I cannot remember the last time we started a game without injuries already making us all feel 'happy with a point'. With so many centre backs it really is bad luck to have so many missing tomorrow. Scunthorpe are too good a team to not best us in 3 attempts so I think 2-0 spells surely the end of any play off place.
not so long ago the number of centre backs in the squad was a topic of mirth and ridicule .. strange how circumstances change .. tomorrow, despite the injury and suspension plague, we will still be able to field two 'real' centre backs and have one left over to put on the bench ..
alas, if only this were also the case with 'proper' strikers
And Central midfield, Ohh and wingers, fullbacks and keepers.
I cannot remember the last time we started a game without injuries already making us all feel 'happy with a point'. With so many centre backs it really is bad luck to have so many missing tomorrow. Scunthorpe are too good a team to not best us in 3 attempts so I think 2-0 spells surely the end of any play off place.
Far too early to write off a playoff place, especially when you consider the teams around us.
Tomorrow looks a struggle though; as the pundits like to say these days, our spine has been decimated....
Despite the 1-3 defeat in the FA Cup match, Scunthorpe played well at the Valley and lost to the brilliance of Lookman more than any tactical reason.They had a quick direct passing style in a 4-4-2 and used the wide players/full backs well, particularly Wiseman & Morris on the right. Robbo is apparently wedded to a 4-2-3-1 system, so it will be interesting to see how we block up the flanks if they get going. If Scunthorpe dominate possession in the central areas, we will have a long afternoon. We need to start on the front foot and dictate the pattern of play from the off.
Slade wasn't one to change his tactics, it was 442 or 451. Karl Robinson appears to me to be exactly the same but with a 'fancier' system. Without a proper lone forward tomorrow we surely have to play two up top (Novak and Watt) rather than fit players into positions they're not adept in. Scunthorpe are a very good side and I think they'll be too strong for us. 3-1 defeat.
Despite the 1-3 defeat in the FA Cup match, Scunthorpe played well at the Valley and lost to the brilliance of Lookman more than any tactical reason.They had a quick direct passing style in a 4-4-2 and used the wide players/full backs well, particularly Wiseman & Morris on the right. Robbo is apparently wedded to a 4-2-3-1 system, so it will be interesting to see how we block up the flanks if they get going. If Scunthorpe dominate possession in the central areas, we will have a long afternoon. We need to start on the front foot and dictate the pattern of play from the off.
Our newfound mobility in midfield must be used to press teams high up the pitch. We have a lot more young legs in the midfield now and the need to be used to stop teams playing. There will be problems adjusting, namely us struggling at times with the long ball last weekend. But by all accounts Robinson wants to play at a high tempo.
Game could be called off they haven't had the under soil heating on
Possibly/probably because they were too tight to install/connect the pipes to a boiler. RD is the most illogical pathetic scrooge. Is it covered with frost mats ? I reckon we'd be more than happy for the game to be called off, with so many injuries and without all our new players, that we haven't quite splashed the cash on yet.
Is there a chance KR deliberately left the cover off the pitch to get the game postponed due to the injury crisis?
I was thinking the same. Just leave the mats off the coldest areas that get little to no sunshine. You don't need a very big frozen area to get the game called off. We even had a game called off (was it W Ham or Soton ? ), when the pitch was ok, but the area that the lino ran, was too slippery/frozen. It was on the north east side.
I hope Rudd has studied the Scunthorpe penalty takers, and that Robinson has prepared the team to play with ten, even nine, players. Dreading it today, dreading seeing Johnson play, at MKD he was on for a couple of minutes and the ref missed the penalty MKD should have had after a reckless Johnson tackle. I only hope Bip Ling is there, yar, in order to provide some light in what promises to be a horrible cold grey home defeat. I would love us to win this one, but won't bet on it.
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Tomorrow looks a struggle though; as the pundits like to say these days, our spine has been decimated....
Also we know what other word appears in Scuntorpe.
I'd hope for a draw.
Magennis will be a big miss and if Johnson plays God help us!
Dreading it today, dreading seeing Johnson play, at MKD he was on for a couple of minutes and the ref missed the penalty MKD should have had after a reckless Johnson tackle.
I only hope Bip Ling is there, yar, in order to provide some light in what promises to be a horrible cold grey home defeat.
I would love us to win this one, but won't bet on it.
I would play Ajose as this his natural game and if we play to his game it could work.