Aye genius. Don't play our best players, it's the last thing they'll expect.
I think it's more to manage the opposition, and counter 100% of what they would absolutely certainly have been prepping to do, the two week break has been a big factor in this, I expect.
At 2pm, their manager must have been thinking what the hell do we do here, we've got our team set up to counter two Boro attacking threats, and make the most of two Boro defensive weaknesses, but none of those even exist now, it's put 2 weeks of their prep largely to waste. Yeah we will probably do it second half, but their players will have been playing 45-60 minutes by then, with Watmore trying to run them ragged.
If anything it shows we're willing to change things up, it should make us less predictable, so we can get more out of Giles and Jones, when they're fresh.
I wasn't expecting it, and I wouldn't have done it, as I think we've been ok at the back, and largely unlucky, but those who have called for us to be stronger at the back, shouldn't be complaining about this, everyone knows our weakness is in the channels behind Giles and Jones, especially by counter attacking. Those who have been whining might then grasp that to create a lot of chances, you're going to end up giving a few away.
It's not like Jones has been in form either, and Bola can still play, it's not like we're playing with 9/10 players.