Grecians, but bearing no gifts. Away to Exeter, Sat, 4th Jan. 3'0 clock

[boltonboris]

I don't think Thomo is a cause of any of our issues, personally, but I can see why people would advocate a change in MF. He is the only one though who can cover the yards and win the ball. Headless chicken, or not, sometimes simply running more than your opposition can win the day. If we've not got any ugliness in there, games like Saturday don't end up with a +3 in the bank

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't think Thomo is a cause of any of our issues, personally, but I can see why people would advocate a change in MF. He is the only one though who can cover the yards and win the ball. Headless chicken, or not, sometimes simply running more than your opposition can win the day. If we've not got any ugliness in there, games like Saturday don't end up with a +3 in the bank

He’s horribly out of form. But we needed to sign another like him imho who can cover the ground and do the graft for Sheehan or Morley. Matete is our best 6. Thomason the only real running 8.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

sometimes simply running more than your opposition can win the day

There was a fascinating piece in The Athletic recently about Spurs this season - they've won nearly every game in which they've outrun their opponents, and lost almost every time they've been outrun. And there they were this weekend against Newcastle, being outrun in midfield and beaten.

Spurs are clearly a very specific thing under Angeball, and we're not that. But we did have success with a very hard press, and I wonder (haven't seen our stats recently) if there's a causation as well as a correlation.

The other thing is - might not be one trio for all games. Horses for courses, not to mention fitness and form.

[boltonboris]

sometimes simply running more than your opposition can win the day

There was a fascinating piece in The Athletic recently about Spurs this season - they've won nearly every game in which they've outrun their opponents, and lost almost every time they've been outrun. And there they were this weekend against Newcastle, being outrun in midfield and beaten.

Spurs are clearly a very specific thing under Angeball, and we're not that. But we did have success with a very hard press, and I wonder (haven't seen our stats recently) if there's a causation as well as a correlation.

The other thing is - might not be one trio for all games. Horses for courses, not to mention fitness and form.

Exactly. And suspensions of course! We love those! Despite not having had a red card this season, we are bottom of the League One fair play table. 66 yellows I think it was

I would not expect with 5/6 fit midfielders, we would have an unchanged midfield for more than 2 matches in a row. For a variety of reasons. The only time I'd expect no changes, is after a handsome performance with no follow on for a week

[GhostoftheBok]

You're not going to get stability with a squad full of players with significant injury risks.

The entire defence and half the midfield are medium to high risk players. It's been the main weakness of our transfer policy for 5 years.