Useful Idiot

Seriously dude, you're way above Alpine in the worry league this preseason. That can't be good for your blood pressure...

Well, it's where he's played him in every game so far in preseason. Puel's strikers are expected to spend a lot of time in the inside forward channel and covering their fullbacks so he's probably a better option in that system than Austin. If Jay can get fit the style should suit him & Long.

That weak?

------------------Forster---------------- Cedric-----Fonte-----VVD-----Bertrand -----------------Romeu----------------- ---------JWP--------------Davis-------- -----------------Tadic------------------- ----Austin--------------------Long----- Bench: Gazza, Yoshida, Targett, Hojberg, Clasie, Redmond, J-Rod Maybe J-Rod or Redmond for Austin, maybe Clasie for Davis. Doubt we'll start Hojbjerg straight away, probably see him coming on as a sub.

In the first half against DC u23 we actually seemed to play something like the diamond formation that Cruyff talks about in the video below, with Austin and Redmond operating as split/wide forwards. For those two roles you can play either strikers or wingers. I'm not entirely sure that Austin is ideally suited to playing in that way, but J-Rod, Long and Redmond all fit the bill as adaptable forwards who can drift in and out of wider areas. Cruyff Diamond: -----------------GK---------------- RB-------CB---------CB---------LB ----------------DM----------------- ----------CM---------CM----------- ----------------AM------------------ ---RF-------------------------LF--- In the second half, we played a 4-1-2-3 with J-Rod playing in between Olamola and Isgrove as the front three (Mourinho's old Chelsea formation). I think that we will probably be swapping between a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) as you drew, a wider 4-3-3 (Cruyff diamond/false 9 as drawn above) and a regular 4-1-2-3 with a central striker pushed up from where the AM is above. The first two of those formations use a no. 10, while all of them use two number 8s and a number 4 as the base to play from. It should give us a plan A, B, and C while keeping the same midfield shape.

Townsend is a good option for a team set up to counterattack. He's not great at braking down tight defenses, finding space in between the lines or playing quick passes. That's probably why Spuds let him go, he's a good player, but doesn't fit their style. I think he'd be decent if we decide to set up to defend deep and exploit space on the opposition flanks (funnily enough, how Newcastle played when they got the best out of him) but don't think he'd be great in a team working to press high and shift the ball quickly with lots of one or two touch passing, as that plays to his weaknesses (vision, close control) rather than his strengths (pace, directness).

However, thinking about Bundesliga players, maybe we should try for Salif Sane from Hannover? 6'4" DM, French/Senegalese and his stats for passing, tackling and interceptions are all decent. Would be an even bigger physical presence than Wanyama and can score the odd goal, too... https://www.whoscored.com/Players/94912

Baumgartlinger's just signed for Leverkusen from Mainz, so no chance unfortunately.

Kane looks badly jaded, while Vardy looks sharp so think he has to get the nod. Though Sturridge was a bit greedy (as he normally is) but seemed the only attacker who wanted to take anyone on. He seemed to be playing more of a inside forward role than as a striker and looked good against a Welsh team that offered virtually no attacking threat. Not sure how Walker got MotM, he's great at running and useful up until he actually has to put a cross in, but his end product is awful. Don't think a traditional striker pairing is the way to go for England, we tried it in two of the recent friendlies and looked absolutely dire. Also think that Kane might be better used as an impact sub, looks like he's running on empty (and Alli's not much better). For the next match I'd rotate and give the rest of the squad a start. I'd especially look to give Kane and Alli a rest. On other matters, I watched the game on ESPN and had the pleasure of listening to the astonishingly well informed commentary of the skate Ian Darke. He produced all sorts of interesting facts out of his backside such as the idea that Wales is on the other side of the Severn Bridge (and thus, by implication doesn't share a land border with England) and even more amazingly that it sits two-and-a-half hours drive away from England... he makes Tyldesley sound like a genius.

I'm not a fan of Rooney at all, but he did play well yesterday. Hodgson's experimented with 4-1-2-1-2 with Kane and Vardy up top and we looked absolutely terrible and there's no way a standard 4-4-2 will cut it with the players we have, Lallana is no Mahrez, Rooney and Dier aren't Kante and Drinkwater. I actually think a 3-4-1-2 would work really well with the players we have in the squad, but there's no way that Hodgson will experiment with that. To be honest, against Wales I think we'll play the same team, but if Kane is as bad as he was yesterday he should be hauled off for Sturridge or Rashford. Vardy works best against teams who leave space in behind and Wales will not do that, the other two are more likely to be able to create something by tricking their way past a packed defense. Wales will play their 3-4-3 / 5-4-1 against us and rely on having Bale run at Smalling and Cahill and winning free kicks. We probably won't need Sterling's pace as much as they won't push up far enough to leave space for him, so playing Wilshere and Lallana on the flanks might work quite well. We're probably most likely to score from quick passing and overloads so having our players who are best at that style of play on the pitch together seems the sensible option.

Kane was very poor today. Won a couple of free kicks but apart from that contributed absolutely nothing. Seemed on his heel when he should have been trying to make runs in behind their defense and hardly won anything in the air all game. Hodgson should have subbed him off for any of out other forwards after 70mins, at that point he was clearly knackered and less mobile than a duck with no wings. Even Sturridge would have offered more at that point, and Vardy would have had a field day. Instead he hauls off Rooney (who was actually fairly decent for once) and Sterling (who at least provides a bit of pace to stop Russia pushing everyone up) and brings on Wilshere (who was OK but nothing special) and that waste of space Milner (whose only contribution was to slip over and provide Russia with a chance to attack late on). Poor management and subs undermine what was a very decent performance. Have no idea how Hodgson still has a £3mil job, the man's an absolute joke.

Apparently he prefers to be called Gana for a similar reason to Memphis not liking to be referred to as Depay. I think, along with his impressive defensive stats, Gana has shown great mental strength and determination to preform well in a struggling side. His passing isn't the best, but he has solid technique and moves well with the ball. He's not the tallest though he does have a couple of inches of Clasie, so I don't know how well he does in areal challenges. Think he'd work really well alongside Romeu, as he has decent recovery pace which is probably Oriol's only real weakness.

Apparently he's on about 40K. I think we might have one or two players on a bit more than that...

From what little I've seen of him (a few games for Sassuolo and a couple for Juve) Zaza looks like an extremely promising player who is closer in style of play to Osvaldo than Pelle (although I've not heard anything of him being a complete loon). He's skillful, tricky, quick and can score spectacular goals. He's also a good age and considering what Koeman and the team managed to achieve in improving Long, he might be worth a shout. He's certainly a more cultured finisher than Long and has similar pace but far a more consistent touch. He can also play in behind a striker and I think he has the attributes to perform a similar 'wide forward' role to the one Jay Rod used to, but starting from the right wing and cutting in on his left foot.

But it doesn't really, does it? Not disputing that we had an amazing season, but could it have been even better? I'm not entirely sure about the qualifications of the 'panel of experts' at SunSport, but according to them the league table would have looked rather different if the officials had managed to get their penalty area decisions right during the season. Apparently this concerns goals that should have been disallowed or weren't given and penalty shouts. Unsurprisingly. we do rather better than the majority out of these, although Leicester would have dropped to second behind Arsenal and Newcastle would have stayed up comfortably. So, time for TV refs? 1........Arsenal.............73 2........Leicester...........71 3........Saints..............67 4........Spuds..............66 5........West Ham.........66 6........Man Utd...........66 7........Man City...........65 8........Chelsea............53 9........Liverpool...........50 10......Stoke...............48 11......Everton............47 12......Swansea...........45 13......Palace..............45 14......Newcastle.........43 15......Watford............42 16......Bompy..............42 17......West Brom........41 18......Sunderland........41 19......Norwich............36 20......Villa..................24 http://www.90min.com/posts/3260946-analysis-reveals-arsenal-would-have-won-premier-league-league-if-refs-did-their-jobs-properly?ref=1&team=newcastle&utm_campaign=Newcastle&utm_medium=fan_pages&utm_source=facebook.com.html

Townsend looks good in a team who rely on their opposition pushing forward and leaving space for him to run into. He can also strike a good free kick. He would be a decent option against teams who don't mind attacking in numbers, but I don't think he's a clever enough on the ball to beat his man with skill rather than pace, nor is he a player who can find space or killer passes against packed defenses. For example, note how ineffective he was against an extremely poor Villa side which was set up to deny Newcastle space. Overall, he's no Mane or Tadic but has attributes that would be useful in games where we don't see as much of the ball. Personally, I think Gana from Villa looks like a real player. Shows excellent determination and mental strength along with good technical ability in an absolutely terrible team.