Carlos Corberán will be hoping to build on last weekend’s first win of his tenure with another good performance at Rotherham later today. The Yorkshire derby will be Town’s final game before the international break so we’ll have a fortnight to wait after this game before we see Town on action again.
There are a few selection headaches facing Corberán as more of his squad become available to him. Here’s how I think Town will line up.
Goalkeeper: Hamer
After a brilliant performance last weekend there is no doubt that Hamer deserves to keep his place in goals. The two saves he made in the first half against Forest gave Town the platform to push on and win the game.
Hamer was refreshingly honest after the game and admitted that his previous form at Town hadn’t been good enough. Last week has changed the narrative about Hamer somewhat and if he can string together multiple good performances then he should see his old confidence return. Unfortunately for keepers, nearly every mistake they make has dire consequences for the team, so eliminating silly mistakes is essential to maintain this positive momentum.
Defence: Pipa, Stearman, Crichlow, Toffolo
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched the step overs and backheel nutmeg Pipa did last weekend. Even though it culminated in a pretty pathetic dive, it was great to see a Town player get to the byline and make the opposition look silly with silky skills. I’m looking forward to seeing more against Rotherham.
Central defence is one of the areas where there are difficult decisions. Schindler has resumed training and Sarr has another week of proper training under his belt after his hotel isolation. Both are likely to be the long term first choice centre back pairing but I personally wouldn’t play either today.
Stearman and Crichlow both played very well against Forest and it seems unfair to drop either when they didn’t do anything wrong. Crichlow won the Sky man of the match award, so it could be a blow to his confidence to lose his place to a half-fit player that’s only just arrived at the club.
Toffolo provided the assist for Campbell in his last game alongside putting in another energetic shift on the left side of defence. He shook off the injury that saw him substituted in the Brentford game and played without any obvious issue so he should continue to play at left back.
Midfield: Eiting, Pritchard, Bacuna
Hoggy escaped a red card for his shocking tackle on Harry Arter last week but a collision with Kyle Taylor forced him off with what looked like a recurrence of his longstanding hip injury. Carlos said that Hogg faces a late fitness test for this game but if he’s available we should patch him up and throw him in for this game. Rotherham are a physical side and we need battlers in the middle of the park.
Carel Eiting showed only glimmers of his full potential in the Forest game but it was enough to convince me that he should start today. His intelligent positioning and speed of thought when the ball came to him meant he always played a positive ball forward when he could. I suspect there’s even more to come from him as he didn’t want to overplay the ball on his debut. I hope he takes a few more risks against Rotherham and dribbles with the ball more. It will be interesting to see how he manages with the rough and tumble side of the match against Rotherham as he’s admitted himself that he wants to improve the physical aspect of his game.
Both Bacuna and Pritchard put in their best performances of the season against Forest. Neither was perfect but both grafted in midfield and did their defensive work diligently. One of them has to make way to allow Eiting to start. I think Bacuna should drop to the bench just because Pritchard is less likely to make a silly mistake. It’s also worth noting that most of Bacuna’s best performances last season came as an impact sub, so he’s useful to bring on in the closing stages of games.
Attack: Koroma, Campbell, Mbenza
Josh Koroma was Town’s most dangerous player against Forest and could have scored a few if his finishing was better. I have a feeling that he may register his first goal of the season today which will do his confidence some good.
I thought Frazier Campbell looked fitter and sharper on his return from injury last week compared to the post-lockdown games. Ward’s continued injury absence makes Campbell the only option up front but he’d be my first choice even if Ward were available.
Like Hamer, Mbenza put in a much improved performance against Forest and showed some nice moments of skill. He deserves to keep his place and hopefully he can build from here. I’d like to see him getting into the box more and getting on the end of chances as we need goals from all our attackers.
How many of my predictions were correct last week?
Last week I got 10 out of 11 correct in my predictions article, my only mistake being that I thought Eiting would come straight into midfield and Bacuna would then take Mbenza’s place on the wing. While this is the best week so far this season, I’ve still not predicted the full starting XI correctly yet.
I’m not confident this week’s predictions will be fully accurate either. Corberán may bring Schindler back in now he’s back in training as he’s barely missed any of Town’s games since he first arrived. Sarr could be preferred for Crichlow and Hogg may not be fit to play from the start.
Who do you think should start for Town this afternoon? Put your predictions in the comments.
