Football League World
·3 October 2024
Football League World
·3 October 2024
Blackburn Rovers will be looking to bounce back this weekend after 3-0 loss to Coventry City on Tuesday
Blackburn Rovers suffered their first defeat of the Championship season on Tuesday night.
John Eustace’s side travelled to face Coventry City midweek, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline.
Rovers had been unbeaten in their opening seven games of the campaign, winning four and drawing three.
But goals from Jake Bidwell, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante consigned the club to their first defeat of the campaign.
Blackburn will be looking to bounce back this weekend when they face an away trip to Home Park to take on Plymouth Argyle.
When asked what changes he’d like to see to the team this weekend, FLW’s Blackburn fan pundit Toby Wilding claimed he’s hoping for Makhtar Gueye and Amario Cozier-Duberry to come into the starting XI.
He believes a front four of Gueye, Todd Cantwell, Yuki Ohashi and Cozier-Duberry would be ideal for Plymouth, taking Tyrhys Dolan out of the team, as well as Andreas Weimann.
“I would still like to see Makhtar Gueye come back in at centre-forward,” Wilding told Football League World.
“I think he offers much more of an outlet and a focal point in that role, especially when playing as a lone-man than Yuki Ohashi does, so I think it would certainly help Rovers in terms of getting the ball forward and maybe plant themselves in the opposition half more.
“The other one I’d like to see come into the starting XI is Amario Cozier-Duberry.
“He’s had four substitute appearances since he joined on deadline day, he’s looked really bright in all of them, was probably our most positive part of Tuesday’s defeat at Coventry, despite the game was pretty much gone by the time he came off the bench.
“So I would like to see him get a proper chance to see what he can do from the start.
“In terms of who I’d take out, I would probably drop Tyrhys Dolan.
“He’s been very inconsistent in all honesty this season, and had a bit of a tough one against Coventry on Tuesday night, was probably at fault for the second goal just after half-time, which really took the game away from Rovers with a pretty loose pass backwards.
“And Andi Weimann, who has played a lot of football recently for someone at his stage of his career, I feel, and did look a bit quiet at Coventry on Tuesday so could probably benefit from the break, and that would allow Ohashi to drop into a 10 role behind Gueye.
“I think that would work well for both of them.
“I’ve said before, it worked for Todd Cantwell, who has also looked bright in the last four games and Cozier-Duberry just operating out wide, which I think right now is the attacking four I would really like to see get a chance to work together for Blackburn.”
Blackburn have made a positive start to the season under Eustace, with the team sitting sixth in the Championship table.
The gap to league leaders Sunderland is just three points, with one game to go before the October international break.
Ohashi has made a strong start to life at Ewood Park, with the 28-year-old scoring four goals from eight appearances since joining the club in the summer.
Meanwhile, Gueye has three assists from seven appearances, but is yet to find the back of the net in the Championship since his move from RWD Molenbeek in July.
Blackburn have done extremely well so far this season, but the loss to Coventry was a reminder of how difficult it is to perform consistently in this division.
Making changes for the Plymouth trip would make sense, and the ones suggested here could prove to be a very strong attacking lineup.
Ohashi and Gueye have combined well together this season, and should be starting together, while resting Weimann is entirely logical after the minutes he’s put together lately.
A win against Plymouth would keep the team in the top six going into the break, so now could be a good chance to try this front four to see how well they can work together.