Poor old Phil,it never rains but it pours and we have a storm of monsoon proportions over The Valley. If losing by 4 goals on Saturday was not bad enough or the increase in chatter on the message boards over his departure, one of his saving graces, the teams creative force is out not just for the visit to Carlisle but for the duration of the difficult sequence of matches that I pointed out previously.
I thought when Reid went down it was fairly innocuous, a bit like another left sided player a year or so ago – Kelly Youga. He is out for at least a month missing potentially, at least, Carlisle, Swindon, Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday, plus the JPT and the FA Cup.
The Yeovil game will be the anniversary of Pardews departure, whilst reeds departure was following a poor performance in the league cup …. Omens ? I hope not and that by then the atmosphere and results have turned around.
I was going to write that Carlisle is a big test, but that's daft, every game now is a big test and Parkies selection will be important for this game as it will form the foundations of the recovery or decline.
For me the team for Saturday should be as follows:-
Elliot
Francis Dailly Fortune Fry
Martin Semedo or McCormack Racon Jackson
Abbot Anyinsah
Worner, Semedo or McCormack, Wagstaff, Doherty, Benson, Sodje, Jenkinson
Its hard on Wagstaff our top scorer but I feel he is too one dimensional and better to come on in the second half when his pace can take the tired defence apart. Since his first game sending off, Semedo has not been the player he can be and Parkie needs to take the shackles off or bring in McCormack. Instead of having Martin or Wagstaff replace Reid, Jackson offers an option of solidity on the left hand side, strong crossing and a natural defender in Fry. Trying to work out the team for Saturday makes you really realise the paucity of our squad and we only have two injuries.
Its going to be a tough few weeks and Reids injury has done nothing to make it any easier, lets hope that the first test won't see Carlisle raining on our parade.
1 comment:
I think I'd have gone for Benson and Anyinsah up front. Abbott looked realy slow on Saturday, and the other former two looked really impressive together for the only 45 minutes they've had.
I'm not convinced by Francis, but there must be something about him, and he has looked good in patches - he must soon step up though as the lack of pre season must now be overcome.
I'd take a point on Saturday, but I don't think we'll get anything.
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