Why not go for three? We played splendidly last week and looked a real threat, we could go and beat Leicester but we need to make a few personnel changes. Our away performances have deteriorated and we have conceded a lot more in recent weeks. Time to move Alderweireld back into defence, methinks.
He has a point considering not only how long we have been up the high echelons of the league, but also just how many points we have been ahead of 8th place. It would be very dissapointing to finish 8th.
By that I mean there really are no certainties, other than Newcastle losing. We can quite conceivably beat Leicester, and we could quite conceivably lose. 50/50 I'd say.
OK then, if we do that, who loses out? Yoshida was solid today and dropping him would be grossly unfair, so realistically you would have to drop Fonte, who was off his game today. I honestly can't see that being good for morale. If any of the back fourdeserve the chop it would be Bertrand on today's form, so maybe play Yoshida at LB?
We are still odds on to finish at least 7th, Swansea have to get at least 5 points against City, Arsenal and Palace and we would have to lose all three of our remaining games.
Fonte has to give JWP lessons in avoiding red cards...he has perfected that unconcerned innocent look, whilst looking up the field for someone to pass the ball to.
Yoshida played pretty well today. But Alderweireld is better. And if Alderweireld at CB and and Reed at DM makes for a stronger squad, then that's what you play. Not saying I necessarily agree with moving Alderweireld, but you go with the best XI. And if someone gets dropped after a good game, too bad. Yoshida can't be mad. He knows he is behind Fonte and Toby. Gardos has actually played pretty decently when pressed into duty, but we dropped him when players got healthy.
We could always match Leicester up 5-3-2/3-5-2. Put Toby back into defence without dropping Yoshida. And I think it's widely acknowledged that Mane is much better for us through the middle than out wide.
I know . All I am saying is that given things overall , I will be satisfied with 8th . That is in NO WAY a criticism of people who feel we should finish higher . It is simply my opinion .
I just think it would be poor management to drop Yoshida when he was far better than either Fonte or Bertrand today. I take your point about playing the strongest team, but wouldn't it give a better message to the squad to drop the poorer performers?
I had a bad feeling about today; alot of vengeance in the Sunderland team after we thrashed them earlier this season, still disappointing; its a little like last season when we suffered on the run-in, squad size in terms of quality has been this issue for teams trying to break the 'glass ceiling' long before us. So its not really surprising how we are suffering at this stage. What a great season!!.
Berty had a poor game, but it's one bad game. To drop him and move Maya left would be madness in my book. The interesting thing is that Ron clearly doesn't quite trust Reed quite enough yet (despite the protestations of some on here, Ron sees them daily in training). So I'm happy to side with him as it's a close call. Toby was probably our best player today in all honesty, I just feel more comfortable in the team when he's at the back.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32568599 Ronald frustrated today and found it strange that we played better with 10 men. I don't....I suspect everyone upped their game when another goal down and losing JWP. Suggests they were a bit below par before.
