Be nice to end the year with a win. May as well start with Aneke this game, he'll be competing withSchwartz for the Main striker's spot, give him a chance to show that he can play 70 minutes or so, and if he can't then we've got Ronnie coming in. Jonny Williams hasn't been injured for a while either, so why not start him as well, he's upped his game a bit recently.
It will be interesting to see Bowyer’s tactics today after having his pants pulled down in recent games. There was lots of “we” in his press conference justification for the dip in form, but not a lot of “I”. I still don’t think he gets it. Plymouth are every bit as dire as Swindon & Shrewsbury, so today really has to be 3 points.
Anyone remember our Boxing Day game at home to Southampton about 10 years ago, walked down to the Valley on a rather chilly day only to be told the linesman was scared of slipping on a 3 inch piece of turf he insisted was frozen. Walked back up the hill and broke the news to very pissed off Southampton fans who had made a long round trip on Boxing Day for nothing.
The tactic of being patient and nicking a goal in the last half hour has had its day. Go for it from the start please.
I think Bowyer's tactics are very much dictated by his perception of the squad he has available. Nothing wrong with that as such, but he appears never to vary from that pattern. So today we'll get more of the same I expect. It's up to one or two individual players to exceed expectations if a stand-out result is to happen.
We have no game for a week after today (Hull A). This is a home game against poor opposition, and demands an attacking line up & mindset. I still think LB will select Pratley, Watson & Forster Caskey but there is no excuse for picking Bogle & Gilbey ahead of Aneke & Williams. Everyone apart from LB can see that the latter pair are much better players.
