In his press conference this lunchtime, Rene confirmed that Stekelenburg will be âa late callâ and Brede is âback in contentionâ. Doubt if heâll take many risks with this game though and Iâd be surprised to see either starting. The two main questions then are, who will be at CB and who up front, because the midfield will most likely be be the Kara, Parker, Sidwell triumverate. At CB Dan Burn played well in the Cup with Aaron Hughes mentoring alongside him so I can see them being held back for the Cup - although that would be a game to ease Brede back in. Up front Berbatov and Taarabt or Berbatov and Bent doesnât work. If Berbatov getâs the shout, as seems likely, then he ought to go with two wide men. Another question is whether any youngsters will feature. Chris David is the only one of the recent candidates who didnât play last night for the U21s so heâll probably be around but I doubt if heâll start. Rene has thrown a few surprises in just about every game, but in this one I think heâll go back to âexperienceâ: â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.Stockdaleâ¦â¦â¦â¦. ..Riether..Senderos..Hughesâ¦Riise.. â¦â¦..Karaâ¦Parkerâ¦Sidwell⦠â¦Dejagahâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.Kaca.. â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.Berbatovâ¦â¦â¦.
Considering the lack of CBs in the U21s team I thought that Burn's exclusion from last night's team suggested that he would feature tomorrow. Apart from possibly Burn for Senderos I think you have the line up correct. P.S. Well done on the use of the word 'triumvirate'.
"Must Win", says Rene. [video=youtube;hLUUp4MXXSY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUUp4MXXSY&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Looks like Burn either starting or on the bench, I suspect the latter. Dempsey to start. We all know that this is a vital 3 pointer. For me, the rot set in end-2012 with the home defeat against a woeful Sunderland with Brede's red and 2 injuries. So no excuses today. COYW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember that game Gera and you're right, up until then we'd been lucky with injuries and been able to keep playing a consistent team.
Agreed on that Sunderland game. I'm predicting a 3-2 win for us, with Dan Burn scoring the winner with a towering late header! (I may be confusing what I think will happen with what I'd like to happen here)
Think you'll struggle to score 3 like, even if we don't turn up. We've only conceded 3 in our last 5 league games and 5 in last 8 in all competitions. This includes two home games to Man U and Chelsea and an away game at Everton. Low scoring game for me, could go either way.
Stockdale; Riether, Senderos, Amorebieta, Riise; Duff, Parker, Sidwell, Dempsey; Taarabt; Berbatov Bench: Kasami, Kačaniklić, Richardson, Hughes, Dejagah, Etheridge and Bent. No Hangeland yet. But the Return of Clint Dempsey to The Cottage! Could this be the first double of the season?
I can only assume that Dejagah is a massive pr*ck to deal with. I can't think of any other reason that both Jol and Rene would consistently leave him out since he is not only a very good player, but provides crucial balance to our team. Not impressed with the team selection today, back to the days of giving Berbatov no pacey wingers to play with.
That can be summed up as, Riise hat trick; Rene own goal. JAR was completeley irresponsible for their first three (although not helped by Sockdale). And as Madness and Surly say, Rene got the team selection all wrong. We had no pace, no width and no shape. Repeating myself, but Berbatov and Taarabt doesn't work nor does Sidwell and only one other in midfield. Added to that, with Duff in front of him you lose all the attacking ability of Riether. Like Surly, (and every fan around me today likewise) I cannot comprehend the Dejagah situation. It was back to the dark days of negative football and no forward movement. Shocking, just shocking.
Senderos should not be playing in this team end of story, how you don't play Burn is beyond me, let's facelift he can't be any worse. Rise is an awful LB simply has no pace whatsoever was constantly diving in. Parker and Sidwell the only 2 fighters in this team the rest didn't look interested. Stock dale to blame for the first, he should have saved it regardless of how good it was getting up and over the wall. The defense is so so bad. Rene must address this. We just cannot keep a clean sheet to save our lives. Oh well Arsenal next in the league. Scares me just thinking about it.
I cannot comment on the game today as I did not get a chance to follow it. However, some depressing trends appearing. In the last six league games we have scored 8 goals but we have conceded 20, yes, 20 goals !!! Not only that in four of those games we have conceded at least 4. When we have been in a relegation battle in past seasons the one thing we have had is a fairly solid back 4. Premiership survival starts with good defence, we need hangeland back so badly and I have to say we should through burn in as well. The little I have read suggests we have had good possession but were done on the counter too often, this is the age of our squad showing through. It is going to be very tight towards the end of the season as to who stays and who goes, but unless we stop leaking so many goals we are we could in trouble. Come on Rene pull it around, we need pace and width
One of our undoings this season is signing Stekelenberg. He's great but too injury prone, out of 21 games he's played in 10, I think (10 and half, I suppose) which isn't enough and Stockdale is not good enough to deputise for extended periods. Should never have let MS go really - at least he was almost an ever present between the sticks.
No it wasn't. It was lack of effort by the front five and shere incompetence by two of the back three. And poor goalkeeping.
