Punch on the bench sounds better.

.

Can't carry anyone in the premier league.

Punch at rwb? A quick way to ruin the last few years progress

Oh dear!

We made progress last season? Suppose the electronic entry system is progress but on the pitch we took a step bacl

Puncheon can't play RWB in a million years. He switches off defensively, isn't much of a tackler, doesn't have a great engine and is left footed. I can't think of a single attribute that is needed to play RWB that Puncheon possesses.

Unless we make signings, it is almost certain that we will use Ward at RWB. This is for a number of reasons:

1. Ward is fine. He's much better than some on here give him credit for. Nothing flash, and won't add a massive amount to the attack, but compare his generally tidy defending over the last few years to the huge gaps left behind and inside, last minute lunges and general scattiness of Souare on the other side. Ward is steady, and there is a lot to be said for that.

2. The other option is Kelly. Ward is better than Kelly, who has only come to life as a centre back, and even then only for a short while (so far). Otherwise he has been a disappointment and not able to keep Ward out under three managers so far.

3. We will need at least one more very good centre back if we are to play with three of them every week, as you would want to have five or six to see you through. We have Dann, Delaney, Tompkins and now Riedewald. Even if Kelly is counted as a centre back we are still short of numbers and quality, so the money we have will go on a centre back and not a new RWB, meaning the one we have (Ward) will play.

4. If we use Townsend at RWB we will need to find someone else to play in the front 3. Sako or any of the kids are nowhere near as good as Townsend in that role, so we'd need to sign a new attacker just to fill the gap left by moving Townsend to RWB. Attackers (good ones anyway) eat up the budget like no-one else, and given that we need at least one more centre back (Chambers I presume) we won't have the money left over for a new goalscoring, match-winning forward, so we'll have to use the ones we've got. We've only got one decent CF, so Benteke plays, and we've only got two decent wing forwards, so Zaha and Townsend play too. There is nobody else even close to the required standard to play up there.

I can imagine we would push Townsend out to RWB if we are chasing a game, or going balls-out for a win at home, and maybe use Wickham or someone up top, but generally its not going to be his position.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (25 Jul 2017 1.37pm)

Pre season is as much about getting minutes into legs as anything else, so we shouldn't read too much into who plays where. I can imagine that De Boer wants to look at different options at the back in case we can't sign anyone else to play there, but I doubt that all adds up to Townsend playing RWB for the reasons set out in my post.