I know there is a strong chance that this game won't happen, but if it does how will we line up, that's a good given all our injuries, I'll plump for the following.

Pope
Lowton Tarks Mee Pieters
Brady Brownhill Westwood ? struggling with this side if Dwight's not fit, one option would be to swap Robbie and JBG if fit, but it's definitely a poser for Sean.
Wood Barnes

Unfortunately unless Jay and Vyd's are fit the front two pick themselves.

The back 5 you'd be reasonably comfortable with, the worry is how are we going to create with that line-up, a lot of emphasis would lie with Brady.

So all in all it might not be the worst thing for us if Sunday's game is cancelled.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 1:05 pm

I know there is a strong chance that this game won't happen, but if it does how will we line up, that's a good given all our injuries, I'll plump for the following.

Pope
Lowton Tarks Mee Pieters
Brady Brownhill Westwood ? struggling with this side if Dwight's not fit, one option would be to swap Robbie and JBG if fit, but it's definitely a poser for Sean.
Wood Barnes

Unfortunately unless Jay and Vyd's are fit the front two pick themselves.

The back 5 you'd be reasonably comfortable with, the worry is how are we going to create with that line-up, a lot of emphasis would lie with Brady.

So all in all it might not be the worst thing for us if Sunday's game is cancelled.

Sunday's game won't be cancelled, but it might be postponed and that could be a good thing for us.

The rearranged game would presumably be played a good bit later in the season and that would benefit us in two ways. We would by then hopefully have a much fitter squad, and any new signings would have had a chance to bed in and get 'Dyche' fit.

Whenever it's played, we should really win it.

C'mon you PL Clarets.

Yeah probably not such a bad game to have postponed. I’d imagine, if there is truth in the rumours, that Fulham will want to play though - there’s a very real chance any matches postponed as a result could be forfeited, and whilst I’m sure a Spurs forfeit wouldn’t damage Fulham too much, I can’t imagine they’d want to do that against us.

I know we seem to be giving JBG a good period to recover, but in all honesty, can we afford it in these 6 pointers with the injuries we have? I’d start him and look to bring him off after 60 minutes, assuming Dwight still injured. Otherwise a role on the bench for sure.

Same with Cork. Seems to have had enough games to at least be cover.

Not a terrible situation if this one is called off though, I agree.

The flip is that we are in good form and picking up results.
Momentum is huge in the Premier league especially if Fulham are short of a few as well.

Personally, I'd rather play the game. OK we'd be without Charlie Taylor and possibly JayRod and DMc but, assuming Fulham are missing quite a few too, and the form we're in, I'd rather get it played and hopefully we'll stuff 'em and put a fair few points between us and the bottom 3 (to heap more pressure on those at the bottom)

Goddy wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 1:48 pm

Personally, I'd rather play the game. OK we'd be without Charlie Taylor and possibly JayRod and DMc but, assuming Fulham are missing quite a few too, and the form we're in, I'd rather get it played and hopefully we'll stuff 'em and put a fair few points between us and the bottom 3 (to heap more pressure on those at the bottom)

If Fulham are missing several key players, then I'd prefer to play it. If they aren't, I'd sooner McNeil and JBG more time to return.

Hopefully we can just get on with the game.

Pope
Lowton
Tarkowski
Mee
Pieters
Brady
Westwood
Brownhill
McNeil
Barnes
Wood

If McNeil or Brady are out obviously start Gudmundsson

NewClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 1:18 pm

Yeah probably not such a bad game to have postponed. I’d imagine, if there is truth in the rumours, that Fulham will want to play though - there’s a very real chance any matches postponed as a result could be forfeited, and whilst I’m sure a Spurs forfeit wouldn’t damage Fulham too much, I can’t imagine they’d want to do that against us.

I know we seem to be giving JBG a good period to recover, but in all honesty, can we afford it in these 6 pointers with the injuries we have? I’d start him and look to bring him off after 60 minutes, assuming Dwight still injured. Otherwise a role on the bench for sure.

Same with Cork. Seems to have had enough games to at least be cover.

Not a terrible situation if this one is called off though, I agree.

All fair points NC, if we can get 60 minutes out of JBG, and we manage to get say a 2 goal buffer, then he could be brought off, and we could revert to a midfield 5 by bringing both Cork and Stephens on to see out the game.

I do agree this is a huge game, win and we'll have an 8 point buffer over the bottom 3, yes there's plenty of football still to be played, but that would be a very handy advantage to have, and with the recent momentum we've built up we'd be strongly tipped to survive from that position.

Even with the importance of this game I wouldn't risk Dwight unless we're confident he won't break down again, he's going through a lean spell by his usual high standards, but he's too important to the rest of our season to run the risk of missing him long term.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:19 pm

All fair points NC, if we can get 60 minutes out of JBG,

If we try to get 60 ins out of JBG then we probably won't see him again until Easter.

According to the Premier League strap line on Sky Sports News, Burnley will be without Charlie Daniels due to injury for the first time this season.

To be fair he's been anonymous thus far.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:19 pm

All fair points NC, if we can get 60 minutes out of JBG, and we manage to get say a 2 goal buffer, then he could be brought off, and we could revert to a midfield 5 by bringing both Cork and Stephens on to see out the game.

I do agree this is a huge game, win and we'll have an 8 point buffer over the bottom 3, yes there's plenty of football still to be played, but that would be a very handy advantage to have, and with the recent momentum we've built up we'd be strongly tipped to survive from that position.

Even with the importance of this game I wouldn't risk Dwight unless we're confident he won't break down again, he's going through a lean spell by his usual high standards, but he's too important to the rest of our season to run the risk of missing him long term.

8 points is 3 wins to overcome and that’s a healthy gap for us. No certainties we couldn’t get dragged back in, but would certainly be a huge step to safety.

On the other hand, it could easily be 2 points. And for that reason, I’d start Dwight. I suppose it depends how cautious we are being. I got the impression he was just being rested for the last few games vs any major injury. Assuming so, I say play him because, without Charlie (Daniels!), we’ll have very little pace on that left side. Take him off if we can nick a lead, or at least have him on the bench to bring on if needs be.

Looks like Man City's game is likely to go ahead despite them being without a number of players so you'd expect ours to go ahead as well:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55456856

Pope,
Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Pieters,
Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Westwood, Brady,
Wood, Barnes.

If JBG is fit I’ll go with boatshed bill, above. If not I hope he switches Benson & Brady. Benson looked lost wide left and it’s not doing his career any favours.

Heard JBG is out but has there been any update on Brady and McNeil?

It's going to be pulled.
So when we actually play them.
Post window.

-------------------Diet Pope,
----------Lebron, Mee, Mee 2, AnLee,
----GoodJobSon, Inthering, Westwing, O'Brady
-----------------Barnes, Noble

huw.Y.WattfromWare wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 01, 2021 11:56 pm

If JBG is fit I’ll go with boatshed bill, above. If not I hope he switches Benson & Brady. Benson looked lost wide left and it’s not doing his career any favours.

Odd things to say that he isn't doing his career any favours. He's getting involved in the team and getting playing time. He can only learn from that. What do you suggest he should do? Tell Sean that he's not available to play out wide? I'm sure that would do his career a world of good!

welsbyswife wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 02, 2021 9:35 am

Odd things to say that he isn't doing his career any favours. He's getting involved in the team and getting playing time. He can only learn from that. What do you suggest he should do? Tell Sean that he's not available to play out wide? I'm sure that would do his career a world of good!

Not at all. I think he is a better player than we are seeing. Game time is good but three different positions in three games isn’t.

-------------------Benson,
----------Benson, benson, Benson Benson,
----Benson, benson, Benson, Benson
-----------------Benson, Benson

Untinted Glasses wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 02, 2021 9:47 am

-------------------Benson,
----------Benson, benson, Benson Benson,
----Benson, benson, Benson, Benson
-----------------Benson, Benson

Yawn !

huw.Y.WattfromWare wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 02, 2021 9:40 am

Not at all. I think he is a better player than we are seeing. Game time is good but three different positions in three games isn’t.

So are you suggesting that sitting on the bench or in the U23s would be better than gaining premier league experience? And are you also saying he should refuse to play in anything other than his favoured position? That would be a very odd way for a young player to develop his career.

welsbyswife wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 02, 2021 9:53 am

So are you suggesting that sitting on the bench or in the U23s would be better than gaining premier league experience? And are you also saying he should refuse to play in anything other than his favoured position? That would be a very odd way for a young player to develop his career.

Your putting words in his mouth, he hasn’t said anything of the sort

Pope
Lowton Tarky Mee Pieters
Brady Brownhill Westwood McNeil
Barnes Wood

If we moved Brownhill to the wing it would surely be Stephens to play in the centre?

All at home having a cuppa tea now.

Untinted Glasses wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 02, 2021 10:41 am

Your putting words in his mouth, he hasn’t said anything of the sort

Wasn't putting words into anybody's mouth, just pointing out the obvious implications of what he was saying. He said playing out of position wouldn't do his career any favours. That is a clear view that he should only play in his favoured position. Dyche wants to utilise him wide at the moment. What is he to do, refuse to play there?

Plus, it's obvious that playing out of position is still good for his career. He gets game time, learns about the standards required at the top level, learns about our framework etc. All good.