Could be 4/5 changes for this - Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tutu, Simons, Dempsey, Cissoko and  Burstow start 

1 minute ago, desperado said:

Could be 4/5 changes for this - Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tutu, Simons, Dempsey, Cissoko and  Burstow start 

Not Cissoko please but reckon your right with the other 4

Dalby deserves a start imo

Just now, Stig said:

Dalby deserves a start imo

Noooo. Not for me

Horses for courses and SS has a herd to choose from.

We were pretty lucky to get the points at their place a few weeks back IMO - they had half their squad out with injury, had a man sent off after 10 to 15 minutes, frustrated everything we tried apart from when Tutu managed to get one through a ruck of defenders and had a decent shout for a pen (I’ve seen ‘em given) at the death - it was a long, long way from a comfortable win.

With players returning from injury, they are starting to show the form of promotion contenders and came back from two down at Oakwell to beat Barnsley yesterday, doing us a big favour in the process - but now we’re going to have to contend with them.

Hate playing against Nigel Clough’s teams but at least we know what to expect. A battle. 

 

Good comeback and win from 2-0 down for these yesterday away at Barnsley.
 

This is when we hopefully see our squad come into its own. tutu, burstow, Dempsey, Simons in I reckon. 

1-0 win. 

Also, as mentioned previously:

 

 

 

1 hour ago, desperado said:

Could be 4/5 changes for this - Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tutu, Simons, Dempsey, Cissoko and  Burstow start 

Could be right Simons for EE after the knock he got yesterday , Burstow or Dalby for Forrs , I reckon Randall may keep his place at number 10 and Tutu for Christie. 

3 minutes ago, Rizlar said:

Could be right Simons for EE after the knock he got yesterday , Burstow or Dalby for Forrs , I reckon Randall may keep his place at number 10 and Tutu for Christie. 

Didn't EE go off because he had a cramp rather than a knock?

6 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Didn't EE go off because he had a cramp rather than a knock?

Hopefully but he was limping a bit. 

2 games close to together and from their perspective 2 away games at tough places will do us the world of good

yes they have players returning and yes got a very decent result at Barnsley. But, their squad isn’t deep, and coming back in the way they did would’ve took a lot out of them. They will probably start with a lot of confidence after that result and rightly so. However, we’re a different beast at home, with a win ourselves, a deep squad that doesn’t impact on the quality of the starting XI too much 

so, 2-1. Won’t be pretty as not many performances across the whole games have been recently but eventually, maybe late on again, 75+ mins, we’ll get the win 

32 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Didn't EE go off because he had a cramp rather than a knock?

Looked more like cramp I thought the way they were stretching his leg out. 

9 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

2-1. Won’t be pretty as not many performances across the whole games have been recently but eventually, maybe late on again, 75+ mins, we’ll get the win 

Oh crikey.

I’ll be batting off the doom-mongers again then after it’s claimed we’ve not played well since Wigan and if only inflexible Schumacher had picked the right side/made the right subs/adopted different tactics, we’d have won 4-0. 😂

(Disclaimer: I’m not stifling debate and I’m not insisting that every post has to be a happy clappy positive post - perhaps I need this as a signature on the end of every post I make 😂) 

26 minutes ago, desperado said:

Oh crikey.

I’ll be batting off the doom-mongers again then after it’s claimed we’ve not played well since Wigan and if only inflexible Schumacher had picked the right side/made the right subs/adopted different tactics, we’d have won 4-0. 😂

(Disclaimer: I’m not stifling debate and I’m not insisting that every post has to be a happy clappy positive post - perhaps I need this as a signature on the end of every post I make 😂) 

Copy and paste.

Cheese is the expert because everyone of his posts are the same - crap 🎅

7 minutes ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

Copy and paste.

Cheese is the expert because everyone of his posts are the same - crap 🎅

I know nothing. I just love Bolton Wanderers winning. You seem to hate it.

3 hours ago, desperado said:

Could be 4/5 changes for this - Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tutu, Simons, Dempsey, Cissoko and  Burstow start 

My view

Tutu: possibly, at right back.

Simons: no, retain Sheehan and Erhahon (it was cramp).

Dempsey: probably, but see later.

Cissoko: no way, Jose. Gale to retain.

Burstow: not up front. Dalby’s showing some positive signs, and deserves a start for me. I do wonder, though about trying Burstow as the 10? It’s where he’s played a lot of games, prior to joining us. Lack of form, though, might give the nod to Dempsey, with Randall as his sub.

Maybe try Burstow as 10, with Dalby at 9 in the EFL Trophy?

1 hour ago, Rival Son said:

My view

Tutu: possibly, at right back.

Simons: no, retain Sheehan and Erhahon (it was cramp).

Dempsey: probably, but see later.

Cissoko: no way, Jose. Gale to retain.

Burstow: not up front. Dalby’s showing some positive signs, and deserves a start for me. I do wonder, though about trying Burstow as the 10? It’s where he’s played a lot of games, prior to joining us. Lack of form, though, might give the nod to Dempsey, with Randall as his sub.

Maybe try Burstow as 10, with Dalby at 9 in the EFL Trophy?

Tutu at right back for me too.

Dempsey in the 10 (although he might save this for Doncaster away)

I’m only getting Simons in for Erhahon because of rotation, fatigue and saving him for Doncaster (I can’t see him playing 3 on the trot)

Cissoko I think will happen - again Gale isn’t doing 3 on the bounce, at home V Mansfield will be better than away at Doncaster

Burstow as the 9 for me, it’s his turn having not started the last two, I’m sure he will have been told he’s starting this one.

Any other experiments can be saved for the Vertu trophy 

6 hours ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

Noooo. Not for me

I think the issue is there's a vacancy for a no.9 and we don't really have anyone to fill it that "deserves" it

SS will have to pick someone out of form and/or out of position and as usual just hoping they can make an impact.

It would be good to get to the hour mark thinking we must keep our no.9 on because he's playing well.

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by Johnnyrotten

8 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Horses for courses and SS has a herd to choose from.

We were pretty lucky to get the points at their place a few weeks back IMO - they had half their squad out with injury, had a man sent off after 10 to 15 minutes, frustrated everything we tried apart from when Tutu managed to get one through a ruck of defenders and had a decent shout for a pen (I’ve seen ‘em given) at the death - it was a long, long way from a comfortable win.

With players returning from injury, they are starting to show the form of promotion contenders and came back from two down at Oakwell to beat Barnsley yesterday, doing us a big favour in the process - but now we’re going to have to contend with them.

Hate playing against Nigel Clough’s teams but at least we know what to expect. A battle. 

 

Their ground is very tight so it’s easy to cover the ground on the pitch.  They can’t cover everything at our place.  They also made no subs against Barnsley.  It may be a second half show 

12 minutes ago, Chrisj said:

Their ground is very tight so it’s easy to cover the ground on the pitch.  They can’t cover everything at our place.  They also made no subs against Barnsley.  It may be a second half show 

Don’t see that often!

Some result for them but you’d hope they’re in no fit shape to do it all again 3 days later - they didn’t look to have much experience on the bench! Nothing more than a couple of sub appearances and a handful of starts between them.

4-0 (I’ll take 1-0 though!)

It’s no different than playing Saturday Tuesday both teams will have 3 days rest . Fatigue will only kick in at the end of Xmas period for teams with smaller squads 

1 hour ago, Chrisj said:

Their ground is very tight so it’s easy to cover the ground on the pitch.  They can’t cover everything at our place.  They also made no subs against Barnsley.  It may be a second half show 

Our pitch is 1m longer and 4m wider

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

Don’t see that often!

Some result for them but you’d hope they’re in no fit shape to do it all again 3 days later - they didn’t look to have much experience on the bench! Nothing more than a couple of sub appearances and a handful of starts between them.

4-0 (I’ll take 1-0 though!)

Sort of proves the point I made before about making subs almost for the sake of it at times, and not just when necessary. 

Anyway, a slicker performance under the lights, and everyone happy.

14 hours ago, Heywoodwite said:

Our pitch is 1m longer and 4m wider

If you multiply the full length of our pitch by that extra 4m width and add the full width of the pitch by that extra 1m length, that's how much extra space there is, which is considerable 

Can't be bothered working it out though, as I've not had my coffee yet 

I think away from home we should play at back three.  We have Conway and Tutu that are good wing backs and comfortable.  We have Johnston Forino and Toal even JDC that can cover the three.  We need to try it and two wingers doesn’t work often enough on these right grounds.