Its a game that we should have enough quality to win as long as the team as a whole turns up.
We seem to have struck the right balance for the team at just the right time and the decision to go 2 up front IMHO has been one of the main reasons for this.
We have arguably a keeper who is in the top 2 in the division.
the back 4 is solid. I think Choudhury has found his best position at RB and gives the aura of being calm and composed with good positional sense whilst not being too adventurous in attack.
Anel and JLT have been comfortable as the 2 CB players and Burrows looks to have found form again after a few weeks looking a bit under par.
Vini Souza seems to have got back to match fitness after his injury layoff, having looked off the pace when he first came back and Peck continues to impress with each game. The only thing letting him down has been his accuracy in shooting which does look to be improving (winning goal at Wembley would be nice). Having T Davies as an option is great also as, when fit (such a shame that he has been dogged by injuries), he is one of the best midfielders on our books.
Hamer, coming in off the left is has been our main threat all season and he is a wonderful player to have. The big pitch at Wembley will allow him space to impact the game hopefully.
the 2 up top has got to be Moore and Campbell as it gives us a focal point to play up to in Moore to hold the ball up and play in others and Campbell to run the channels and find pockets of space whilst also being able to play off knock downs and layoffs from Moore. Cannon to replace either during the game as appears fit.
The only position that we appear to be struggling with for someone to nail the position down as their own is out on the right.
We have plenty of options but I would go for O'Hare, who looks to have benefitted from being taken out of the starting line up. No one can fault his work rate but, as I have said in previous posts, his end product and decision making had been lacking. His recent appearances have been very effective to the team and he has chipped in with some important goals too. He doesn't allow the opposition time on the ball and has linked up play well. Brewster is a good alternative and has shown in patches that playing in a less advanced position may be better for him and the team than as a central striker. He has good vision and has played some great passes to create chances for others. Still needs to work on his decision making at times and spend some more time with Lester on his shooting but the signs are promising.
Rak Sakyi has been the least effective of all the options for a little while but again, with the big/wide pitch, could be another option to turn their defence and cause problems.
With regard to Sunderland, they have been off the pace for some time but it would be foolish to write them off. they also will likely adopt a style that could cause us serious problems if they continue to sit back and contain whilst looking to hit us on the counter as their forward line is full of pace and much faster than our back line. Probably the worst thing that could happen on the day would be to go a goal down to them as that would mean that we have to chase the game and leave us vulnerable to such counters.
Hopefully this will be the year that we break the cycle of playoff woes and get a win at Wembley.Ra
By the way, I'm still working on getting to the final. Discussions with the wife have stalled but I'm trying to justify spending $3-4000 on a weekend trip to London and offering a sweetener of a week on Bali for her. On a positive note, I've found out recently that our sofa is really comfortable
