I also think that we might need an experienced player back there to balance the side out with Grant being injured.
Just a hunch.
I think it was the post game thread where I said why it wouldn’t surprise me if King had overtaken Zullo in the pecking order.
Corica taking off both ABJ and Zullo after an hour was a pretty good sign he’s not happy with both of them.
They both came on after 60 the game before. Obviously fitness related, rather than form.
Yep, fitness, rotation and the fact that we have extra subs so players that normally get more minutes will be getting less.
1 Like
That makes sense when you’re giving fringe players a run but it’s not the case for both players. The line up for the first match back was clearly the first choice 11 with the second game seeing some of the rotation players given a go due to the short turnaround. That 2 of the senior players bought in in that rotation were taken off, both appearing surprised at the decision, after 60 minutes in a poor team performance told me that it wasn’t a playing time issue.
Zullo has spent the best part of the entire season out injured. King has played the majority of the season at LB so it is Zullo who needs the minutes in his legs yet he was taken off when the team was performing badly. Since the season has restarted Zullo has played 81 minutes to King’s 98.
Caceres had claimed that RM/W position over ABJ prior to the shutdown and it appears that’s continued. When ABJ was taken off against Newcastle he had only played 81 minutes to Caceres 150 so it’s clear it wasn’t a “getting minutes into legs” issue.
think you might be reading too much into it…
Baumjohann only just recovered from a groin injury, and that’s why he didn’t play against Nix but did play 60 against Jets
as for today, peach baguette.
Without seeing MC’s line-up, this looks like a quite weak SFC team defensively. Compare King to peak Zullo, Retre at RB to rampaging Rhyo, Caceres at DM to Brandon and with ABJ at RAM doing his usual little chasing back or defending. None of them are strong defensively. A lot of weight on the CBs, Redders and Brattan, plus Ninko chasing back and sacrificing himself (as ever). And we will need lots of defending from the front.
1 Like
Flip side is Zullo in for King and its probably our strongest team of the available players.
Bit worried about Noone vs Retre, to be honest.
1 Like
Battle of the beards
Looks like a pretty brittle defence but I guess we haven’t got much to lose. Still a bit of a wasted opportunity to play VDS I think. Can’t be good for his confidence
No guard of honour, smash their lack of respect
Christ that would have been an amazing goal.
Ninko and ABJ both given a lot of opportunity to drift this game, gonna be a struggle to keep our shape.
Just realised that the pre-match thing is also live streamed on youtube which is handy for dinosaurs like me who dont have face book. Struggling to hear the great man though
When City losses possession they are leaving the mid-field wide open for Ninko and ABJ
ABJ looks hungry today, a couple of great gutsy runs so far.
King is really struggling with Wales.