"Let us be set down at Queen’s Crawley without further divagation"
(Thackeray)
For the opening salvo in this season’s EFL (Carabao) Cup we welcome Crawley Town, currently sitting pretty in League 2 just a point behind ourselves thanks to a convincing 2-0 win against moneybags Salford City at the weekend. Crawley are truly a multi-national outfit, with an Italian Head Coach, a Spanish deputy, an Australian Head Physio, an Irish Sports Therapist, and a South African Chief Photographer. Topping all that, the two gentlemen who occupy the positions of Owner/Chairman and Director of Football are Turkish.
Current League 2 form is perhaps misleading for this game, as the composition of both sides is likely to vary from what one would expect as “first choice”. with fringe squad players being given an opportunity to feature in the match rather than risk splinters in their hind quarters.
There is a connection between the two clubs in the form of Sean O’Driscoll, whose movements in 2012 were somewhat bizarre to say the least. He was Nottingham Forest coach under Steve Cotterill, but left them to become manager of Crawley Town in May of that year. By July he had left Crawley to be manager at Nottingham Forest, but by Boxing Day they sacked him! So he managed Crawley Town without actually being in charge for a single competitive game - and all this before he demonstrated his skills at Walsall …
So … prediction - it’s very tempting to say “who cares?”, but with Darrell Clarke’s approach to his work there’s every chance that the squad will be urged to take this competition seriously. It’s about time his strikers started to strike, so what about a 3-0 home win, with Adebayo (2) and Lavery on target.
This needs to be a game where the likes of lavery and a few others build fitness and stake their claim to be in the first team. Crawley are no mugs. They have a good squad with a strong spine.
Blimey WELSH…3-0. I think you are getting carried away a little.1-0 for me and that will do in front of 2,759 fans. Can I be close again with the forecast attendance?
Given Gordons lack of goals Lavery will probably start, Sadler looked like he had a slight knock on Saturday when he came off so give Jules a game and maybe bring CM and Bates in after a positive pre season.
Kiersey, Facey and McDonald failed to make the bench on Saturday, Jules only had a few minutes at Northampton, and neither Bates or CCM have appeared yet (nor Rose).
Also what formation(s) can we expect? At Northampton we stayed with 532/352 throughout with Guthrie playing more of a sweeper role and Sinclair and Kinsella box-to-box. On Saturday we started off like that (with Liddle a straight swap for Guthrie) but, by my reckoning, we also played 442, 343, and even 2413 (or was it 2323?)
So will DC rotate the squad to give these a crack and give us a better idea of our options for the league campaign? Or is he going to put out what he thinks is his best starting 11/formation (same as the 2 games so far with Guthrie starting if fit, else Liddle) and go all out for a cup run?
The gaffers already said he don’t do cup runs and that some players need to get 90 mins so I expect to see a lot of the lads who have not started a game as yet so my team Rose, Kory, Jules, Leak, Facey, Cockerill Mollett, Bates, Holden, Hardy, Mcdonald, Lavery
I think we may only see one or two changes. Lavery for example needs more time to get match fit…I think he will be a substitute again but I think we may see Jules in for Sadler and Hardy starting for Liddle.It is also possible the wing backs may be changed as that position needs lots of energy but I think the rest will be the same as we try to get a settled team.
Darrell Clarke has never said “I don’t do Cup runs” I can assure you of that … in fact quite the opposite, he has stated how important financially a cup run is to a club like ours …
Yep,I heard the same in regards he hasn’t done too well in the past,but I’m pretty sure there’s not a manager out there who’d come out & say ‘I don’t do Cup runs’
I watched a DC interview the other day where he said that the revenue which a good cup run brings is invaluable to a club such as ours. He referenced back to the time when he took Bristol Rovers to Stamford Bridge and the amount of money that made for them at the time.
I always laugh when I see his interviews as he is very witty - he said he wants to do as well as possible in the cups, although he went as far as saying he’s pretty certain we won’t win the cup!
When he says he “don’t do cup runs” does he mean he dosen’t care about them and prefers to concentrate on the league each year or he gets no luck in them with regards draws etc? Will fit in at this club no problem anyway.
Cant see him making any changes except for Hardy/Lavery. Its important to keep picking up wins regardless of competition. Ill be very surprised if he goes wholesale.
Probably not going to be much in this tie, ill say a 1-1 draw that goes to pens. I am right in thinking there is no extra time?
