Whatever we had for the first part of Wolves, or maybe put in Diakite for one of whoever we had in CM
I'm not convinced he'll play Diakite. Derry played well against Everton and MH may want to keep some continuity. I'd play: --------------------------Kenny-------------------------- Onouha------------Ferdinand-------Hill-------------Traore --------------------- Barton-----Derry-------------------- Cisse--------------------Taarabt------------------Mackie ---------------------Zamora----------------------------- Could change to 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 if (God forbid) we're chasing the game!
I'd probably play like that as well. But what I said was I don't expect MH to, no sentiments. He might stay with a settled back four but Diakite will start, 100%.
Could be a risk to play Diakite after only 30 mins in the prem. I don't expect MH to play the team I selected, but he may keep Derry in and keep the back 4 unchanged imo! MH could play this: ---------------------Kenny--------------------- Onouha----Ferdinand--------Hill----------Traore SWP----------Barton----Derry----------Tarrabt --------------Zamora-----Cisse----------------
This must be the first time I find myself disagreeing with you NUTS. With 7 of our remaining games being against the top 6 and Sunderland away, that leaves just 4 against teams that we have a decent chance of turning over. Having got just 1 point from Wolves, B'burn, Fulham and Everton (3 of which were at home) its absolutely imperative that we win Saturday. We've left ourselves in this position and I feel anything other than a win and it will be almost impossible to get enough points to stay up. (Did I mention I think this game is important? )
Well swords i can't win them all. Still think that the points total for survival will be really low this year (thank god). I have this feeling that we are going to get stronger and stronger over the next number of games. I really dont fear Liverpool at home and think we can turn them over. You make a good arguement and yes we are running out of games. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed.
Agreed on both points there. I think West Ham stayed up with 33 the season before last and I reckon it'll be a similar total required this season. Liverpool are totally beatable and have been for the last TWENTY YEARS!! They're not a Club to fear and it was criminal what we did earlier in the season going up there and giving them so much respect, especially after all the other sh*t teams went there and got something. Looking forward to the game Saturday.
Personally, I reckon that Wolves will get left behind. If you ignore their first 3-4 games when they were flying then they're shocking. I think the rest will pick up more points than expected (this league table isn't that uncommon and the bottom teams always get more than it looks like). Teams like Liverpool (already in Europe) will have less to play for and will drop points. We'll end up with a point score in the mid to high 30s starting with 3 on Saturday. I'd play Hill at LB (we need his height/commitment for set pieces) with Young at RB (he's looked the most useful going forward in that position). Move Traore up to LW, Tarbs RW, Barton and Diakite in the centre and Cisse and BZ up front. We win 3-0 and the world looks rosy.
I love some of the confident optimism in this thread. It is an antidote to the butterflies bouncing around my belly every time I think about Saturday. Matt, 3 nil will do me just fine!!
I wouldn't say it's confident optimism because the butterflies are there but it's more like excited nerves.
We've got good players who have not been playing as well as they can. They are beginning to click, somebody is going to get thumped, but I'll take 1-0 on Saturday.
I wouldn't change the back 4 at all, let alone 2 changes!! Hill is too slow at left back, so he must play at CB if he does play imo.
I think he makes up for a lot in positional sense and what we'd lose down the left, we'd gain down the right. I am also worried about height in the team and 3 players of CB stature would help. We're led to believe that the training is intensive and thorough and I'd hope that would afford us the luxury of bringing in players until we get our best 11 on the park (form based instead of reputation hopefully). I suppose the question is, what is our strongest team according to MH? I don't actually have the faintest idea.
