Team

[TeessideCleveland]

 

[parmoboy]

Happy with that, although a bit surprised Crooks hasn't come back in to play against his former side.

 

[BlindBoyGrunt]

Engel and Van swapped out too.

 

[Otto42]

Crooks obviously not properly fit yet, probably same with Rav?

 

[sherlock]

Surprised Engel been dropped to the bencj.

 

[Ex Footy Legs]

Interesting side but full trust in Sir Michael irrespective of the result today !

 

[parmoboy]

Surprised Engel been dropped to the bencj.

Probably just rotating to protect players. He's probably wanting to be extra cautious with players at the moment.

 

[Cheesenbiscuits]

Interesting side but full trust in Sir Michael irrespective of the result today !

Presume Clarke is preferred for his height and probably stronger for a battle with hugill

 

[gravy173]

Managing the workload where he can.

We need to put our chances away today though, very wasteful on Saturday. We’ve dropped too many points to the bottom 6 already this season.

 

[Alwaysaborolad]

Managing VDB and Clarke with their fitness levels, makes perfect sense.
Keeping the same front 4, with their interchanging and movement they all had against WBA, another wise move.

 

[Norman_Conquest]

Presume Clarke is preferred for his height and probably stronger for a battle with hugill

I think it is just to rest players.

 

[Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret]

Carrick must be furious that the clubs official twitter account keeps leaking the team before kick off.

 

[parmoboy]

One big positive. Our bench is looking the strongest it has for a long time.

 

[GibbosEmpire]

Which Bridge, what's he like?

 

[Mayor Goldie Wilson]

Happy with that, although a bit surprised Crooks hasn't come back in to play against his former side.

After Saturday I can't see how Crooks could come back in, especially as a 10. The front four looked more fluid that I've seen us in a long time. Individually some of them might not have had the best game, but as a 4 they were superb.

 

[Priv]

As others have said VDB-Clarke and Engel-Bangura will be fitness related rotation.

Crooks is probably still carrying what ever that knock was, he didn’t look very mobile when he came on against Brom.

 

[Caesium137]

Surprised Engel been dropped to the bencj.

He took a bit of a knock and was limping for a short while in the second half on Saturday. Could just be resting him a touch.

 

[Caesium137]

To be honest if we were rotating a few, I'd have given Kav a run out instead of Greenwood or Silvera.

I don't think either were great against West Brom and Silvera just doesn't seem to make the runs a striker should/would.

If we are losing Silvera & McGree for up to 8 games it would maybe make sense to blood Kav and Gilbert with some minutes to see what they can do.

You'd think a game in a busy period against the worst team in the league would be a good time to try them out? I know Carrick sees them train all week and goes with what he thinks is best, but starting two games back to back without a recognised striker seems a bit odd.