Worthy's Giant Headache

[First Wizard 0]

Who does he drop after yesterday?.

Hell, I don''t know!.

Fast, flowing, passing football and excitement, were all there in abundance, and all against a Bolton side, who are nobody''s fool!.

I can''t single out one player for praise above anyone else. They were all THAT great.

But with Francis, Mullers, Holt, Drury, Leon et al, missing, what does Nigel do?.

If he must have a headache, I suppose its a nice one for him to have at the moment.

[Gentleman Jim 0]

It''s easy Wiz, keep the same line up, they''ve all earned their places haven''t they ? 

and if it aint broke then don''t fix it !

[sonyc 5,481]

He should play the same team 1st Wizard. I know that Fleming was player of the year in Div. 1 but he''s been struggling recently in my view and now that Worthy appears to be willing to drop players, maybe Shackell? Can''t see it happening against Chelsea though.

Ward, Mckenzie, Francis, Drury, Jarvis or Mcveigh - a very strong bench indeed. The team played with purpose and no little skill - maybe they''ve found the formula? - I say keep the team with all our newer signings.

[Northern Canary 0]

I was just about to post the same thread. Francis wil probably replace Helveg but i dont know about the rest

[FatboySlimfast 0]

Its not a headache wizard, it should be the easiest team selection worthy has to make all season! Injuries permitting you should never change a winning team, especially a team which has performed so brilliantly the week before. The formation looked good, the players looked comfortable in their positions and they all worked their bloody socks off. Same again please!!

 

[Stephen Frys Evil Twin 0]

Particularly if we are playing a game that we have little or no chance of getting anything out of, I think we should keep the team the same. Let Safri and Helveg get some more pitch time, give Bentley his free role again, let Svensson put himself about again.

Actually, the only change I would like to see happen would be to drop Fleming (was probably our worst player yesterday) and bring Shackell in, get him some experience. I really think we need to start blooding the youngsters, and what better time than a game that we aren''t expecting anything from, no pressure on us.

Realistically, I don''t think Worthy will do that. One change that he may make would be to give Francis his midfield berth again, in place of Helveg or Safri, neither of which deserve to lose their place, though.

Time will tell...

[Chunky 0]

Cant see why anybody should be dropped from this weekend for next. Worthington expects loyalty from his players, so he must practise what he preaches.

As good as Francis is, could he have done much more than anybody else did for the cause yesterday?

I personally felt we saw the real Helveg out there yesterday, his work off the ball was immense and also was encouraging players alongside him.

Bentley finally showed us that beneath the hype there is a genuine player, his reaction as he left the field showed how much the win meant to him (shades of Huckerbys reactions last season when he was on loan).

Jonson, I have to say I really like this bloke, he was very strong against a very physical Bolton Defence and at last started to get some decent crosses in.

Safri did what Safri does, linking the play up, fetching and carrying, and avoiding getting booked!

So Nigel, its over to you!

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

[quote]Particularly if we are playing a game that we have little or no chance of getting anything out of, I think we should keep the team the same. Let Safri and Helveg get some more pitch time, give Bentley...[/quote]

Spot on Dom Jay I also would like to see Shackell in for Fleming he was certainly the main culprit for the penalty yesterday completely missed the header leaving Doherty helpless. Having watched Chelsea today we certainly need some height at the back. 

[ZLF 271]

There are two questions here.  Firstly from Worthys point of view he will not change the team at all - an excellent performance outplaying a physical Bolton side and looking like a good side for most of the game.

 

However there are a couple of areas that can be improved upon.

What happens when Francis is fit?  Without a doubt he has added something to our midfield.  Francis is able to do the defensive work as well as either Safri or Helveg but is a far more potent goal threat.  In my view he deserves to regain his place once fit again.  The question is in place of?   To me Helveg had the better game out of Helveg and Safri and looked better than Holt or Mullers have.  His defensive reading of the game was excellent and his committment superb.  A pairing of Thomas and damo is yesterdays formation would look superb.

Finally the defence is still not right.  Docherty stood up well to the physical game of Bolton but I still have doubts about his finesse against the majority of strikers we will play against this season - Dov v Gudjohnsen does not give me confidence.  However he too has deserved to keep his place, despite the penalty and that last minute effort at a clearance.  However the justification for either Eddy or particularly Flem is wearing thin.  Eddie will stay - some of his best work yesterday but his main strength is that he has no competition for his place if Helveg continues in midfield.  His contribution to the trotters second goal was comical and two fold - the abysmal back pass while not under pressure to conceed the corner was bad enough.  However he then succeed in finding himself in no mans land from a set piece - unbeleivable.    Flemings performance was worse.  He appears to lack any positional discipline at the moment - chasing the ball like it has hypnotised him instead of leaving that tracking to the midfielders better positioned and his challenge for the second goal was late following him losing his man.   Shackell has to be given his chance.         

PS Campo was superb at organising his team yesterday - we are crying out for that sort of leadership in defence.

OTBC

 

[At last? 0]

[quote]There are two questions here. Firstly from Worthys point of view he will not change the team at all - an excellent performance outplaying a physical Bolton side and looking like a good side for most ...[/quote]

"Campo was superb at organising his team yesterday"

- you are joking right.

[shropshire canary 0]

I agree with you re Eddy I''s afraid ZLF, and I also think dropping Safri wopuld be hard on the guy whos took his chance well yesterday - he''s taken less first team starts to find the pace than many!

Maybe it''s Helveg to Right Back and Damian/Youssef in the middle of the park?

 

[Big Rob 0]

First of all we cant really be hoping to take anything from the Chelsea match. We have just got to make sure we give a good account of ourselves as i am sure we will do. Secondly we cant change a winning team that gave us our best performance of the season. The only change we could make would be to drop Doherty and put Charlton back into the centre, recalling Drury at left back. I am still not convinced about Doc. He is slow and gives away far too many freekicks in dangerous areas. He did win a few on Sat but to me they seemed a bit generous.

[ZLF 271]

In the first half campo was getting defenders and midfield in postions to defend effectively - he played well in the first half but poorly in the second, in his role as a defensive enforcer. Ignore his theatrics, what he gives the team is a solid base - what city needs is someone like him, to take control and direct how the team defends as a unit.

OTBC

[charlies dad 0]

After a performance like that, NW will say to his players ''As long as you play that way, the shirt is yours to keep, drop the standards and youre out''. 12 superb performances. The keeper and back 4 sttod up well to the challenge, Safri was a joy to watch, Jonson looked every inch an international winger, Helveg lived up to his billing, Svensson was top drawer, Huckerby gave a good full back a runaround, and dragged another defender around all day... giving Bentley time and space to destroy Bolton from the centre of midfield. Change a winning team? No way. Just a shame were at chelsea next week, because youd have to fancy another win if we had a slightly less daunting game.