In George R. Romero’s zombie film, Dawn of the Dead, he depicted zombies returning to a shopping mall because their consumer instincts were so hard-wired into them that they still shuffled around the aisles even though they were technically dead. I shall be returning to the Town website to watch tonight’s stream of the game against Bournemouth in a similar fashion. Not because I expect to be entertained or see my team triumph but out of muscle memory and grim routine.
If that bleak intro didn’t tip you off, I’m not feeling optimistic about Town’s prospects tonight. In fact, you can probably find literally hundreds of better things to do with your time rather than watch Town this evening. Suchas organising your underpants by colour, staring at the wall or watching the soaps. All those things hold more promise of entertainment that seeing Carlos Corberán try (and most likely fail) to make the gang of losers and mercenaries in his squad play something like football.
I’m being overly gloomy perhaps but the awful and brilliant thing about supporting Town is that you never know what you’re going to get. Last week saw Town get hammered 7-0 and then only escape defeat to one of the league’s worst teams because of luck and our opponent’s profligacy. It would be typical Town to follow those terrible games with a great win. It’s the hope that kills you!
Anyway, after that introductory ramble, here’s the selection of no-hopers and charlatans that will pull on the famous blue and white stripes this evening (more like late-afternoon I suppose).
Goalkeeper: Ryan Schofield
Regular blog commenter, Simon, has been a vocal critic of our young stopper but even he acknowledged that he did well against Rotherham. So Joel Pereira isn’t likely to feature tonight after having the misfortune of his second chance between the sticks coming in a game where he had no hope of even keeping the scoreline respectable. Leutwiler also seems to have dropped off the radar lately, so is on course to join Niasse as a player to sign for us but never play a game.
Defence: Edmonds-Green, Keogh, Sarr, Pipa
Despite the fact we’ve had a back three in most games lately, I’d like to see us return to a back four with Rarmani Edmonds-Green deployed as a makeshift right back. I’m not sure about him in this position but he’s more defensively solid than the alternatives.
Begrudgingly, I’m coming round to the idea of Richard Keogh. Not as a long-term option but he’s been okay lately and brings some experience and organisation to that area of the pitch. Which helps, as Naby Sarr, despite having the age and experience, isn’t a vocal leader on the pitch.
I found Corberán’s comments about Pipa in the press conference for tonight to be pretty dispiriting. He acknowledged that Pipa is injured and that the injury is causing him pain and affecting his game. But then said he’s going to have to get on with it. This thinking reveals how little Corberán thinks of his backup options and how cavalier he is about risking long-term injury by continuing to select unfit players. I think this is an odd approach as Aaron Rowe has arguably been better as a leftback than Pipa and surely it would be better to let Pipa recover from his injury so he can be fully firing for the last few games? Regardless, it seems we’re going to see Pipa on the left again tonight.
Midfield: Hogg, O’Brien, Bacuna, Holmes
This midfield four looks quite narrow but that might help clog up the middle of the pitch and make it harder for Bournemouth to play through us. I’m imagining a diamond shape with Hogg at the base, Holmes as the tip with Bacuna and O’Brien in the middle.
If team selection were down to me then I’d go with Scott High instead of Bacuna purely based on effort but I suspect that High will have to settle for a place on the bench for now.
Carlos talked about players needing to get used to playing with fatigue in these games where there’s a short turn around but I can’t help but feel a small amount of rotation would be a better idea, to have some fresh legs out there. His previous attempts at rotation have failed because he’s made wholesale changes but a little and often approach might mean we get a better balance between experience and energy. As it stands though, I think we’ll keep playing the same players in the middle and continue to get slightly less from them each game as they begin to burn out.
Forwards: Campbell, Mbenza
I think Mbenza will be preferred to Sanogo tonight as he’s more of a threat on the break and can stretch Bournemouth with his speed. We’ve played a similar system a few times, where each forward is somewhere between a winger and a striker with a midfielder coming through the middle when they both split wide.
Mbenza and Campbell both looked at their best when they played as a front three with Josh Koroma, so it’s encouraging that this trident may soon be all fit and ready to play again soon. Sadly Koroma’s rehabilitation isn’t complete, so if he’s involved tonight it’ll most likely be from the bench. Aarons is also on the cusp of his return too, so most likely will be another option on the bench.
In theory Danny Ward may start but I can’t bring myself to put him in because I’ve been so unimpressed with him. In fairness, I don’t think he’s had a game where he’s been 100% match fit as he’s constantly between injuries. He was signed to be out main striker, so perhaps he can surprise us all with a decent run from now until the end of the season. I hope so, because he’s got another two years left on his contract, so we’re stuck with him regardless.
I agree Danny Ward hasn’t been great so far but then he’s had next to no service He’s not a big fairly tough centre forward who you can play it long to expecting them to hold it up like Campbell or Sanogo but then they are both pretty useless at scoring anyway. Danny needs feeding and because rest of team have been as useless as him many even worse he’s had almost no balls fed through to him. In fact I can’t think of 1 ball fed through to him and nearly all our crossing or delivery from free kicks is useless too. Get some players in in summer who can deliver a cross or free kick accurately and players who can feed it through to him quickly on or near to floor and we may see him starting to score. I think it’s unfair to judge his ability to score or not properly until we get in these players who can deliver the ball to him.
We need more Wingers and midfielders? Might make more sense to get a better striker.
Just to say I’ve just switched off at half time. Utterly and completely useless, pathetic, words fail me. If our blogger gives Mbenza more than 1 point for finding his way onto the field, then it’s generous. Not since the Diakhaby days have I seen a more inept individual performance.
Players or manager or both? Who to blame? It has to be both. I am totally serious that Town are now a complete and utter joke. Get rid of the lot of them. Be relegated – you deserve it.