Our centre back position has improved slightly. For our game v Boro we were down to our 8th choice CB a 17 year old who hasn’t been in our Academy very long on the bench with our right back Andy Yiadom and midfielder Josh Laurent at CB. With three of our forwards out in Joao, Meite and Azeez we are being hammered with injuries.
We started with the same CB pairing last night but Scott Dann came off the bench to play the latter stages. He has to start on Saturday.
Having said all that our first choice CB’s have been dreadful this season and we have improved defensively since their injuries. We have conceded a lot (19) but scored a healthy 16 goals.
I thought we had turned the corner with a really gutsy win v Boro but last night was disappointing against a solid Derby side who don’t score or concede many. I would take a draw on Saturday.
Our strength is definitely in midfield. Swift, Ejaria and Halilovic have been playing well, Dele- Bashiru has also looked decent and Danny Drinkwater will play in front of the back four.
We will probably start with Hoilett as our lone striker as Paunovic doesn’t seem to rate Puscas.