I don't know how much validity there is to the once again new Lewis Dunk rumours. If you missed it we were once again linked with him, this time for 5 Million by I believe The Mirror. It's just getting stupid now, the one thing that has to be said for the link was that it was supposedly our last bid for him- so at least there's that. As I discussed in my Review/Preview the simple fact is the longer we leave signing a Centre-Back the more it'll cost us and the absolute worst case scenario if we effectively price ourselves out of signing a Centre-Back who is capable of performing at the level we require and then we might as well call the season a write off already. So in short, Sign Lewis Dunk- Don't sign Lewis Dunk; either way just get it done ASAP. There's also another link that's come out today in that apparently we're after Jonny Williams on loan. This is a strange one, the link by no means we're definitely in for him- but it's still strange we're being linked with yet another Midfielder. It's not that I point blank don't want him, and I'm sure he could do a job for us- but at this point we'd just be stockpiling Midfielders and I'd rather stick with what we've already got and develop a team around our own players.
One thing I did want to talk about briefly was some of the people going on about the stats coming off the back of the game on Saturday. Yes, we did only have 1 shot "on target"- but without knowing for definite in terms of goalscoring opportunities I'd say we probably edged it. Also, Cardiff were the home team- so it's generally expected that they'll have more shots in general, the majority of which were wastes by the way. In short Stats can be deceiving. I just saw some people going on about the 1 shot on target stat, and I wouldn't say it annoyed me- but I did think it was putting my hat into the debate.
Speaking of the game on Saturday, in terms of the team we played against Cardiff there hopefully won't be many survivors. However, one player who I think and hope will retain their place is Andy Lonergan. You can make the argument about Bettinelli, but the way I see it- he presumably wasn't fit for Cardiff so he may well not be fit for the game tomorrow. Then if Bettinelli is fit then he should be coming back into the First Team for League games and in turn Lonergan would occupy the role for the Cup anyway. Either way I'd have Lonergan playing and Rodak on the bench and leave Bettinelli at home, and the Keeper issue can be thought about again once we come to directly thinking about the Brighton game.
I'm taking a similar line when it comes to the Full-Backs, specifically Right-Back. The good thing, if you can call it that about Jack Grimmer's absence is there was a definitive time frame put on it of having Three Days out from Friday. That in turn means he'd presumably be available tomorrow- but I'd hold off on using him until Brighton either way because as I discuss in the Cardiff Preview I rate Grimmer & Richards as Full-Backs with Richards at Left-Back rather than Richards & Voser. Speaking of Voser, he'd be my Right-Back pick for the game- as already said he was by no means perfect but by Voser standards I thought he was fine- and hopefully now Grimmer is back at least until Garbutt's fit we've got an established pecking order with Full-Backs. I'd have Kavanagh take the Left-Back spot, at this stage and on the assumption that Grimmer's fit I'd say Voser & Kavanagh is a fair pairing on the rotation front. It's a similar situation to it with the Centre-Backs, with Donnelly's Loan out there isn't even competition when it comes to rotation and in turn it means that Bodurov and Burgess will come in.
Assuming we're going to be playing the same system we played against Cardiff and in general during Pre-Season I think a "rotation" Midfield is still going to be of a sufficient quality to have a good game. I spoke about it in the build to Cardiff, but Kacaniklic is truly the odd-man out in that he is more than capable of starting in I'd say nearly every team in the Division- but he just doesn't have a place at the moment. That said I'd be starting him down the Left tomorrow, and then we can once again go from there for Saturday- I have to admit it is nice to have good depth in some areas. The Right-Mid spot is a bit more interesting, I'm not sure if he will- but I'd like to see Larnell Cole be given a go in a proper competitive game and tomorrow is as good a chance as any. Sakari Mattila is a strange signing, but a very Fulham one. Without knowing for definite it sounded from what Kit said as though he hadn't even seen him play before we made the signing. As with Cole now's as a chance as any in order to see what he's made of, and from what I can gather he's a "proper" holding mid so he'll be sitting deep. The player who I'd expect to be pulling the strings tomorrow and (hopefully) running the show is Hyndman. Players at this stage of their career (should) just want to play Football and especially players like Hyndman we should be desperate to keep, so giving them game time can only help our case when it comes to whether he renews his contract.
The only other survivor from our team against Cardiff, at least as far as my team selection goes is Tom Cairney. It might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping with a hopeful near full rotation of course meaning McCormack and Smith are taken out of the equation Cairney can move central and play as a proper #10. I haven't completely forgotten about Thomas Eisfeld, I just simply don't see a place for him anywhere in the team. Who'll be playing in front of him is another question, I can see Woodrow, Dembele and depending on his fitness Taggart all possible playing. However from what I've seen from the players both in Pre-Season and against Cardiff I'd go for Dembele. He at least seems to have matured quite a bit and when he came on against Cardiff I definitely liked the look of him and the way the team played once he came on- and I've got no doubt he'll cause the Wycombe defenders countless problems.
Team for Wycombe:
Yes, that team isn't our strongest- but I wouldn't exactly call it a "weak" team- and it's one I think is capable of winning tomorrow. That said if we were to go out, and Wycombe are definitely a Banana skin we won't have played the majority of our "best" team and we can move onto Brighton and the league in general which at this early stage of the season should be our only priority. When we get around to the FA Cup that situation may well have changed, if we find ourselves where we were last season in the league when FA Cup season came around then our priorities may well switch- and either way we've got a better chance of making Wembley in the FA Cup anyway. In short, I won't be crying if we do go out tomorrow but hopefully we don't.
Thanks for reading, tomorrow will if everything goes to plan be the first Midweek Review- I usually try and get them up at around Midnight but they might end up later depending on Internet and general writing speed either way stay tuned for that. I just simply don't care about the game tomorrow, that said I'll take a win- of course I would and a place in the next round of the Cup. Stay tuned for all of that, if you miss my Review the next Fulham post will be here on Friday for Brighton- either way let's hope we'll have a Centre-Back before that Preview and hope for the best tomorrow.
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