Best line up for rest of the season?

[General]

                     Leno

Tete      Diop       Ream        Robinson

              Palhinha
                                Lukic

Solomon       Pereira         Willian

                        Mitro

Solomon is clearly sharpening up and his turning other players is so sharp, when he turned Havertz? On the line, seems so effortless... lukic statistically seems better than Reed, who in fairness will need to be outworked to be dropped but lukic does look like he'll be a starter (salivating at the idea that our CM partnership can get stronger than it is already and palhinha partnering an in form lukic)

Bdr is playing very well at the moment too, which is possibly why it's taken manor as long to get minutes and into the starting 11.

[colinwhite]

Bobby gives us balance . His defensive work is hard to replace.

[mrmicawbers]

Have it on good authority that BDR is having a party on Saturday to celebrate his Birthday 30 I believe. Happy birthday  Bobby.

[JimOG]

                     Leno

Tete      Diop       Ream        Robinson

              Palhinha
                                Lukic

Solomon       Pereira         Willian

                        Mitro

Solomon is clearly sharpening up and his turning other players is so sharp, when he turned Havertz? On the line, seems so effortless... lukic statistically seems better than Reed, who in fairness will need to be outworked to be dropped but lukic does look like he'll be a starter (salivating at the idea that our CM partnership can get stronger than it is already and palhinha partnering an in form lukic)

Bdr is playing very well at the moment too, which is possibly why it's taken manor as long to get minutes and into the starting 11.

The conundrum though is Mitro...we have to play him but he looks like the marathon runner who has hit the 'wall'. I looked at his stats over the last season and a half. With Serbian friendlies as well as the World Cup I think he's played 72 games plus he's the lone striker role whilst working back to knit things. No wonder he looks knackered. That said 11 goals from 17 games this season. Can Marco lift him?

[Arthur]

Bobby gives us balance . His defensive work is hard to replace.

Not only have we not scored in our last 3 P.L. games, in my opinion, we've only fashioned one clear chance (Reed versus Spurs). This suggests to me that we are not properly balanced. It suggests we are going to have to sacrifice something defensively in order to have more of an attacking threat. I would go with the same starting XI as the O.P. While Solomon is unlikely to be as good defensively as Bobby, the former's inclusion would mean both our wide attacking players would have the ability to take on their marker. This, in my view, would improve the balance of the team. It may be a cliche, but if you don't score, you can't win.

Similarly, in midfield, I would expect Lukic to add to our attacking play in the transition from defence to attack. Reed, like Bobby, does sterling work defensively, but it's what he can't do that's holding us back. And Reed - despite one excellent first-time pass to put Willian in the clear last night - is not a creative player, nor is he technically adept at working the ball free in tight spaces.

[hovewhite]

Think that we need a more attacking player so think lukic for reed also Joao will occuppy the the defensive berth ok on his own plus we need to reset up front as don't think we can do without mitro and feel he's playing well enough with 11 goals from 17 games.

[Marcus]

i found it pretty surprising some observers were suggesting Kenny's place could be under threat - nice we can rest him from time to time because of his injury record - but he's one of the best right backs in the country right now -

[ffcthereligion]

                     Leno

Tete      Diop       Ream        Robinson

              Palhinha
                                Lukic

Solomon       Pereira         Willian

                        Mitro

Solomon is clearly sharpening up and his turning other players is so sharp, when he turned Havertz? On the line, seems so effortless... lukic statistically seems better than Reed, who in fairness will need to be outworked to be dropped but lukic does look like he'll be a starter (salivating at the idea that our CM partnership can get stronger than it is already and palhinha partnering an in form lukic)

Bdr is playing very well at the moment too, which is possibly why it's taken manor as long to get minutes and into the starting 11.

The conundrum though is Mitro...we have to play him but he looks like the marathon runner who has hit the 'wall'. I looked at his stats over the last season and a half. With Serbian friendlies as well as the World Cup I think he's played 72 games plus he's the lone striker role whilst working back to knit things. No wonder he looks knackered. That said 11 goals from 17 games this season. Can Marco lift him?

Mate he cannot score every single game at PL level. If he did then he would break the all time scoring record for the premier league. I wouldnt get too absorbed in this 'conundrum' and enjoy the current better than 1 in every 2 games scoring record he has

[FFC In Oz]

Bobby gives us balance . His defensive work is hard to replace.

Not only have we not scored in our last 3 P.L. games, in my opinion, we've only fashioned one clear chance (Reed versus Spurs). This suggests to me that we are not properly balanced. It suggests we are going to have to sacrifice something defensively in order to have more of an attacking threat. I would go with the same starting XI as the O.P. While Solomon is unlikely to be as good defensively as Bobby, the former's inclusion would mean both our wide attacking players would have the ability to take on their marker. This, in my view, would improve the balance of the team. It may be a cliche, but if you don't score, you can't win.

Similarly, in midfield, I would expect Lukic to add to our attacking play in the transition from defence to attack. Reed, like Bobby, does sterling work defensively, but it's what he can't do that's holding us back. And Reed - despite one excellent first-time pass to put Willian in the clear last night - is not a creative player, nor is he technically adept at working the ball free in tight spaces.

Agree with this.

Lukic for Reed
Willian over to the right and Manor to start on the left.

That should be our preferred lineup for the rest of the season.

[colinwhite]

Bobby gives us balance . His defensive work is hard to replace.

Not only have we not scored in our last 3 P.L. games, in my opinion, we've only fashioned one clear chance (Reed versus Spurs). This suggests to me that we are not properly balanced. It suggests we are going to have to sacrifice something defensively in order to have more of an attacking threat. I would go with the same starting XI as the O.P. While Solomon is unlikely to be as good defensively as Bobby, the former's inclusion would mean both our wide attacking players would have the ability to take on their marker. This, in my view, would improve the balance of the team. It may be a cliche, but if you don't score, you can't win.

Similarly, in midfield, I would expect Lukic to add to our attacking play in the transition from defence to attack. Reed, like Bobby, does sterling work defensively, but it's what he can't do that's holding us back. And Reed - despite one excellent first-time pass to put Willian in the clear last night - is not a creative player, nor is he technically adept at working the ball free in tight spaces.

Think we mean different things by balance. `balance` as a coaching term means defensive cover. I agree that Solomon and Lukic will probably give us more going forward and it is great to have different options.

[LC]

We haven't even see Lukic play yet.. Reeds contribution shouldn't be disregarded- he's quality. It would be nice to have more going forward but his work rate is so under rated. The new guy will have to be very impressive to displace Reed and ultimately won't happen right away

[ffcthereligion]

We haven't even see Lukic play yet.. Reeds contribution shouldn't be disregarded- he's quality. It would be nice to have more going forward but his work rate is so under rated. The new guy will have to be very impressive to displace Reed and ultimately won't happen right away

Couldn't agree more

[Arthur]

We haven't even see Lukic play yet.. Reeds contribution shouldn't be disregarded- he's quality. It would be nice to have more going forward but his work rate is so under rated. The new guy will have to be very impressive to displace Reed and ultimately won't happen right away

The O.P's question, however, is 'What is our best line up?' I may be wrong to think the team will be stronger with Lukic, but my thinking this doesn't disregard Reed's contribution and my post acknowledges it.

What do you think? Having disliked Reed's omission from our best XI, you then suggest he may be replaced by Lukic in time. So who, in your opinion, is the better player?

[St Eve]

We haven't even see Lukic play yet.. Reeds contribution shouldn't be disregarded- he's quality. It would be nice to have more going forward but his work rate is so under rated. The new guy will have to be very impressive to displace Reed and ultimately won't happen right away

absolutely correct. We also haven't seen Soares or much of Solomon. What a great position to be in

[ffc73]

BDR gives more defensively but we are beginning to look toothless in attack. I'd choose wingers to match opponents & make substitutions earlier as we seem to fade.

Beginning to be a rugby style use of substitutions. Need to match 'finishers' to the specific game.

[Chi_FFC]

I'm already thinking about our lineup when Palhinha gets his almost inevitable 2 match ban. 

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Defi

BDR gives more defensively but we are beginning to look toothless in attack. I'd choose wingers to match opponents & make substitutions earlier as we seem to fade.

Beginning to be a rugby style use of substitutions. Need to match 'finishers' to the specific game.

I agree, I think Marco has that sorted, but his subs are generally more attacking than defensive.  He never seems to "shut up the shop" or the 'naff"  "Park the bus"

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

No changes. We're 6th in the table playing amazing football.

[Woolly Mammoth]

We haven't even see Lukic play yet.. Reeds contribution shouldn't be disregarded- he's quality. It would be nice to have more going forward but his work rate is so under rated. The new guy will have to be very impressive to displace Reed and ultimately won't happen right away

Yes i completely agree with you, well said.

[filham]

We need to see Soares and Lukic before we can make a judgement on them and say if they are an improvement on Tete and Reed.
The other big question is whether we need to continue with the defensive approach of stating with BDR in the wide right spot instead of a less defensively capable player.

On the basis of performances to date it has to be:-

                                                                       Leno
                                      Tete                Diop                  Ream                Robin
                                                      Reed                                 Palhinha
                                                                   
                                         BDR                       Periera                   Willian
                                                                   
                                                                       Mitro
Cairney, Solomon as 60 minute impact subs with Soare and Lukic knocking on the door for game time.