It’s almost impossible to predict a starting XI for Lincoln City and AFC Bournemouth.
Bournemouth media tried to predict theirs yesterday, which I’m grateful for, so I think I’ll try to do ours. Now, for Patreons, I did predict ours yesterday, before I went to the press conference, and while Tom Shaw gave very little away, I do think I may feel a tiny bit differently about the side he might put out. Maybe it’s because I can’t remember, 100%, the side I felt we’d go with yesterday.
That’s not (all) inefficiency on my part. It’s really hard to imagine what we might do with the game. Tom spoke about the importance of the cup run, but given we’re not in the EFL Trophy this season, we might need extra games for minutes. Also, our ‘reserves’ did well against Chelsea last season, and I don’t think the Vitality Stadium will have an imposing feel to it. We can win this, and wouldn’t that be nice?
With that in mind, here is my predicted starting XI, in a 3-4-3 formation, against the Cherries. If I get 60% right, I’ll be happy!
GK: Joe Gauci
It stands to reason we’ll play Joe. He played against Blackpool, and there is no reason not to play him against Bournemouth. My thinking here is that he might be one of those six loanees, but he’ll almost always be around the main squad, though rarely in the team.
Unlike most players, keepers probably don’t need quite the same minutes in the legs, but it’ll be nice to see him sometimes before the FA Cup in January.
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