I like the message that Asprilla for Louza and Sierralta for Porteous conveys, hopefully it does the trick (though it didn't seem to last time Louza was dropped)
Lumbering midfield and then Martins, Asprilla and Bayo who will struggle to get hold of the ball. Hmmn.
Livermore and Kayembe. Good lord. As long as the Cardiff midfield isn't made up of double amputees, they will run rings around us.
Livermore is so far past it but he is likely to fill a bit of space in midfield – and I'm not being sarcastic or flippant there. If he can inject a bit of positional discipline into things it might help to stem the flow through the middle. I didn't see much evidence at Stevenage that he's got the legs to do anything more than that but VI couldn't stick with what he did at Sunderland.
Maybe they were late for training ! Good to see Asprilla and Martins in - some attacking threat potentially.
Kayembe isn't a holding midfielder, but he might do a job as a #8, which means that it Sierralta (who isn't exactly a perfect solution as a #6) is used in defence (I presume as a warning to Porteous as he's still named on the bench), Livermore is probably the better choice
To me at least, finally this is a team selection that makes sense. Drop an obviously out of form Porteous (who might be carrying an injury) - Good Play players in their natural positions - Good A midfield trio that should be able to stay structured and do the simple stuff - Good Hopefully this means that we will try to get the ball quickly to one of the two creative wingers instead of making 5-10 passes before we eventually lose the ball in a dangerous area. If not, we are doomed to another Leeds/Sunderland type of defeat.
I really don't think VI could do a lot more. I don't think there's any ideal game to drop Louza in theory. But Louza in practise has been woeful since early September and deserves it. We've played with 10 men a lot of the time due to his lack of willingness to press is no small issue. Dele-Bashiru picked up a lot of loose balls and recycled quite well especially 1st half v Sunderland. He's growing on me, You could convince me Koné is better suited but between them it's marginal. Maybe have gone Koné - Kayembé - Dele-Bashiru in that 3 but that's splitting hairs a bit.
Cheers! We most definitely do have data analysts, but ultimately they don't make the final decisions which is key, I have that happen to me all the time, I make my recommendations, sometimes the coaches agree and go my way, sometimes they don't and they go their way. Asprilla and Martins back in is huge. Not sure this was the right game to drop Louza, and if Louza was to be dropped then Kone was surely a shoe-in. Not the biggest fan of a Kayembe + TDB pairing
We’re crap, but at least we’re crap in a way that makes sense. Can’t argue with any of the changes and the likes of Porteous and Louza who have really failed to meet the standards we need of them have been dropped. It’s a shame the players we have to bring in are also crap, but I’m on board with the message. I mean, you know you’re really fcked when Livermore actually starts to look like a potential answer to the question and it doesn’t upset me to see him in the team.
We are relying on, or at least including, several players who have previously been deemed not really good enough: Ngakia, Kayembe, Dele-Bashiru and Bayo in today’s team.
Anyone who thinks relegation isn’t a possibility needs to give their head a wobble. It really is. Cardiff are bobbins but we are even worse
So, in the end a snore draw snorefest, but on the strength of it I'm not sure it gives us much hope of anything aside from perhaps being better than only 3 even worse sides, as long as our heroes can stir themselves enough to maintain the incredibly high levels of concentration and performance they managed this afternoon every time out. As UEA most recently (seconds ago) highlighted on the Shoutbox, our play is so laboured and incoherent - there's nothing cohesive or entertaining about us at all.
