I'm looking forward to seeing how Big Dave does tomorrow night. We all know what to expect from a Tony Pulis side but with them on a good run and scoring goals, they will probably look to attack us.
In my opinion, the way to always beat a Tony Pulis side was to sit back and let them have the ball. We were notorious under Pulis for being poor on the ball and over-reliant on corners and free kicks. We had our spells of decent football but generally it was overly cautious and poor to watch. Now he's at Boro and needs to get promotion the football, based on what I've read and seen snippets of, has been decent but I still think we should look at giving Boro the ball and tell them to break us down. They won't get through us centrally if we play a narrow 4-1-4-1 shape, so we should look to make them go around us and direct into the box where Adarabioyo, Bartley and Hegazi can win headers.
In possession we should look to either attack at pace on the counter-attack through Barnes and Phillips if the space is there or, if Boro put men behind the ball, play it more patiently with fluid movement from Livermore, Barnes and Rodriguez who would be playing a sort of left wide forward role where he can join Gayle in the centre or move into a wide role to link up with Gibbs. If we have to be patient then Adarabioyo would tuck inside to make a 3 and Gibbs would push up to the left wing.
That's what I would do. Big Dave and Graeme Jones will have their own ideas.
In my opinion, the way to always beat a Tony Pulis side was to sit back and let them have the ball. We were notorious under Pulis for being poor on the ball and over-reliant on corners and free kicks. We had our spells of decent football but generally it was overly cautious and poor to watch. Now he's at Boro and needs to get promotion the football, based on what I've read and seen snippets of, has been decent but I still think we should look at giving Boro the ball and tell them to break us down. They won't get through us centrally if we play a narrow 4-1-4-1 shape, so we should look to make them go around us and direct into the box where Adarabioyo, Bartley and Hegazi can win headers.
Johnstone
Adarabi - Bartley - Hegazi - Gibbs
Brunt
Phillips - Livermore - Barnes - Rodriguez
Gayle
Adarabi - Bartley - Hegazi - Gibbs
Brunt
Phillips - Livermore - Barnes - Rodriguez
Gayle
In possession we should look to either attack at pace on the counter-attack through Barnes and Phillips if the space is there or, if Boro put men behind the ball, play it more patiently with fluid movement from Livermore, Barnes and Rodriguez who would be playing a sort of left wide forward role where he can join Gayle in the centre or move into a wide role to link up with Gibbs. If we have to be patient then Adarabioyo would tuck inside to make a 3 and Gibbs would push up to the left wing.
That's what I would do. Big Dave and Graeme Jones will have their own ideas.