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I wonder if Alan Knill will be brave and surprise us all.

Play Lee Mansell at right back.

Play Daniel Leadbitter as an attacking midfielder a League 2 version of Gareth Bale!!

Play Nathen Craig in midfield were we all know he has the best chance of bringing a little creativity to our play.

Play Benyon with one instruction to shoot on site whenever in the penalty box.

Play Lloyd Macklin and get him crossing balls to Rene at every opportunity.

Convince the team they ARE good enough to beat Vale if and it is a very big if,they take their chances.

Wish I could be at Plainmoor tomorrow. I am going for a 2-1 win.

portugull wrote:I wonder if Alan Knill will be brave and surprise us all.

Play Lee Mansell at right back.

Play Daniel Leadbitter as an attacking midfielder a League 2 version of Gareth Bale!!

Play Nathen Craig in midfield were we all know he has the best chance of bringing a little creativity to our play.

Play Benyon with one instruction to shoot on site whenever in the penalty box.

Play Lloyd Macklin and get him crossing balls to Rene at every opportunity.

Convince the team they ARE good enough to beat Vale if and it is a very big if,they take their chances.

Wish I could be at Plainmoor tomorrow. I am going for a 2-1 win.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Manse at RB. Not too sure about Leadbitter and Macklin but I think Craig should be in the centre and Benyon HAS to start

For me Danny leadbitter has done nothing wrong at RB, a few loose passes but by all accounts was one of the better players up at Aldershot.

Do not think you will see Alan Knill mess with things to much to start with, however he is well known for liking pace down the wings, Macklin so far this season when fit has looked like a player really up for it, he has genuine pace, and strenght would certainly put him in, Nial Thompson is raw, however some times young in-experienced players are the ones who play with no fear, could be the right time to throw him in.

Billy Bodin has begun once again to show us the skill levels from last season, he has the craft and guile, but struggle with the physical side of League 2, when he is played deep very easy for the other teams to deal with him, stop him by fair means or foul 30 yrds away from the box, give away free kick that rarely hurts you, and takes a few fouls to end up in the book, but his craft and guile can hurt other teams up in the box, were he twists and turns and not so easy to defend him.

Nicho is having a bad time of it, we have a young kick left back here in Cruise give him go, Easton just for experience along side Young Nathan, Masne is having a bad time creating right now, alltough leadership second to none.

So for me...

...................Poke.......

Leadbitter..Saah...Downes.....Cruise

Macklin...Craig...Easton.......Thompson

..............Howe....Bodin.........

Manse at RB? What?

The team for me should be:

Poke

Leadbitter
Saah
Downes
Cruise

Macklin
Lathrope
Craig
Thompson

Howe
Benyon

................Poke.......

Leadbitter..Saah...Downes.....Cruise

Macklin...Craig...Easton.......Thompson

..............Howe....Bodin.........

almost agree:
...................Poke..........
Leadbitter..Sahh..Downes....Cruise
Thompson...Craig...Easton...Stevens
..................Benyon........
..................Howe...........
i'd pick Stevens because of his work ethic and he can play on the left. I haven't picked Bodin because I can't personally stand him but I would bring him on as well as Macklin for fresh legs.

Agreed Danny, now is not the time for a headless chicken, overly gung-ho right back, who has a nasty habbit of coming to tight to soon, so Manse at RB no thanks.

On the same lines as me Danny, a front 4 , of Macklin-Howe-Benyon/Bodin-Thompson, as more than enough pace, power and craft to scare to livng crup out of any opposing team. Time to take the shackles off, have ago, attack and if we are going down lets going down fighting, rather than trying bore our opponents into submission, which has not worked for some time now.

Thats fair enough Fishgull, we all have our opinions, I have allways been a big fan of little Danny, and really wanted him to build on last season, however he just has not got even close.

Far to many times this season, we have seen the opposition full back take two strides and just tickle the ball of Danny, he just does not have out right pace or strenght for league 2 now, as much as I like the lad, his time is up, sadly for me.

FishGull wrote: almost agree:
...................Poke..........
Leadbitter..Sahh..Downes....Cruise
Thompson...Craig...Easton...Stevens
..................Benyon........
..................Howe...........
i'd pick Stevens because of his work ethic and he can play on the left. I haven't picked Bodin because I can't personally stand him but I would bring him on as well as Macklin for fresh legs.

Benyon deeper than Howe?

In my view Benyon is one of those strikers who is better when you make him act on instinct in the box. I'm not sure he is actually all that good at 'football' but I think get him in the box and he could always find that yard of space to get a shot away. That's why I'd say get him either ahead of Howe (and Rene likes dropping deep anyway) or next to him in a 4-4-2.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Howe up front on his own system was when he drifted wide to pick the ball up. You could see all he wanted to do was pop a ball across the face of goal, but whereas last season we had O'Kane and Manse running in this season we've had nobody. If we pair Howe and Benyon, we could have the perfect partnership on our hands as Benyon won't be anywhere but the 6-yard box

I would take a leaf out of Craig levein's book and go 4-6-0

Can't we go 0-0-10 and just get Pokey to hump the ball up from goal kicks thus bypassing the midfield?

yellowsmiffy wrote:
I was about to say exactly this. Benyon is only very good at one thing, and that is instinctively finishing. You want Benyon playing off the shoulder of the defender. Benyon's ball control is certainly no where near good enough to have him dropping into the hole, and midfield. He also can't shoot from range.

As Steve says, Rene loves coming deep and getting on the ball anyway. Also Rene's flick ons require him to have someone goalwards of him, and Benyon loves to run onto a ball, rather than being given it to feet everytime. He's in the squad to finish moves, not start them.

Bodin and Macklin have to play on the wings. Niall faded quite badly earlier in the season, and isn't the kind of player that we want in a relagation scrap, unless to make an impact from the bench as a plan B. Macklin has the pace we all want to see, and Bodin/Stevens are both sit and miss, so it's a pick between those two. I really like Danny, and he has a habit of getting surprise goals when you really need to find one. Bodin has the ability to win us a penalty with his trickery.

Thanks for saying what I wanted to but in a much better way. I didn't have the time to fully go into the merits of a Howe-Benyon partnership but you did exactly that for me!

Some of the daft line ups on here will see us beaten before we start. Knill is not going to come in and make wholesale changes to the team. Lets hope that he ignores Taylor completely though because that bloke is clueless. Hopefully we will go 4-4-2 with Howe and Benyon up front. Surely that is what the majority want to see. Bodin will be on one wing and goodness knows who will play the other side.
In the last two home games I have seen (wimbledon/rotherham) Yeoman was our best player. If we start with Howe and Benyon I would be looking to use Yeoman and or Jarvis as back up when they tire. Its about time we had some striking options. Other than that I cannot see the midfield/defence being changed at all - its hardly as if we have many options anyway.

I dont know how fit he is, but isnt Morris fit? If he is, I'd play him and Craig in centre mid. Morris can win headers and put in a tackle, and both can pass.

Maybe too soon for him but when hes fit Id like to see it tried.

I would hope he will go 4-4-2 and keep most of the players in that have been playing, but get them paying with confidence.

Something like this hopefully:

Poke
Leadbitter Saah Downes Nico
Danny Craig Manse Bodin
Benyon Howe

Then have players like Jarvis, Easton etc on the bench that actually gve us some decent options if we need fresh legs on at some point.