RWB: Kellan Gordon
There’s a clamour for the Derby loan player to get a start and whilst I don’t think he’s a right back, he would be suited to the wing back position.
Switching to a 5-2-3 would throw our opponents tomorrow and part of the plan would be for the two wide players to almost turn it into a 3-4-3. It’s attack heavy, I know, but with the three-man back line we can afford to be ambitious.
Gordon is a class act and he’d be a prospect for the Accrington left back to deal with.
LWB: Harry Toffolo
He’d be another qualifying player for us, having started enough games as well as the last game and although I’m loath to suggest regular first team players for the game, we’re restricted at left wing back.
Harry’s a fit boy though, he’s got pace and loves to get forward and I suspect he’d be more comfortable getting forward as a wing back than defending as a standard left back.
Scott Wharton would be covering the zone behind him too, giving him a sense of freedom.
CM: Ellis Chapman
The formation I’m suggesting is basically the ‘Keith’ formation of 2003, a set up that suits a long ball to a target man but relies on a couple of hard-working midfielders winning the ball and playing into the channels.
It’s a game for Ellis to play what I’d class as the ‘Butcher’ role. He’d be mopping up in front of the defence, but looking to get forward and onto the edge of the opponents 18-yard box when he could.
Ellis needs a start and some minutes, he has to put Cambridge well behind him and kick on. Tomorrow is the perfect chance.
CM: Tom Pett
Here’s the thing. When we go to Stevenage this weekend, we’ll go in our usual set up and, if Freck is fit, that could spell trouble for Tom Pett.
Danny is likely to go in the usual line up meaning two midfield spots, one for the captain and the other screening the back four. Michael O’Connor is excellent at that role and through no fault of his own, Tom Pett will be out in the cold.
He’s got to play tomorrow, in the ball playing midfield role occupied by Peter Gain in 2003. Tom Pett is quality, he’s a player who would get in 22 other sides in League One without a doubt, but he’s got a fight on his hands to retain a starting spot at the weekend.
Toffolo has played centre back before with Norwich City.
I don’t often disagree with your reasoning behind selection but, all I would say is that winning becomes a habit and with a win in our last outing after three recent draws I think we should stick pretty close to our strongest side. Playing twice a week is not a chore and if you speak to the players they’ll tell you that playing on a Tuesday is far better than any training session. It being a Tuesday fixture gives plenty of time to recover for the weekend. So leaving players out to save them for Saturday makes no sense to me. By all means include different players if there are injuries or if there’s a need to replace someone who’s out of form or to try a different formation, but, just to give players who may not be with us by the end of January a game, just doesn’t make sense. I grant you that the Checkatrade Trophy is not everyone’s cup of tea but, it does bring in welcome revenue and doesn’t involve many extra matches, dependent upon who we draw in the FA cup we might be pleased to have another competition to follow.