Hello, welcome to another blog- and with this being the second of seven games in 21 days these will become quite a frequent occurrence after the amount of time between my Norwich Preview and Blackburn review blogs.
Now, to fit the title of this blog- lets get straight to the point. The Norwich game wasn't exactly the "beautiful game" on our part, however we got the 3 Points which at the end of the day is all that matters. We're now going into a game against a Steve Evans Rotherham side who will be one of the more difficult teams in the League to face because of their physical style, and coming off of the back of an energy sapping defensive display against Norwich I think changes are necessary- and vital if we are to continue our good run of form.
The Defensive situation is a fairly straight forward one, Kit said after the Norwich game that Hoogland should be alright for Tuesday (Thankfully)- so theoretically we should keep the same defence. I do believe we should keep the same Back Three of Bettinelli, Burn and Bodurov as much as possible- and I would keep this as the constant in our team throughout the entire season (barring injury). However I think for the purposes of this game Hoogland would be best suited in the Midfield Enforced Role he has played previously for us. This opens up a spot at Right-Back which could be fulfilled by either Voser or Zverotic, which is an interesting debate to be had. On the one hand Voser is very good at going up and down the line and general attacking play, but his defensive skills are sometimes found wanting- quite similar to Riether for large parts of last season. Zverotic on the other hand is a polar opposite in that he is quite good defensively and able to read the game very well, but sometimes its like he's never seen a ball before when he gets it. With respect to Rotherham, we should be looking at trying to win the game- if we are serious about trying to get up the table really quickly and maybe pushing for a playoff spot by April and May, as such I'd give Voser a chance as Bodurov playing on the right side of defence should provide a good amount of cover for Voser if he were to get caught out. Amorebieta is still injured, so I can see us continuing with Stafylidis as Left-Back.
The Midfield will be where we win or lose this game in my opinion. We could easily get overwhelmed if we're not careful. As I've previously said I'd have Hoogland playing as a Midfield enforcer, and he should hopefully be able to break up the play effectively which is something Parker can't really do in my opinion. Given we're playing Saturday-Tuesday-Friday-Tuesday I'd give Parker a rest for tomorrows game in anticipation of the Charlton game where he will be vital in my opinion. This leaves two midfield spaces available, as I can't see Kavanagh getting dropped after scoring the winner this will leave one spot open. I don't know LVC well enough to make a fair judgement on his stamina, however one thing I can say for certain was after the shift he put it on Saturday there isn't a fathomable way he'd be playing at 100% if he started tomorrow- as such I'd leave him on the bench for this game and start Hyndman, who is a better passer of the ball in my opinion. Once again I'd rest Ruiz for this game, as he's come back from presumably a CONCACAF country, and he looked pretty jaded against Norwich and was understandably subbed off- as such I'd give him a rest for this game as I think he'd be overwhelmed in this type of game anyway. This leaves the "Number 10" Role open, and it could fulfilled by a number of players- but I think we should only be considering Williams, David and McCormack for that Number 10 Role. I don't think Roberts is ready to start yet, and like Ruiz I think he'd be overwhelmed in a very physical game- although I would bring him off the bench as his technical ability could overwhelm a tired Rotherham defence. All three have their merits, however I think we should start McCormack in this role for the game tomorrow, Him playing in a deeper role would bring him into the game a bit more- and with who I would play up front I think he would get a number of chances if he can find the space between the Rotherham midfield and defence.
I said in my Norwich Review Rodallega shouldn't be a target man, but should still be in team because of his undoubted ability- who he plays with determines how well he does in my opinion. I saw Woodrows tweet that he was going to Rotherham with Pat Roberts so I'm presuming he's fit despite his absence on Saturday. As such its between Woodrow and Smith for the position alongside Rodallega in the team in my opinion. Both have their positive and negatives, but this is a Devil I know scenario as I haven't seen Smiths hold up play much- and that is one area where Woodrow excels, however Smith has shown in the friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Cardiff he can score goals, this selection could go either way, however I would pick Woodrow just because I've seen him play more- but because Kit sees him train everyday the selection could go the other way.
My Team for Rotherham
Bettinelli
Voser Bodurov Burn Stafylidis
Hyndman Hoogland Kavanagh
McCormack
Rodallega Woodrow
I've seen a number of people (not just Fulham fans) touting us as potential playoff candidates- and if you look at our form under Kit of Winning 4 of our Last 5 it could come to fruition. However (with respect) if we are to get to the Playoffs- or at least contest for a place in them we need to beat teams like Rotherham who's primary goal will be to stay up- and I think the balance this team selection would provide would give us the best chance of doing so.
Thanks for reading, I'll obviously do a review on Wednesday once I've seen the game- and hopefully I'm watching us make it 5 wins out of 6 under Kit. Thanks again, Any and all feedback is appreciated on these blogs.
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