Who is going to replace James against Port Vale?

[Bergen]

Back to 4-3-3 with Mitchell or Ogie as right-back?

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Clay.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Judd

[Smendrick Feaselberg]

Samling resigned from Dagenham for £100k on a four year deal.

[WickfordO]

Samling resigned from Dagenham for £100k on a four year deal.

Usually if an employee resigns from an employer they only gets what they are owed for the the time they worked to leaving the job and not a golden handshake!

[WickfordO]

Ogie or Sweeney.

[BIGRON]

Anyone but Happe

[Jack]

I think Clay will go to RB, with Hector moving into midfield

[Bergen]

I think Clay will go to RB, with Hector moving into midfield

I agree. It makes sense.

[EliotNes]

I think KJ could surprise us with his pick for the position and formation.

[bobo66]

Clay could probably do the job as right back, but as we seem to play the fullbacks as wing backs, I can't see Clay being much cop going forward. He will be a miss. It would also be a shame if JJ was forced to change the formation which has looked good recently.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

I think we’ll change formation, back to a flat back 4.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

And may take a chance putting Mitchell out there as he’s been playing so well.

[jamespevans]

As Smyth is available, though probably not fully fit, would love to see him in the RB slot. No idea what he's like defensively but going forward it would be like for like with James from what little I've seen so far. It won't happen.

[Sid Bishop]

As Smyth is available, though probably not fully fit, would love to see him in the RB slot. No idea what he's like defensively but going forward it would be like for like with James from what little I've seen so far. It won't happen.

Good out of the box idea.
Many different choices as to who will replace James and will be interesting to see who gets the nod and what formation will be played.

[BIGRON]

As Smyth is available, though probably not fully fit, would love to see him in the RB slot. No idea what he's like defensively but going forward it would be like for like with James from what little I've seen so far. It won't happen.

I thought Smyth was still not ready

[jamespevans]

As Smyth is available, though probably not fully fit, would love to see him in the RB slot. No idea what he's like defensively but going forward it would be like for like with James from what little I've seen so far. It won't happen.

I thought Smyth was still not ready

KJ said in his pre-match interview that he has done 4 weeks training and is available for selection. Expect him to be on the bench.

[Eat The Rich]

It won't happen but I'd be interested to see what one of our young midfielders could do there. Matt Young is a very good crosser of the ball and Papadopolous is also a good striker of a ball. Both are right footed and so that would maintain our width on the right (something Clay and Ogie wouldn't give you) as well as ensuring we got good delivery from that side too. In the old days it wasn't unusual at all to have youngsters fill in wherever they were needed but these days coaches seem a lot less willing to do it.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

It won't happen but I'd be interested to see what one of our young midfielders could do there. Matt Young is a very good crosser of the ball and Papadopolous is also a good striker of a ball. Both are right footed and so that would maintain our width on the right (something Clay and Ogie wouldn't give you) as well as ensuring we got good delivery from that side too. In the old days it wasn't unusual at all to have youngsters fill in wherever they were needed but these days coaches seem a lot less willing to do it.

Not sure either would be as good as Mooney back there.

Christ alive, how do people watch football for years and come up with this?

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

As Smyth is available, though probably not fully fit, would love to see him in the RB slot. No idea what he's like defensively but going forward it would be like for like with James from what little I've seen so far. It won't happen.

f*** me, it gets worse. Now we’re going to put an unfit forward into the right back slot?

[cymruO]

Wouldn't expect to see more of Smyth than a sub 20 minutes from full time.

[Eat The Rich]

It won't happen but I'd be interested to see what one of our young midfielders could do there. Matt Young is a very good crosser of the ball and Papadopolous is also a good striker of a ball. Both are right footed and so that would maintain our width on the right (something Clay and Ogie wouldn't give you) as well as ensuring we got good delivery from that side too. In the old days it wasn't unusual at all to have youngsters fill in wherever they were needed but these days coaches seem a lot less willing to do it.

Not sure either would be as good as Mooney back there.

Christ alive, how do people watch football for years and come up with this?

Its not about positional familiarity its about what skills a player can bring to a role. I've looked at Young and Papadopolous and seen that they are athletic, mobile and have a good final ball. These are transferable skills. Clay on the other hand would be an extremely defensive choice at right back and he isn't known for his passing or crossing and so would nulify our width on the right. Ogie is slightly better at progressing the ball but he's left footed which means we'd lose our width again. Its you who needs to watch football a little more closely, not me.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Its difficult enough stepping up as a youngster, without being thrown into an unfamiliar position.

It absolutely won’t happen. And rightly so.

[Eat The Rich]

Its difficult enough stepping up as a youngster, without being thrown into an unfamiliar position.

It absolutely won’t happen. And rightly so.

Hence my comment about it being something that isn't done as often as it used to be. Just to take an example it used to be fairly common to introduce youngsters and phase out older players at fullback. You've got a young central midfielder or winger? Give them their first couple of starts at fullback to ease their way in. You've got a leader and a seasoned pro but they've lost their place in midfield or central defence? Stick them at left back. It used to be common practice.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

I think there might be a reason that nonsense stopped, if it was ever a thing.