Alese is quality. Be interesting to see where they fit him in when cirkin etc are all fit. Good to have a natural left footed CH as well.
I think he will be used as a cb, think he will eventually start alongside ballard- harsh on o9 but just think alese offers us more Going to be some battles to get into that back 4, ballard the only one who is guaranteed a start when everyone is fit imo
Love a fluent back 5 format with any 2 moving forward to suit, we got a glimpse of it against Leeds, our best performance this season, it was not a fluke imo. And O*9 would still be my captain in this formation.
We did look well drilled against Leeds, it must have been a fair while in the planning. Maybe with the options we have and with Alese, Pembele and hopefully Cirkin coming back to fitness its not like we are short of options at the back
What impressed me most about the Leeds game was how the five players at the back supported each other, it looked like they had played this way for years. I'm a bit sceptical and disappointed about the planning aspect seen as it was dropped in the next game, in favour of a "plan" that has failed so badly recently.
Agreed there mate, we must have been working on it in training for a while, I don't believe we just threw it together in a few days. I saw it as a very fluid almost 343 / 351 which kept Clarke and Roberts higher up, which is where I'd like to to go longer on occasions and get the opposition turned round. It's going to be interesting seeing how we go formation, tactic amd starting 11 wise these next few games. We could probably all come up with small changes to all 3 and still look like a solid team
Cirkin is our best full back imo - when fit (not very often). We’ve got great defensive options mind.
Next fixtures: Sat 6th Jan Middlesbrough u18 vs Sunderland u18 Fri 12th Jan Nottm Forest u21 vs Sunderland u21 Sat 13th Jan Sunderland u18 vs Blackburn u18
Harry Gardiner to Blyth on loan.... https://www.safc.com/news/academy-news/2023/december/harry-gardiner-departs-for-blyth
