Lets put this to rest since trolling TC is fun and all but he is a very petty and would hijack more of threads to throw out playground insults like he is doing here. ****tu is a brick ****house and is nearly unbeatable in the air. On the ground he is alright for such a big man but due to his lack of speed goes to ground too much and concedes a lot of fouls. He is also a confidence player - at home, with the crowd behind him, he can be immense, at away grounds he can be a liability. Case in point, the games against us where he was my man of the match at the Dell but at the KP would be one of the worst performers imho - we played over 88 min with 10 men and he aand the other CB whose name I've forgotten were terrified everytime we came forward. In short if ****tu was available, I wouldn't complain if he became a Leicester player - a pairing of ****tu and Morgan would cause every striker in the league to piss themselves. Now back to the thread - if Zak was fit, could you see him paired up with Wes in the centre? Having a left footer with a right footer has it's benefits.
^ excellent post. Whitbread is a very good back up CB, but not good enough to start IMO. And to the person that mentioned tunchev - tunchev was in a worse state of injury - talk of him never playing again. The fact Wiki describe him as defensive cover on a 1 year deal at Zagłębie Lubin when i always thought he was destined for the prem says it all. We rested some players for the cup game against palace. If only we rested Tunch who knows what would be now. The most composed rock at the back ive probably seen as a 21 yo in a leicester shirt. What i always noticed was that most defenders attack headers and get it rid - tunchev would attack them and pick out a man which allowed an attack to start too. Simply phenomenal player.
Looks like we will be playing 3-5-2 (credit to Pearson for being willing to try something new...not his usual style!) which suits the players we have. Whitbread played the full 90 minutes (as did the other 10 that started) last night at Port Vale alongside Wes and SSL. Also it appears that Neil Danns is back in the reckoning and that can only be a good thing for us, almost like a new signing in a way.
So we could line up... ------------------------Schmeichel---------------------------- -------------SSL---------Morgan---------Whitbread---------- De Laet---------------------------------------------Konchesky -----------------Danns-----James----King-------------------- -----------------------Wood------Nugent------------------------ Which is actually pretty decent to be fair. It's our lack in depth that worries me. Plus, where would Knocky fit in to this new formation? No real room for wingers here... Unless we play him as one of the central 3? Subs: Logan Moore Taft Drinkwater Marshall Knockaert Waghorn Who else am I missing!?
Where does Knockaert stand in this 532 formation. If you try shackle him and get him to become on of the 3 you take away his game. So it would mean either dropping a striker so it becomes 5311 or losing a midfielder so it becomes 5212. I think both Knockaert and Ben Marshall would excel in the formation playing behind the strikers. For this formation to work though we need to sign some decent centre halfs
Other possibilities in Jack's formation would be: Bakayogo or Schlupp for Konch ... Moore for SSL and ................................................................. Knockaert for Nugent ...
in the midfield 3 i feel its more of a King James Marshall Striker Striker (or other appropriate players) Marshall excelled there last time and gives a bit more steel, whereas putting in knocky adds more flair. Easily could play Knocky as one of the strikers playing behind or off wood
In a 5-3-2 I think the strikers are traditionally expected to drift wide. I'd consider playing Knockaert as one of the two- a Wood-Knockaert combination would certainly be entertaining. We should be trying to build our team around Knockaert IMO, he's the most talented player we've had for years who will only get better, and it seems folly to try and fit him into the wrong position. Personally I like 5-3-2 (I basically like anything that isn't a long-ball 4-4-2) but I don't see it as a practical formation at this moment in time. Sign another defender (Keane on loan would be perfect) and I think it would be more viable.
Back to the original topic Anybody who went to Barnsley away last season and saw Whitbread play will realise why - the worst performance from a footballer I have ever seen! I have seen other appearances from him to realise he's conned a living from us as a footballer - fact is he's totally ****e and I feel sorry for ****e classing it the same as Whitbread.
