keep seeing these predicted teams online with people thinking endo elliott chiesa morton (both haven't travelled of course) will start. Slot pretty much just confirmed there is going to be no rotating as there doesn't need to be...hmm not sure how i feel about that. can easily start endo in a game like this ( its pretty clear he doesn't rate him)
Go strong as possible in this game and get qualification boxed off. Then you can start Endo, Morton, Nyoni, Danns etc.
We looked absolutely out on our feet v Newcastle (midfield especially) so the rest came at a good time. With this fixture being on a Tuesday we can still field a reasonably strong team and be fresh for Fulham on Saturday, ready to put on a display for Breeding Reds. Get the win, avoid injuries and move on.
We are low on quality central midfield options (4 for 3 places) so we are having to run the legs off them. Really we have to be looking to bring one in in January, namely the player from Sociedad if he is available. Thought in the summer we would be in trouble when we didn't bring one in but they have managed to navigate the season well so far. That Newcastle game though was the first time when you could see the lack of depth hurting us as we were firmly second best for an hour in midfield, which put immense pressure on the defence who were overworked as a result. We needed Dom in that game, but having run himself ragged against City that would have been asking too much.
Endo is at best a player we can bring on with 15 to go to play against tired legs. Harvey while technically gifted is not a central mid, and is physically too lightweight and slow to come up against athletic midfielders of this league. Tyler Morton is unproven, while Trey Nyoni is a young kid. In trying to win a league we have to be starting players as good as or better than what we come up against.
He's rotating where he believes he can and the drop in quality won't be as detrimental to the team, for me it's clear to see who he likes as squad options and who he doesn't/unsure about. Kelleher/Jones/Gakpo/Kostas no problems. Quansah/Gomez/Endo/Morton/Harvey/Bradley + other youngsters.....bit of a sticky point.
I actually don't think we were as leggy at Newcastle as most people are led to believe otherwise we wouldn't have got on top for most of that 2nd half, if it were not for a keeping howler at the end we come away with 3 points and there isn't even a discussion. We just let them get on top of us physically as we've seen so often with our lethergic first half performances.
We have to remember none of these players are his, and besides Chiesa who's never fit....he hasn't had any backing, so it's perhaps something we'll see more of over time when that starts happening.
That's exactly it. If he thinks there will be a big drop off he won't pick them, certainly in games with something riding on it.
At Newcastle, they ran 75k to our 71k, and were first to most 50/50s. They had the midfield for the first hour. See the second goal, Grav lost his man who was allowed to run at our back line and initiate an attack which resulted in Gordon scoring. The source of our issues in that game was midfield. Even with everyone fresh though that midfield of Curtis, Mac and Grav lacks running power. It's the same three that struggled at Arsenal last season (which we lost) and the first half of this season's game (which we were losing). Dom came on in the latter game just as he did at Newcastle and we were able to get more of a foothold in the game.
After the game Slot talked about the lack of intensity, and bigged up the subs (Dom, Luis and Trent, ideally three players that would have started had they been rested). We cannot keep relying on the same players though. We need an extra quality central mid brought in.
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