than Arsenal at home. So although many, many people wont like it or agree with it, I do hope Adkins puts all our resources into that Arsenal game, and basically goes into the Stoke game with a Cup XI. Play the likes of Hooiveld, JWP, Jay, Mayuka etc.
