Watching the game against Fulham, I was struck by the amount of players playing out of position.

• Heitenga in midfield - should be RB
• Osman out on the right- should be CM
• Fellaini & Cahill used as strikers
• Neville in midfield - should be RB in my opinion

Neville's injury could perhaps be a blessing in disguise... I'm hoping Neville's injury will force Moyes to play the team in their natural positions:

Howard
Heitinga Yobo Distin Baines
Bily Osman Rodwell Pienaar
Cahill/Fellaini
Saha/Jo

I know the new players need bedding in, but why not try them from the start and move it about if they are not looking comfortable during the game?

It's time for Moyes to take a gamble, we have some good players — we just need to use them properly.

However, I can’t help but find the injury sustained by Phil Neville very interesting. I can’t say I’m worried by his long-term absence as his contribution as a midfielder in my opinion is not of the quality we are looking for. And, while better at right back, his distribution is still pathetic.

The question now is how is Moyes going to replace his golden boy? Who will be handed the captaincy in his absence? And with Neville injured, Heitinga ineligible and Hibbert suspended who the hell is going to play right back against AEK Athens?

With regards to the first question, what I have in mind and what Moyes has in mind are probably two entirely separate entities. I would certainly drop Hibbert because, in a word, he is crap, Heitinga filling that role as he has done to great success in the Holland international side.

Osman also needs to be taken out of the starting XI because he is simply too inconsisent. While there are many contributors to this website that slate the guy entirely I think he is useful as a squad player but doesn’t come up with the goods enough to be an automatic starter.

My choice would be moving Pienaar to the right, Bilyaletdinov on the left (or vice versa). In the middle, Rodwell is already a class act and will only get better the more he plays. The saying goes "If you're good enough, then you're old enough"...

Leaving Fellaini and Cahill for the other two central spots. Both are comfortable on the ball and both pose an attacking threat so as long as they work out between themselves who is in the middle and who is pushing forward, there shouldn’t be a problem.

So for me that means Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov, Rodwell, Cahill, Fellaini in midfield. I have a horrible feeling, however, that Rodwell will lose his place because he is being ’nurtured’ (i.e. Moyes wants to play someone older but of inferior quality) and Heitinga will be shoe-horned in as defensive mid, the worst of the three positions he can fill.

This in turn will see the continued presence of Hibbert (constantly caught out of position at the back and gets nose bleeds when crossing the half-way line) at right back. Thus in my opinion weaking both our defence and midfield. That’s Moyes... C’est la vie.

Next, the captaincy issue: the candidates are presumably Yobo, Distin or Cahill. For me, it has to be Yobo who has captained Nigeria many times and has been at he club for a long time. I suspect Moyes will also feel that Yobo is the best suited to the captaincy.

However, when Jagielka returns, for me, he should take Yobo’s place and if Neville has not returned by then, I would be happy with either Distin or Cahill as captain. Distin has been captain at Man City and Pompey (in the absence of Campbell) and is an oraganiser at the back. Cahill is both a long-serving and respected member of the squad who would certainly be a motivator if given the armband.

Moving on to the last question, who will be right back against Athens? The only sensible answer is Dan Gosling as, while I would like to see Seamus Coleman given a go, I doubt it will happen. After Thursday, however expect Hibbert to undeservedly reclaim his spot in the back four.