In his press conference today Kit confirmed that everybody had recovered fine after Tuesday’s Cup win, except Kavanagh whose cut to the knee will keep him out for 10 days. Unfortunately, LVC is still out, although he’s back in training today. But … Ruiz is back and fit. Well whatever Kit said to the press there will be a few tired legs after Tuesday night; Woodrow was out on his feet and fair play to him for stepping up to take a penalty; Parker another obvious one. And, he has three (other than Ruiz) fresh faces in Kaca, Tunnicliffe and Ryan Williams that he can throw into the mix. With Sean Kavanagh out - which is a great pity since he’s been great in the last two games and Stafylidis probably had his best match for us in the replay arguably because Kava was in front of him - a main question is who plays left midfield? Or will it be a slightly different variation of his “diamond” that Kit plays? I think the latter and he’ll go - …………………..Bettinelli……………… …Grimmer…Bodurov…Hutchinson….Stafylidis… ……………Tunnicliffe…Parker…………… ………Fofana…………….McCormack………… ……………Woodrow…….Hugo…. An alternative would be Ruiz at No. 10 and only playing Hugo up front.
No place for Kacaniklic, Cottager? Perhaps at the expense of one of the strikers. That would enable (whisper it) McCormack to play further forward. We can dream.
Not sure Kaca is yet 100% match fit and there's a wee question of us being defensively vulnerable if he plays wide left. From what I've heard and seen McCormack was doing a lot of 'left back' stuff against Wolves which is why I suspect Kit will prefer him there. Of course there's the 'new' Kaca in the centre so maybe he could come in at No. 10 , with just Hugo up front?
I don't really see the urgency to get McCormack furthest up the pitch. Sure, he scored a lot of goals there for Leeds last season, but he's been great in a deeper role, and most of the time during Kit's reign we've not wanted for goals. I don't see why all of a sudden it's a problem. If we were to play him up top, I think we'd have to get Matt Smith back. It seems as though he needs to play off a big man (quiet at the back!).
…………………..Bettinelli……………… …Grimmer…Bodurov…Hutchinson….Stafylidis… ………Eisfeld……Tunnicliffe…R.Williams…… ……………Woodrow…….Ruiz…. .......................McCormack................... If Ryan Williams has come back from Barnsley I'd like to see him in, and if Ruiz has recovered from 'injury', if not then put Hugo up front and McCormack floating, but I'd like to see McCormack upfront scaring the 2 central defenders. No Parker as I think he slows things down too much, I think we need to shake up midfield.
For some reason I have a good feeling about this game, feel like we may get a comfortable win. Based on absolutely nothing of course, but here's hoping!
Bettinelli; Grimmer, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis; Fofana, Tunnicliffe, Parker, Kačaniklić; Rodallega, McCormack Has El Capitano got his wish? If that's a 442 he may well have. COYW
To anyone who has attended/watched our recent games - Has Fofana impressed? He seems to have been an automatic pick since he arrived but can't say that I've heard any great reviews on him. What is he bringing to the team that's putting him ahead of our own youngsters like Williams and Roberts?
Winning goal in the last minute!!! Ruiz gets it after coming on as a sub. Well it wasn't comfortable as I predicted but we'll take it!
Fabio.... Fofana has been ok, a few quiet games but also in patches shows great potential to be honest I don't mind him starting as with LVC injured he isn't really blocking any of our own youngsters as he is a central midfielder and Williams and Roberts are both wide men / inside forwards. I suppose Hyndman would be the one he is holding back but he is off with the U.S under 20's
Cheers Cookie, hopefully the more games he gets under his belt we'll start to see the best of him. I should say that I wasn't trying to make a comparison in terms of the position they play between Fofana, Williams and Roberts, more to the fact that Kit seems to have gave Fofana a right good run of starts but with our own youngsters it seems to be a bit stop start, in one game then back on the bench the next. I'd like to see our young players, particularly Roberts, given a chance and a run of games rather than the 15-20 minute cameo's in games that they get at present.
It wasn't in the first half Bidley, but it was in the second (although probably closer to 433). And indeed it was a game of two halves. In the first, apart from the first 5 minutes, we offered little; with Tunnicliffe looking really rusty and Fofana lost, standing out on the right wing. Hugo should have scored inside those 5 mins and we were unlucky to only hit the post late on but in between … nothing. Then the tactical change at half time - Tunnicliffe in the middle behind Parker and Fofana, Kaca in the centre and up front McCormack. More shape, more control and a beautiful goal. Okay, Reading then upped their game and had enough pressure to justify their equaliser. But we were always fighting and more constructive in this half. Then step in Bryan. Kit was correct in his earlier sub of Woodrow for Hugo and so with this one; bringing on Ruiz for Kaca (who was beginning to flag). Apart from his headed goal and the winner of course, Bryan introduced that bit extra .. some would say class! If only he would put in the same amount of commitment he did today in every game. Kit will no doubt reflect contently on the game and 3 well earned points. However, I hope he also learns and takes away the very obvious message about his team selection/system of play. PS The ref (again) did us no favours and was baffling at times with his decisions.
From what I've seen, the thing that Fofana brings is athleticism and muscle. when people complain that you need more muscle in midfield in the Championship, he's our best answer at the moment. He's certainly skilful, though he's not the finished article yet (particularly with his decision making). My biggest concern is that he'll never be close to the finished article for us.
For those not staying up for the Football League Show tonight click on Bryan's 93rd minute winner - https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/83...p4?versionId=RzfjtbobxJVDsxpX4D0z._FuhPLIhCnT
What a relief to stop the run of 3 league losses. I'll take the 3 points and some hope for the formation from the second half. Maybe Bryan is our Solksjar (no comments on the spelling)?
Relieved to get the win, we were under seige for a good 10 minutes after Reading equalised. I'm not sure how we got through it without conceding but McC / woodrow and ruiz combined well for the winner. Scott's pass for the opener was sublime, I though he had a good game on the whole, although dallied a little when we were in scoring positions. I thought Fofana had one of his best games today, showed energy, broke up play and offer a good counter attack option in the second half, especially considering how slow Betts was to put the ball back in play in the first. Been watching Schwarz for too long! I didn't think it was a good performance over the 90, but we got the win. We invited pressure with long balls, at times to no-one. Roda is regressing, hopefully Woodrow takes his spot.
That was a sweet victory & 3 points after all their time wasting and cheating. I'd like to thank their Right Back for cheating, as we probably wouldn't have scored the 2nd but for him diving on the ball to get a freekick and then they tried more time wasting again. Bit disjointed in the 1st half, but both teams missed taking their chances. We had a better shape in the second as I thought Kit put Kaca in the middle and Tunnicliffe to the left of midfield to give Stafylidis cover but he still got the run-around by their No12, with McCormack going up front till Woodrow came on. A nice move for the 1st goal with Parker doing what I want him to do, feed the forward line quickly and not to keep passing the ball backwards. Tunnicliffe did well but he got a bit too involved in some tussles. For me Fofana hasn't uprooted any trees yet, he doesn't seem to see what is happening around him ie.doesn't anticipate, and he doesn't look that comfortable on the ball, but what he does have is energy. Kacaniklic looked good at times going forward but again his defensive qualities were poor, hence the change at Half-time. You could see their goal coming as we were having trouble defending corners, and Stafylidis was giving quiet a few away. while chasing their No12 McCleary? But our 2nd was a nicely constructed goal with a far post cross by McCormack for Woodrow to head across back goal and Ruiz lepta backwards to head in.
Today gave further evidence of the spirit that Kit's built into the team, but we're still a long way from being the finished article. The first half was awful and at halftime I was wishing I hadn't made the journey down from the midlands. The second half was a big improvement, but not for the first time this season we were lucky to come away with three points. Great for Kaca to score on his return to the Cottage and it'll do his confidence no harm at all. I thought Parker was our best player and it was good to see him pushing forward in the second half. I like Fofana and I hope we hold onto him. He's a long long way from the Man City first team, and will be for some time, so if he's happy at Fulham maybe we can keep him next season. Tunnicliffe did ok - good commitment and I like that he seems to have a bit of an edge to his game, although he got a very silly booking. Great cross from Ross for the winner and good work from Ruiz to finish it off - might be the last he scores for us.
Fulhamish makes a good point about the spirit in the side. That's two games running we've scored a decisive goal in added time. Whatever our failings, giving up on a game doesn't seem to be one of them. Can someone who was there spell out how the starting eleven lined up - formation and who fitted in where - as well as how the substitutions changed things? Thanks.
