Fearing these injuries will do us...

[RedRobin13]

Picture posted on Instagram shows Korey not in a boot and not even on crutches! Hopefully good news that the injury sustained isn’t too serious

[Fiale]

1 hour ago, spudski said:

I agree about Eliasson, he looks like a good prospect and agree with all your points about him.

However...I look at how our team play most weeks, and i'm trying to understand how a traditional 'winger' fits in.

Getting to the byeline and whipping in a cross is all well and good...but how many have we got up front that can win that ball? We must have one of the smallest group of offensive players...Duric and Diediou apart, but how often do we play them? Injuries have dictated.

Sure his accurate crossing will be great at Set pieces, when Duric, Flint, Baker and Wright are in the box...but in general play?

We seem most effective when playing intricate passing in front of the box, either on the offensive or on the break.

Using width to spread play with wide men...yes I can understand. Coming inside or playing accurate passes to feet from wide....yes I can understand.

But as a traditional winger getting to the bye line and whipping in a cross...I can't see the benefits, especially with the likes of Reid, Patto and Taylor up front.

Sure, we might win the second ball...but the chances of winning that first ball are remote imo.

 

He's pretty young, maybe they saw in his stats that suggest he can be molded into what we want, high pass completion, assists, beating his man, team goals - who knows but the way the club are analyzing players it would seem strange t send over a million on someone that as you said is currently a winger that in all intent and purposes we play without.

[Maesknoll Red]

3 hours ago, LondonBristolian said:

Being a bit controversial here but do you think, if injuries do not abate in the next two weeks, LJ needs to start to decide which games to prioritise?

I hate it as a concept but i cannot see how we are going to have the energy to play forest, Man Utd four days later, QPR three days later, Reading three days and that, Wolves four days after that and Villa two days later with the squad as threadbare as it is. i wonder if we need to heavily rotate the squad, even if it means throwing kids in at the deep end, against Man Utd and at least one other game (depressingly Wolves is the obvious one given where it comes in the fixture calendar).

I absolutely hate the idea of not putting our best team on the pitch for every single fixture but I fear if we do put out our strongest XI that many times in that many games, we’ll end up with a knackered and below par team that struggles to deliver against Reading, Wolves or Villa and a greater risk of further injuries...

See where you’re coming from, I can just imagine the outcry and bluster on here and elsewhere, if after all hype and discussion on tickets for the Man U match, it ended up City reserves/U23’s V Man U reserves/U23’s.  Although after yesterday’s result, I would guess Man U will want to win the cups to make up for coming 2nd in the league......

Its a lot of games in a short period on a squad so full of injuries and I share the concern that it could lead to even more injuries, even if they are minor, that will still impact on our performance.

[The Journalist]

2 hours ago, spudski said:

I agree about Eliasson, he looks like a good prospect and agree with all your points about him.

However...I look at how our team play most weeks, and i'm trying to understand how a traditional 'winger' fits in.

Getting to the byeline and whipping in a cross is all well and good...but how many have we got up front that can win that ball? We must have one of the smallest group of offensive players...Duric and Diediou apart, but how often do we play them? Injuries have dictated.

Sure his accurate crossing will be great at Set pieces, when Duric, Flint, Baker and Wright are in the box...but in general play?

We seem most effective when playing intricate passing in front of the box, either on the offensive or on the break.

Using width to spread play with wide men...yes I can understand. Coming inside or playing accurate passes to feet from wide....yes I can understand.

But as a traditional winger getting to the bye line and whipping in a cross...I can't see the benefits, especially with the likes of Reid, Patto and Taylor up front.

Sure, we might win the second ball...but the chances of winning that first ball are remote imo.

I think the interesting thing with Eliasson is that we've been playing him off the right rather than the left. With this in mind - are we actually trying to use him as an out-and-out winger?

I get the feeling, just from patterns of play that have emerged, that rather than working him into a position to get down the side of his man and get a cross in that we want him to come inside and get shots away. But is this something that comes naturally to him? In a reduced-numbers game, maybe, but in 11-a-side football with a full-back to track?

I'm like you, I think, in that I really like a lot of what I've seen from him in possession but I'm not sure he's getting into/we're getting him into the best possible positions.

What was encouraging about Friday was his willingness to fill in and get the right side of the ball. This sounds like a basic requirement, but - particularly playing right in front of our bench - he was clearly keen to do everything that had been asked of him defensively.