No doubt because it’s a London game, Kit’s press conference won’t be until tomorrow. Nonetheless I’m going to make a pre-emptive stab at the team. Hyndman (definitely) and Amorebieta (probably) I’ll assume are still sidelined. Starting at the back then. As rosc has pointed out our fullbacks haven’t been terribly good recently. Richards, despite his Opta stats … "Jazz Richards was the afternoon’s busiest player with 108 touches of the ball – to give some context, Ipswich’s most-productive individual was Luke Chambers with 76. Richards looked to get involved at both ends of the pitch and delivered three crosses, went on one successful dribble, won possession five times, played one key pass and made one interception." …. I thought was poor against Ipswich. Stafylidis, as well as drifting/losing his man as mentioned numerous times previously, is quite simply also costing us too many goals against and needs to be “rested”. Grimmer will give his all but is still finding his feet and lacks the confidence to drive forward. However the alternatives, Hoogland and Kavanagh, I suspect are still “one match away” and could feature in tonight’s U21 Cup game against Chelsea. So, no change likely. [Personally I think we’d benefit more by playing both Hoogland and Kavanagh in midfield in the current set up in any event.] The main questions in midfield revolve around whether he “rests” the out of form Tunnicliffe (who has looked pedestrian in the last 3 games) and LVC (who doesn’t seemed to have fully recovered from the recurrence of his hamstring injury) AND whether he starts with “wanna be away” Ruiz. Up front, we all hope he continues with a more forward McCormack but what about another out of form man, Hugo? Okay we know he won’t win the ball in the air but his first touch against Ipswich was poor even by his standards. I think Kit, in the main, will persist with his ‘trusted men’ but try a slight variation of the so-called ‘diamond’ - it hasn’t really been that if we’re honest; it’s been half a dozen players running around! And that he’ll go for a starting line-up of: ………………Bettinelli…………. ..Richards…Bodurov…Hutchinson…Stafylidis… ……….LVC…Parker…Fofana…. ….Ruiz…………………….McCormack.. ……………..Hugo…..
A number of the squad are out of form IMO. I realise continuity is a good thing but it's costing us dearly. Who could come in for Stafylidis? Woodrow for Hugo? McCormack isn't a winger, nor is Ruiz. It leaves us very narrow again and very easy to play against.
Bit of a gamble but Millwall do have a poor defensive record themselves, if we can attack and score early it might put them under pressure, but the same goes if we let in an early goal. ………………Bettinelli…………. ..Richards…Bodurov...Burn.…Hutchinson……Kavanagh…. …....Grimmer.…Hoogland….LVC… …................Ruiz…………………… …………….McCormack....….. Thoughts behind lineup: McCormack up front to harass their Center Backs. All 3 midfielders can defend and have scored with late runs into the box depending on Hoogland being fit. both fullbacks can defend and attack with central 3, allowing to cover the attacking fullback. Burns brought in to add height for corners at both ends. Ruiz in the free role instead of Kacaniklic. I wonder if I'd gamble and put Ryan Williams in for Grimmer to see how he coupes.
My head is a bit all over the place regarding line ups lately. Like SBM I'd like to see a back 5 with wingbacks but it's not going to happen. I'd also love to see burn back in the team. I feel he has served his time on the bench and Hutchinson has been fairly error prone lately. If everyone was available this would be my team: --------------------Bettinelli---------------------- ------Bodurov-----Burn------Amorebieta---- Hoogland----------------------------Kavanagh ---------LVC-----Parker------Fofana---------- --------Woodrow-------McCormack---------- While we know Kit isn't going to play with wingers this is the only formation I think suits our players and still gives us width. I know it's not going to happen and we'll see something similar to the Ipswich line up again.
I think we'll go: Bettinelli Richards - Bodurov - Hutchinson - Stafylidis LVC - Tunnicliffe - Parker Ruiz - McCormack Rodallega I've not seen anything to suggest Kit will mix that lineup up, not for the opponent, not for tactical reasons, not for any reason bar injury.
I think it's time Burn had another chance. Hoogland got 90 minutes for the U21s last night. Unlikely that he'll start at Millwall but hopefully he's involved on Tuesday. I'd really like to see Smith back now but it looks like he'll see out the rest of his loan spell at Bristol. Give Taggart a chance on the bench - he seems to be scoring in most U21 games. I suspect Surlyc's right with that XI. The diamond has more credibility with Ruiz in it - last league win in which he didn't feature: Norwich at home in April 2014! Incidentally - I've seen quotes in the last week from Kit saying we need to keep getting the ball down and passing, and Parker saying we should be more direct. Slightly mixed messages.
In his press conference Kit said that Bryan was recovering from a bug but “should be fine for the trip to Millwall”. As should Shaun Hutchinson after a bang on the head against Ipswich. Kit also said that Tim Hoogland, who as we know played for the U21s last night, is getting near to being ready but Nando Amorebieta “needs more game time” which is rather weird since so far as I’m aware he hasn’t played a game for some weeks. No mention by Kit (again) about the fitness of Sean Kavanagh. As we know Pat Roberts, Moussa Dembele and Ryan Williams also all played for the U21s last night, so (if my original team selection is correct) that only leaves Kaca and Woodrow on the bench as attacking players. Unless of course Adil Chihi is going to make an out of the blue appearance!? Sure as hell going to be an interesting bench.
Ruiz and Kavanagh on the bench. No place at all for Grimmer. The team: Bettinelli, Richards, Bodurov, Hutchinson, Stafylidis, Parker (c), Tunnicliffe, Christensen, Kačaniklić, Rodallega, McCormack. Subs: Kiraly, Ruiz, Fofana, Roberts, Woodrow, Kavanagh, Burn
This selection does not inspire me very much. I will be there with a friend, a Millwall supporter who says if you cant beat us then who can you beat.
Have a look at the 'one that got away' https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/569175722414321664/pu/vid/720x720/BYPRiAshgAf8MNPt.mp4 {Hugo's disallowed goal]
That's looks well onside, it takes a second for Hugo to come into view and still looks on even with a second delay
That's what I thought Cookie but didn't want to comment before another opinion. Would be good to get a side-on view. All in all, I suppose a point is not to be sniffed at and it keeps that wee bit of distance from the bottom. I got the impression listening to GJ that we improved after Bryan came on but generally we were scrappy, scrappy and very timid in the final third.
I missed the commentary this week and didn't make it last week but seems that we don't have to watch any game to figure out the play... Boring, unispiring, recipe for disaster. Oh well, let's see...
From that footage you would say he's likely to be onside when the ball was crossed. Real shame as the three points would have been a great confidence booster. Better performance and a couple of good players nearing a comeback into the squad soon. Just Wolves next who I see won 5-0 today.
This in my opinion this was a poor performance by 2 lacklustre teams the type of game one sees at the end of April where nothing is to play for. We must shake ourselves from the complacent attitude that is prevailing within the squad. If I had to give marks out of 10 all would get a five, apart from B Ruiz = 6. Just not good enough, and Kit forget what Shirley Bassey said ,diamonds are NOT forever.
Well it happened again, back 4 pass out to Parker he is surrounded and passes ball back it then goes back to Bettinelli who aimlessly boots the ball up field!!! On a positive note it was better than the Ipswich game, just. Thought the goal was good but looked to the linesman who had his flag up straight away. Two poor teams who couldn't string many passes together. Thought Tunnicliffe was the worst player on the pitch, I've been surprised with his play since he's been back, got good reviews at Blackburn and Ipswich, but hasn't turned up for most games.
Obviously we could've been doing with the 3 points, at the time I was thinking a draw might not have been the worst result BUT having looked at our next few games I just don't see where the next win is coming from? Wolves(A) Derby(H) Watford(A) Bournemouth(H). Can anyone really say that they'd fancy us to win any of these 4 games? We all know how much of an unpredictable league the Championship can be but I've seen no evidence to suggest we can go out and actually beat these teams at the top of the table, all 4 of those teams are still fighting for promotion so will be highly motivated, where as we're going through a bit of a lull at present so I can't see us suddenly picking up our game to the level we need to be to beat these teams.
I was simply going to post ”Like This” SuperBri but haven’t because I had mixed feelings; liked the honesty but not the content. True though it is. Everything I’ve read about Tunnicliffe backs up what you say. The rest don’t seem to have been far behind and as for passing, these stats don’t lie: Overall success pass rate = 57.6% Success long ball pass rate = 35.8% Hugo - success pass rate = 27.3% (only made a total of 10 passes)
Seeing the brief highlights of the Football League show and the full footage of Hugo's goal showed that it was not offside - disappointing. I will admit that I did not rate Forfana to start with but he eventually started playing some good stuff and was the best player on the pitch - then dropped to sub and on Saturday he did not feature at all. Tunnicliffe loses the ball too often - and did so also against Ipswich. How he starts ahead of Forfana I don't understand.
