Town are back in action again tonight after the unexpected pause in their season following the Queen’s death last week. I’d rather the weekend’s games had gone ahead with an appropriate tribute to the Queen’s life before kickoff but given the game we had called off was a tricky away fixture to QPR, Danny Schofield might have been privately relieved to have missed a fixture where defeat would have piled pressure onto him.
Instead he goes into this week with two home games before the international break and has a chance to show that he can get this team playing. Wigan and Cardiff are both teams that can be tricky on their day but aren’t exactly world beaters, so four points and a significant improvement in performance should be the minimum expectation for this week given Town are currently in a dreadful position in terms of points on the board.
The good news is that Town should have some fresh faces available to come on for this game and we should expect to see some of our new signings. Here’s how I think we’ll line up…
Goalkeeper: Lee Nicholls
Town have not yet signed an experienced number two, so the rumours of a free agent being lined up after the transfer deadline must have been wide of the mark. As Lee Nicholls currently seems in good health it doesn’t seem much of an issue. Nicholas Bilokapic continues as number two and I suppose we’d be allowed to dip into the emergency loans market if disaster should strike anyway. In the meantime, Lee Nicholls continues to regularly bail Town out several times in most games. Wouldn’t it be lovely if the defence didn’t rely on him so heavily?
Defence: Turton, Helik, Lees, Mbete, Nakayama
As allowing too many goals has been our weakness lately, I hope that we’ll see both of our deadline day signings drafted into central defence this evening. This means the fullbacks that have been moonlighting in central defence can then be pushed out to the wingback slots to give us more solidity in wide areas. So Kesler-Heyden and Ruffels can both be dropped to the bench and Nakayama and Turton can be given slightly more conservative roles in the wide defensive areas. I wouldn’t see this as the long-term plan for the back line but a reasonable plan for while we’re struggling and needing to keep things tight at the back.
Helik should come straight in and instantly improve our back line. He knows this level well and has been a consistent high performer. He’s not the kind of ball playing central defender that we might think we want but he’s a no nonsense, keep-it-simple defender we absolutely need right now, so I’m delighted he’s coming in.
Luke Mbete is more of an unknown quantity as he’s coming out of youth football from Man City’s academy. He’s not likely to burst onto the scene with the same kind of impact that Levi Colwill did, who was already too good for the Championship when he arrived. But given that Town loaned out Edmonds-Green and brought him in, he should at least be better than him. If nothing else he’s tall, so should be able to cope with Wigan’s aerial threat.
Tom Lees hasn’t had an amazing start to the season but he’s not been helped by having a makeshift backline around him that has changed from game to game. Tonight’s lineup should be closer to the settled back line that we need to move towards. Putting him in the middle of a back three with two proper centre backs besides him will go a long way to helping him get back into his comfort zone where he can recapture his best form.
Midfield: Thomas, Hogg, Rudoni, Anjorin
Sorba Thomas was one of the few bright points against Blackpool in my opinion, I thought he put in some great quality deliveries and was unlucky that there wasn’t enough movement in the box from Town’s attackers to get on the end of his balls. He’s hopefully getting closer to his best form of last season after a slow start and will no doubt be aware that his time to impress ahead of November’s World Cup is running out, so he really needs to up his game in the next two months.
The central midfield has been awful for Town lately and hopefully David Kasumu’s return from injury will provide us with some much needed energy in that area of the pitch but I don’t think he’ll come straight back into the action tonight as he’s been out since the first game of the season and has a history of injury issues so will be carefully managed back into competitive action. So I expect Hogg to partner Rudoni in the engine room with Kasumu given a few minutes off the bench to make sure his hamstring is fully recovered before he is given a start.
Rudoni is probably more effective as a winger and may even prefer to play out wide but our complete lack of creative midfielders has meant that he’s had to adapt his game for the good of the team and play in that role. He’s done a good job so far too. He could do with a bit more presence at times and it would be better if he imposed himself on games more. But in his defence, he always shows for the ball and can use his skill to get out of tight situations and move the play forward.
Tino Anjorin seems to be a boom or bust kind of player, sometimes the touchpaper has been lit and he’s absolutely explosive and other times he’s like a firework that’s been left in a bucket of water overnight and there’s barely even a fizzle from him as he midlessly dribbles into trouble. Whether he’s in top form or having an off day he’s rarely willing to put in a huge amount of effort defensively and that’s something I’d like to see him improve in his game. Even top players for top teams track back and defend when they don’t have the ball, so I think he could benefit from busting a gut to tackle back a little bit more often. Perhaps improving his all round fitness might help in this area because he still doesn’t seem fully fit. If he doesn’t then Duane Holmes and Pat Jones both seem more than willing to run their socks off for the team and might be better options for his starting role.
Forward: Ward
I feel a bit sorry for Wardy, he puts in a lot of effort but he rarely gets given any decent chances to finish. And now he’s got the prospect of Tyreece Simpson working his way to fitness and competing for his starting position as well as Jordan Rhodes. I don’t really understand how three strikers are going to be kept happy in a system where we only play one striker at a time, particularly when none of the three seem to be suited to playing out wide. But I suppose we don’t need to worry about that until at least January, when Simpson is fully fit. Until then it will be Rhodes and Ward fighting for the starting striker slot. Then the other gets subbed on in a like for like change on 70 minutes, like we do in every game.
Spot on again, I agree entirely.
With only Pearson injured this is our strongest line up. I think we we have a good squad and a good coach would be happy with it.
It Is now up to Danny Schofield. I really hope he is going to be as good as Dean Hoyle thinks he is but I have my doubts. 4 points is a minimum over the next 2 games otherwise we need a change.
It’s not boding well when, for a home match against not great opposition, you want to pack out the defence and select only 4 attack-minded players.
Maybe you could learn from Brendan McCallum (cricket) – England had won only one test match in 17; now they’ve won 6 out of the last 7. It’s an attitude of mind; if under the cosh, then attack harder. I feel your line-up has so few goals in it, it’s like going out to bat intent on survival but in your heart of hearts there’s a ball with your name on it and you’re going to ‘nick off’. It’s a 0-1 team if ever I saw one.
I say worry less about the threats of the opposition and think how can we cause them problems. A draw is not a good result. Town need a win, desperately; and a convincing win at that. Something to lift morale and confidence. Without that, many of us know we’re going to fulfil the prophecy of Private Frazer – “we’re doomed!”
Good God We Dont Have A Good Coach He’s Too Naive Picking Russell and Lee’s Who in My Opinion His Legs Have Gone Too Slow and Constantley Picking Hogg As A Defensive Kingpin Teams Know This Were Too Slow The Players Dont Look Like There Up For it If We Loose Tonight Schofield Will be Gone We Need A Manager With Fight And Passion