The one straw we can clutch at, I think, is that you can see how having Rawlinson or Cameron in there (or both, ideally) would mean there’s a good chance of avoiding the first three goals.
Totally agree with Anticlough on Francis, by the way. You need a holding midfielder. He’s been patchy, but has to be one of the first names on the teamsheet because he’s the only player we have (unless Vincent can) in that position.
Still think our best formation is 3-5-2.
My objection has been the lack of a promotion-level RWB. And I'll stick to saying that, we won't get top or top 3 by entrusting all our play down an entire flank to DKE, Brinds or Nemane (will we ever see him there? I don't think so). But if the extent of our ambitions was scrambling into the play-offs, then those options might be enough.
On the last commentary, I noticed Charlie Slater said he thought Brindley would be our best RWB.
Personally, I think this misunderstands/overestimates Brindley. I think he lacks the MOTOR to bomb up and down the wing all game. He's a quality over quantity player. He can look immaculate in that right CB position when the play comes to him. And think about this, a player whose main trade is Full-back, proves himself to be a high-level right-sided CB. And now we want him to be a buccaneering, promotion-level right-winger as well!!! What would a player who can do all that be doing in the NL?! He might pull it off for a few games, but over the 35 games we have left? I don't think so. DKE is the best of a short list of bad options I'm afraid. Recruitment really let IB down on this. Pity as we have the CB options to suit the 3 really well.
Short of the club bringing in a better RWB option right now, I think IB needs to stick to the 4-2-3-1. More chopping and changing is going to start causing us additional problems, and I think we have enough of those already.
Last edited by the_anticlough; 05-10-2021 at 11:29 AM.