Figgy v Johnson! For me on current form Rosey should be marking Johnson so that'll be 4-4-2 on Sat then..........
We looked so much better in a 4-4-2, and I hate to say it for fear of it sparking an argument, but our centre defensive pairing of McShane and Davies was much better without Bruce.
Figgy's been our most disappointing signing. He's like the McShane of old, he's reponsible for almost every goal we concede at the moment. If Dudgeon was fit, I'd be calling for him to get a game.
Speaking of, ran into Joe and Chester - not too hard, don't worry - before the game the other day. Chester isn't limping at all, and Joe looked pretty good too, Chester seemed very upbeat about his progress so I actually think he'll be back a lot sooner than expected. Dudge, not so sure about, seemed positive too but who knows with that sort of injury.
Recruiting a new left back in the summer (whether we get relegated or not) is crucial for me, we're really short in that area and Figueroa, in my opinion, just isn't good enough. He gets skinned far too often for my liking and he's like Zayatte in that he's extremely erratic, he can't do the simple stuff right. For example, against Spurs in the first half, their was a moment when he was in the penalty area being closed down by Soldado - he should have just given the ball to Harper to hoof away, or hoofed it away himself, but he decided to turn and just give the ball to Soldado. Thankfully he dived rather than do anything with it.
Chester has a hamstring injury so walking shouldn't be a huge problem but he won't be able to run, jump, etc. Dudgeon's injury, the last I heard was to do with a reaction after games. So he might be fine most of the time but his knee just swells up after games.
Well Chester sounded very upbeat about it, seemed to think it was coming along really well. Dudge yeah, dunno about.
Yep. He does such a variety of things wrong too. Played Paulinho onside for the goal on Saturday, gives the ball away in dangerous positions, hoofs it after making a tackle (too many of our defenders are guilty of this. They think their job is done cos they won the ball but then give it straight back by just clearing it under no pressure). At one point on Saturday he managed to clear a ball so high into a headwind that it ended up closer to the goal than when he hit it and put us straight back under pressure. He gets skinned as you pointed out, he's also been known to make daft tackles like the one that led to Man Utd's first goal and also to dive in and miss both ball and man like he did for Man U's winning goal.
Id have brady at left wingback with davies on the left of the 3 central defenders to try and keep johnson quiet.
Completely agree. He's been a disaster recently. Some of his decisions against Spurs were ludicrous. Played Paulinho onside by three yards when everyone else had pulled out, nearly presented them with another goal when he couldn't decide on a back pass, throw ins are entirely predictable, gets skinned over and over. Leave him on the bench on Saturday SB.
No reason to change our starting XI @ Sunderland except bring back in Livermore for Meyler. Figgy was back to something like his best against Spurs so dont worry about Johnson.
Meyler was our best player on Saturday and he'll be well up for a game against his old side, it would be harsh to drop him.
No way was he our best player. But agree on Meyler being up for it. But would you leave out Jake Livermore ?? Our entire back 4 were outstanding.
It's hard to say what to do with that. Livermore surely has to come in, but as you say it'd be harsh to drop Meyler.
An Injury in training may play a part to the starting line up. Dropping Brady for Livermore could be an option ?
