Alex Charlton says…
Let’s face it: Wolves didn’t really offer any cutting edge in the final third. That said, I thought we defended resolutely and deserved the clean sheet.
Reinildo offers a natural option on the left and
that will be tempting for Régis Le Bris, but I’d like to see the same back four that started against Wolves given another chance against Chelsea. Furthermore, Dan Ballard, Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele all performed admirably, and I’d find it harsh if any of them were benched.
On the other hand, I think Le Bris could go with three at the back against stronger opposition, meaning Trai Hume and Reinildo could play as wing backs. However, that may upset the balance of the team — and we know the gaffer doesn’t like to tinker too much.
It’s a tough call but I’m edging towards the back four that beat Wolves.
Ciaran McKenna says…
Happily, it seems like we’re spoilt for choice, for the first time in a while.
I think it would be extremely harsh to drop any of the four who started on Saturday. They were all excellent and are in great form. However, Reinildo is a great player and was also doing very well until his moment of madness against Aston Villa.
Playing away at Stamford Bridge is going to be a tough game, so it wouldn’t really suprise me if Le Bris goes for a back five.
Adding Reinildo to bolster us further can only help, but it does mean someone will have to drop out of the starting eleven. If Le Bris does prefer this option, I imagine Chris Rigg will be the man to drop to the bench. We know how good a player he is but ultimately he’s inexperienced and lightweight.
Hopefully, whatever formation we play, we’ll continue to be as hard to beat as we’ve been so far.
Malc Dugdale says…
I think there’s a good chance that the lineup against Chelsea could change in a few ways, including the defence, and having Reinildo as an option could help with what Régis Le Bris sees as our best approach to getting points.
His early-season contributions drew rave reviews the majority of the time — to the point where he was one of the first names on the team sheet early on. After his red card indiscretion and suspension against Aston Villa, he’ll have to earn his spot back and prove to the gaffer he isn’t a repeat card risk.
In his absence we’ve done very well, other than an iffy thirty minutes away to Manchester United, but what he offers is very different to playing Trai Hume at left back or expecting Arthur Masuaku to step up as he did quite well away to Nottingham Forest.
I’m not going to second guess what he’ll do but having this sort of issue is a massive positive and I trust the guy to set us up to get something, despite this being a real challenge against a team who’ve won their last three in all competitions — including a win against Liverpool — and have scored six goals in the process.
