No news from the Club but expect wholesale changes again. The Gaffer will not only want to protect his first team but also give others in the squad game time. Goalkeeper might be a bit of a dilema for him, on whether to give fit again Bettinelli a chance to fight back for the top spot or whether to stick with his current No.2 Joronen. Reckon the boss will stand firm, since the young man hasn't let him down. Right back, always a problem since Grimmer seems to have disappeared and there is no cover for Odoi with Fredericks out injured. Against Orient he had Kavanagh playing there. Likely to do the same again. Reckon McDonald will be the only first teamer to start in this one - unless you count Woodrow as a first team selection - and the line-up will be: .......................Joronen................ ..Kavanagh..Stearman..Ream....Edun.... ............McDonald.....Adeniran.... ....LVC.......de La Torre.......Tunnicliffe... .................Woodrow........
No place for Sessegnon in your selection, Cottager? Other than that, I suspect you might be right. The only other thing is that if one of Kalas or Madl plays, it could be a hint as to who gives way for Sigurdsson at the weekend.
It's only 'Boro, Captain and to be honest I'm not that bothered about the League Cup. So far as Saturday goes I wasn't sure how match fit Ziggy would be but was surprised to see that he's had 3 League games under his belt for Krasnodar since the Euros - the last on 13th August. So, let's see how he gets on with the pies at Motspur Park and make a decision on Thursday.
Stop Press Jack Grimmer has re-appeared. He's been given the No.28 squad shirt, so expect to see him at RB tonight - Sean Kavanagh and Ryan Tunnicliffe vying to be dropped from my earlier selection.
And of course how could I have forgotten Jozabed? Well, primarily because I thought he'd come off the bench tonight. The Gaffer confirmed this (I think) when interviewed by the local paper today he said, “There is probably a chance for us to give him more minutes on Wednesday in the League Cup against Middlesbrough". His main line was that Jozabed needs time to settle in - “He is a new player and needs to adapt himself to where he has arrived. He does not speak the language, it is a new country with a different culture and different football. He is a guy who has quality and is very good on the ball, but he has to understand what is the Championship because the competitions in every place are different, so everyone needs time to adapt themselves. “We care about him and need to give him enough time to adjust. He did not play any pre-season game for us, so we need to be waiting a little bit with him.” Source: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/spor...ham-boss-reveals-middlesbrough-clash-11791850 And a new (again I think) video clip of the man himself which the paper included in their article:
The man in charge tonight is David Coote please log in to view this image Mr Coote Coote only ref'd us once last season, the 2-2 home draw against Brentford in which he yellow carded four players; two of ours Ryan Fredericks and Richard Stearman. Season 2014/2015 was the first time we saw him when he ref'd three Fulham games, all away: two defeats and a draw. So when he's been in charge we've had two draws and two defeats. Last season he had 30 games, dishing out 111 yellows and 5 reds.
I'd love to see the boys stick it up Boro. One nil down at half time is not a problem. Totally recoverable. COYW
The channel 5 summariser seemed to think Scott Malone had a blinder: the phrase 'Scott Malone was at the heart of everything' was definitely used (and not in a bad way). Was anyone from this board there to back that up or offer a contrary point of view? Either way, I suspect Sessegnon will still get the nod on Saturday, not least because Malone has just played two hours tonight. It's a shame from Saturday's perspective that Christiansen also played the full 120 (though from tonight's perspective, I'm mightily pleased that he did and was there to grab the winner!)
There's no better entertainment in town for a fiver than the Cottage under Lights. And boy did the youngsters put on a show; Dennis Adeniran put in an incredibly mature performance in the first half and was the star in that part; Tayo Edun ran off cramp in extra time to put in a storming finale; and Luca de la Torre had 20 minutes that brought the curtain down. After going behind to a really sloppy goal after 10 mins, the lads fought back well but it was a kind of tentative first half by both sides really. Neither keeper having to do much of anything. Our new boy Jozabed - the Gaffer got me there playing him from the start - struggled to get into the game. Slavi made a tactical change at half time and in the second Adeniran held back and played much deeper while Jozabed went forward and played just off Woodrow. He looked more comfortable there and did some good work; nice touches, shielded the ball, made space and had one absolutely fantastic cut back that we should have scored from. Not the finished article but you could sense a bit of quality and as the boss said, he does need time. We got a well deserved equaliser on the run of play and were the better side all of the second half. Extra time brought the fireworks though. Smith came on for the injured Woodrow early in and all of a sudden we had more options. Instead of the tippy tappy stuff, we still had that but also we could now make crosses with confidence (which better suited the likes of Kavanagh - who came on for the luckless Grimmer injured in the first half - and Malone). Then de la Torre came on for Jozabed and all hell was let loose. For the 'Boro defence anyway. He ran them ragged. A pause for a couple of negatives. Ironically it's about our two goalscorers. LVC spent the evening trying to be bossy and often forgot about his own game. He didn't have a bad one, it could just have been so much better. Then there is Malone. His defence was non-existent. May be biased but one thing I really do not like is when a player stands in no-mans-land pointing at others to indicate who they should mark. Fair play he made a couple of runs and crosses late on but he did not make one tackle all night ... not impressed. Back to the good stuff. Top of the bill was how disciplined and organised we stayed throughout. And the displays put on by all our youngsters. Not sure if this is allowed given he only came on in extra time, but my MOTM was Luca de la Torre for the way he almost single handedly took on the 'Boro defence and the weight off our own.
Funny you should mention those two specifically, Captain. Just as you posted this I was sending mine and well, you'll see above that Ch5 and I are somewhat at odds.
