Mathews-Done his Ligaments, we'll probably never see him again Kaboul- Out till early Jan, done his Hamstring Larsson- Out till Mid Jan Catts-Defo out for boxing day, could be the whole festive period Rodwell- 1 Match suspension **** me we're paper thin and low on quality. Hand-Pocket-Short!
Matthews - hasn't featured so no miss there Rodwell - 1 game so coverable though it will have to be Gomez, who is, if it's possible, even worse than Rodwell. Kaboul - maybe Wes can put some oil on his joints and have a run out but suspect we'll go to a flat back four of Jones - Coates - O'Shea - PVA Catts and Larson - think we've missed their endeavour and will continue to do so. Maybe able to put Yedlin in there as a nuisance to support M'Vila. All in all, it's not looking great and Short is going to have to dig deep to get us some fresh legs into the squad. Hopefully, SA has got people lined up already and we get business done early in the window.
Me and a few others got shot down on here for our lack of enthusiasm signing Kaboul. Yes hes a half decent player, probably our best CB when fit, but his injury record is a fecking nightmare, nearly comparable to Brown. And to think we told our original target Lombaerts to do one after he supposedly failed a medical 24 hours after winning the Russian Super cup with Zenit where he was an ever present. Who can say if the worst was to happen this season and we go down that we don't deserve it? We've had 10 years of transfer disasters since the season we got promoted!
What's the point in even playing him if he's less than 100 per cent fit? We might aswell get these next 2 probable unwinnable games out of the way and start a mini season of survival in Jan.
Agreed, he can't be anywhere near fit. If he plays and gets injured again he'll be out for much longer. Not worth it.
Stick Beadling in. We're expected to get beat. Crunchie head is way past his best so how will we ever find out how good our Under 21s/ reserves are if we don't give them a chance. F*ck this " it'll destroy their confidence". They are young men not boys and if they can't hack it ship them out but at least let's find out.
Our U21's have been the complete opposite to our supposive first team this season and that's OUTSTANDING! I'd drop half of the useless Tw@ts that represent our club at 3pm on a Sat and give alot more of the kids a chance!!
It looks more and more like five in a row for us, the danger is we are falling behind the pack above us, three at the back has looked our best shot this season and all we have left available now is a back three of SC JoS and WB with YM and JG as holding players with BJ and PvA as wing backs . Any more late withdrawals and we should call up the U21's to flii the gaps Then as has already been said, start picking up points in the new year.
This leaves us with Brown and Roberge to replace Coatsy and Younis. Gomez to replace Seb and Cattermole and Rodwell. We are down to the last of our players. Can anyone remember when we last played an unchanged first 11? Was it under Reidy perhaps.
Keep Catts for the Liverpool game, and of that, Skirtel is out for 6 weeks injured, so at least we can get at them, he is their key defender. And will Lens play again for us ?.
Roberge can't play. He's not registered. Even less options. Beadling will have to join the match day squad.
Suppose it has to be Wes Brown in and hope he'll be much better with JoS than he was without him, OR revert to a back 4. Wouldnt like to even consider Billy J as a cb option. Hope he goes with Wes for this one, keep the shape and get Fletch-Defoe back together Most likely, he goes 433. Would be a mistake for me.
Add to this the person involved in most of transfer negotiations (and contracts) was CE Maggie Burn - does she still have any direct involvement over transfer/ contract ? - I really hope not
I like the 3 4 3 set up when we have the key players all fit, if that is ever going to be the case, but when the options are so limited, Sam may opt for 4 4 2 , this squad must be a managers nightmare. Whatever happens this season the board and supporters must give Sam all the backing he needs, he is without doubt the man for the job.
