Whittaker

[pliff 4]

Whittaker has no pace if he gets turned his legs are like concrete, you are judging Wisdom on one appearance I am saying now he is better than Whittaker by a mile

[The 12th Devine 0]

This isn''t a complicated issue, nor is it knee-jerk ... Whittaker is a decent enough player at Championship level but we all know how he fared at times in the Premier League last time around and fully expect this sort of situation to occur with too much frequency this time around too.

He is an alright back up option considering we can''t expect to have two or three mid table top flight players for every position but lots of us have said all summer that we need to invest more in defence than anywhere else on the field because both Whittaker and Martin should be reserves, not first choice players, if we are to stay up. As it stands, we''ve actually signed zero permanent payers whose chief role is as a defender, so not too impressive by any standard!

Ollson''s return is clearly needed and we can still hope about adding a new centre back to the squad by Tuesday, so hopefully the situation will improve quickly. Even on this basis I think we are a full back short, but still, it would help. Leaving it this long into the season has been a mistake, one plenty of people anticipated (again, not knee jerk), so the only excuse is the fact it is just bloody hard to sign the right sort of player – ok, Watford and Bournemouth have signed a few but even Man Utd are farting about playing midfielders up front, so we aren''t alone.

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="pliff"]Whittaker has no pace if he gets turned his legs are like concrete, you are judging Wisdom on one appearance I am saying now he is better than Whittaker by a mile[/quote]Well he does have pace doesn''t he, just because he''s been done a couple of times by pacey players doesn''t mean he doesn''t have pace, Olsson also struggles against quick players as do most full backs. Wisdom is also getting judged on last season in which WBA fans said he was awful.

[The Bristol Nest 513]

Whittaker was unprofessional. Wisdom was poor.

[The Bristol Nest 513]

BTW Wisdom was blaming others for his poor performance . Shoddy debut all round.

[Van wink 2,994]

I don''t think Whitts will make the same mistakes again.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,818]

[quote user="ellis206"]Unfortunately just shows the idiot nature of some of our fans and the need to scapegoat certain players. Literally his first bad game under Alex Neil and suddenly he''s not good enough and is the weak link in our defence. People see what they want to see but during the play offs Whittaker was probably our second best player behind Redmond. Olsson was easily the weakest link in our defence last season and cost us points literally on the first game. And from what I saw from Wisdom''s defending today, he isn''t even half the player Whittaker is.[/quote]

As one of the Whittaker critics, I''ll accept any abuse for scapegoating him. I hate it when it happens on this messageboard, and I''ve often tried to stick up for the scapegoated players, but I''ll admit that I''ve been hypocritical enough to join in this time. But I stand by what I say- I don''t think he''s good enough as a Premier League right back.

But what I find hard to accept is that you say Olsson is a weaker link than Whittaker. OK, he got sent off against Wolves, but for me Olsson is an excellent full back, and in my opinion could do a job for a better side than us. Claiming that Whittaker is better than Olsson is, in my opinion, truly baffling.

[Grant Holts Moustache 105]

Someone made a good point on a previous thread about Whittaker. They said he is a good player when he has more chance to attack and will always find it more difficult against the top 8-10 teams because they will put us under more pressure, in the other games he will be a valuable attacking outlet. Today was one of those top teams and he made some mistakes that he usually doesn''t and got sent off. This wasn''t what we normally see from him.

I was impressed with the two Southampton wingers who I thought were the best players on the pitch. Much better defenders than Whittaker would have found them tough to deal with. They are top players. Also today was never a game that at the start of the season we would be targeting three points from, mistakes were made and its time to move on to the next one because we will lose plenty this season. That''s just how it is when you are not a top side.

[mrs miggins 0]

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man wrote the following post at 30/08/2015 8:18 PM:As one of the Whittaker critics, I''ll accept any abuse for scapegoating him. I hate it when it happens on this messageboard, and I''ve often tried to stick up for the scapegoated players, but I''ll admit that I''ve been hypocritical enough to join in this time. But I stand by what I say- I don''t think he''s good enough as a Premier League right back.

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so how are you scapegoating? its you''re genuine opinion that he isn''t good enough. Its not scapegoating to say so, despite other people perhaps telling you otherwise.

[Van wink 2,994]

How do you balance his defensive frailties with his ability to create and score goals on a pretty regular basis wacky arm thing?

[nutty nigel 7,528]

[quote user="Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man"]But I stand by what I say- I don''t think he''s good enough as a

Premier League right back. But what I find hard to accept is that you say Olsson

is a weaker link than Whittaker. OK, he got sent off against Wolves, but for me

Olsson is an excellent full back, and in my opinion could do a job for a better

side than us. Claiming that Whittaker is better than Olsson is, in my opinion,

truly baffling.[/quote]

 

I think they''re both bottom6prem / top6champs fullbacks. I find it hard to accept that Olsson was better than Whits last season. I definitely saw it the other way around. I think Whits was better defending, better attacking and made less expensive errors. But there''s excuses for Olsson last season with the bloomin'' transfer window stuff and the shoulder. Olsson looked the better fullback of the two the previous season.

 

 

Where I think Whits is massive for Alex Neil is tempo wise. We didn''t see it today from him  or any of them. But when we play at an intense tempo Whits is a big part of it. Neil''s system demands that the fullbacks do this and in this respect I always feel Olsson plays " with his foot on the brake".

 

   

[mrs miggins 0]

nutty nigel wrote the following post at 30/08/2015 9:28 PM:I think they''re both bottom6prem / top6champs fullbacks. I find it hard to accept that Olsson was better than Whits last season. I definitely saw it the other way around. I think Whits was better defending, better attacking and made less expensive errors. But there''s excuses for Olsson last season with the bloomin'' transfer window stuff and the shoulder. Olsson looked the better fullback of the two the previous season.

------------------------------

totally agree Nutty.

[Mooney 0]

I posted on here after our first game of the season saying that I expected for Neil to spend big money on a centre back and that Whittaker was out of his depth against top teams and Martin would play RB as he''s a more solid and dependable option (despite the fact he''s been great at CB).... the know it alls on here said I was a moron and he''s a top player... What was that again chaps!!!?

Come the end of the transfer window our team''s first choice defence will be as follows:

Martin ---- New CB ---- Bassong ---- Olsson

Thats a top side and the midfield and attack will be helped as Brady will push forward and offer the danger we bought him for in the attacking 3rd.

This is the toughest league in the world and I back Neil to make the right decisions and keep us up!

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,818]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]so how are you scapegoating? its you''re genuine opinion that he isn''t good enough. Its not scapegoating to say so, despite other people perhaps telling you otherwise.[/quote]

Maybe scapegoating is the wrong word. He wasn''t solely to blame today, as we weren''t playing well 11 v 11, but I''m definitely jumping on the anti-Whittaker bandwagon. I''m not proud of myself for it though.

[quote user="nutty nigel"]I think they''re both bottom6prem / top6champs fullbacks. I find it hard to accept that Olsson was better than Whits last season. I definitely saw it the other way around. I think Whits was better defending, better attacking and made less expensive errors. But there''s excuses for Olsson last season with the bloomin'' transfer window stuff and the shoulder. Olsson looked the better fullback of the two the previous season. Where I think Whits is massive for Alex Neil is tempo wise. We didn''t see it today from him  or any of them. But when we play at an intense tempo Whits is a big part of it. Neil''s system demands that the fullbacks do this and in this respect I always feel Olsson plays " with his foot on the brake".[/quote]

This reminds me of a thread last week about Bradley Johnson. I made the point that whilst he was excellent for us last season, and he gives us excellent, different options from the bench in a number of positions, he doesn''t quite have it in him to nail down a regular starting spot in the Premier League due to certain limitations in his game.

I think the same applies to Whittaker. He also has weaknesses in his game that, in my opinion, prevents him from being a regular starter in the Premier League- namely a lack of pace which sees him caught out too often for my liking. He could get away with it in the Championship more often as opposition players aren''t as good, so won''t punish it as often, and he could also get away with it if he was better defensively.

Olsson, however, is suited to the Premier League in my opinion, and the key difference is his pace. He has the legs to get up and down the line all day, and if he gets caught out, he has the speed to get back and rectify it, whereas Whittaker I don''t think does.