If we keep up our win one lose one tally we will finish on 69 points. It also means we'd lose one at palace!
I have to say Alan did choose the wrong formation with Gray up on his own?
I would have put Varney right wing left Shelvey out (not as ready as we thought) and brought in Chris Dickson, but that's just me other option is Sharon at RM and keep Varney upfront.
What do you think?
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If Ambrose (understandably) can't do 90 minutes yet then Semedo should have played right back with Yassin on the wing to get forward. I would have kept Bailey and Holland together in the middle as it worked well against Reading and started with KY on the left instead of Basey.
I don't think Varney could play on his own in a 4-5-1 although he'd give it his all and I don't think Gray is really mobile enough to play on his own.
Going to a ground like Deepdale or Deepdepression or whatever it's called, playing a confident team that's made a good start,
and knowing that Moo2 particularly is vulnerable without cover - then if you are going to play him and hopefully make the most of his pacy penetration & thrust, at least double up and give the lad some protection.
Otherwise, it would have been better to start with Semedo or, as suggested here already, a Semedo/Moo2 wide combination.
Gray in a 4-5-1 is fine as long as he's got a pacy advanced midfielder playing in the hole just behind him, to come from deep to go perhaps, 1 on 1 with the keeper. No point playing Gray isolated on his own and Varney playing wide and firing in crosses for Gray surrounded by 3 or 4 defenders.
If Varney plays wide, then try Dickson to play in the hole, while we are waiting for Toddy & Ambrose to get properly fit.
Or Varney to sit behind Gray, to make the pacy runs.
On saturday, esp in the 2nd half, Gray had numerous cahnces when he could have got involved, but he always seems to be a yard behind the play and never there when the bal is played into the box.
perhaps pards should look at a Dickson/Varney pairing up-front. Gray maybe top-scorer with 3 goals, but 2 have been pens and disn'y llok like troubling their 2 centre halvess all game.
Gray isn't, as we all know, a pacy player but he does have certain attributes - however, if we don't play to his strengths, then we won't get an end product from him. It's no good expecting him to streak through one on one, or just lumping up the ball vaguely in his direction - it didn't work for Iwelumo and it doesn't work for Gray.
His track record at all his recent clubs has proved that he can score goals. So lets play to his strengths and reap the benefits.
His other clubs did.
Some people can't do anything right. Probably the same people who saying we should have kept Big Chris now, were being as equally critical of him as they are about Gray this time last year.
Ideally with ZZ as one of the five