Consistency of Team Selection - Changes for Wolves?

[Ian M]

We all know one of the biggest factors in our road to survival last season is credited to Johnson's actually selecting a more settled side in the final 10 games. In those last 10 games, 17 different players started and we picked up 6 wins compared to the previous 10 games where 24 were used from the start and we won just once.

However, there is now a general consensus that Johnson has put together a squad that has options of similar standard all over the ptich (whether you think they are a good or bad standard is of personal opinion). With the high press we are adopting this season I think Johnson's ability to tweak the team from Saturday to Tuesday will be hugely important else we risk the team burning out.

What is the general consensus here? Are we now happy as a fanbase for this to happen or do we still cling to old fashioned standards of "don't change a winning team?"

What changes would you make for the Wolves game on Tuesday for example? 

Personally I'm hoping Johnson's claim that Pisano is 7-10 days away from returning is kidology and that he can return. Other than that I'd consider Pack for Smith & Leko for O'Dowda to freshen things up a bit & if Taylor is ready, look to bring him on for Famara about 10 mins into the second half.

[Fordy62]

I think Leko for Diedhiou, but I'd leave Smith alone. 

An great game from Smith is better than a great game from Pack in my opinion. 

Wrongly though, I think Wright will be recalled. 

[Phileas Fogg]

Would be great if Pisano is back. I want Vyner to do well, but against Wolves in such quick succession, the right back position would be a bit of a worry for me if he's playing.

If it were me, I'd probably put Smith there for that game with Pack in midfield.

Flint should keep his place in my opinion but reckon Wright will be back in. LJ did hint at 3/5 the back so that could happen I suppose.

Would start Leko, not sure where though. Would give Wolves some pace and energy to think about if as a forward. Diedhiou might be more effective as a sub anyway.

Would take a draw quite happily, and I'm sure privately so would LJ.

[Davefevs]

Did Pisano travel yesterday?  Anyone see him at the Madjeski?  The only reason I ask is that Mrs Pisano (assumption that they are married) took a picture of their daughter at Ashton Gate yesterday morning and posted it on Twitter.  It was as if she'd dropped of Eros at the ground to travel.  Very much 2+2 from me, but would be great if only a minor knock and ready for Tuesday.

Last season we would be going into the second game of a double-away Sat / Tues duo, wondering whether 4,5,6 of our key players would handle this workload.  Take this weekend / Tuesday, and we have both Wright and Pack chomping at the bit, similarly Eliasson, Leko and Woodrow looking at starts.

Not saying we will get anything at Wolves, but I fully expect a team (plus subs) that can work their socks off for 90.

[BobBobSuperBob]

For me , if LJ and coaching staff are at a coaching stage where they are sure the players understand the system and the roles they are expected to play , and our strength in depth / options are better - changes in personnel is likely to be less impactive in a negative sense , and an option open to them to retain freshness ,

- particularly important IMHO with the energy needed to successfully implement Lees ethos / way of playing , especially for 90 mins (And IMHO one of the problems we had last season - retaining that intensity for 90 mins or near to)

From listening to what was said after the q & a Id say that LJ and co probably think they tinkered and changed too much too often last season and I get the  impression we will retain the basic framework of 4-4-2 with subtle changes (e.g. BR dropping in to make a 5 at times ) and the odd changes in personnel but not the system 

[Garland-sweden]

Thinks it looks ok. Flinty playing again If he is fit. Not one misstake and goalscorer. Hörður as lb, think Bryan cant play. Vyner again if not Italy fit. Pack from start? Famara and Bobby, WBA replace Famara in the second, et voilà 3 points, he he. Coyr!!!

[steviestevieneville]

Dean Holden did the pre match interview just before kick off and said Pisano had a bit of soreness and a stiff knee but it's only minor . Was surprised LJ said 7-10 days, hopefully a bit of kidology . Difficult one regarding flint, Wright is club captain and I think a all round better defender and flint was looking to leave in the summer. Flint by all accounts had a good game yesterday though and obviously got the winner . Also to be fair to him he always gives 100% so no question of his attitude. Like I said though I think Wright is the better defender so I'd put him back in. Might be a good game to give Leko a start in place famara . 

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Dean Holden did the pre match interview just before kick off and said Pisano had a bit of soreness and a stiff knee but it's only minor . Was surprised LJ said 7-10 days, hopefully a bit of kidology . Difficult one regarding flint, Wright is club captain and I think a all round better defender and flint was looking to leave in the summer. Flint by all accounts had a good game yesterday though and obviously got the winner . Also to be fair to him he always gives 100% so no question of his attitude. Like I said though I think Wright is the better defender so I'd put him back in. Might be a good game to give Leko a start in place famara . 

Yes, DH and LJ slightly contradicted each other.  Let's hope it was precautionary knowing Wolves have tricky wingers / forwards, and knew he wouldn't play 180 minutes in such short space of time with a little injury.

I wasn't there yesterday, but Leko's pace gives us an outball on Tuesday.

[Ian M]

For all those writing Famara off already, I'd like to see how he does first with at least one winger who can cross in the team. Pato is great but is constantly drifting inside, Brownhill the same & O'Dowda, whilst hard working in his defensive duties, hasn't got his attacking game going yet and often lacks end product. 

[Kingswoodactor]

Leko is a winger first and foremost, but can play up top if needed. He has played mainly for WBA on the right wing (he also does for England) but said his favourite position is left wing.

I don't want us to start playing him in one of his less favoured roles purely because of the misfiring Fam. It worked ok yesterday as the game was stretched and there were tired legs, but as a team we're so much better with round pegs in round holes. 

We really need Đurić back ASAP. 

Maybe start Woodrow up top with Reid, and bring Leko out on the left for COD in the 2nd half? 

[REDOXO]

You never change a winning team used to be the adage. However in those days you had 11 players and one sub. Today its more of a squad game as clubs look to maintain fitness levels despite only a 72 hour gap between games.

LJ seemed to more than imply Flint will be dropped for Wright, however which is worse, all that travelling on Australia WC duty or having played and scored three days earlier, I'm not sure that Wright is the better option for Tuesday. LJs comments regarding Pissano make me think he will not be fit and we are not sure if there are any other knocks, particularly Flint who complained after scoring he lost feeling.

I have read some stuff regarding Fammy on here since yesterday. Personally I like him and he suits the high press which was extremely obvious yesterday, even Japp Stam commented on it....

I would start the 11 that started the Reading game and adjust as you go. Leko is certain to get on for the last 30 or so particularly against Wolves!

 

[old_eastender]

On the evidence of yesterday's game I would certainly like to see Leko start in place of Famara.

Pisano if fit, should replace Vyner. Flint deserves to retain his place ahead of Bailey Wright.

The difficult dilemma for me is if Pisano is not fit, do we start Vyner again or move Smith to RB and recall Pack to CM... tricky one.

[WECANDO]

I think the goal threat Flinty provides gives him the edge over Wright who I like. I want Flint to play but Wright will. But with 15 to go, on comes Flinty upfront with Leko bombing down the wing and putting in pinpoint crosses. Think Pack will start and Smith drop out. But some players may have knocks or slight tiredness and also LJ will know the sort of players we will be facing which could influence his selection. COYRs. 

[And Its Smith]

I prefer Wright but don't think it would be great to drop Flint after yesterday. I think that sends a poor message that there are favourites and confirms that Johnson isn't over the Flint saga despite himself saying that everyone needs to move on.

We had fresh players yesterday and won so hopefully we pick a fresh team on Tuesday.  I don't know who is fresh or not so no point in predicting a line up really 

[steviestevieneville]

13 minutes ago, Ian M said:

For all those writing Famara off already, I'd like to see how he does first with at least one winger who can cross in the team. Pato is great but is constantly drifting inside, Brownhill the same & O'Dowda, whilst hard working in his defensive duties, hasn't got his attacking game going yet and often lacks end product. 

He's only made 6 appearances so far too soon for any kind of judgement yet. It seems more likely that the width comes from the full backs and we all know Joe can deliver decent crosses. LJ does like to play wingers on the wrong side cutting in creating space for the full backs. I think Famara will be a decent signing when he's used to the pace and physicality of the league

[Septic Peg]

I think Pisano will be fine for Tuesday. Holden said he rocked up intending to play yesterday and had to be told no. So suspect LJ was overestimating.

So Pisano, Flint, Bakes, Joey B. (Joe took a knock and Flinty had cramp so if both out, will be replaced with Wright and Mags at LB)

Leko, Smith, Brownhill and Eliasson in midfield. Smith to have 45 mins and if struggling or being a whopper, swap for Pack at HT.

Diedhiou and Reid up front. Fammy to have 45 mins and if sluggish, swap for Taylor.

COD/Pato to sub on.

[Lanterne Rouge]

26 minutes ago, Septic Peg said:

I think Pisano will be fine for Tuesday. Holden said he rocked up intending to play yesterday and had to be told no. So suspect LJ was overestimating.

So Pisano, Flint, Bakes, Joey B. (Joe took a knock and Flinty had cramp so if both out, will be replaced with Wright and Mags at LB)

Leko, Smith, Brownhill and Eliasson in midfield. Smith to have 45 mins and if struggling or being a whopper, swap for Pack at HT.

Diedhiou and Reid up front. Fammy to have 45 mins and if sluggish, swap for Taylor.

COD/Pato to sub on.

Interesting, hadn`t heard that about Pisano and hope it`s true. That position is key to what we do with the rest of the side IMO - if he`s not fit I doubt Zac can do two high intensity games in three days so would move Korey back there with Marlon coming in to CM. I`d stick with COD at RW due to his defending. If Joe is injured then I`d prefer Lloyd Kelly to Mags at LB I think.

As far as CBs go, my preferred pairing is Wright & Baker but would be quite happy if Aden kept his place - just a thought though, does anyone think Bailey could maybe fill in at RB at a pinch? We`d lose the overlap but I reckon he`d be solid defensively.

Up front, we`re not going to see a huge amount of the ball so when we do it`s got to stick so I`d keep Fam and hope that yesterday was a one-off - I think he`s better at holding it up with his back to goal than anyone else we`ve got. Bring Leko on after an hour or so to give them some pace to worry about.

We`re up against one of the best teams in the league this season but they struggled to beat ten man Millwall yesterday so we shouldn`t be terrified of them by any means. Sky said they huffed and puffed a lot but didn`t have a cutting edge so they`re not invincible - our fear as fans is more to do with our record at Molineux than anything else I reckon.

Onwards and upwards, lets put another bogey team to bed (I`d still take a point now mind!)

[BCFC Rich]

Ian M great thread and interesting topic. (I think where we are on the pitch/league at the moment is great for OTIB - we're not doing badly enough for anyone to be too negative and not well enough for anyone to start crowing either. It means the sites not clogged with ridiculous threads and ones like this have room to breathe and don't get hijacked).

 

 

[Ian M]

10 minutes ago, RichardEdd said:

Ian M great thread and interesting topic. (I think where we are on the pitch/league at the moment is great for OTIB - we're not doing badly enough for anyone to be too negative and not well enough for anyone to start crowing either. It means the sites not clogged with ridiculous threads and ones like this have room to breathe and don't get hijacked).

 

 

Everyone is also justifying their potential changes too with understandable reasoning. We're bringing out our inner tacticians 

[BCFC Rich]

45 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

Interesting, hadn`t heard that about Pisano and hope it`s true. That position is key to what we do with the rest of the side IMO - if he`s not fit I doubt Zac can do two high intensity games in three days so would move Korey back there with Marlon coming in to CM. I`d stick with COD at RW due to his defending. If Joe is injured then I`d prefer Lloyd Kelly to Mags at LB I think.

As far as CBs go, my preferred pairing is Wright & Baker but would be quite happy if Aden kept his place - just a thought though, does anyone think Bailey could maybe fill in at RB at a pinch? We`d lose the overlap but I reckon he`d be solid defensively.

Up front, we`re not going to see a huge amount of the ball so when we do it`s got to stick so I`d keep Fam and hope that yesterday was a one-off - I think he`s better at holding it up with his back to goal than anyone else we`ve got. Bring Leko on after an hour or so to give them some pace to worry about.

We`re up against one of the best teams in the league this season but they struggled to beat ten man Millwall yesterday so we shouldn`t be terrified of them by any means. Sky said they huffed and puffed a lot but didn`t have a cutting edge so they`re not invincible - our fear as fans is more to do with our record at Molineux than anything else I reckon.

Onwards and upwards, lets put another bogey team to bed (I`d still take a point now mind!)

6

Good post mostly sums up my thoughts. Particularly the bold part. When it comes to Fammy I'd keep him in or if he needs a rest use Woodrow as he is the most similar to Fammy. Our set up relies on balls into the front. Watching Reading game and the Villa game back its clear we rely on playing it up to the front man and building from there early on. Once the defense started to follow this, Fammy starts to pull them out of the way with his movement (i’m sure one of the main reasons we signed him) and this gives the others players to space for our counter attacks and quick passing transitions. It’s actually really clear a few times against Reading worth a look back for. It’s part of the forwards game that often gets missed and he does brilliantly (as does Taylor but in a very different way).

[Ian M]

3 minutes ago, RichardEdd said:

Good post mostly sums up my thoughts. Particularly the bold part. When it comes to Fammy I'd keep him in or if he needs a rest use Woodrow as he is the most similar to Fammy. Our set up relies on balls into the front. Watching Reading game and the Villa game back its clear we rely on playing it up to the front man and building from there early on. Once the defense started to follow this, Fammy starts to pull them out of the way with his movement (i’m sure one of the main reasons we signed him) and this gives the others players to space for our counter attacks and quick passing transitions. It’s actually really clear a few times against Reading worth a look back for. It’s part of the forwards game that often gets missed and he does brilliantly (as does Taylor but in a very different way).

I didn't go to Watford but I'm intrigued to understand how we played from half time when LJ took off Fammy and replaced him with Hinds?

Both Hinds and Reid are on the short side so I presume it was a lot more pass + move and general link play as we didn't then have a big guy up front to act as a fulcrum.

However we played was good enough to score three against what looks (from the early league table) to be a pretty decent PL team who'd made less changes than us?

This gives me hope that we could actually use Taylor there, especially if his fascination in the StatsBomb reports also results in him upping his game (I hear he was very good in the U23s the other day). 

[BCFC Rich]

7 minutes ago, Ian M said:

I didn't go to Watford but I'm intrigued to understand how we played from half time when LJ took off Fammy and replaced him with Hinds?

Both Hinds and Reid are on the short side so I presume it was a lot more pass + move and general link play as we didn't then have a big guy up front to act as a fulcrum.

However we played was good enough to score three against what looks (from the early league table) to be a pretty decent PL team who'd made less changes than us?

This gives me hope that we could actually use Taylor there, especially if his fascination in the StatsBomb reports also results in him upping his game (I hear he was very good in the U23s the other day). 

That's a good point about Watford game. I still think that v Wolves Fammy or Woodrow but take your point. It would be interesting to see MT and BR up top - Bolton might be the best game in the upcoming list of fixtures to see how that goes.

[cidered abroad]

2 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

I think Leko for Diedhiou, but I'd leave Smith alone. 

An great game from Smith is better than a great game from Pack in my opinion. 

Wrongly though, I think Wright will be recalled. 

Wright could be at right back if LJ feels that it might be kinder to leave Zak on the bench. Two tough away games may be hard for him, although part of me says leave him in and it will give him confidence.

Will Joe Bryan be fit?

I would leave Famara out and use Leko up front. But then how will Fammy get up to speed? Perhaps give him 60 minutes and then let Leko loose.

[Ian M]

24 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

Wright could be at right back if LJ feels that it might be kinder to leave Zak on the bench. Two tough away games may be hard for him, although part of me says leave him in and it will give him confidence.

Will Joe Bryan be fit?

I would leave Famara out and use Leko up front. But then how will Fammy get up to speed? Perhaps give him 60 minutes and then let Leko loose.

My concern is that coming up against an £8m winger from Atletico Madrid could actually destroy the confidence he gained from Saturday. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

9 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Paterson doesn't look the same player when playing on a Tuesday after a Saturday game. I would like to see us going with the kind of side that played the second half against Watford. Eliasson and O'Dowda on wings. Have pace through the middle with Leko up top with Reid. Pack can come in for either Brownhill or Smith if needed to freshen up in midfield. Wright in for Flint as well.

That`s a fair point re Pato, he does sometimes look a bit off the pace with two in three days - not surprising given what he puts in - so Eliasson could well be an option but it needs Joe/Mags/Lloyd Kelly to be really on their game defensively.

[eardun]

3 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

I think Leko for Diedhiou, but I'd leave Smith alone. 

An great game from Smith is better than a great game from Pack in my opinion. 

Wrongly though, I think Wright will be recalled. 

Agree - I expect these two changes. 

[Davefevs]

If we go back to pre-game v Brentford, we were quite upbeat because we'd kept an unchanged team (apart from Baker for Hegeler) and Brentford had made half a dozen on a poor start.  I think LJ reflected post-game that Brentford's changes had freshened them up, and we were a bit lacklustre during the middle portion.  Wonder if this will be thought about ahead of Tuesday.  At least it wasn't a long journey back and forth to Reading.

[Offside]

Hopefully Pisano will be fit enough to slot back in at right back. Vyner is a good prospect but against Wolves I think we'll need Pisano's experience, plus he's looked very solid so far.

After scoring the winner at Reading and being part of a defence that kept a clean sheet I think Flint deserves to keep his place.

[shelts]

Think Wolves will be a good indicator as to how LJ will deal with the Saturday then mid week game . Can he leave it alone or will he have a tinker? 

Granted some changes might be enforced .