Heaton
Bardsley Tarkowski Mee Taylor
JBG Westwood Cork McNeil
Barnes Wood

I'd say the only two places that are up for grabs are the two right sided berths.

We were a bit exposed in the last home game for having two essentially solid but uncreative options down that side and I'm told the same was the case against Southampton, so there's a strong argument for either Lowton coming back in for Bardsley (albeit that would be extremely harsh on Bardsley but it would improve our delivery from the right), or JBG replacing Hendrick. The latter seems more likely to happen, but there's always a danger that we get overrun in midfield without Hendrick offering an extra man.

Like it Blackrod...

a football thread at last

Blackrod wrote:Heaton
Bardsley Tarkowski Mee Taylor
JBG Westwood Cork McNeil
Barnes Wood

A Football thread what ever next

Heaton
Bardsley tark mee Taylor
Jbg Westwood. Cork McNeil
. vydra wood

JBG in for certain

Reckon Blackrods nailed it .....

Its the team I would expect.

What about Hart instead of Heaton and Long in for Tarks? Barnes and Wood as full backs and Bardsley and Taylor up front.

Being serious for a minute I think, given our squad, with the odd exception, at the moment the team pretty much picks itself. Which in itself is not really a good thing. The only argument anyone might have with the above is JBG and Hendrick and much as I like and defend Hendrick I would go JBG every time as one of our really true quality players. Our squad at the moment is so thin it's see-through. If we survive this season (and I genuinely believe we will) the Summer window is going to have to see us spend money in a way we have never done before or next season could be a bit of an embarrasment. Our technically most gifted player by a mile, Defour, can't seem to get through 4 games without injury and even then he struggles to finish one. Even JBG is very injury prone and they are simply our two best players (outfield). Barnes and Wood are in a good run of form but they have been hit and miss till of late and they may go backwards who knows. Defensively we are steady away and that is good but cover is a bit thin to almost non-existent. All in all we have enough to see this season out succesfully (I think) but we will need major investment in the Summer and that isn't even taking into account any potential outgoings (Tarks will obviously be targeted, as could Mee and of course Heaton, even Barnes might raise some interest from the lesser clubs with more money than us - which is just about everyone if you believe our board).

Hey ho - priority number one - stay up.
Priority number two - spend an absolute shed load of money in summer, especially if we lose a couple of players.

I just wish we had a Tommy Robinson....right winger

Heaton
Bardsley Tarkowski Mee Taylor
JBG Hendrick Westwood McNeil
Barnes Wood

Firthy wrote:Heaton
Bardsley Tarkowski Mee Taylor
JBG Hendrick Westwood McNeil
Barnes Wood

Interesting one that Firthy Cork has been almost invisible lately Hendrick could be a good shout..

Heaton

Bardsley tarkowski Gibson Ward

JBG cork Westwood McNeil

Vydra

Barnes


4-2-3-1 when attacking

Get Vydra actually in his preferred position and play him from the start, Ward when on Form better than Taylor for me as well as he’s done recently.

£15m beach warmer a little odd, prefer his distribution to Mee’s.

SmudgetheClaret wrote:Interesting one that Firthy Cork has been almost invisible lately Hendrick could be a good shout..

Harsh on Cork, who has been excellent in our recent run and was, for example, outstanding against Spurs. And Leicester, with their quality on the counter attack, are one of those sides where disciplined players who screen the back 4 are really important. That said, Hendrick and Westwood have always gelled really well whenever they've played - they have a nice balance between them.

Have to disagree Hendrick is back to underperforming after a couple of good games.He is too inconsistent.

claretspice wrote:I'd say the only two places that are up for grabs are the two right sided berths.

We were a bit exposed in the last home game for having two essentially solid but uncreative options down that side and I'm told the same was the case against Southampton, so there's a strong argument for either Lowton coming back in for Bardsley (albeit that would be extremely harsh on Bardsley but it would improve our delivery from the right), or JBG replacing Hendrick. The latter seems more likely to happen, but there's always a danger that we get overrun in midfield without Hendrick offering an extra man.

We stand the chance of being overrun in midfield every time we play 2 up front, Spice. particularly true when the two tend to be occupying virtually the same spaces.

boatshed bill wrote:We stand the chance of being overrun in midfield every time we play 2 up front, Spice. particularly true when the two tend to be occupying virtually the same spaces.

From the West Ham game until the Newcastle match it worked incredibly well though.

Spijed wrote:From the West Ham game until the Newcastle match it worked incredibly well though.

It certainly had, up to the more recent games. But the point still stands, we can easily get overrun.
2 in centre-mid often get bullied.

Heaton
Bards Tarky Mee Taylor
Hendrick Westwood McNeil
JBG Crouch Brady

You can bet the ranch on it being the same starting lineup as Liverpool.
However, I would expect SD to change the format pretty quickly if we go behind.
This is a game between two similar teams and one that I think SD will be targeting for points.

Bosscat wrote:
A Football thread what ever next

A vote on it?

--------------Heaton-----------
Bards--- Tarky--- Mee--- Taylor
JBG--- Hendrick-- Westwood--- McNeil
----------Vydra--------------
-----------Wood-------------

claretspice wrote:Harsh on Cork, who has been excellent in our recent run and was, for example, outstanding against Spurs. And Leicester, with their quality on the counter attack, are one of those sides where disciplined players who screen the back 4 are really important. That said, Hendrick and Westwood have always gelled really well whenever they've played - they have a nice balance between them.

Cork hasn't been close to excellent since December 2017.

Heaton
Tarks Mee Gibson
Bardsley Taylor
JBG Westwood McNeil
Barnes Wood

NL Claret wrote:Cork hasn't been close to excellent since December 2017.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I think he had a fairly ordinary 2018 overall, but since Boxing Day he's had a series of excellent games, although his form has dropped again a little in the last 3 games (particularly the first two of those; I think he's been unfairly singled out in respect of the Liverpool game where generally I thought we competed very well in the centre of the park).

boatshed bill wrote:We stand the chance of being overrun in midfield every time we play 2 up front, Spice. particularly true when the two tend to be occupying virtually the same spaces.

We do, but if the midfield 4 is tight and shuffles across the pitch, we minimise that risk. When we play with two players who want/are encouraged to hold their width when we get the ball, we're more vulnerable to being overrun in transition. Hendrick's done a terrific job at helping us make the two a three at times recently, whilst also doing his duties to negate his opposing full back. The trouble is that as teams have adapted to us, that's increasingly come at the expense of any sort of real attacking threat on the outside down the right, because getting to the byline or otherwise whipping in a cross is not a strength of either Hendrick or Bardsley (and neither are particularly subtle passers of the ball either).

In fairness, as McNeil has grown into the side, and given he's obviously comfortable in more central areas, perhaps there's an argument that a more natural wide player on the right makes sense. But it still asks quite a lot of McNeil off the ball to know when to step in to make a 3, and when to track wide - its something that really comes with experience.

As for the front two, they work well together and I think that a lot of the time, the fact that they play fairly close to each other can be a strength, particularly in the way we try and build attacks in first phase. Sure, there are probably limitations to the success you can have playing that way, but for current purposes it seems to me to be the least of our issues.

Goobs wrote:Heaton
Tarks Mee Gibson
Bardsley Taylor
JBG Westwood McNeil
Barnes Wood

There are times when being a bit "experimental" and trying something a bit different is a good idea, but sitting on a meager 30 points with just 8 games left and facing a match which we MUST be targeting to add to our tally, isn't one of them . I actually think there's some mileage in this formation somewhere along the line as an alternative to our utterly predictable set up, but I don't want or expect to see it on Saturday.
On another note McNeil of course simply HAS to play, but because of his lack of experience he does leave us a bit short defensively on that side and doesn't give Taylor the cover Arfield or Boyd for example would give. That's a trade off I'm prepared to accept and I'd also accept JBG starting ahead of Hendrick, but I honestly don't believe that will happen either as Hendrick (allegedly) keeps us tighter in midfield and JBG will be brought on against tiring legs for the last 15 minutes and tbf he's not a bad "impact" sub MOST of the time.

Rick_Muller wrote:Like it Blackrod...

a football thread at last

What happened to Political threads going onto a separate site as per the recent vote on here ? Has this happened or have I missed something ?

We are at home against Leicester and we need points. I would go normal team but JBG playing instead of Hendrick. Dependant on the state of play, I would be ready to bring Crouch and Vydra on earlier than normal.

Vino blanco wrote:We are at home against Leicester and we need points. I would go normal team but JBG playing instead of Hendrick. Dependant on the state of play, I would be ready to bring Crouch and Vydra on earlier than normal.

88th and 89th minutes then!!

After the debacle at Liverpool last Sunday, Heaton, Tarkowski and Hendrick should be dropped and replaced by Pope ( if fit ), Gibson and JBG. Players cannot keep making mistakes and expect to retain their place in the team. As this is a must win match perhaps Crouch should play at least for his experience.

boatshed bill wrote:It certainly had, up to the more recent games. But the point still stands, we can easily get overrun.
2 in centre-mid often get bullied.

Not when you bypass it

lancastrian wrote:After the debacle at Liverpool last Sunday, Heaton, Tarkowski and Hendrick should be dropped and replaced by Pope ( if fit ), Gibson and JBG. Players cannot keep making mistakes and expect to retain their place in the team. As this is a must win match perhaps Crouch should play at least for his experience.

Heaton "keeps making mistakes" How many bad games has he had for us man?

Bosscat wrote:
A Football thread what ever next

Aintree

FCBurnley wrote:What happened to Political threads going onto a separate site as per the recent vote on here ? Has this happened or have I missed something ?

There’ll have to be a second vote on it as the wrong decision came out...

Marney&Mee wrote:There’ll have to be a second vote on it as the wrong decision came out...

Perhaps we are awaiting a 3rd Meaningful Vote!
Like Mrs May just continue until you get the "right" result.

I will be massively chuffed off if Hendrick is in the team in the place of jbg , massively