12 minutes ago, Erimus 63 said:

Strangely the bookies have as favourites, with Norwich a generous 2/1 on some sites.

Not the best away form over the course of the season although their recent form is obviously a bit better than ours.

2 hours ago, Erimus 63 said:

Strangely the bookies have as favourites, with Norwich a generous 2/1 on some sites.

Bookies always favour the home team when it comes to pricing up a fixture. General rule of thumb is if the home team are larger odds than evens then they are expecting points to be dropped

10 hours ago, Changing Times said:

Sadly, right now we are one of the three worst teams in the Championship, maybe even the worst, although it's probably a toss up between us and Rotherham for that honour.

If they go on a head to head basis between both teams sadly Rotherham come out on top

Dieng, Ayling, Mcnair, RVDB, Clarke, Engel, Howson, O'Brien, Mcgree, Forss, Latte Lath.

 

Tonight.

8 minutes ago, RS Reds said:

Dieng, Ayling, Mcnair, RVDB, Clarke, Engel, Howson, O'Brien, Mcgree, Forss, Latte Lath.

 

Tonight.

Will take it.

3 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

Will take it.

Me too. Just what I have heard, but source has been right before so no reason to doubt them. Sure we will see at 6:45pm!

Would that be three at the back or McNair in midfield? Personally I'm not a fan of three at the back as it requires world class wingbacks but I suppose we really need to plug the leaky hole in defence.

My guess would be McNair in the back 3, Howson and O'Brien as the midfield two and Forss & Mcgree playing either side off Lath.

4 minutes ago, RS Reds said:

Me too. Just what I have heard, but source has been right before so no reason to doubt them. Sure we will see at 6:45pm!

Theres a suprise RS with Howson coming back, glad to see Engel back in place of Thomas

1 minute ago, Erimus74 said:

Theres a suprise RS with Howson coming back, glad to see Engel back in place of Thomas

Yes, I would not have expected him back either. I suppose Howson is as fit as a fiddle, so as long as the injury has gone, he will be able to go straight back in and maybe manage 60 mins or so.

Man we've missed Howson in the middle.

And Engel in for Thomas for the rest of the season. Thomas has been terrible, and not fit enough for the role. 

1 hour ago, RS Reds said:

Dieng, Ayling, Mcnair, RVDB, Clarke, Engel, Howson, O'Brien, Mcgree, Forss, Latte Lath.

If true, it's around about what I would go with. Hard to tell whether McGree is dropping into a midfield three or playing further forward. Hard on Azaz who has looked our only really creative force. 

Zero pace out wide and no way that Ayling & Engel can cross the half way line and be expected to get back to cover in time. Also, no one to hold onto the ball up front. Real risk that it just bounces straight back every time it goes forward.

For all that I think it's a reasonable selection, you can see that there are multiple, unsolvable problems.

38 minutes ago, Bruce said:

Zero pace out wide and no way that Ayling & Engel can cross the half way line and be expected to get back to cover in time. Also, no one to hold onto the ball up front. Real risk that it just bounces straight back every time it goes forward.

Fully agree but with three at the back one can drift over to cover if they are caught up field. We would still have four at the back assuming the opposite WB didn't charge up field as well. Not the ideal way to play it but it would allow an additional threat/overload while attacking yet still keep a solid defensive unit (in theory). Engel in fairness can get up the wing and get crosses in and indeed take a shot himself, he may not be Giles but has at times this season been useful when attacking.

Howson was in Lenihans family's match day box v Plymouth. I sit row in front... Asked how they were, Howson gave thumbs up Lenihan close to training...

As second half wore on they were chatting about over complicated strategy and players feeling tied down too much 🤔

Edited March 6, 20242 yr by MarkT73

It's frightening how much we've missed Jones. And some people don't rate him!