Ahamada needs to do more to impress me. When I saw him 2 or 3 games ago playing on the flank, I was shocked how someone’s touch and pass could be so poor at this level.. Let’s hope that was a one off but I now will be watching him with a critical eye.

He used to. He has one goal and one assist in 20 odd appearances this season. He seems to have lost a bit of power in his runs and shots. He's not winning as much in the air either. He's never been that great technically and gives the ball away a lot. I really don't see the argument for him anymore. As always, if he starts I'd be delighted for him to prove me wrong.

I'm starting to think Franca will start tonight. I've never had any belief that he would previously, but if Roy has read the crowd he might finally relent and give the crowd what they want. He always seemed to allow for one player that was a luxury and who he knew would unlikely break a sweat to defend, that being Wilf in the past and Eze in the current setup. Maybe he'll allow Franca to be that man tonight? Surely Roy is long enough in the tooth to know that sometimes you have to give the crowd what they want. If the crowd see Franca is in from the start it could really change the mood. Everyone seems excited about our new signings and if we see our little Brazilian making his first start then it gives people something to be optimistic about. If Roy sticks with the same old ideas he has to get a result or things could turn really ugly. I think people would be more forgiving if he tried to change things up and we lost.

Franca should start in Eze’s position.

My choice of team against Chelsea would be the following playing a 4-5-1 defensively and a 4-2-3-1 going forward.

Who I think Roy will pick will be to replace Johnstone with Henderson, Edouard with Schlupp and Franca with Hughes and park the bus. Let’s see if he has learned anything from our previous lack of creativity and offensive flair though. Maybe we will be surprised, but probably not.

Johnstone
Muñoz, Andersen, Richards, Mitchell
Ayew, Wharton, Franca, Lerma, Edouard
Mateta

This is where I'm at.

I don't think Franca really deserves to start, however tactically we aren't able to stretch the game with Ayew and Schlupp. And all it does is jsut invite more and more pressure onto us.

I'd also go a step further and tell Franca to play really high, and not track back too much (task Lerma or Wharton with moving over to slot in when needed). Get him high up and wide for the diagonal over the top, and/or get him looking for flick on's from JMP. Basically give them something to think about.

Also agree on Ahamada. IMO Wharton has to play because of his distribution, but I don't see the value of playing Ozoh or Hughes in there as well. Would much rather have Ahamada as the more forward of hte 3 CMs.

I know I don't have my coaching badges, and I also appreciate that Schlupp and Hughes are more solid than Franca and Ahamada. But we are at the point where we are leaking goals with them in the team.

Edited by MrRobbo (12 Feb 2024 4.03pm)

Sadly the stats I was shown the other day indicate he is indeed the weak link when it comes to misplaced passes, tackles lost as well as distance covered. This does surprise me because I have believed him to be a much improved and important understudy in our team in the last few months. Munoz actually came out on top against Brighton. I'm not one that judges everything on stats. In fact they can get on your nerves at times but it does give information that can be surprising.

OMG, you're back, god help us all if we don't agree with you. Carry on being who/what you are, it is, after all half term, so, you don't have to get up for school. Late paper round?

This operation, will make the 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' seem like a simple military exercise.

I feel a bit sorry for the lad as all this time he's barely been given an opportunity but mostly when he has done he's shown some positive signs. Still very much a work in progress, and Roy has said he didn't want to put pressure on him by playing him too early. Now however if thrown into the team he'll have the pressure on him to be pretty much the sole creative outlet in the absence of Olise and Eze. I think it's poor management that he hasn't been given more game time as there's certainly been opportunities to 'rest' some other underperforming players.

I hope he does start to get some minutes and just hope for some glimpses of his potential thrown in with some inevitable mistakes.

Totally agree, unfortunately.

I think we all want to believe there is some real, untapped quality sitting behind the first XI that Hodgson is blocking.

Don't get me wrong, I think the squad can be used better, but a year ago it was Hughes that everyone thought was an improvement and all he seems to do is give the ball away and then charge around like a headless chicken kicking anything and everything in a desperate attempt to win it back. It's not really his fault - he was a £5m signing from Watford's bench. We got what we paid for.

Franca looked really lightweight against Everton. There's talent there but he needs games, and I think he needs them at a lower level. He isn't going to get enough time on the ball to learn loads in the PL. I don't think he's hugely different to Rak Sakyi currently. Capable of a 9/10 cameo but also capable of a very ineffective long period.

We have an entire bench of players who are low quality in possession - Richards included. A run in the team isn't going to change that. It has to be a change of system to suit the strengths we do have.

Edited by ambrose7 (12 Feb 2024 4.46pm)

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
1st June 2010 - D-Day 2 - Survival at Lloyds
7th June 2010 - CPFC2010 exchange contracts.

Roy: if you play França from the start for 90 mins I promise I won't have a moan about that after the game, no matter how many mistakes França might make.

Finally get to see our new lad play a game from the start Franca and Wharton … just imagine if there on fire . Olise and eze will be watching on