Match Day Thread Man Utd v Saints Sunday 12th March 2pm

Brilliant news.

 

Good to hear Alcaraz should be okay for Sunday. I would go with the same team, Perhaps Drop KWP in for AMN and plop Perraud back at LB. Rushford worries me.

 

Let's see. If there's any doubt about Charly not being quite fit, I wouldn't play him. He could end up being very important, and we don't want to lose him for an extended period.

 

Play Kami in the 10.

 

Especially as old Trafford falls into the “free hit” category

 

Yes, exactly. If we must play Lucy as a ten again, I’d far rather it was in a ‘free hit’ game over a ‘probably might win’ job.

 

So, if we should get a penalty (old Trafford?, I don't think so) but let's just pretend we do.

Should JWP take it? His penalties have been a bit predictable.

 

Not if AMN is on the field. He's surprisingly excellent at penalties.

 

Ahh didn't know that LTL, yes worth mixing it up a bit.

Mind you, we get a foul on the 18 yard box line, we will all be screaming for a free kick, not a penalty.

 

Panenkas, the lot...

I think because he plays like he's stoned most of the time, the whole nerves thing doesn't phase him.

 

We do have a vacancy in that department. But what's the trade off? Not sure.

 

When he stepped up last week I said to the bloke behind me, “He’s great at free kicks, but pens?”

So I’m going with a no.

 

He's 16 for 22 on pens in his career (doesn't include shootouts). That's not great, and it's been trending downward.

Beyond JWP, the players who have taken non-shootout penalties are:

Onuachu - scored 19/21.
Ad Armstrong - scored 17/22.
Orsic - scored 9/11 (never forget).
Che - scored 3/3.
Mara - scored 2/2.
Walcott - scored 0/1.

Unfortunately, the players with some success taking penalties aren't generally on the pitch.

 

Not wanting to jump the gun with Alcaraz or anything, but eventually he could be the type of player you want to build your attack around. I wonder if he’d work better with Stuie than Sulemana. Stuie’s passing and awareness is much better for the intricate one-two type play that I think Charly wants. Sulemana is more your beat-the-defender type, like your Edozies and Adarmas, who, as we know, tend to struggle against Premier League full backs more often than not.

Pretty confident Aribo’s game would improve with Charly too.

 

Neither Stu nor Aribo are particularly good passers, though. Remains to be seen how good of a fit Alcatraz and Camel Dean might be, but having a player like Alcaraz making runs through the middle while you have a player like Sulemana threatening to get in behind is a fairly natural fit, at least on paper. It's been a minute since we had multiple runners that defenses had to track.

 

Sutton has gone 3 - 0 Manchester United, his Oppo says 2 - 0.
Lawro has also gone 2 - 0.

 

3-2 away win then

 

"For sure he will be fit for Brentford" is the important bit there.

 

Lucy for Sunday then, I suspect.