team to face wolves

[robinrover]

Who would you play against wolves in this weekend's opener?
Mine would look a little like this
Gk Raya
Rb Henley
Cb Killgallon (c)
Cb Duffy
Lb Olsson
Rm o Sullivan
Cm Guthrie(if he signs otherwise evans)
Cm lowe
Lm Conway
Am Marshall
Fw Rhodes
subs:Steele,spurr,Hanley,Mahoney
Williamson,koite,delfounso/Forrester

[Howie5o]

No Conway Robin ..seems to the only player on fire at mo.

[robinrover]

Also again well done for spotting me missing Conway at left midfield
I was very tired this morning will try harder next time
updated both for you howie consider me told

[AucklandRover]

I suspect GB will be conservative in this first game.
I would therefore expect to see a line-up something like:
Steele
Henley Hanley Duffy Olsson
Marshall Lowe Evans Conway
Rhodes

I know that is a ten-man team. What is lacking is an attacking central midfielder. I just don't know who GB will pick in that role. Guthrie? O'Sullivan? Tomlinson?
I can't see us playing two strikers, given injuries and inexperience (and the loss of Le Fondre), so I am expecting 4-5-1.
Of course, Guthrie may not even be signed, which will limit options even more. Is Koita just behind Rhodes a possibility? Is he match-fit? This is where the problem with signing Bo-Kyung was so disappointing. This would have been just his position.
Pure guesswork, of course. Will Bowyer in fact be bolder than that? Odds on Tomlinson getting a start? I'd say 10-1, at least.

[robinrover]

Would be great to see one of our own light the league up

[AucklandRover]

Robin - I have noticed that the official site is giving a lot more prominence, at the moment, to Academy matters and to the Under-21 team. Also, Nyambe and Tomlinson are obviously being fast-tracked. With Henley and Raya regulars now, and with Lenihan and O'Sullivan in the first-team squad, perhaps we are finally seeing a shift towards "home-grown".
Clearly, it is dangerous to throw too many of them in at once, but perhaps by the end of this season we will be putting out a team where at least half of the players will have come through our Academy.

And, of course, Jason Lowe also came up through our youth-teams.

[robinrover]

Financial fair play forces teams under the prem to bring youth through due to financial restrictions
this is one of the very few pluses of it and we can be very thankful that our academy is one of the best so fingers crossed that at least half of thes you mentioned turn out to be gems

[AucklandRover]

Thinking about line-ups, I wonder what is going to happen with Tommy Spurr this season. He has rarely put a foot wrong in a Rovers shirt, but it will be difficult for him to force his way past Olsson. Will he be content to be a bench-warmer and provide general cover for the back four?

[robinrover]

I think aucks recently he made his feelings known that he didn't want to be a bit part player however Olsson being the standout performer last season cannot be dropped.

[Howie5o]

Raya

Henley Hanley Killa Olsson

O'Sullivan Lowe Guthrie Conway

Marshall

Rhodes