Hello! Its another Preview, How you lot will cope come the end of the season I don't know. This time we're headed back to Craven Cottage and a pristine pitch for the visit of Leeds United, and with the position we find ourselves in- and with Wigan playing Watford tonight if they pick something up from the game getting at least a point from the game tomorrow could prove to be vital.
As I've just said, although I can't see the future I have a feeling Wigan could get something from Watford tonight and with Rotherham going to Forest and Millwall being home to Brighton there is the potential for either us to be sucked right into the mix as a result of the fixtures this week or give at the very least maintain the 6 Point Cushion we currently have. The key run of fixtures for us is obviously the Wigan, Rotherham, Blackpool run we have in Mid-April but if we can pick up 1 Win from the game tomorrow and the game against Huddersfield at the Weekend we'll be in pretty good shape to stay up in my opinion.
Kit's Interview up today is worrying me a bit- because there's hinted at a change of tactics, and Kit was very non-committal to whether Smith would start or not- and with the position we're in there's no way on this planet we can afford not to start someone who's on the Goalscoring Run of his life.
Of course Bettinelli will continue in goal, while he didn't keep a Clean Sheet he made a number of good saves throughout the match, and what's seemingly becoming a common theme for the team is he couldn't have done much for the actual goal we conceded. One thing we can do to get more Clean Sheets for Bettinelli is to learn to defend at Corners- while we didn't concede directly from the corner we might as well have done, and at Championship level it just isn't acceptable in my opinion to now consistently conceding from Dead-Ball situations.
The Defensive situation appears to have been resolved for the rest of the season- or it has in my opinion (obviously barring injury). I think I've made it clear my opinions over the course of the season with regard to Bodurov, but now Kit has chosen Hutchinson to partner with Turner I'd stick with that pairing for the rest of the season; because with the very limited games we have left it won't do us any good to start rotating Centre-Backs. Michael Turner had a pretty good game all things considered, I hadn't realised he only had 1 Training Session with us before the game on Saturday, and you wouldn't have guessed it judging by his performance because on the whole he looked really settled in the Back-Line and he will be our Key Defender for the rest of the season. Stafylidis and Jazz Richards should be our Starting Full-Backs for the rest of the season, that will mean we have 3 out of 4 of our Starting Defenders are Loans- and while it's far from ideal that's the situation we've been left in.
Lasse Vigen Christensen is still injured, so that makes the midfield a bit more straight-forward. I doubt we'll start as defensive as we did against Sheff. Wednesday with Hoogland and Kavanagh most likely taking a spot on the bench in my opinion. Seko Fofana has had very mixed performances, but I thought he looked good when he came on against Wednesday and in my opinion we need to try and turn the screws on Leeds so his energy will definitely help do so. The other two midfield spots are pretty straightforward with Tunnicliffe and Parker continuing, I was surprised we started Parker on Saturday in all honesty- as I've said a few times we should be prioritising Home Games, especially given the teams we do have at Home; but we picked him and it's annoyed me to an extent because we've seen how Parker performs when he's playing alternate games. It was interesting to hear what the thought process was behind Bryan not playing on Saturday- but I'd expect him to come back in today given we'll be playing on a pitch that actually has some grass on, and it won't be a Long Coach Journey in order for Bryan to get to the Cottage.
I've already said Kit hinting at a "change of game-plan" is worrying me from a Striking perspective because with the exception of perhaps Woodrow, Smith shouldn't be dropped because he is on the form of his life at the moment. I liken Smith to Peter Crouch, and I mean that in a really good way- but I didn't realise Smith was only 25; as such his long-term value to the team has gone up a lot in my eyes now. While I've been critical of McCormack there's no way we can afford to drop him- especially when he's coming up against his former club; and if he's partnered up top by Smith it will make me laugh I must admit. In short, I don't particularly mind if Woodrow comes in for Smith- but if Rodallega comes in I will most likely kill someone.
Team for Leeds
Bettinelli
Richards, Hutchinson, Turner, Stafylidis
Tunnicliffe, Parker, Fofana
Bryan
Smith McCormack
Including tomorrow we have 5 Home Games left this season;
Leeds
Brentford
Wigan
Rotherham
Middlesborough
I'm not at all confident about picking up points against Boro- we could perhaps get something from Brentford with the way they've fallen away (to an extent) after the Mark Warburton news but the key Home Games for us will be tomorrow, Wigan and Rotherham if we can pick up a minimum of 7 Points from these three games- and given we'll be going to Blackpool who will most likely already be down by the time we go them should be enough to get the required number of points to stay up.
Thanks for reading as always, we're in the Second of our Yorkshire Trio- and after today we're headed to the Galpharm at the Weekend, and given the form Huddersfield are currently on I don't think it entirely unrealistic to aim for at the minimum 4 Points from tomorrow and Saturday which'll give us a good foundation for Safety coming out the other side of the International Break.
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