severnside gull
Well-known member
Have to admit I wouldn't mind seeing us play the long ball from time to time as an alternative and especially in order to release CMS and let him use his pace from the halfway line -- it is exactly how Chris Wood has scored 4 of his goals this season so far. Greer is a great exponent of the (accurate) long ball and I think sometimes our slow build-up gives opponents all the opportunity they need at this level to cover our strikers and that is reflected in the dearth of scoring opportunities we create in most games. Our combined "shots on/off target" must be one of the lowest in the division (waits to be proved wrong). Mixing it up a little might give Hughton a few surprises to cope with. As it is we are very predictable and he is an excellent coach who will be confident he can negate our front line relatively easily.
If it is true that Dunk is out it may create just the change defensively that will make them think. As it is they must be expecting an easy afternoon's work. Burke is their most consistent attacking threat with Beasejour a useful creative force from midfield and Wood playing off the shoulder of the last man has been doing very well. I'm hoping we will be forced to keep someone in the centre more - Greer naturally drifts outside to cover the fullback going forward and we have sometimes lacked the discipline to hold the centre of the defence and have given sides way too much room to hurt us as a result. It is not a criticism of Dunk but Vincelot or Reyes will play a different way and that might be beneficial.
Overall I'm feeling surprisingly positive given recent form. I think Harper will give us more aggression in defence against crosses and Jara Reyes will offer better positional play defensively without costing us anything offensively. The return of Buckley and Vicente and Noone's continuing excellent form gives us the best midfield I can recall while Paynter to support CMS and create space and opportunity for him to hurt opposing defences more than he has been able to do so far may well mean that we will begin to create more chances. And as we know our conversion rate of chances into goals is very good indeed. Weighing it all up I'm going for a 2-1 win for Albion today.
If it is true that Dunk is out it may create just the change defensively that will make them think. As it is they must be expecting an easy afternoon's work. Burke is their most consistent attacking threat with Beasejour a useful creative force from midfield and Wood playing off the shoulder of the last man has been doing very well. I'm hoping we will be forced to keep someone in the centre more - Greer naturally drifts outside to cover the fullback going forward and we have sometimes lacked the discipline to hold the centre of the defence and have given sides way too much room to hurt us as a result. It is not a criticism of Dunk but Vincelot or Reyes will play a different way and that might be beneficial.
Overall I'm feeling surprisingly positive given recent form. I think Harper will give us more aggression in defence against crosses and Jara Reyes will offer better positional play defensively without costing us anything offensively. The return of Buckley and Vicente and Noone's continuing excellent form gives us the best midfield I can recall while Paynter to support CMS and create space and opportunity for him to hurt opposing defences more than he has been able to do so far may well mean that we will begin to create more chances. And as we know our conversion rate of chances into goals is very good indeed. Weighing it all up I'm going for a 2-1 win for Albion today.
