That QPR game has now set the benchmark for all future performances, and I'm going to be interested to see how we perform tomorrow. Friday's game will either, motivate us and cause us to really raise our game consistently- or and this is my worry we'll have played our big game and tomorrow's game will bring us crashing back down to earth. That said, you're only as good as your last game and all that stuff- so at the moment I'm expecting a repeat of Friday's performance tomorrow. Between us and the International Break are Wolves and Charlton, and basing it off recent results for both teams they seem to be there for the taking at present. Which of course means we'll end up losing both, because Fulham.
On the selection front tomorrow's not going to be that interesting, unless there's an injury we of course won't be aware of with no Press Conference it'll most likely be the same team from Friday. That of course means Andy Lonergan will continue in goal, and hopefully he/we can build on our first League Clean Sheet of the season.
A big part in any future Clean Sheets will be the need to put in an assured Defensive performance as we did on Friday. For the first time since he's been at the Club I was really impressed with Tim Ream at Centre-Back, as is the case with the Stearman/Ream pairing- so on that front hopefully it's a sign of a good partnership developing which we all hoped it would be. I suppose the big story heading into the game is of course Richard Stearman coming up against Wolves so soon after they made the decision to sell him. All I can say is basing it off the games I've seen so far from Stearman it at least seems as though we've got the better of the deal- and hopefully he can give whoever made the decision to sell him at Wolves some "footballing reasons" as to why they shouldn't have sold him.
One of the big talking points from a selection point of view going forward, perhaps not for tomorrow will undoubtedly be Ryan Fredericks v Jazz Richards. I genuinely do like Jazz Richards, but in the current system we play with Pringle and Cairney as our "wide" Midfielders having genuine pace at Right and Left Back is essential. In that respect Fredericks beats Richards, and basing it off of Friday's game there really isn't anything we should change. Whether Fredericks can perform to the level he did consistently remains to be seen, but it's definitely one to keep an eye on as the season unfolds. I have to assume James Husband's Loan covers tomorrow's game. He signed on Loan for a Month on the 28th August, so I'm genuinely not sure. Either way, I hope we can extend his Loan at least for another month because there's no chance Garbutt will be ready for 1st Team Football yet- with his first game back in the U21s only being today.
One player I'm going to be interested to watch tomorrow is Ben Pringle. I fully acknowledge the fact I've been one of Ben Pringle's biggest critics this season, and before Friday with the exception of Rotherham I think I was fully justified in that criticism. With all of that said, I also said just because it hadn't happened for Pringle didn't mean it wouldn't- and as said in my Review on Friday that was it happening for him. I'm now hoping he can play to the level he did on Friday in every game, because if he does we'll have gotten ourselves an absolute bargain. Whether or not he can remains to be seen. Then of course Tom Cairney will continue on the right. It's still a bit annoying to me with us playing Cairney on the Right when it's so clear for all to see he's at his most dangerous when he comes inside, but still- it's not as if he's not a good player wherever we play him.
Along with Stearman there's the Jamie O'Hara narrative, with Wolves Fans pretty much hating him. I'm expecting completely different reactions to O'Hara and Stearman from the Wolves Fans tomorrow- but I'm hoping in both cases they prove their worth on the pitch. Of course the O'Hara/Tunnicliffe pairing will continue in Centre-Mid, and I really can't see a scenario where either player's dropped at present. The player who'll be challenging them for that position the most is of course Scott Parker when he's fit. It seems as though his return is imminent now, and without knowing I'd guess he'll be back in the fold after the International Break. I'm hoping he doesn't come back in, because neither Tunnicliffe or O'Hara deserve to be dropped based on performance. With that said, I do still have some doubts over O'Hara's fitness- and I still firmly believe Parker can be a good player to have in the squad.
A few weeks ago I would have loved coming up against Wolves. They'd just sold Stearman, and Batth wasn't back yet meaning they had Ebanks-Landell and Hause starting together at Centre-Back. Much in the way of the QPR Defence they were quite shaky, and Dembele would have had a field day. Now that Batth's back they're definitely a more stable defensive unit, but if Dembele can match or even get near his performance from Friday then I've got no doubt he'll cause problems for pretty much every Defence he's up against this season. Then we've got McCormack, who was a weird one without a doubt on Friday. I'm in no way saying he played badly, but he really didn't impress me that much- at the same time he got two goals so I can't really complain.
Team for Wolves
The selection really is a case of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it", and I think Kit worked smartly on Friday with regard to tomorrow's game taking off Dembele who had a bit of a knock, Fredericks who probably wasn't 100% coming back from his injury and O'Hara who was looking shattered. I don't think I directly said it in my QPR Review, but Kit really did get it spot on for Friday. In that respect I'm over the moon because it appears he does actually have a learning curve which he simply didn't seem to have a Month ago.
If we can perform to the level we did last Friday get on a run we have the potential to beat any team in the Division. Should we win tomorrow we'll be a Point off the Playoffs, and it's at this stage that I'll direct you to my Pre-Season Prediction for the season...
"I think we're going to have a really rough August, leading to a few panic buys before the Window shuts and we'll eventually stabilise getting to high Mid-Table with the ambitions of Playoffs- but then around March/April time we'll completely go off the rails and settle at around 10th-14th."
While I in no way class Stearman, Ream and Fredericks as "panic buys" that Prediction isn't really far off- and it's still what I expect to happen. We've had the first full 90 Minute performance now, the next task is to go on a run of those performances and then and only then will I start to talk about us with Playoffs in mind. That said, we did play like we did last Friday for a reason- and at this point in time I don't see a reason as to why we can't do it again.
Thanks for reading as always, results like Friday can only raise expectations- and for the sake of everyone I hope those expectations are met. Tomorrow's game will definitely be an interesting one, and Wolves aren't going to be brushed aside despite their weird run at present. I suppose we all just have to hope for the best. The Review will be up at Midnight like usual, so hopefully you'll stay tuned for that. With Saturday 3pm's becoming a rarity at present I hope you've not missed out on any Review's- and if you have feel free to look back over said missed Reviews. Thanks again for reading, and let's just hope for a repeat performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment