This feels like both a must-win and a must-perform for Regis Le Bris – and while it’s easy for us to sit back and say we should change this or that, the reality is that the Head Coach sees the players in every training session, and will be picking the team he believes gives us the best chance of winning. The stats speak for themselves though – we’ve not been in consistently good form this calendar year in all reality – so something needs to chance, be that in personnel, approach or both, and it does
feel as though this could be Le Bris’s last throw of the dice. I’d be tempted to try something completely different, but that’s probably why I’m sat here writing this rather than being in the team hotel right now – so I think any changes we’ll see will be small tweaks in approach, rather than formations. After all, none of the players who were given a chance on Thursday really took it. On the preview pod this morning, Gav makes a really good argument for going to a back three, however I just don’t see Le Bris doing it.
Goalkeeper: Robin Roefs
While Roefs hasn’t made any massive howlers this season, his save stats are horrendous compared to last season – pretty much everything he’s faced has gone in. Can you read much into that? I don’t know – still, we know he’s an excellent keeper, so fingers crossed he rights some of those statistical wrongs today.
Defence: Thomas Meunier, Nordi Mukiele, Luke O’Nien, Reinildo
The good news is that Nordi Mukiele should be back, which means we can get him back into the team – likely at centre back alongside Luke O’Nien, who surely gets the nod ahead of Danso. At left back, Reinildo will come back in, while at right back I think we’ll see Thomas Meunier get the nod after his 45 minute outing on Thursday.
Midfield: Jocellin Ta Bi, Granit Xhaka, Noah Sadiki, Jules Ahoka, Enzo Le Fee
My head predicts a midfield of Hume or Rigg, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee and Angulo. However, there’s part of me that feels/hopes Le Bris knows he needs to try something – and that something could be to push Enzo out onto the left, to create an opportunity for Jules Ahoka in the centre, and bring Jocellin in on the right. I think that will give us the right balance of power, pace, creativity and attacking intent, and let’s face it, neither Angulo nor Fofana have firmly established themselves as automatic selections so far.
Striker: Brian Brobbey
Brobbey’s working his way back to fitness, and in that respect his run out on Thursday should have helped. We need to get players much closer to him, which is why I think playing Ahoka and Ta Bi today is needed as he’s often so isolated he can’t get anything going. The reality is though that he’s scored one goal at the Stadium of Light this year – so something’s not right. We need to get better service into him, and more players around him. His hattrick at City aside, he’s not looked in great goalscoring form this season – who knows how the season pans out if he scores that chance early at Ipswich, while he really should have scored to equalise at Coventry last weekend too.
