[Devongone]

Team selection is of course the key to out-Billy-Sharping Saturday's opponents. Controversial it may be but I'm suggesting we go.........


Team Sheet

GK - Ryan Boot (our most senior keeper with a surname even Ederson and every other modern keeper must envy).

Defence - A slightly controversial back three of Palmer, Dunkley, and Grimes. I only wish Dunkley were called Huntley then our centre back pairing could really take the biscuit.

Middle of the park - Again some controversy - Jones as defensive midfield, I suspect he is still alive and on the books, hope so. Then a glorious midfield three could dominate in front of him Fleck, Naylor and Banks.

Up front would be easy were everyone fit - Jacobs, Grigg, Madden.


The tactical masterstroke would be on 55 minutes to flood on the subs, much as they do in rugby union, so we would exchange our front three, get five subs on as follows:-

Drummond, Berry, Colclough, Markanday and Metcalfe. Of course if we felt any need the shore up at the back we might bring on maybe Tanton or Araujo in place of one of them.

Out-speeded and out-thought, having been ground down by age ,youth could finally step in to rip poor old Donny apart.

Just an idea Cookie, and you could go into the record books for fielding the oldest Chesterfield team ever.

[Dancingwilldoit]

We need a plan B and Cook has never had one. A back 3 worked against Lge1 opposition but will we ever see it a league game? I doubt it.
Other teams know how to stifle our formation because they know how we will line up 4-2-3-1. That's it.
Keep our 2 midfielders tightly marked with some nimble forwards and kill us on the break. Time after time we all see it but it never changes.
Dunkley isn't any better than Grimes who seems to have fallen from favour after 2 mom performances. At least Grimes will run forward with the ball.
We need something else.

[Devongone]

Take it from me Dunkley IS better than Grimes. I'm just surprised that Cookie noticed Grimes was a potential problem, but he wasn't the only one and he is a very good-hearted player.

My own serious view is that in common with other systems one up front can and does work for most teams, but it does rely on the three players behind the lone striker providing both creative and physical support AND switching roles so that the defence is not certain who to pick up. We lose part of that element of surprise when Naylor plays at the back, because he did push forward from his defensive midfield position to assist the three and score goals.

I must admit I favour a back three, and within that I'd be hoping that we might field Araujo who must be quicker than what we've got. But I'd settle for any system so long as the players interpreted their roles flexibly. We discarded King who pushed forward from full back. Mandeville seems to have lost favour despite contributing massively in terms of goals and assists AND being willing not to confine himself to a limited area of the pitch. We need those kind of players

We certainly do need defenders both to push forward from defence and pass well out of it. We need midfielders who see themselves as both defenders and creators and who don't want to be measured by the number of times they can pass the ball sideways successfully. And we need mobility and speed in and around goal. Slow measured build-ups simply allow defences to settle. Even Haaland couldn't score yesterday when City endlessly passed the ball sideways and back on the edge of Arsenal's area.

And yes I do worry about the number of players we have over the age of thirty. It is not so much their playing ability or lack of speed that worries me as their unwillingness to do anything different. When defences are faced with things they've seen before they cope, and I think, like Dancing, that they look at us and see stale. If our team can't surprise themselves they have little chance of surprising the opposition.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Grimes has played twice this season. We won both games and he won mom for both. Sorry Dev but Dunkley is not better. He reads the game well and gets his position right but can't pass when he gets the ball. It's all well and good getting your head to the ball but not giving it straight to the opposition which he does repeatedly. I can see Grimes being the next Maguire, we'll always look solid when he's there but no longer fits the managers system. There's room for both in a back 3 but will we play it? No chance.