Don't know about other peoples opinions but i didn't think this worked, not his fault, he did his best but tracking back to help the full back is not his game. Don't understand why Dyche didn't change it, should have been Boyd on the left and Hendrick on the right.

Pushing Hendrick out wide yesterday would've absolutely been the wrong thing to do because he was influencing so much in a central role

What a waste. However SD clearly sees Hendrick as the future king pin and the lad is showing him why. Never thought I would say this, but maybe Deano should not be starting.

Marney had a poor game yesterday and I would have opted for Hendrick out wide, but he had a great game in the middle, so it was a tricky one. Defour did OK but no more and needs to be central.

Play Defour centrally or don't play him.

Hendrick and Defour in the middle for me. Reckon it would be an excellent partnership.

For sunderland If marney has a dodgy hamstring then i would start Hendrick and defour in the middle, Barnes on the left and Gray and vokes up top if neither arfield or gudmundsson are fit.

Difficult one.

The bottom line is that we won against a very good team so SD got it right.

Ideally, you should always try to get your best players on the pitch so I can understand it. I agree with OP that he didn't look comfortable and the tracking back isn't really Defour's strength. He did have one quality run towards the touchline in the 2nd half which showed his class. I wouldn't have moved Hendrick out wide during the game considering how influential he was.

claretandy wrote:For sunderland If marney has a dodgy hamstring then i would start Hendrick and defour in the middle, Barnes on the left and Gray and vokes up top if neither arfield or gudmundsson are fit.

That leaves us with no striker on the bench. I'd play Kightly.

claretandy wrote:Don't know about other peoples opinions but i didn't think this worked, not his fault, he did his best but tracking back to help the full back is not his game. Don't understand why Dyche didn't change it, should have been Boyd on the left and Hendrick on the right.

Told you it was going to be something a bit different yestetday down the left.

I thought Marney looked 2 yards behind the pace yesterday, looked injured, surprised he lasted so long.

lucs86 wrote:That leaves us with no striker on the bench. I'd play Kightly.

Don't know if Agyei is cup tied ?

I might have been watching a completely different game to some people but I thought Defour on the left side was very good yesterday. Not his strongest position or best game he's payed for us but I felt he put a tremendous shift in and did very well! Lowton or Mee MoM for me!

Done ok for me aswell. Ward seemed to drift inside a bit more aswell which seemed to make him more effective for some reason.

Marney was usually below par yesterday.

I want Barton to start ahead of Marney, if we can get Brady in we could end up playing 451 again because we'd have more from wide areas and the central trio of Hendrick Barton Defour looks an excellent one.

Hendrick has played wide right for Ireland successfully. It looks as though he is first choice CM now but in yesterday's situation him right Defour central would have worked.

N o argument Hendrick had a great game it doesn't mean he wouldn't have had a good game playing on the right.
Defour was wasted on the wing he looked a round peg in a square hole.

Marney was one of the reasons we didn't go in losing at half-time. He put in a hell of a shift and was knackered. Another tired, late tackle and he'd have been off so a clever use of subs.

I can see the logic of Defour out wide from Dyche's perspective - his biggest asset to us has been his crossing - but I don't think it worked. We don't dominate the ball enough to work enough positions high up the pitch to pick someone just for this, and his crossing isn't as good when put under pressure from open play. In general play, our wingers need to be comfortable receiving the ball with their back to goal, and Defour struggled with this, being hustled out of it numerous times, and they also need to be more dynamic defensively than Defour is. He's not used to tracking a man one v one, and nor is he used to shuffling inside and then getting back out wide to confront a man quickly. Too often Defour found he had to turn and was immediately out of the game, and its no coincidence that Southampton increasingly focussed Redmond and Long at attacking our left flank, which I thought Ward dealt with superbly.

I can also understand why Dyche likes his Hendrick/Marney axis - Marney's energy has been really important to us this season in setting our tempo at home. However, it wasn't his day - he may be carrying an injury, but its also a long time since Marney played a full season and he's now an old man, and his sort of player doesn't age as well as a Barton - and I think at half time I'd have been tempted to re-jig the team a bit as we did after 72 minutes, with Vokes replacing Marney, Barnes wide and Hendrick and Defour in the middle. Hendrick is imposing himself sufficiently now that he and Defour looks like a very viable midfield against all but the best sides.

Marney might still be able to do a job coming from wide. That's a role many of us have suggested Hendrick could do, and I've no doubt he is capable of it but increasingly he's growing into the the man we want to build our midfield around and you can see why Dyche would be loathe to but Hendrick out there when he is giving us the presence in the middle he did yesterday. No reason why Marney couldn't do a Boyd-type shift on the right, and help protect Defour in the middle.