These team prediction articles have changed over time. Rather than trying to pick the cream of the available talent in the Town squad it’s more of a case of cobbling together a starting eleven that is more or less fit and with players that are mostly able to buy a lottery ticket without needing ID.
So the tricky away fixture at Preston is likely to see another Town team of players that are either inexperienced, out of form or over the hill. In case you haven’t guessed it, my expectations are through the floor for this game after our dismal showing at Derby in midweek. But, knowing Town, the point where you’re most disgusted with them is when they surprise you with an unlikely victory, like they did against Swansea last weekend.
Here’s who I think Carlos will pick tomorrow.
Goalkeeper: Schofield
There was a lot of waffle from Corberán when asked about Schofield’s current troubles between the sticks. He wasn’t exactly effusive in his praise for the young stopper but my impression was that, rightly or wrongly, he’s going to stick with Schofield for now. There are two things to consider before dropping him, firstly is it going to be better for him to be rested or to keep playing and secondly, is the alternative any better. I personally think a short break from the glare of first team games might benefit everyone. It’ll sting Schofield’s pride to be dropped but his pride is taking a bashing whenever he plays now anyway. But Leutwiler is an unknown quantity and despite good reports from his time at Fleetwood, we may be better with the devil we know.
Defence: Stearman, Keogh, Sarr
I think the mix of players currently available means we’ll persist with three at the back but bring in Stearman to replace Duhaney. I wasn’t all that impressed with Duhaney on Tuesday night and the reason for his selection seemed to be to use him as a second right back rather than a right-sided central defender but I think it can be chalked up as a failed experiment. Stearman, if fit enough, should bring some stability to the back line and even if he’s not ready for the full 90, he could do a jobshare with Edmonds-Green, who is also nearing fitness.
Keogh and Sarr have both had more lows than highs in recent games but they’re all we have for the time being and are capable of doing better than we saw on Tuesday night. Playing Preston usually means a physical battle, so these two provide useful bulk as well as being capable in the air too.
Midfield: Pipa, Bacuna, Vallejo, O’Brien, Rowe
I’m going to include Pipa and Rowe in the midfield as they’ll most likely be playing too far up the field to be classed as fullbacks. Teams have tended to target the space in behind the advanced wingbacks lately, so it will be interesting to see if we keep them high and leave the centre backs to deal with those balls or if they’ll drop off. Both Pipa and Rowe look far better going forward than defending, so it makes a kind of sense to play to their strengths.
Vallejo is likely to stay in central midfield as Hogg’s injury continues to keep him out of action. It’s a shame as I think he had his best game as a right-sided central defender but we need him in the Hogg role. He’s not as busy but has a bit more class on the ball, so he’s not a bad option for this position, just different to Hogg.
I often predict Bacuna will be dropped after a poor performance and he nearly always gets picked anyway, so I’m going to learn my lesson and forecast his continued selection despite him returning to his infuriating ways against Derby. I suppose he does have a tendency to make things happen when he’s up for it, even if those occasions are often eclipsed by the disinterested and sloppy approach he has to games.
Lewis O’Brien was superb against Swansea and anonymous against Derby. Who knows which version will turn up later today. I’m not even sure what the problem has been for him this season. The injury at the start didn’t help, the transfer rumours may have turned his head, his youth may have led to his ability being overestimated,or maybe he doesn’t suit Carlosball. I genuinely don’t know. The most obvious thing I can see is that he’s trying too hard at times and that leaves to him rushing simple passes and giving the ball away. I firmly believe that he’s a quality player and will come good but his slump in form this season has dragged on too long now and we need to see a consistent improvement.
Forwards: Campbell, Mbenza
Duane Holmes isn’t likely to be suited to the physical nature of this game, so swapping him for Isaac Mbenza will give us more pace up top and an outlet to get in behind them when we need to relieve pressure on the defence. Apparently Mbenza hadn’t trained before the Derby game but he’s been fine since, so will hopefully be in better shape. If nothing else he’s useful to have on the pitch for his delivery of set pieces.
The abdominal issue that saw Fraizer Campbell come off at half time against Derby is no longer a problem apparently, so I think we’ll see him keep his starting spot. Yaya Sanogo might be in contention but given how long it’s been since he played competitive football its unlikely we’ll see him starting games for a while. Keiran Phillips is also likely to have to settle for a place on the bench as he didn’t do a great deal in his 45 minutes against Derby, though in his defence he received awful service and shouldn’t be judged too harshly when the whole team misfired.
TerrierSpirit.com score prediction: 0-0
If you’ve read this far you can probably sense my feeling of gloom about Town today. We’ve struggled so much against physical teams that sit deep it’s hard to imagine a positive outcome. My only realistic hope is that we can cut out the errors, withstand the lumped up balls and come away with a clean sheet.
While we need to win games to get out of relegation trouble, a point would be a decent outcome in my eyes, particularly of it comes with a confidence-boosting defensive display. I can’t see us scoring many today with the attacking options we have. However, I’ll be delighted to be wrong about this hunch.
I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head with this one. Predicting a line up is to second guess what CC will do, and that is often illogical. It defies logic to keep Schofield in the team, and I would like to see Rottweiler (or whatever his name is) given a chance. I don’t rate Stearman as much as other people do. He is old, he is slow, he is clumsy and we already have Keogh in the team to fit that role but with a bit of luck he can organise the defence better. We have plenty of players available for the middle of thr park, but not much choice…Holmes is not the man for a physical battle. Campbell needs a rest but Sanogo probably hasn’t had enough time with the squad other than to make a cameo 86th minute appearance from the bench. As for CC, can anyone understand a word he says, and is that part of the problem?? Thankfully Preston are better on the road than at home so I too will plump for 0-0.
Clean sheet 😂👌🏼
Schofield is the biggest problem. A reactive shot stopper is obviously very good but a goalkeeper is more than that. If he controls the box the whole team feels more secure and the way they play is more confident, knowing that the man at the back will be difficult to beat. At the moment Schofield isn’t any of those things and basically needs dropping for his own good as well as the team. The mentality at Town is, it seems, that money is everything totally disregarding any damage to the team. Get rid of the only good goalkeeper, Hamer as his wages were high. Sell Mooy. Sell Billing. Sell Mounie. Sell Grant and it seems sell O’Brien this summer. All of which looks like good business if we had good players in the club to replace them – but we don’t and practically nothing has been spent on getting in quality Championship players. I know we all have said this time and time again but we can’t operate like this forever. If nobody invests in the club we’ll drop through the leagues like a stone and don’t think we’ll do any better in League 1 or 2. I could be even harder.
I am as frustrated as the next fan about the lack of investment, but I would rather have a team to follow than go out of business.
Dropping to League 2 is equivalent to going out of business.
What a silly comment– I respectfully disagree. you would still have a team to follow, or you could pop down the road and watch Leeds United instead. When it is in your blood it is in your blood, thick and thin.Yes, been there, done that (not watched Leeds!), seen the 4th division, in fact seen it all. But it’s no fun watching them lose at Tranmere on a cold winter night. You are missing the point. It’s been a great achievement for the club to attain the position and standing that they have and it is disgraceful that the current management are prepared to throw it all away to maintain their own bank balance(s). All we get is whingeing from the chairman about the money and downright rubbish such as having 5 strikers. If he isn’t wealthy enough to support the club be should get out. It’ll be worth a lot less in a lower league.
A modest investment would have made championship survival…and its revenues…more achievable. The club will survive..whether it is in league 1 or 2..but this undignified scramble of another relegation fight could have been avoided with better decision making at the top.
Good peace again terrier but 0-0 is a bit optimistic i cannot see us keeping a clean sheet so 1-1 would be good but I’m not feeling too good about today I hate playing Preston, I also think CC will stick with a three so today it’s got to be 3 centre halves gives us a bit more height in there which we will need so yes stearman, I would like us to start with Phillips & Holmes up front together they give us height and creativity something for their defenders to think about, I’d also pick mbenza instead of Rowe he doesn’t really deserve to be dropped but in a game like this can be a bit lightweight at times plus could be used when mbenza gets tired, I’m afraid the undroppable bacuna stays in as CC like previous managers seems to see something in him that we don’t, I don’t like what’s being done with Schofield as he is close to ruining a good young keeper but he doesn’t seem to want to try our back ups so Schofield is in for a very uncomfortable afternoon again so we need the extra centre half just to try & help him out, I really don’t know what goes through CC’s mind so it really could be anybody I just hope we can dig in & play for 90mins rather just going all out for 10mins then nothing until it’s too late, wouldn’t it be nice to work our way into a game for a change
I agree with everything that has been penned so far – should I say typed? The overall emotion is that we’re watching a disaster movie, creeping ever closer to the front row.. I would love CC to succeed because at our best I really enjoy the football being played, but I’ve paid for 100 minutes not thirty minutes max!
Three at the back, with our “full-backs” is a must for me for ever more, with REG or Vallejo on the right – probably unlikely at the moment. Pedestrian will be the word on everyone’s lips with the predicted threesome.
If you watched CC’s prematch interview (and could understand it!) he admitted his current team is not good enough to play the CC style for more than a small portion of the match. He quoted that Man City had players who could do it for 90 minutes but he expected his lower quality players to make mistakes. Spot on there. There was a glimmer of hope of a style change as he mentioned using the longer ball to Sanogo as he was a different type of player instead of his very predictable, and now neutralised, style of playing out from the back
John Holmes – losing in any division is painful, but I’d rather watch them lose in 4th Division than have no team to follow.
It needs to be leutwiler today for all the right reasons. Schofield definitely needs a rest to settle his nerve, and against a physical side like Preston, we need a strong keeper with more presence about him, at corners and crosses etc. I’d be surprised if Schofield was selected today.
I’ll be watching the rugby today as Town’s displays away from home are really cheesing me off. It beggars belief that a manager who was a goalie can’t see that Schofield is suffering and needs a rest and also can’t organize a defense for toffee. Nice to see we may have a plan B with Sanogo, but will it be tried is anyones guess.
I wonder how many of us will continue to pay for watching away games on iFollow when we are allowed back into the stadiums. It has become apparent to me how awful Radio Leeds commentary is when you can see the pictures – the amount of times players are mis-identified or good play (or not as the case can often be) is not mentioned whilst Oggy and Matt Glennon discuss other matters is astonishing. I appreciate the iFollow coverage can be fairly rubbish at times but at least it allows us to make up our own minds on things, and Steven Chicken writes absolute drivel at times that makes us sound better than we are. Keep up the good work Terrier Spirit – this is the best place to get good honest reviews amd articles on the internet.
A modest investment would have made championship survival…and its revenues…more achievable. The club will survive..whether it is in league 1 or 2..but this undignified scramble of another relegation fight could have been avoided with better decision making at the top.
We will have to hope that Preston hasn’t anybody able to scamper through the yawning gap in our back three – like Waghorn (of all people) did for Derby. Our defenders are no longer up to the job. Can say the same for our attackers. But I’m not blaming Carlos for any of that.
Those saying the club will survive in League 1 or 2 must think he will find some mug to buy the club off him or must believe we can come out the other side of administration when our current owner cashed in his chips.
Fantastic to see Rarmani Edmond-Green restored to the line up. I hadn’t appreciated he was fit enough to start, and he certainly deserves his selection based on his performances pre-injury.