There won’t be a lot of quality, with a difficult playing surface, a partisan crowd and a swirling wind.
Start with quite a narrow 433 with a team full of youth, energy and pace. Dominating the centre of the park will be crucial, hence the extra man.
As the game wears on, revert to a 442 with Matt coming on to rough up a tiring back four.
It will not be a game for the purists but we need to keep a calm head and avoid injuries because there will be a lot of slipping and sliding.
Hopefully, Griffiths, Tierney and Hutch can shine against inferior opposition. In and around the box, quick one touch interplay with DJ to provide the end product.
Knowles as RB??? There is a lot of debate about whether he is good enough defensively to play at RWB, so playing as an out and out right back behind Tierney as a wide player (a position we’ve not tried him in so far BTW) … the jury would very much be out on that. If you don’t want to play Riley there, how about Foulkes?
Griffiths - free hit in some ways to give him a bit of game time, but he’s not impressed me in what I’ve seen of him so far (certainly not lived up to the hype his youth transfer from Man City to Wolves would have you expect). Admittedly that has only been for a few minutes at Sutton and then a big chunk of the PJ game against FGR where we made several other changes, so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in a stronger starting XI against a team who shouldn’t be as good technically (but will undoubtedly have lots of energy and spirit about them).
I assume you’ve left out Draper as he’s only 50:50 on being fit. The question is, would you leave him out (or at least only put him on the bench) if he is fit enough but still not quite 100%?
The rest of the team picks itself given our injuries - that is IF Sadler goes with his strongest team rather than uses it as a chance to experiment.
Riley has never been fit in a Walsall shirt and on a 3G pitch would be a risk. Also, he has been poor at right back.
Foulkes is definitely an option but that would be a very young right side of defence.
Knowles is fast, full of energy and can run in straight lines. I think he could do a job at RB but it’s all about opinions.
I can’t see Draper being allowed to play and I think he may be injured anyway.
In regard to Tierney, he would float in the hole behind DJ and would be hard to pick up. In a narrow 433, he and Hutch could use their close control to feed passes, pop off shots and win free kicks (and hopefully draw challenges to win penalties). Quick, clever players should actually do well on a 3G pitch and both are far better than anything Sheppey has to offer, you’d have thought.
I think that Matt should play a part but he is no longer a 90 minute player. Against tiring defenders, he could pose an attacking threat though and also win possession of the ball higher up the field when we need to see the game out.
For me this game is horses for courses and I think a gallant stallion would be the order of the day, with this in mind I’d like to see a fluid front 3 of DJ, Doug Taylor and Matt.
Another announcement today, Oteh out for virtually the entire season, Williams out now and Draper still not fit enough to be picked. If these circumstances weren’t as bad for us as they are, it would be quite amusing, I bet we can’t even play five a side in training! As Andy states the team picks itself, just a matter of fitting all those square pegs into round holes hoping one or more choices come good on the day.
These are below the level at which Maher is currently excelling. I reckon we should play Smith, Foulkes, OIkagbue, McEntee (if fit Daniels if not) and Allen at the back. Then we have less choice in midfield and up front, so I guess Hutch, Knowles, Stirk all play, with DJ too. I would probably play DJT and Tierney too, but perhaps Matt will get a game. We may need his height and strength,
wait till we play them at their place
more like static 
