Olsson.....

[ellis206 0]

I''ve always said this guy can''t defend and is the biggest liability in our defence, cost us 3 goals today and was the standout worst performer in our defence, which took some doing. Whilst reading back through the match thread on here, his name wasn''t even mentioned in connection with the first 3 goals (usual scapegoats of Martin and Whittaker), he was culpable massively in 2 of them and partially in the other (first goal being a mixture of Bassong playing everyone well onside and Olsson running around like a headless chicken and leaving a guy totally free on our left). That being said, he did some decent forward play and put in 2 great crosses for our goals, would you put Brady in at left back and have Olsson and Jarvis fight it out for the left midfield spot?

[Redders Right Foot 22]

The thing is, when Olsson pushes up the pitch, Brady needs to be prepared to get back. Yes Olsson is a liability defensively when he''s going forward, but that is how it''s meant to be when you have overlapping wings. I''m not sure if it''s brady following instructions or not following instructions, but they end up being at the top end of the pitch at the same time, which should be happening rarely, if at all.

[mrs miggins 0]

Offensively he was good today, unlike whittaker. However defensively they were both poor. Especially the first goal, I don''t know what Olsson was doing

[Horse Renoir 1]

I prefer the Brady/Jarvis partnership.

Brady is no worse defensively than Olsson, offers more going forwards and Jarvis works tirelessly to help out his FB as well as offering a more direct dimension to our attack.

Olsson just didn''t look interested today when we were out of possession and Whittaker was terrified of that player that put 4 past us

It was the midfield''s fault we conceded so much though, our defenders shouldn''t have been put in that position so often. Our work out of position has been so lazy and disappointing recently, especially compared to last year.

It''s always going top be tough for us in this league so we simply have to be one of the hardest working teams! If we''re outplayed, fine but we can''t keep getting out-worked like this!

[nutty nigel 7,598]

Brady gets back quicker than Olsson. We look more solid with Brady/Jarvis and they look a better pair. Some selections look strange at face value but I guess what we don''t know is the fitness of each player when the starting eleven is picked.

[mrs miggins 0]

The problem with Brady is that his defensive positioning is quite a lot worse than Olsson (I guess because he''s never really played properly at LB, more LM and LWB), however on the other hand he generally works much harder.

Also Brady''s corners today I thought were good.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,852]

I still have more faith in Olsson than I do in our options on the other flank.

[coops 0]

Set up both goals. Mug

[Dean Coneys boots 1,406]

He is a winger not a fullback

Yesterday (as always) his score card read

Attacking play: A-

Defensive play: F

And that isn''t going to work in this division. He is championship quality

[Salopian 1]

I didn''t see the game, but if Olsson was poor defensively, then this is a worry. We already have Whittaker, Russell and Wisdome who are much better going forward than defending. This means that we have only one really effective defender in Bassong, and at times I wonder if if he is quite the player he was.

The consequence is that we have to rely on Tettey to protect the defence. There was even a suggestion on another posting that we should play both Teetey and Mulumbu. If we did this, and also played the less defensive Redmund, we would be back in Hughton days, and with a very weak attack.

[AJ 1,224]

Harsh to nitpick when the entire defense was poor. 6 goals conceded cant be the fault of just one player

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="coops"]Set up both goals. Mug[/quote]

And cost us 3 in a game we got thrashed. Teacup

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="coops"]Set up both goals. Mug[/quote]Try reading all of my post before making yourself look like an idiot.5 of the goals came from our left hand side yesterday, that''s absurd, Brady needs to be put back in the left back slot. 

[Holtcantshoot 0]

[quote user="Redders Right Foot"]The thing is, when Olsson pushes up the pitch, Brady needs to be prepared to get back. Yes Olsson is a liability defensively when he''s going forward, but that is how it''s meant to be when you have overlapping wings. I''m not sure if it''s brady following instructions or not following instructions, but they end up being at the top end of the pitch at the same time, which should be happening rarely, if at all.[/quote]

You''ve hit the nail on the head here. This issue with our full backs pushing forward was our downfall last time out against Leicester as well. Opponents have worked out how to combat our expansive passing attacking full back system by closing down our weak passers (Bassong, Martin and Tettey) once our full backs have pushed forward and then when they inevitably make an error attacking with pace before others can retreat.

There was a similar issue when Bassong ran forward to join an attack in the second half. Counter-intuitively Whittaker still pushed forward leaving us unnecessarily exposed at the back so we only had Martin and Tettey back.

To blame the players for carrying out the role assigned to them may be somewhat short-sighted. Are Brady, Olsson and Whittaker continuously playing badly or is our system being found out?

[STAN 29]

Our most consistent and best performer last time out in the PL.

He''s only now getting his match sharpness back, give the guy a break!