v Bolton Wanderers (A) Match Thread

[Millenniumram]

Risky to go with the same team three games on the spin imo. Hope the fitness coaches have made sure everyone’s alright to go again. Would’ve swapped Bennett out either way myself 

[Shuff264]

Thought we might see a couple changes purely for fitness, be interesting to see how some of the players cope.

Thought Nugent and Bryson would be run into the ground by now!

[Parsnip]

Zoon injured? 

Or just behind Lawrence?

[DCFC1388]

No changes imo is a bad move, would have freshened it up with 3 changes. Cant see Nugent & Bryson having the same intensity after Brentford & Utd as well as Norwich & QPR to come

[duncanjwitham]

1 minute ago, Shuff264 said:

Thought we might see a couple changes purely for fitness, be interesting to see how some of the players cope.

Thought Nugent and Bryson would be run into the ground by now!

We've literally got no one that can do the job Bryson does. Plus he always plays better if you keep him in the team - he seems to take a while to get going again when he's missed games.

Slightly surprised that Marriott hasn't had a chance instead of Nugent though, but can't fault Lampard for keeping it the same.

[SaintRam]

I am happy, as long as the players have the fitness. Which I assume they do, otherwise the side wouldn't have been picked.

I'll be really disappointed if these lads look leggy early and the result suffers for it. 

[Shuff264]

Just now, duncanjwitham said:

We've literally got no one that can do the job Bryson does. Plus he always plays better if you keep him in the team - he seems to take a while to get going again when he's missed games.

Slightly surprised that Marriott hasn't had a chance instead of Nugent though, but can't fault Lampard for keeping it the same.

Fair point about Bryson, I'd have rested Nugent and probably one winger as well.

That midfield three has played a lot of football, we seem to normally rotate the front three with subs.

[Ramarena]

Hmmmmn interesting. I think most people expected a couple of changes purely for fitness purposes with nuge understandably being the main candidate.

Brave decision to stay as we are, but also understandable......momentum is hard to build but easy to lose.

hopefully we can get the goals we need earlyish and frank can give a couple of players a rest.

[dcfcfan1]

Leaving Joon out the squad is really daft tbh, but jooz and holmes not even being in matchday 18 shows how strong we are

[Derbados]

17 hours ago, Parsnip said:

Same team for me.

Nuge should be treated like I treated my old H reg Seat Ibiza... plenty of oil, plenty of water and just keep driving it till it tells you it can drive no more.

Great analogy ? 

[duncanjwitham]

1 minute ago, Shuff264 said:

Fair point about Bryson, I'd have rested Nugent and probably one winger as well.

That midfield three has played a lot of football, we seem to normally rotate the front three with subs.

We've got no genuine cover at all for the midfield though. The other holding midfielders are nowhere near as effective as Johnson in this system, and there's no cover for Mount either. When Evans gets back, we can maybe fiddle with it a bit, plus there's a few international breaks coming up that we can use to recharge.  Some cover has to be the priority in January though.

[blackNwhites]

I'm glad we've gone with the same 11, unity. Their performances deserved it

[duncanjwitham]

6 minutes ago, Parsnip said:

Zoon injured? 

Or just behind Lawrence?

No idea if he's injured, but I don't think it's a case of 'being behind', more like there's about 20 players for 18 spots, so someone's always gonna miss out when everyone is fit. Nugent missed out a few weeks ago, Marriott has missed a few and so on.  We just need to get used to it and not turn it into a major incident when someone's not there.

[Doodle]

Burnley won promotion with about 15 players. If you don’t expect your players to work more than twice a week. Slap yourselves and see how hard the majority of people work. 5/6/7 days. Same team unless someone is injured ???

[Shuff264]

3 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

We've got no genuine cover at all for the midfield though. The other holding midfielders are nowhere near as effective as Johnson in this system, and there's no cover for Mount either. When Evans gets back, we can maybe fiddle with it a bit, plus there's a few international breaks coming up that we can use to recharge.  Some cover has to be the priority in January though.

Still got two more games after this before the break, with a lot of players going away during it anyway.

Hopefully we can start well and look to make use of subs early.

[Derbados]

Don’t change a winning side, if they’re fit enough get them out there 

[Carl Sagan]

So it's FloJo out of the squad for Lawrence. Tough on the lad, but nice to have so many good players and options. 

Frank, as a recent player, knows if you keep winning then that's energy giving. If you do well, why should you lose the shirt? These players who he's put his faith in, need to repay that faith. 

Bolton have apparently lost more games to Derby than to any other team in their history. I'm a little nervous as they've not beaten us for 37 years, but if we play to our potential and strengths we have nothing to fear. Bring it on! 

Come on you Rams! 

[Marriot Ram99]

I really hope Bennent scores and plays a blinder today, I haven't been to convinced with him recently but I hope for his confidence he gets his first goal of the season.

[Ramarena]

2 minutes ago, WAGHORNY RAM99 said:

I really hope Benent scores and plays a blinder today, I haven't been to convinced with him recently but I hope for his confidence he gets his first goal of the season.

Is this Darren Bent and Mason Bennett’s love child?

[SuperFrankieL]

1 hour ago, duncanjwitham said:

We've got no genuine cover at all for the midfield though. The other holding midfielders are nowhere near as effective as Johnson in this system, and there's no cover for Mount either. When Evans gets back, we can maybe fiddle with it a bit, plus there's a few international breaks coming up that we can use to recharge.  Some cover has to be the priority in January though.

I think Holmes is one option for the midfield cover for Mount/Bryson.