I don’t think any of Thompson, Mehmeti or Hanlan will be fit which is a real shame for them and us. We really miss Mehmeti particularly.
For me the only conundrum is we need Wing back in the side. His quality on the ball is a step above our other midfielders and he helps us retain the ball better which will be important. But honestly the only change I can see how that happens is bringing him in for JJ, Obita to LB, Wing to play 10, McCleary and Horgan wide (with McCleary linking with Obita). If I was in charge I would do this as Roberts against JJ worries me a lot.
But JJ will certainly not be left out for his experience and set pieces so all of the above is moot! But if we need a change I hope the above is the option we take with 30 minutes remaining. Not Wheeler for Horgan!
We are 1-0 up with five minutes to go (plus a couple for added time!). Biggest managerial decision of his life, does Gaz bring Bayo on for the last dance?
@perfidious_albion said:
We are 1-0 up with five minutes to go (plus a couple for added time!). Biggest managerial decision of his life, does Gaz bring Bayo on for the last dance?
No. Controversial. Awaits abuse!
Could be another 30 mins to think about at that point and you don’t know who will be needed at that point.
@perfidious_albion said:
We are 1-0 up with five minutes to go (plus a couple for added time!). Biggest managerial decision of his life, does Gaz bring Bayo on for the last dance?
No. Controversial. Awaits abuse!
Could be another 30 mins to think about at that point and you don’t know who will be needed at that point.
Not that controversial, causing a distraction and contributing to us losing is the last thing Bayo wants to finish his career on, Gaz will use him as is needed for the team, neither are naive.
@Quarterman said:
I don’t think any of Thompson, Mehmeti or Hanlan will be fit which is a real shame for them and us. We really miss Mehmeti particularly.
For me the only conundrum is we need Wing back in the side. His quality on the ball is a step above our other midfielders and he helps us retain the ball better which will be important. But honestly the only change I can see how that happens is bringing him in for JJ, Obita to LB, Wing to play 10, McCleary and Horgan wide (with McCleary linking with Obita). If I was in charge I would do this as Roberts against JJ worries me a lot.
But JJ will certainly not be left out for his experience and set pieces so all of the above is moot! But if we need a change I hope the above is the option we take with 30 minutes remaining. Not Wheeler for Horgan!
Personally I think Wing would be a better fit v Sunderland than Horgan. That is no disrespect to the resurgent Horgan I just think that we need to overwhelm them in the middle of the park and Wing does that (IMHO) better. Watching Roberts get a lot of success out wide v Wednesday we need to be better prepared than we were on Sunday for that eventuality too.
I imagine there's about a 95% chance Bayo comes on. We're winning, he'll be used to suck up time and take up a few defenders after Vokes has put in a huge shift, if we're losing it's another option.
And it's useless to dismiss sentimentality around this. JJ said himself he told Bayo he wanted to win, 'so his last match was at Wembley', or words to that effect. Bayo has been a huge player for us, and I think whatever the outcome, deserves 5 minutes to finish off his career in style
It'd surely take an absolutely all hands to the pump, desperate defence of a 1-0 win late on to stop him coming on.
Any other scenario will see him come on.
@Malone said:
It'd surely take an absolutely all hands to the pump, desperate defence of a 1-0 win late on to stop him coming on.
Any other scenario will see him come on.
And even that scenario would only prevent him coming on if we'd been forced into a sub thru injury.
Anyone who thinks that Bayo coming on with 5 or 10 minutes on the clock is done for gimmick or sentimentality hasn't been paying attention.
This was mentioned earlier in the season when we scored another last gasp goal. He's always at the centre of these last gasp goals and that's not by fluke. Favourite goal last season was his penalty v Bristol City when we had two disrupters causing chaos in the box.
I'm going for him coming on with 5 minutes plus injury time left with us 2-0 up... then when defending for our lives, the ball breaks, McCleary runs down the right wing, crosses the ball to Bayo somewhere between the penalty spot and 6 yard box.... volley top corner, game over and we all start crying
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Not sure you are asking the right people here matey. We're still waiting for a loan goalkeeper for the Final, Ruth and Dave Tarpey.
Yes. A small chance. Unlikely though. Memehti is closest to making it.
If we're genuine about getting back into the Championship surely now is the time to sign The Player.
I don’t think any of Thompson, Mehmeti or Hanlan will be fit which is a real shame for them and us. We really miss Mehmeti particularly.
For me the only conundrum is we need Wing back in the side. His quality on the ball is a step above our other midfielders and he helps us retain the ball better which will be important. But honestly the only change I can see how that happens is bringing him in for JJ, Obita to LB, Wing to play 10, McCleary and Horgan wide (with McCleary linking with Obita). If I was in charge I would do this as Roberts against JJ worries me a lot.
But JJ will certainly not be left out for his experience and set pieces so all of the above is moot! But if we need a change I hope the above is the option we take with 30 minutes remaining. Not Wheeler for Horgan!
Given the pace of their wingers i suspect that we'll revert to a back 5
Tell you what - whatever the result, when Bayo comes over to us at the end for that final farewell I'm going to be an absolute mess.
We are 1-0 up with five minutes to go (plus a couple for added time!). Biggest managerial decision of his life, does Gaz bring Bayo on for the last dance?
No. Controversial. Awaits abuse!
Could be another 30 mins to think about at that point and you don’t know who will be needed at that point.
Not that controversial, causing a distraction and contributing to us losing is the last thing Bayo wants to finish his career on, Gaz will use him as is needed for the team, neither are naive.
Two minutes added time…if we are leading 1-0 I think that’s a mite optimistic ?
Personally I think Wing would be a better fit v Sunderland than Horgan. That is no disrespect to the resurgent Horgan I just think that we need to overwhelm them in the middle of the park and Wing does that (IMHO) better. Watching Roberts get a lot of success out wide v Wednesday we need to be better prepared than we were on Sunday for that eventuality too.
Bayo continues to defy age and expectation when he comes on - not sure why anyone still thinks it'd be some kind of sentimental folly to bring him on.
Gaz will call it right.
He didn't bring him on at MK in the exact scenario someone mentions above.
We clearly need to be 2-0 up with 10mins to go
I imagine there's about a 95% chance Bayo comes on. We're winning, he'll be used to suck up time and take up a few defenders after Vokes has put in a huge shift, if we're losing it's another option.
And it's useless to dismiss sentimentality around this. JJ said himself he told Bayo he wanted to win, 'so his last match was at Wembley', or words to that effect. Bayo has been a huge player for us, and I think whatever the outcome, deserves 5 minutes to finish off his career in style
It'd surely take an absolutely all hands to the pump, desperate defence of a 1-0 win late on to stop him coming on.
Any other scenario will see him come on.
And even that scenario would only prevent him coming on if we'd been forced into a sub thru injury.
Bayo has always defended corners very well. I'd have no problem with him coming on as an extra body to help prop up the defence.
Anyone who thinks that Bayo coming on with 5 or 10 minutes on the clock is done for gimmick or sentimentality hasn't been paying attention.
This was mentioned earlier in the season when we scored another last gasp goal. He's always at the centre of these last gasp goals and that's not by fluke. Favourite goal last season was his penalty v Bristol City when we had two disrupters causing chaos in the box.
It's heartening that so far...no-one is bringing him on to try and get an equaliser!
I'm going for him coming on with 5 minutes plus injury time left with us 2-0 up... then when defending for our lives, the ball breaks, McCleary runs down the right wing, crosses the ball to Bayo somewhere between the penalty spot and 6 yard box.... volley top corner, game over and we all start crying