Hello! Its another Preview, and this time we're headed up to the Galpharm to face a team that is more out of form than we are in Huddersfield. After Wednesday it's a weird scenario where we did create a lot of chances, we just couldn't convert them through a combination of poor finishing and a goalkeeper in great form in Silvestri. The way the fixtures have worked out we've played Huddersfield just before an international break both times- and our circumstances have completely changes since the game in November where we won 3-1 and it looked as though we would potentially have a run at the Playoffs, and now where things look bleak and we're firmly looking down.
The Fixtures that concern us this Weekend are; Brentford v Millwall, Rotherham v Sheff. Wednesday and Wigan v Bolton. The way the fixtures and recent results have played out I think we could very possibly find ourselves in the position of having to get more points than Rotherham in order to stay up- I can definitely see Wigan beating Bolton tomorrow, and I reckon Rotherham could get a win against Sheffield Wednesday which makes our game tomorrow vital for us.
Bettinelli will of course continue in goal, IF we stay up next season I'd like to see whoever is in charge create a Courtois/Cech dynamic where we have two Keepers equally capable of slotting into the team because Bettinelli doesn't have any competition for his place in the team- and while he's still been one of our better players this season because of the defence we have in front of him and the number of goals we're conceding I'd like to see Bettinelli be taken out of the firing line- which we can't do because we don't have a capable replacement.
I check various forums semi-regularly just to see what other people's opinions are on previous and upcoming games- and I saw a Thread on FoF about the team for the game tomorrow and a load of people were saying Burn & Bodurov, which I can only assume is because they've forgotten we had Michael Turner. While I do rate Burn to an extent, there's nothing he offers that Turner doesn't- and Turner is much more experienced which is what we need with the scenario we're in. I do think we should drop Hutchinson- I know I've said we should keep the same pairing to bed Turner in properly, but we haven't had any up turn in defensive fortunes and Hutchinson hasn't been good enough recently in my opinion- I think Bodurov is a better Defender but he isn't as vocal because of the language barrier, but that can be compensated with Turner's leadership qualities. Jazz Richards should continue at Right-Back for the rest of the season, the Left-Back position is somewhat of a debate now- Unless I'm mistaken Amorebieta's suspension is up- but there's no way in hell I want him at Left-Back again after Bournemouth, as such we only have one real option at Left-Back with Sean Kavanagh dropping back. I did have an idea for Jazz Richards to go in at Left-Back with Grimmer coming in at Right-Back but with the situation we're in we can't afford to experiment.
The Midfield is interesting for us coming off the back of Wednesday where we created a lot of chances you could make the argument that we don't need to change an awful lot in the Midfield. However I do think we should drop Hoogland and bring in Kacaniklic because he gives us width- and he was one of the players that looked like making something happen when he came off the bench on Wednesday. Parker is a given, I wish after Derby we'd acknowledged that Parker is best playing alternate games because Parker playing like he did against Derby could make the difference in our Survival Bid. Tunnicliffe is someone that not a lot of people seem to like, while he's by no means my favourite player I do see the value he has for the team and his work-rate is important. Bryan Ruiz is interesting, the thing about his back preventing him from playing against Sheff. Wednesday could come up again for tomorrows game- but because we don't have a game for over a week after tomorrow I can see us taking the risk on Bryan. I've seen that Parker is doubtful for tomorrow and if thats the case I'd have Hoogland in the pure DM Role- even if Kit is likely to have Hoogland play as the Right-Sided midfield with Tunnicliffe in that role, however with the break we have coming up and the character Parker is I think he will play.
McCormack's injury could very well be a blessing in disguise. Since Forest McCormack has been very below par in my opinion- and while he has undoubted ability he's looked quite jaded from where I've been sitting, so him sitting out a game or two could turn out to be a good thing. This of course re-opens the Striker debate, I do think Smith should carry on because while he wasted seemingly endless opportunities against Leeds I'm willing to chalk it up to "one of those games" at the minute because he has shown he's a capable player. Then we get to the debate of Woodrow or Rodallega- I don't think Dembele should be factored in because he's shown when he has started he isn't ready to start. We did look good against Sheff. Wednesday when Woodrow came on and went up front with Smith but that was when we were chasing the game- I also think Rodallega could benefit from Smith being next to him because he won't be expected to win the Long-Balls and Rodallega as the person on the end of knock-downs from Smith could become a good combination for us- and I'd be happy to see us give it a go tomorrow, with Woodrow on the Bench.
Team for Huddersfield
Bettinelli
Richards, Bodurov, Turner, Kavanagh
Kacaniklic, Parker, Tunnicliffe
Ruiz
Smith Rodallega
It's a complete farce that we've found ourselves in the position of "needing" points to stay up at this stage of the season, after tomorrows game we have the International Break- so if we do end up with the worst case scenario of us losing with Rotherham and Wigan winning which'll mean we'll be 3 Points above the Relegation Zone headed into the last part of the season I can see Kit being "relieved of his duties" and either Curbishley or someone else seeing out the season, because Khan has shown he is capable of pressing the panic button when he sacked Meulensteen.
Thanks for reading as always, every game we have left this season is a "Cup Final" and we really need to win at least 3 of our remaining games to be sure of safety- and with Wigan picking up recently we really do need to get the results sooner rather than later. Anyway stay tuned for the Review tomorrow night- and lets hope its a positive one.
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