The Gaffer has reported that the squad are all fit and well. Indeed so much so that the "players are fighting for a space in the team". Wednesday had a good Easter with two wins (Preston and Sunderland), making it three on the trot having beaten Leeds at Elland Road before that. So on a nice little run and easing well away from any relegation worries. It was less good news on the injury front in the Easter games though and boss Jos Luhukay will now be without Sam Hutchinson and Morgan Fox. Their formation is likely to be 3-4-1- 2 with the intention of frustrating rather than holding possession. While Wednesday don't tend to create all that many chances they are very clinical with the ones they do and the probable front two of Lucas Joao and Atdhe Nuhiu will take some watching. Not forgetting Forestieri and Rhodes ready to come off the bench. For us it's a question of whether to keep the 'team momentum' going or bring in some fresh legs. It was good to see Kebano getting some game time (at last) against Leeds on Tuesday but don't really see him in the right wing spot - and surely Sessegnon will be on the left ? Also Norwood came on for McDonald in that game but think that was more to 'save' McDonald and while he has qualities, Norwood just 'aint Supermac ! So, don't expect the team to change despite Jokanovic hinting at "competion in my team". Well, maybe that troublesome right wing spot .... .........................Bettinelli.............. ..Fredericks..Odoi.....Ream....Targett.. ........................McDonald.... ...............Cairney........Johansen... ......Piazon........Mitrovic....Sessegnon..
What an incentive ! Cardiff miss two penalties in injury time and go down to Wolves. Meanwhile Colin shows his true colours -
Good result tonight and cracking game, opportunities for both sides but thought Wolves were the better side. Cardiff will be gutted missing two penalties in injury time but about time their luck ran out. Don't know what it was like being a Wolves fan but my heart was going there. Just need for us to do our bit now tomorrow. Disgraceful from Warnock, such a bad loser, he's old and experienced enough to act classier than that.
It's that time of the season when fatigue might set in, nerves are on the edge and the manager has to choose wisely. I guess Jokanovic will look to control play with possession in the first so Piazon may be a starter, then if the game is still close near the end put on the likes of Ayite, Kebano & Kamara, but if we are 2-0 up will he put the likes of Norwood, and invite pressure. Wednesday now have Forestieri back along with an in form Nuhiu, we need to try to get a good lead to stop those nerves creeping in if only 1-0 up. We do need 3 points to keep pressure on Cardiff after last nights game, will Cardiff faultier again as their next game is away at Villa, that would make it interesting to see if they have cracked. Think Warnock is lucky because If I had been the Wolves manager I would have wanted to go straight to him and shake his hand with a big grin on my face just to say your mind games didn't work Colin.
I don't have any rationale for this but think Kebano will start on the right, fresh and a bit different perhaps. Forestieri is on the bench and is my worry, he always seems to score against us, so hoping he will pull a muscle getting changed. A tough tough game today, nerves combined with a big strong team to face, but we have done good so far. I hoping GJ has lost his voice and in tears of happiness later, COYW's!!!!!!!!!!!
The man up today is Steve Martin. please log in to view this image Our two outings with the Staffordshire whistler this season have not been happy ones. He took the 1-0 away defeat to Sunderland and the 2-1 loss at Burton. He was fairly quiet in both matches with cards; of the 3 shown in the first 2 were ours and in the second it was 1 apiece. There was another degree of consistency in that he was not amused by Ojo's antics in either game, booking him for encroachment against Sunderland and for diving in the other one. Martin is pretty experienced, having been a full time elite guy since 2012, and not overly flamboyant with cards. In his 35 games so far he's only issued 83 yellows and 2 reds. So it's not his standard as a ref that bothers me, it's that 'hoodoo' factor he seems to have over our results this year.
On the same hoodoo note, I'll refrain from saying anything about him this time round .................. perhaps afterwards if thought necessary.
Unbelievable result again - how many games now unbeaten - 19 / 20, I'm just not used to this. Would appear not our best performance but 68% possession, 22 shots, and a 1 nil win, I'll take that. I heard Mitro took a knock at the end of the game, hope that is not anything to worry about. What a weekend - just need to follow it up again on Tuesday with Aluko's Reading and hope Villa sort themselves out.
That was an eventful 24 hours! Yesterday's win was so important after Cardiff lost on Triday night. Add in Warnock's meltdown at the end of their game and you can see that they are feeling the pressure. Slav is doing a fantastic job with our team guiding them through the pressure. We are the quality in this division - we deserve automatic promotion - especially to piss off Warnock!
Automatic promotion would be great,but the 2 games that give me some concern are Millwall and Brentford,we shall see
Agreed, Kunye, but I'd rather be in our position with our fixtures than swap with Cardiff. From their point of view our momentum, coupled with their tough schedule, must be terrifying. All that will mean nothing though if we don't keep it going. Bring on Reading.
Did anyone see the Drama Queen that is Mike Dean doing his Oscar winning performance at the Cardiff v Wolves game for the 2nd penalty ? Which got me thinking with all the Sky games coming up for us are we going to have to suffer the Premier Refs taking over these games.
