David Moyes will face a familiar issue when he selects the team for the game against Newcastle on Saturday – Lanzini or Benrahma?
Neither has been able to make a definitive so it remains an issue that hasn’t been settled satisfactorily for several games despite a relatively decent return to form by the Argentinian.
He of course got the starting shout in the match at Leicester last weekend but Benny made a difference when he appeared in the second half and we were chasing the game.
There is also a second issue facing the boss with the loss of form of Vladi Coufal who was subbed after being run inside out and backwards at times by City’s Harvey Barnes.
Ryan Fredericks may get the gig after negating the threat when he appeared although Ben Johnson could come into the reckoning despite him not making a Premier League appearance since the defeat by Crystal Palace back in early January.
Our team: Fabianski; Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals,Antonio
I’d personally like to Lanzini pulling the strings from deep alongside Rice, with Benny playing higher up. I think soucek needs a break and in my opinion he slows us on the transition as doesn’t take the ball on the turn like Lanzini, rather goes backwards to fullbacks
No brainer surely. Lanzini every day of the week for me. Time to cut our losses and look to replace Benrahma in the summer imo. Far too inconsistent, poor decision making, wasteful in posession and, sadly, hasn’t shown himself to be good enough for a team trying to compete with the elite.
I would really love to see Lanzini play with Rice in the midfield 2, Soucek has been dire and on current form needs to be dropped. He needs a break out of the team to recharge. I am afraid Moyes wont make this decision because he would see it as a risk where in fact it is not. I also believe by playing Lanzini deeper it will also benefit players like Benraha, Bowen, Vlasic and Fornals. For me one of Antonio and Soucek needs to be dropped this weekend as the two of them look out of sorts and we cannot carry two players in these positions. Moyes keeps talking about we need to improve our performances but he does not seem to realise that he needs to drop players for that to happen. In relation to Coufal I would keep him at RB as he is our best defender. Yes he is not playing as well as he can but I would dread to see Fredericks up against Maximan. Fredericks cost us 2 points against United and even though he did ok against Leicester he still made so many mistakes, one stage he received a pass from one of the CB;s and he coudl not control it and it ended up going out for a throw. He is a liability so I hope Moyes has the common sense not to make a decision like this. Indeed if he does not Coufal who is still our best RB play Ashby then but not Fredericks.