Saturday’s 3-4 defeat at the hands of a West Brom side that looked some distance from their best, brought up a number of interesting talking points for me.
First off, we had the 4-1-4-1 formation and a lot of debate over whether it’s any good or not.
It made me smile that the very same fans who against Birmingham were bemoaning Daniel Farke’s decision to go with two holding midfielders were then moaning that he only used one player in that role at home to West Brom.
It seems that the perfect number of defensive midfielders is 1.5 then.
Alex Tettey was given some flak as he was the holding midfielder against West Brom and yet he was outstanding against Birmingham.
When you consider that two of the goal scoring chances were handed to WBA by Tim Krul and another came from Ben Marshall giving the ball away, I do wonder if some of these people actually know what they’re watching.
Anyway, tonight there’s a chance for some of those lads that are on the edge of the first team to play and impress the boss.
Michael McGovern will play ahead of Tim Krul and so it seems will Christoph Zimmermann but two lads that will be chomping at the bit are Louis Thompson and Ben Godfrey.
Both had excellent pre-seasons and both can count themselves unlucky not to have started either of the first two league games.
This Carabao Cup tie against Stevenage should give them every opportunity to catch Herr Farke’s eye.
Stevenage have started well in League Two with a draw on opening day and then a 3-1 win over Crawley on Saturday and will be physical and fancy an upset.
Godfrey seems certain to start, probably at centre back alongside Zimmerman with Thompson holding in front of them, assuming Farke continues with his home 4-1-4-1 “identity”.
There is a chance that Jamal Lewis could play after returning to training and it could also be a big opportunity for the likes of Felix Passlack, Todd Cantwell and even Max Aarons. How about putting Anthony Spyrou or Adam Idah on the bench too?
Here’s what I’d do:
3-5-2
McGovern
Godfrey
Zimmermann
Klose
Passlack
Thompson
Cantwell
McLean
Lewis
Pukki
Srbeny
Subs: Oxborough, Stiepermann, Trybull, Hernandez, Aarons, Rhodes, Idah
Each to their own and all that but it’s an experienced team with a sprinkling of youth. Srbeny gets a chance against lower league opposition to try to build some confidence.
In case you’re wondering, Emi Buendia is in Spain with his family, after his wife gave birth yesterday. Congrats Emi!
Let me know your thoughts…
OTBC