I wouldnt say we're a one man team

But i wouldnt trust us to beat anyone in the top half when Luca isn't playing.

 

What about us beating the bottom half ,did he not play in our 3 away day poor shows against them?

 

He was missed but Ipswich to me were the toughest team we've fsced, very physical and at it from the word go. Back twinning ways on Saturday and I'm as confidence the play offs, with or without Connell.

 

Need something different to the Cole/Norwood combination..... Watters has had his chance I would replace him with another striker on the bench

 

If Connell isn’t back (he will be, he’s just ill apparently) then we will not win the playoffs. No chance. Love your optimism Helen but every time he’s not in the team, even if subbed off with ten minutes to go, we look much, much worse. And we won’t see off Bolton or Derby (or Peterborough) without him, never mind the wendies.

 

It's our strike force that is inferior when compared to the other top teams, rather than the rest of the team.

Connell is a good player but is not the "difference". You could argue that we don't have an adequate replacement for him when absent.

 

Yeah he played when we lost a couple of games so he must be ****…

He’s the one player in our team we can’t fully function without. We could replace Mads like for like and cope, the wing backs have back up. Everyone. Yes we have midfield players. We have nobody that can do the job Connell does for us though. He’s pivotal. Russell (and to some extent Benson) showed last night they can’t do it.

I’m not sure what Russell does do if I’m honest.

 

I think Cole and Norwood are the best option we have upfront. Replace him with who on the bench? 17 year old jalo? Josiah dyer? For the play off games.. really?

 

Connell drives us forward, wins the ball and plays sensible passes. A big miss. Having said that, apart from not marking for the first goal, I thought Russell had a decent game last night.

 

Zero quality from set pieces without him as well

 

It's a good job we didn't let any really good strikers go for peanuts then!

 

In the games we've played when he hasn't been in the starting 11 we have:

Won 3 (Cambridge, Charlton, Fleetwood)
Drawn 1 (Bristol Rovers)
Lost 3 (Lincoln, Ipswich, Exeter)

I think we really missed his presence last night, his replacement wasn't up to scratch either which made Connells absence more apparent.

 

I really feel for Russell. There's obviously a player in there - he wouldn't have done as well as he did at Huddersfield if not - but he's painfully lacking in confidence. Those two or three early misplaced passes were right in front of us and you knew from the look on his face that he's just lost all confidence. He got better as the game went on. I trust Duff to get the best out of him and he could do worse than start him again at the weekend.

 

I think Russell is another that is better on the right or left of the three. As are Kane, Benson and Phillips. I thought Wolfe would be better in the middle of the three than he is in a more attacking role, but Duff preferred further forward before he got injured.

To be honest, if Connell isn't available, I'd be tempted to go back to 3-4-3, with Benson and Kane in the middle, and Thomas in the front three.

 

Yeah those or Oli Shaw.

 

I'd stick to what we know and what's got us to 4th. Jalo and dyers time will come. Oli shaws a strange signing imo

 

I agree. I'd keep Connell out now and start with Russell for the last 2 games. Need to ensure there is no disaster that keeps him out of the play offs.