How many of the newbies will Doctor Evil select I wonder? Bentley will surely start ahead of Faubert, which will piss the frog off still further, and Lansbury may be in with a shout after playing so well for the U21s. Will Baldock start up front alongside Cole and will Diop add metal to the midfield?
Lots of decisions to be made. Before I show my hand, I'm interested to hear the views of others. What team would you pick this weekend?
19 comments:
Green, Reid, Tomkins, McCartney, O'Brien, Nolan, Taylor, Lansbury, Bentley, Cole, Baldock.
It's a real tough one!
I read earlier this season that Sam doesn't like to change a winning team, so i expect it to be the same.
We didn't play extremely well against Forrest, but no player deserves to be left out after some fine individual performances.
For me, nothing apart from the Forrest game should sway Sam into team changes. Lansbury doing well for England, Bentley doing well for (Blackburn?), Demel being a natural right back. These facts are all irelevant when Faubert, Cole, O'Brien etc are all having stormers for WEST HAM UNITED.
However i would change the bench significantly with Faye,Carew, Piq and of course Stanislas all being replaced with Demel, Lansbury and Bentley and Baldock.
There are some extremely tough decisions for Allardyce to make but im sure he'll make the right ones. So, my team:
---------------Green--------------
O'Brien---Tomkins---Reid--McCartney
Faubert--Collison---Noble----Taylor
---------------Nolan---------------
----------------Cole---------------
Bench: Boffin, Demel, Bentley, Lansbury, Baldock
Massively hard, considering we're only allowed 5 on the bench but -
- Demel offers more than Faye (cover more positions)
- Bentley naturally replaces Junior
- Lansbury easily replaces Piq
- Baldock replaces Carew
Toughest choice from the lot it leaving Carew out, one decision that i don't think Sam will make, he will like a big man on the bench, rather than have Cole the only target man in the team. However i am at a loss to pick who will be left out. There is probably too many midfielders in my chosen team, so i expect one of Bentley, Lansbury, Faubert, Collison, Noble - to be left out of the squad to accomodate big john.
Bye Noble!
That's the team 76kid! You don't need to bother now HF. Picks itself
Green, O Brien, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney, Nolan, Taylor, Faubert, Noble, Lansbury, Cole ... if it aint broke don't fix it. Lansbury will be the interesting risk.. we'll have some others on the bench to give opportunities, but these guys all deserve to start.
Unless we want to put Collison on, I'd take off Noble...but Noble was good in the last couple of matches.
................Green...............
.O'Brien...Tomkins..Faye...McCartney
...Bentley...Nolan...Diop...Taylor..
............Cole....Baldock.........
Ive never seen Baldock play but I assume he is a nippy kind of striker who plays on the last man? So since he is the only player in that mould in the entire squad I would start him. I would also pick Diop in the centre ahead of Lansbury and the pathetic Noble because I think he is going to give us a key dimension to our midfield that we haven't had since the days of Reo-Coker and Mullins: Athleticism . We have been so passive in the centre and just allowed the opposition to play the ball around in our own half with Noble and Parker in the middle but I don't think that will happen anymore with the big guy in there. I can see the Diop-Nolan partnership working very well, similiar to the Etuhu-Murphy partnership for Fulham.
All in all I think we now have a very good squad that should piss this league unless something goes very wrong.
I'm pretty sure he will go with exactly the same 11 that started against NF. It's easier to bring the new guys off the bench to begin with and let them make a case for themselves. It will happen.
The one guy who should worry I think is Noble. I may not be as negative as you, Stani, but his decision making leaves more to be desired than others.
Baldock will be the first in I bet. Don't know why other than a gut feeling he wants to see what a 4-4-2 with Cole and him look like.
Overall it's a good problem to have!
lovely aint it...its even hard putting it down on paper...what a bloody nice change !!!!
for me...
Green
Demel--Tomkins--Reid--McCartney
Faubert--Nolan--Noble--Taylor
Cole--Baldock
O'Brien was crap against forest tbh, we were lucky forest were so poor, because a better team would have made much better use of being played onside on several occasions.
Faubert (imo) will be excellent in this league IF he wants to play for us again (and he has said the right things about playing for BFS) and IF he is played in the right position.
Collison this year (again imo) has not been all that great, but a midfield with 4 central'ish midfielders has been a poor set up. Hes the weakest for me so far.
Diop i belive will be added (to start) in those away games where we drop back to a 4-5-1 formation, and if gets it right, he will have a chance at full team action
Bench, Boffin--Faye--Bentley--Collison--Carew
Missing, to name but a few...
O'Brien
Diop
Lansbury
Montenegro
Piquionne
very strong looking team with some nice headaches
It's a difficult call.I think we will see a few changes against PORTSMOUTH.....DEMEL,LANSBURY,BALDOCK,DIOP,BENTLEY will all be looking to start,but I don't think ALLARDYCE will give them all a game,a few will be subs no doubt.Definitely think BALDOCK will start alongside COLE so a 4-4-2 formation is most likely.Possibly LANSBURY for NOBLE/COLLISON or if ALLARDYCE is looking for a little more steel in the middle DIOP.
By the way. Lansbury scored again for the U21's. 4-1 win over Israel. Does anybody know if there is an option to make it permanent after the season? One report said there was, but it could be nonsense.
I think there are two reasons why Sam might change things: 1)He likes to play a different system at home, and to have the option to change his system, which he says has now that Baldock is here, and 2) IMHO his biggest problem is addressing the home form which he thinks is due in some measure to fear and pressure of playing in front of us. New faces may have no baggage to bring to the pitch. I predict more changes than we might expect otherwise.
Lansbury has played two competitive matches in a few days, so will probably be rested.
i seen a couple of sites saying we have "first option" on him and that he was due to sign full time with Norwich before we took on loan (might all be bollocks of course)
If we dont have a buying option i would be annoyed, because the last thing we want to do is use an Arsenal player instead of noble / collison ect...only for them to return at the end of the year whilst ours get frustrated.
Both Nolan and Collison are better than this league even if a more promising player could be used from a loan deal.
Only play if we have an option or everyone else is knackered / injured / suspended...imo
The usually fairly sound principle of not changing a winning team is undermined in this case by an extended gap between matches and wholesale changes to the squad.
Bentley and Lansbury would not have come on loan without assurances of regular first team participation and given Coldsore Sam's obvious intention to base our tactics on quality ball being launched in to a big centre forward, Bentley will replace Faubert.
Lansbury will replace Collisson who hasn't yet recovered his form after injury, which leaves the defensive role between Diop and Noble; my guess would be it will be Noble initially.
The defence will start the same with Demel on the bench as cover.
Diop or Noble as midfield cover and Carew and Ed Miliband, sorry, Sam Baldock on the bench with Cole starting. Baldock will replace Lansbury early in the second half when we switch to a 442 formation.
------------Green-----------
Demel---Tomkins--Reid---McCartney
-------------Noble---------------
Lansbury-------Nolan---------Taylor
-----Cole--------Baldock---------
I suspect Big Sam will keep his favoured 4-5-1 formation.
The back four (O'Brien, Tomkins, Reid and McCartney) have been playing well so no changes here.
Cole deserves to keep his place as the lone striker.
Two changes in midfield - Bentley for Faubert and Lansbury for Collison. (Collison rested after all his efforts tonight?).
Dioup on the bench if we need to protect a narrow lead and Baldock if we need a late goal.
--------------Green-------------
Demel Tomkins Reid Mcartney
Bentley Nolan Lansbury Taylor
-----------Cole Baldock----------
i reckon BFS will change from NF away as he said when he took over that he will play 2 style, 4-4-2/4-3-3 home and 4-5-1 away. cant see diop in there unless its too keep hold of a lead with not long left to go, this formation will be a lot more attacking for our home games.
Green
Reid Tomkins
O'Brien McCartney
Diop
Nolan
Bentley Taylor
Baldock
Cole
Subs : Boffin, Demel, Lansbury, Collison and Piquionne.
HF, we still await your team ?
no good saying you would have picked someone different after the teams are announced...
Starting 11 (for portsmouth, not ongoing) ?
Fair point mate. My team would read:
Green: O'Brien, Reid, Tomkins, McCartney: Bentley, Noble, Nolan, Taylor: Baldock, Cole
The team could set up 4-4-2 or 4-1-3-2 or 4-1-4-1 according to the game position.
My subs would be Stech, Demel, Lansbury, Diop, Carew
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