Made up for Sargent, he looks to have improved his running between the lines, probably with the help of seeing a player like Pukki everyday, but with his added physicality and aerial threat, he is looking very good!
A clean sheet and a new striker - not a bad night. I am thinking Pukki is going to play from the bench more often this season with Josh keeping him out. There are some similarities in circumstances to a few years ago when Teemu was played wide and was largely ineffective. Once he moved into a central role he was a revelation. Josh appears to be doing the same having been stuck on the right all his time at Norwich. Teemu has never really been the same since smashing his toe a while back, seemingly having lost some pace since, and may struggle to get his place back any time soon, unless Sarge is hammered week in, week out by the opponenets.
Yes he has taken some flak but his work ethic has endeared him to the fans. You could see that on here last game when he scored - everyone was really pulling for him to do well.
For me, Pukki might have lost half a yard of pace due to his age, but he’s otherwise unchanged. His movement is one of the very best and it has never really been about pace. He’s still got a good touch. He’s always been someone who isn’t quite as ruthless as you’d like to think, misses quite a few, but creates loads because of movement. Even in his bucketful seasons in the Championship he seemed to miss as many as he scored. And then when he scored it was in streaks where he couldn’t miss. So I think he’s going to be great off the bench - there was no sense taking Sargent off until late today, but there will be plenty of matches where mixing it up around the 55/60 minute mark will be good. Plus as they commentary just said it produces the interesting option of us going 442
Happy to eat humble pie. Sargent is really taking his opportunity! Just goes to show what can happen when players play in their preferred position! He actually looked like a footballer today. Pleased for him. Always wanted him to do well, just couldn't see it. Gibbs excellent again and Núñez class again.
When was the last time Pukki didnt start for us having been fit to start?! Must have been a while ago, if ever?!
At 32 Pukki has wisdom & experience but he was a late flourisher Josh is 22 he played In America, Germany the Premier league and Championship and scores in all disciplines
Just what we wanted and needed. Last weekend the talk was we needed 4 - 6 points from these 2 home games. I really thought we needed 6 for player confidence and to release pressure on Dean Smith. We have deserved those points, but, we have to remember we’ve scored sweet FA in terms of points away from home thus far and that’s gonna be the challenge for whether we hover around the play off spots or vie for a proper top 2 spot as we have in the last 2 seasons in the championship. Really worried about Rashica. He’s an asset (has to be with what we spent on him) but it seems at the moment he’s unplayable and unsellable. Another loan? Not sure.
Sinani has to start most games for me. The question is has DS got the technical nouse to set us up effectively away from home where possession won’t always determine the result. I will leave it to others better tactically astute than me to work out how that would work, depending on opposition, but with this group of players it would be a failure to not reach at least top 4 IMO.
Sinani, Sargent and Dowell would seem to be undroppable at the moment. As you say Chris, cannot see where Rashica fits in now, even Hernandez seems ahead of him. With the bench we now have even sub appearances may be scarce. The defence still gives heart palpitations at times though. Sargent was superb, the player we thought we had bought a year ago but who was lost in transit. Appears he has finally cleared customs and is raring to go. Gibbs still a bit naive, gave the ball away a couple of times, but his all round play augers well for the future. The only worry, do the binners have a sell on clause? We may have to give them some money one day of so.
Sunderland will be the test of our new tactics which were to some degree forced on Smith by Pukki's and McCallum's injuries. I think he saw that the 4-3-3 with Pukki, Cantwell and Rashica up front and McLean, Dowell and Nunez wasn't working well enough so he turned to a 4-2-3-1 instead with Sargent the focus, supported by Hernandez, Dowell and Sinani and Gibbs and Nunez in midfield. It was brave to drop Rashica and change the formation but it worked, just. Against Millwall, he went back to a 4-3-3 with Gibbs, Nunez and Dowell in midfield, but Dowell was playing a dual role, dropping back when the ball was lost and moving up behind Sargent when we had possession. The other key in both games was Sinani replacing Rashica, as Danel has a subtle range of skills to break down dogged defences - a goal and two assists underline that and, as you say Chris, Sinani is just as undroppable as Sargent.
Smith has explained that Onel started because he wanted to be direct down one side and pin the Millwall wing back, back. Plus it kept bodies out of midfield where he felt the space would be an advantage to Norwich. 3 games in 7 days for Cantwell would have been a bit much too. He wasn't dropped due to performances.
Average player positions vs Huddersfield: Average player positions vs Millwall: Images: whoscored.com
