My heart always sinks when I see we’re playing Millwall. I’m not sure they could be officially counted as a bogey team statistically but it certainly feels like they’re a team we rarely do well against. They thumped us in the final (admittedly meaningless) game of last season and farther back but more memorably, broke our hearts by knocking us out of the League One playoff semi-final in 2010. The song goes that no one likes Millwall but I feel like we’ve got more reason to dislike them than most.
Millwall are actually a pretty decent Championship team these days too, to make matters worse. So it’s going to be a tough task for Town to break their two-game losing streak and bounce back at The Den later today. Carlos Corberán will need to get his team selection spot on to have a chance. Here’s who I think he should pick.
Goalkeeper: Ben Hamer
Didn’t look great for the second Birmingham goal on Wednesday night and spilt the ball for the winning goal in the Preston game last weekend so needs a quiet afternoon to settle his nerves and silence his critics. No keeper is going to go through a season without making the odd mistake here and there but if it starts happening most games then questions start to be asked. On balance, Hamer has justified his selection in the team so far this season and has made several excellent saves but doubts will remain about him if mistakes creep back into his game.
Defence: Pipa, Stearman, Schindler, Sarr, Toffolo
I initially predicted that Schindler would be dropped for this game but I think he’ll keep a place in the team purely because Sarr can come back in as an additional defender to make a three rather than sticking with the two central defenders. We missed Sarr’s aerial ability and range of passing in the Birmingham game, so I can’t see there being any hesitation in putting him straight back into the starting eleven after his suspension.
Pipa and Toffolo weren’t at their best in the last game, mostly due to Birmingham looking to stifle their runs and limit their time on the ball. It seems that other teams have sussed out that our wingbacks are the biggest creative source in the team and are looking to muzzle them. We’re going to have to work out strategies to counteract this tactic, such as playing through the middle more or switching positions with the wingers to make it harder to track the wingbacks.
Midfield: Eiting, O’Brien, Pritchard
This midfield three looks to be lightweight and short, which isn’t great against Millwall who are always a physical team. But I’d still go with these three because we don’t want to beat the opposition at their game, we want to play our own style of football and Pritchard, O’Brien and Eiting are all capable of playing nice passing football and working opportunities in the final third.
Hogg was poorly on Wednesday night and had a poor game so I think giving him a rest and having Eiting and O’Brien share the deep-lying midfield role will give us a bit more creativity and forward drive from this part of the pitch. With three central defenders we don’t need the midfield to drop quite as deep so Hogg isn’t needed. In theory at least.
Pritchard coming in for Bacuna seems like a no-brainer to me. Carlos more or less confirmed that Bacuna has been dropped in his pre-match press conference, suggesting that both the player and the coaching staff are sick of having the same conversation but not making any progress. Bacuna may now find his opportunities in the team limited until he can prove he’s willing to take on board the coach’s instruction and carry it out on the pitch.
Forwards: Koroma, Mbenza
I keep predicting that Frazier Campbell is going to be rested and he keeps playing 90 minutes anyway. Surely this will be the game where he gets to recover some energy by starting on the bench.
If I’m right about Campbell being missing then we need Koroma and Mbenza to play that funny, half-winger half-striker role that they’ve played in previous games Campbell has missed. It’s not ideal but it does allow for midfielders to bomb forward to support and provides them with the chance to cut inside more often and try to shoot.
How many of my predictions were correct against Birmingham?
I got eight of my predictions correct for the Birmingham game, which is about my average so far. Corberán opted for a two-at-the-back system rather than bringing in Crichlow as I thought he would, Mbenza was rested so Diakhaby played and Bacuna was favoured over O’Brien.
Eight games into the season and Carlos continues to regularly tinker with his starting eleven and is very hard to predict. He regularly tweaks his tactics and is trying to rotate players wherever possible. Surprisingly this has not extended to giving youngsters a go, barring the odd cameo here and there.
Spot on.
Cheers Terry. I’d be stunned if I’ve got the lineup right for today but I suppose a stopped clock is right twice a day.
I never like to see us play without a 9. I know Koroma is a forward but not for me in that role yet. We do need to manage Cambells fitness though. So I think this Is probably going to be the starting line up.
(Tin hat on).. I wouldn’t of played Schindler against brum.. Critchlow for me.. A little harsh to push Streaman to the left.. He has been immense so far this season. Schindler does not look comfortable bringing the ball out of the defensive line. Although your probably right Sarr compensates for this and allows Schindler to do what he does best. Sit in and mop up
With the sad announcment of the death of the great Nobby Stiles may I take you back to Friday 6th Dec. 1995
“Lunchtime with the legends” featuring the “Boys of 66′” at the Alfred Macalpine Stadium, Nobby Stiles, Roger Hunt, Gordon Banks, 12:oo for 12:30pm the great Mike Kelly as compere comedian followed after lunch by the three superstars, Nobby about his days under Sir Matt Busby, Roger with his days under former Town manager Bill Shankley and Gordon with England in 1970 world cup under Sir Alf Ramsey, all three brilliant, with an audience of nearly 300 in stitches, we were constantly supplied with beer by a very nice waitress, we rolled out about 5:30pm with my wife threating to throw us out of the car at Bradley, RIP Nobby, just another priceless Town Memory.and I agree with your team for today. all we want is gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaals. UTT
What a great story, I’d have loved to have been there though I would have been 12, so not able to get boozed up and probably a bit young and innocent for some of their stories.
I don’t think anyone would have predicted the starting XI correctly, and when the team was announced there will not have been many predicting anything other than a defeat. Well played boys, and credit where it is due.
A very workmanlike performance and stood up to be counted.The whole team fought for very ball and while we can talk about individuals it’s about the all round collective effort which got us the result.All games are hard and Tuesday will be no different and no doubt one or two changes will be made due to the way Bristol play plus the number of games we have had over a short period.well done town and while there will be setbacks we are moving slowly to being very competitive