joey_big_nose

I agree but at some point one of Ohashi or Gudjonsen are going to break down so we need to plan ahead. Also no more CBs. Sheffield Wednesday are one of our easier games so might be the time for a change. Also bringing on Ohashi to close our games rather than start them could help a lot with our robustness.

With Hedges out I wonder if its better to back to 4231 and give one of our strikers a rest? Pears Alebiouso. Miller. McLoughlin. Riberio TGH. Forshaw Mori. Cantwell. De Neve Gudjonsen

The further deduction must have everyone thinking about next year in League One. Totally devastating with 60% of the season still to play. But I guess those with nothing to lose can be the most dangerous

So Preston in a similar loss making situation... Just the Hemmings family covering it like Venkys did (pre overdraft) for us. I did a bit of research just now and while on a smaller scale Preston are very similar to us in model with owners supplying cash to make them viable. Basically in the Championship it seems pretty universally you need an owner to put £10M+ a year to keep the club solvent (unless you have player sales or parachute payments), theres not a single club in the Championship in recent years (maybe except Brentford 10 years back) who have managed to get by over a 5 year period without massive cash support. Really want to get rid of Venkys but how do we find owners who will write off tens of millions? Is there any club we could look to as an example on how to cut the dependency on (potentially crazy) owners? It looks pretty bleak. Personally Id take relegation to have a go without Venkys, but its very troubling to see losing £10M per season is the norm in the Championship, and i wonder how we can get stability in that environment.

Agreed, but good to look at it in hard numbers. Preston are a very good alternative case to look at.

In a way thats quite encouraging that we can boot out Venkys and still be competitive. Do you have Preston's cost side stats (wages, admin etc).

Any right wing backs or strikers who look any good?

Or I suppose we could try and change the whole system at 60 mins when we need to bring one of the strikers and Hedges off. Pears Miller. McCloughlin. Pratt. Riberio Tronstad. TGH Alebiouso. Axel. De Neve Ohashi Dont hate it as I think wed be able to keep the press on. But changing the system a big call, especially if we are on top as typically we have been recently. Ludicrous to have to change everything because we only have two serviceable strikers.... That said if any one of Alebiouso, Hedges, Gudjonsen or Ohashi get injured we are going to need to use 4231 so we need to prepare for it.

We need to have a really well thought out subs plan to keep the shape and pressing game all 90 mins. We need to spread out our resources to do that. My approach would be to start Pears Miller. McCloughlin. Pratt Alebiosu. Mori. Tronstad. Cantwell. Hedges Gudjohnson. Ohashi At 60 mins bring on Forshaw and TGH to top up energy in midfield. But how to keep the pressing up top and out wide I am pretty stumped on. At LWB maybe we could have a look at Jake Batty? Or accept we are going to play deeper and bring on Pickering/Riberio? Up front if we dont use Gueye the only other thing I can think of is putting Axel on and get him to batter people? Hes a big unit and very aggressive so maybe would work shoring up the press? Though must be evens to get himself sent off. We've got this 352 system that works well, but very light on players to sustain it, even when everyone is fit again.

Hmmm for me without Ohashis running and pressing we will really struggle. Baradji will do well to cover two thirds of the ground he does. I cant see the ball sticking at all with that lineup personally. Our system works because, imo, the way the front two (but really mostly Ohashi) press forcing us up the pitch. The setup you have there that Luton for example did so well with when they got promoted worked because the number 9 was a big physical unit (Carlton Morris) who could make the ball stick on his own. I cant see Gudjonsen doing that.

For me i really rate McCloughlin. A good addition marshaling Pratt and Miller, and gets his blocks in and physically competes, and is good getting the ball out. Made a couple of errors early on but very solid recently. Gudjonsen I have problems with in terms of offering enough in pressing and holding the ball up, but he is intelligent in his movement and getting goals. Miller is hot and cold, but happy enough with him. Mori I am seeing a big improvement over the last few games. Has a bit of quality which we need, and not getting blown off the ball like he was a month ago. Forshaw showing he can do that holding role well is a big gain as we can take some of the pressure off Tronstad, but agree its not ideal he can't do more than 60 mins. TGH I think has done really well. Dont really miss Travis he is so similar. Overall I am feeling much more positive about our midfield and defence than a month ago. Derby completely owned us, and other big physical sides (of which there seem to be remarkably few) will hurt us. But outside of that we seem more capable than I anticipated given the turnover.

I think we're being a bit precious.. he's having a go. The fans love it. I can't see the harm tbh. I'd have that over many other ways the manager can handle it.

In the spirit of fairness we had a lot of Gestede era signings out there who played well (Alebiosu, McCloughlin, Miller, TGH, Gudjohnsen, Mori, Forshaw).

Genuinely think we may play both Mori and Cantwell. Think first team when we have the shorter term injuries back is : Toth Miller McCloughlin Pratt Alebiosu Mori Tronstad Cantwell Hedges Ohashi Gudjohnson Subs : Pears, Litherland, Pickering, Baradji, Forshaw, De Neve, TGH, Montgomery, Gueye

From my point of view I couldn't understand Tavares at all. Total and utter passenger off the ball, and a liability on it - the worst thing to have sitting in front of the defence. He could have brought Axel on imo, and while chaotic at least he would have put a foot in. And De Neve for Hedges was the wrong call, but tbf I could see us getting absolutely penned in down the left if we had Riberio on as he doesn't have the pace to get out. So all options not optimal. Otherwise the subs were as good as we could do I think. Baradji looks okay, Cantwell obviously good. We only have Gueye so that is hardly the managers choice when we are running our front two into the ground. So from me manager gets a minus for the poor subs, but a couple of plusses for the motivation of the team and general setup. 1st of Jan we need some reliable experienced players to close out games. Particularly a forward who can hold up the ball, a centre back, and wingbacks. I am very fearful if Alebiosu or Hedges get injured. Hard role to replace too where you want experience and defensive awareness but also a real engine. The older players we can afford are not likely to still have the required fitness.