by NewCorkSeth »
27 Nov 2018 17:06
Snowflake Royal Vision leon If fit I would go for Maccleary to start with Sims on the bench. Possibly.
Yup. I wasn't at Wigan so I'm curious to know who played left or right out of Aluko or McCleary.
I have a theory about why Clement would play Aluko ahead of Sims. It's basically because Clement doesn't want to play two out and out wingers in the same side. Hence if Barrow plays then Sims ( who is an out and out winger) will not. People can continually call Aluko a winger all they want but he clearly isn't and never has been. Certainly not in the same mould as Barrow/Sims/McCleary.
I can't recall it happening at all this season. Given the option he's preferred to start Meite , Baldock and even Bod in that position rather than have 2 of Sims, Barrow and McCleary in the same starting line up.
I can see that... Two proper wingers would hug the sidelines and leave the striker isolated sort of thing?
If you look at the Whoscored heat map (no idea how it's put together), then you can just about conclude that Aluko was right and McCleary left... though someone who was there or watched online would be far more reliable.
The heat map, I believe, is constructed from where the players touch the ball meaning that the generally wide positioning you see with Aluko and McCleary from the last game tells a false story. They were playing central without a doubt but moved out to the flanks to receive passes when we were bringing the ball out of defence. During our periods of sustained possession they were nowhere to be seen on the wings.