Team

[PokerMatt]

Kasami on bench, Sidwell in for him.

Stekelenburg; Riether, Hughes, Senderos, Riise; Parker; Karagounis, Sidwell, Dejagah, Kacaniklic; Berbatov

Bench: Stockdale, Zverotic, Richardson, Kasami, Duff, Ruiz, Christensen

[JIMMY D]

What the?

[PokerMatt]

What the?

Yeah... Strange.

[JIMMY D]

Well I hope it works!

[Danitar]

No one behind berbatov, I suppose Rene's thinking of villas counter attacking play

[Fulham FC Fan]

This is the best Fulham line up they can go with.

[farfouille]

4-3-3??

[grandad]

Who will play the advanced MF role, Sidwell or Kara?

[jarv]

The team needs more muscle in the centre of midfield, which is the reason I guess, 3 scrappers in there. I did feel that Sidwell should have come on for Kaca against spurs because Fulham were getting run over in the middle as the game wore on.

Villa are a fast, counterattacking team, so this line up might help. I hope so.

[ffc73]

   Sidwell for Kasami?

No Boateng (surely better defensive mid-field than Sidwell) or Tarabat on bench either.

Strange.  If we win.  A masterstroke.  If not.  What's Rene doing?

[IranianCottager]

I think Karagounis will push up and play in the hole behind Berba, with Parker and Sidwell covering in the space behind him. COYW!

[kdjr100]

Maybe this means that Berbatov will play further forward and get in the box a bit more. I like the lineup.

Pace on the wings, goalscorer up front, strength and work rate in the middle... What could possibly go wrong...?  :033:

[Ordar]

I can't believe he's dropped Kasami.

I also can't believe Boateng still isn't playing

[Enter the Frei]

Bit of an odd bench this, no striker or cb? Quite like the line up though.

[K33NY]

Deffinetly a strange Bench :S

[fulhamben]

if we cant grind out a nil nil with this team we never will. berbatov is gonna be so isolated

[farfouille]

Who will play the advanced MF role, Sidwell or Kara?

Looking at the semicolons in the line up, it's some kind of strange 4-1-4-1 which means:

                Stekelenburg;
    Riether, Hughes, Senderos, Riise;
                     Parker;
Dejagah, Karagounis, Sidwell, Kacaniklic;
                    Berbatov

I'm amazed by the fact that Kasami is benched though...

[PokerMatt]

Sidwell has apparently just injured Kaca in the warmup...

[PokerMatt]

Who will play the advanced MF role, Sidwell or Kara?

Looking at the semicolons in the line up, it's some kind of strange 4-1-4-1 which means:

                Stekelenburg;
    Riether, Hughes, Senderos, Riise;
                     Parker;
Dejagah, Karagounis, Sidwell, Kacaniklic;
                    Berbatov

I'm amazed by the fact that Kasami is benched though...

Those semicolons are mine - I assumed it would be a 4141/433 blend, so don't look into those too much!

[farfouille]

Deffinetly a strange Bench :S

Yep, Christensen? Never saw that coming, there are so many other midfielders in the U21s and U18s that could have been selected (Plumain, Banya, Chris David for starters). This is strange and exciting.