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chiropracticcanary

Tottenham & Villa

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[quote user="chiropracticcanary"]Would you field a slightly weakened team vs Spurs in order to play a fresh strong 11 vs Villa. Thoughts

Cheers[/quote]No.

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I don''t think we''re in a position to do that. as much as we may like to think we may be shoe-ins to beat villa with a fresh, full strength team, we''re not. at this point we have to go in to every game with the attitude of "we need to win this."

It is imperative to get as many points as we can from each game until the end of the season. This is only strengthened by the fact that January is a week away, and we can''t appear weak to prospective players.

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[quote user="chiropracticcanary"]Would you field a slightly weakened team vs Spurs in order to play a fresh strong 11 vs Villa. Thoughts

Cheers[/quote]No,no and again no.

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Villa isn''t a 6 pointer. They won''t get enough points to join a relegation battle.

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No. And what''s our strongest team anyway? Last weekend shows we should try and get something out of every game.

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[quote user="7rew"]Villa isn''t a 6 pointer. They won''t get enough points to join a relegation battle.[/quote]Thats actually a very salient point.

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7rew wrote:

Villa isn''t a 6 pointer. They won''t get enough points to join a relegation battle.

Thats actually a very salient point.

But it is still one of our best chances to get another 3 pts on the board and as such is a must must win rather that a must win.

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I think we have enough depth in the squad to rotate players without weakening the team-Mbokani in for Jerome, Mulumbu in for Tettey, Dorrans or Vadis for O''Neill so plenty of options.

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Play to win

The fa cup game you can make a few changes.

I don''t think we have a squad where our first 11 is stronger than many opponents, so simply AN will play his strongest side available for each team as he sees for.

Fa cup he can rest players, a win against man city in the cup and a loss to villa would be awful. The win against villa is key and going for a positive result with your buoyed squad is what AN will do at the lane.

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[quote user="wcorkcanary"]7rew wrote:

Villa isn''t a 6 pointer. They won''t get enough points to join a relegation battle.

Thats actually a very salient point.

But it is still one of our best chances to get another 3 pts on the board and as such is a must must win rather that a must win.[/quote]Also a very salient point[;)]

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[quote user="chiropracticcanary"]Would you field a slightly weakened team vs Spurs[/quote]Stupid question but I''d be interested to know exactly what your definition of a "slightly weakend team" is.

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Villa need to win at least 10 out of 21 games to have any realistic chance of staying up. The fact they have won 1 in 17 is looking a very tall order. We have 3 games in 8 days with spurs away and 2 home games against 2 sides not on a very good run of results. The fact that we have a few options in the middle of the park so changes can be made and also we don''t seem to have a number 1 striker so changes can be made in that department and also a return of Jarvis over the next few days shows that we have plenty of options over the next few days.

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lets keep the same team as last week and try and build some form

Jerome scored last week so in my eyes he starts until he doesn''t score as that''s his job he did it so keeps the job

you can not reward a win against man utd by dropping people

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Nice to see you posting 7rew!

I strongly suspect we''ll see different line-ups simply because AN will have different tactical plans to suit each team. In fact since we don''t have any real match winning stars his job is easier in that respect.

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The point about Villa not being a six pointer is that we don''t gain anything from losing to Spurs and beating Villa compared to beating Spurs and losing to Villa. We get three points in both cases.

Given that we have had reasonable success when the opposition are expected to dominate recently, but failed when we are expected to ourselves, I''m not entirely sure Spurs away isn''t better suited to us at the moment than Villa at home! Given that we should put out the best team in both matches, although that may well not be the same team each time.

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I''ve heard a few times on radio, the good and the great, predicting us to get 4 points from Spurs & Villa.

Getting a point from Spurs would suggest that we play the ''sit deep & counterattack'' type game. Surely that''s a definite.

I would assume that against Villa is a different game, imagining that City will have more possession and be more expansive.

Two completely different games, with the Villa game harder to predict, teamwise.

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There is no need for a weakened team, however we will see changes to accommodate 2 games in 3 days but thats not the same as fielding a weakened team.

The only defensive change I would consider is Wisdom at RB if fit - if not I would stick with the same for both games.

Up front we have seen the benefit of defending from the front with Jerome so he would be my choice, but I would be comfortable with either grabban or mbokani, neither weaken the side that much and bring different strengths.

Its in midfield I suspect we may and are likely to see some changes. A high energy press takes its toll on midfielders. But we have a good squad with options; so if wes or Oneil only start one of the games thats just good management. Right now I would start O''Neill for spurs but not villa and vice versa for wes, and use the talents of VOO (spurs) and Mulumbu (villa) or Howson.

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Did Mulumbu recover from the injury he had near the end at Old Trafford? I suspect 3 games in 7 days is going to be too much for O''Neil, Tettey and Wes to play all 3, so I''d expect to see Howson, Dorrans, Vadis and Mulumbu featuring in the centre of midfield. Nice to have those 7 plus Jarvis, Brady, Redmond to choose from.

O''Neil''s on 4 bookings too isn''t he?

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Assuming no injury worries, I would keep the same back five for both games – Rudd, Martin, Bennett, Bassong, Olsson. Wisdom could come in at centre or right back if required, and Whittaker or Brady could cover left back if required. Centre back requires the least stamina so Bennett and Bassong must play 90 in both games if fit.As for midfield, I think only Vadis is perhaps not ready to start a game – and is Jarvis likely to be ready for either match? Those two aside, we still have five spaces to accommodate eight players in Redmond, Brady, Hoolahan, Howson, Mulumbu, O''Neil, Tettey and Dorrans. So theoretically we could have three ''fresh'' starters in midfield against Villa without weakening the side to any great extent. I''d expect Jerome to start against Spurs and Mbokani against Villa (or vice versa, although it''d be harsh to ''rotate'' Cam after a goal and an assist at Old Trafford). Plus there''s Grabban in reserve for a bit more movement off the ball or even (whisper it) two up front at some point if required!Plenty of options without considering a ''weakened'' team.

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The Manchester Utd game shows it is possible to get points off the better sides, but Norwich need to play well and hope the opposition have a bit of an off day. We cannot turn out a weakened side against Spurs such negative thinking can be very counter productive. As for Villa we should not be lured into a false sense of security if we do not perform on the day we are capable of losing this fixture when it is one we desperately need to win. At the half way point of the season there will be no better opportunities to get 3 points but if we fail then if we are to survive we need to pick those points up against more difficult opposition. A lost would be a total disaster. I agree that baring a miracle Villa look doomed but they are more than capable of damaging those around them and lest we forget they won at Bournmouth and held Newcastle to a draw

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Also worth noting that both O''Neil and Bassong are one yellow card away from a suspension.

The Premier League cut-off date is 31 December. But I can''t see Gary O''Neil lasting that long. He does like his professional fouls.

Source: http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/suspensions

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[quote user="Pyro Pete"]Also worth noting that both O''Neil and Bassong are one yellow card away from a suspension.

The Premier League cut-off date is 31 December. But I can''t see Gary O''Neil lasting that long. He does like his professional fouls.

Source: http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/suspensions[/quote]

he likes them, but thankfully he''s not wasteful with them. his fouls are usually at the best timed moments. such a level headed holding mid and I''m surprised none of the teams he''s gotten promoted with have given him a chance like we have.

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[quote user="Woodman"]Did Mulumbu recover from the injury he had near the end at Old Trafford? I suspect 3 games in 7 days is going to be too much for O''Neil, Tettey and Wes to play all 3, so I''d expect to see Howson, Dorrans, Vadis and Mulumbu featuring in the centre of midfield. Nice to have those 7 plus Jarvis, Brady, Redmond to choose from.

O''Neil''s on 4 bookings too isn''t he?[/quote]The injury you are referring to wass when Mulumbu got one in the family jewels. So unless he ended up emasculated he''ll probably be ok.

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[quote user="Iwans Big Toe"][quote user="Woodman"]Did Mulumbu recover from the injury he had near the end at Old Trafford? I suspect 3 games in 7 days is going to be too much for O''Neil, Tettey and Wes to play all 3, so I''d expect to see Howson, Dorrans, Vadis and Mulumbu featuring in the centre of midfield. Nice to have those 7 plus Jarvis, Brady, Redmond to choose from.

O''Neil''s on 4 bookings too isn''t he?[/quote]The injury you are referring to wass when Mulumbu got one in the family jewels. So unless he ended up emasculated he''ll probably be ok.

[/quote]Thanks. I saw him lying prostrate but didn''t see what happened. Painful, but not long term[Y]

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