A painful knee that stops you playing sport doesn't always turn out to be a serious ligament problem, so not necessarily expecting the worst. However, I am concerned that he's getting a history of such injuries. It may be just bad luck and coincidence, may be because he is physically not fully mature yet, or he is a bit reckless (also part of being young). He's with the right club to get looked after, so hope he is back sooner rather than later.
I agree Hooiveld's underrated, but Yoshida started ahead of him, so I'd expect to see Yoshida and Lovren as the first-choice pairing, with Hooiveld as the next option.
I like your set-up here and it has a solid look to it. A disciplined Cork would be useful against sides which counter attack. When discussing these three as starting many people pictured two as defensive midfielders and one in the CAM role to fit the current adopted formation. Morgan and Victor have good engines and can play a more traditional center midfield all action role.
Agree he is unlikely to change it, but this is a very subtle change that could be adopted in game to protect a lead etc Wanyama certainly opens the door for plenty of midfield flexibility. Notice he played deeper than Schneiderlin 1st Half against Real.
The Baggies fans appear to really up for this game! They still have tickets available for their first game of the season...shocking! Should have let us have a few more as I am sure we could help them sell out their little ground. Bit like being back in the Championship again isn't it?
**** IT. Just realised I prepped the thread and never even saved all the coding etc. Someone pass the tissues...
