Looks like we're going to have a few changes for the Stoke and other games. We've lost Hangeland which will give Stoke the ariel advantage with Crouch. I think Senderos will be kept to partner Hughes, even though he always seems to make fatal mistakes. And I don't think him and Hughes have that partnership. May be Baird could step in but then that leaves us very vulnerable to crosses and Crouch. Midfield we have Ruiz, Richardson, and Kacaniklic out, may be coming back in will be Baird, Karagounis, and Diarra one or two will be the choice for holding midfield along side Sidwell, all of them can tough it out with Stokes midfield. Rodallega, Dejagah and Kasami as an attacking midfielder. Duff took a nasty kick from Cattermole on his achilles late in the game. Petric wasn't able to run freely after he got crocked scoring the goal. So see if he recovers. Berbatov impressed when he dropped deeper into the Ruiz role, but I can't see him wanting to remain there for too long. maybe just for the Stoke game, with Petric and Rodallega up front. It will give an opportunity for a few younger players to get on the bench, may be Smith, Trotta, Donegan. Shame Frei and Burn are on loan, and Simon Davies is still injured.
I took a look at our injury list last night and it wasn't happy reading considering we have three tough games coming up. However, I think we have the replacements in the ranks as to not see our decent start to the season derailed. Dejagah in for Kaca, Petric in for Ruiz (if fit, Hugo if not) Baird in for Sidwell, Diarra in for Karagounis and Senderos in for Hangeland. At this point I'd consider recalling Frei, especially if Duff misses the next game.
These three games are all inside ONE week. We'll certainly have to dig deep into our resources (in every sense of the word).
Really?! They said Kaca and Ruiz were out for three weeks which I assumed was three games. Could be a lot more then.
Physioroom.com has Kaca and Ruiz both listed as out for 4 weeks, not 3 as previously reported. Petric and Diarra are down as 4 days, which suggests that the club are hoping they will both be fit for Stoke.
He did indeed Bidley. Just before our only bad few days of the season - this was the local paper's report at the time
Well I hope it's not recurred because he came back too soon. Thankfully Petric looked good on Sunday.
I would keep Kara in the starting line if Diarra not fully fit. Kara and Baird to start in the midfield and bring Sidwell later on.
It's obvious but we'll rue the Sunderland match not just for lost 3 points, but Brede's suspension, plus two 4-week injuries and maybe a 4-day one! I was almost thinking of Sunderland in the same manner as Stoke and Wolves previously.
