Well Man United have set the bar very high, somehow managing to out do us even.

Sheff United can you be even more incompetent?

Please no more Badiashile and Diasi at centre half. Personally I'd replace them both but one would be a start. I'd also start Madueke and Chukwuemeka. That means dropping Caciedo which I'm fine with. To start Madueke we either drop Mudryk or Jackson. Mudryk is showing very occasional flashes of promise which inclines me not to drop him. Jackson  isn't a centre forward and never will be. If we drop him for Madueke then someone has to play ad a false nine which is far from ideal. 

3 hours ago, loz said:

Please no more Badiashile and Diasi at centre half. Personally I'd replace them both but one would be a start. I'd also start Madueke and Chukwuemeka. That means dropping Caciedo which I'm fine with. To start Madueke we either drop Mudryk or Jackson. Mudryk is showing very occasional flashes of promise which inclines me not to drop him. Jackson  isn't a centre forward and never will be. If we drop him for Madueke then someone has to play ad a false nine which is far from ideal. 

I'd give Chalobah a start over either Badiashile or Disasi.

10 hours ago, loz said:

Please no more Badiashile and Diasi at centre half. Personally I'd replace them both but one would be a start. I'd also start Madueke and Chukwuemeka. That means dropping Caciedo which I'm fine with. To start Madueke we either drop Mudryk or Jackson. Mudryk is showing very occasional flashes of promise which inclines me not to drop him. Jackson  isn't a centre forward and never will be. If we drop him for Madueke then someone has to play ad a false nine which is far from ideal. 

You'd drop Conor who shouldn't be playing 10 against Sheff Utd and play Mudryk there, with Madueke on the wing.

I agree Jackson isn't a great centre forward but we've looked worse when we've tried anyone as a false nine.

Petrovic

Gusto  Chalobah   Silva   Cucurella

Caicedo   Enzo

Madueke   Palmer   Mudryk

Jackson

 

13 hours ago, loz said:

Please no more Badiashile and Diasi at centre half. Personally I'd replace them both but one would be a start. I'd also start Madueke and Chukwuemeka. That means dropping Caciedo which I'm fine with. To start Madueke we either drop Mudryk or Jackson. Mudryk is showing very occasional flashes of promise which inclines me not to drop him. Jackson  isn't a centre forward and never will be. If we drop him for Madueke then someone has to play ad a false nine which is far from ideal. 

Exactly as I see it Loz. Great minds and all that.........

We cannot persist with Disasi and Badiashille as a pairing. That said, I don't really rate Chalobah either. How far away is Colwill from returning? If still a while, would bring Silva back to replace Badiashille.

Also, as I have posted elsewhere, think we look really potent and exciting when we have Carney, Noni, Mudryk and Palmer all on the pitch at the same time. Perhaps starting with them all, isn't the best idea as you then don't have a game changer on the bench, but I would like to see how it goes at least once and would be all for dropping both Caicedo and Jackson.

 

3 hours ago, Gonoir Beniashile said:

I'd play this but a part of me anticipates Silva not playing again this season. 

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd play this but a part of me anticipates Silva not playing again this season. 

You could be quite right.

Aside from his defending I think we miss his threat from set pieces.

10 hours ago, forbzy said:

I'd give Chalobah a start over either Badiashile or Disasi.

Trev and Colwill at CB for me, Alfie at RB.

If no Colwill, Alfie and Trev CB and Gusto stays at RB.

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Exactly as I see it Loz. Great minds and all that.........

We cannot persist with Disasi and Badiashille as a pairing. That said, I don't really rate Chalobah either. How far away is Colwill from returning? If still a while, would bring Silva back to replace Badiashille.

Also, as I have posted elsewhere, think we look really potent and exciting when we have Carney, Noni, Mudryk and Palmer all on the pitch at the same time. Perhaps starting with them all, isn't the best idea as you then don't have a game changer on the bench, but I would like to see how it goes at least once and would be all for dropping both Caicedo and Jackson.

 

Colwill probably won't play again this season based on the way our rehab program works. Chalobah is not the perfect solution but still a better option than Badiashile based on form and availability.

1 hour ago, Gonoir Beniashile said:

You could be quite right.

Aside from his defending I think we miss his threat from set pieces.

I suspect a big reason behind his lack of playing time is more political (contentious posts towards the ownership etc.) but I also remember we had to play differently in the middle to accomodate him and that led to some challenges. We certainly let less goals in though.

6 points here and Everton are needed. 

I am still dreaming of moving further up the table. More attacking options now even though Jackson has to play every game. And despite leaking goals gusto/gilchrist and cucu are at least proper full backs. Chalobah getting fit can also be useful for the run in. Saying all that with Burnley still fresh in the mind. But I believe the team is being forged as we move through the season. Not that far off being a contender. 

With the pattern we've seen, we'll get 3 points against United and draw 2-2 to Sheffield, you just know it. 

Should be an easy win on paper , although a 2:2 would not be surprising at all.

17 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd play this but a part of me anticipates Silva not playing again this season. 

I can also see this. I do find it extremely disrespectful to purposefully continue to bench Silva in order to play inferior players.  I'd even forgo Badiashile's woodenness, inability to control the ball or pass effectively, dire positional sense and lack of threat in advanced set pieces if he could just head the ball when defending.

At this stage it looks to me that the only thing that is apparently against Silva is his age and the threat of him being done for pace. Outside of the top 4-5 teams in the league I am struggling to see where this is an issue. I do know that we don't concede that second Utd goal with Silva there because unlike Badiashile he has spatial awareness,  a good leap and can head the ball. We probably don't concede the third either cos Silva doesn't have such an horrendous touch.

All moot anyway as I doubt Poch will play him again.

Edited April 6, 20241 yr by WhiteWall

30 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I can also see this. I do find it extremely disrespectful to purposefully continue to bench Silva in order to play inferior players.  I'd even forgo Badiashile's woodenness, inability to control the ball or pass effectively, dire positional sense and lack of threat in advanced set pieces if he could just head the ball when defending.

At this stage it looks to me that the only thing that is apparently against Silva is his age and the threat of him being done for pace. Outside of the top 4-5 teams in the league I am struggling to see where this is an issue. I do know that we don't concede that second Utd goal with Silva there because unlike Badiashile he has spatial awareness,  a good leap and can head the ball. We probably don't concede the third either cos Silva doesn't have such an horrendous touch.

All moot anyway as I doubt Poch will play him again.

And in any event we have to move on from Silva and learn to do without him. For that reason and assuming he's fit Chalobah starts. Not sure if Carney is fit enough to start but he obviously deserves more minutes at the expense of one of the midfield 3.

I'll be hated but there is a case to start Sterling as the team will benefit from a bit of rotation given this will be about the 3rd game in a week.

53 minutes ago, ozboy said:

I'll be hated but there is a case to start Sterling as the team will benefit from a bit of rotation given this will be about the 3rd game in a week.

I'm starting to think you actually are Pochettino!

That's just nuts. There is no reason whatsoever that Sterling should be picked before Madueke. How many times does he have to come on with 5 minutes or less and make a major difference for you to realise that?

Bigger, stronger, faster, better in the air, more direct and works harder. It is a total no-brainer.

I worry about this game. 
Besides winning against Manchester United in a very emotional way, our performance was piss poor I thought. Too high risk, no control, no balance, complete chaos. The only reason I predicted a win against them, is that they seem as chaotic and lacking of structure/cohesion as we do. 
Sheffield United are of course a very bad team, but they will defend deep and we know how badly we have coped with that earlier in the season. 
I really want to see Madueke, but can we afford to not play Palmer wide right with the form he’s in?  Carney and anyone besides the Monaco boys would also be great, but I think Poch will be tempted to go with an unchanged 11 for the third game running

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

I worry about this game. 
Besides winning against Manchester United in a very emotional way, our performance was piss poor I thought. Too high risk, no control, no balance, complete chaos. The only reason I predicted a win against them, is that they seem as chaotic and lacking of structure/cohesion as we do. 
Sheffield United are of course a very bad team, but they will defend deep and we know how badly we have coped with that earlier in the season. 
I really want to see Madueke, but can we afford to not play Palmer wide right with the form he’s in?  Carney and anyone besides the Monaco boys would also be great, but I think Poch will be tempted to go with an unchanged 11 for the third game running

Now that's going the other way Andy. No one is saying you leave Palmer out for Madueke. You don't leave Palmer out for anybody.

For a few games I would like to see what @Nibs and @loz have suggested. Play all of Palmer, Carney, Noni and Mudryk. Firstly Poch has to be brave enough to do that, (and I really don't think he's brave enough), and also smart enough to work the in game tactics, (and I really don't think he's smart enough), to rotate them through positions as the game circumstances dictate. But there is a huge amount of skill and pace between them.

I'd leave out Jackson and Caicedo. They and, obviously, Sterling, would be on the bench.

Edited April 6, 20241 yr by just

there is an ongoing discussion we cannot win a game in the dying moments like Liverpool does. when we finally do like in a  nuclear fashion - two goals in one minute which was the last minute of OT

 

I don’t give a flying f if we do all 9 of them in that style just after been playing sh*t half of the match.

 

something had happened between Enzo and Mount in the half year span together. what are your thoughts?

 

21 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

6 points here and Everton are needed. 

Those around us haven't got difficult fixtures, so I don't see us moving up the table much unless we can we our game(s) in hand when the time comes.  

Sheff Utd gave a Liverpool a tough game in midweek so this is going to be no pushover especially if we are not at it from the off.  I hope that the players don't think that the win against Utd was job done for the season and completely come out flat as we did against Burnley and other lower ranked teams.   Definitely need to come away with 3 points, but it may well be another nail biter. 

4 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Those around us haven't got difficult fixtures, so I don't see us moving up the table much unless we can we our game(s) in hand when the time comes.  

Brighton have Arsenal today. Newcastle has tricky Fulham and Wolves and West Ham play each other.