Romelu Lukaku and Ryan Bennett's Pocket

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

Wow - Lukaku loves it in there doesn''t he. Every time he comes up against Bennett he just jumps straight in never to be seen again till the match ends.

[mrs miggins 0]

Indeed, he must''ve been relieved when he saw the team sheet before the game.

When Bennett came on it was not only his defending, but also some of the long passes he was making which were impressive, though he did give it away once.

Glad to have Martin at RB as well, can''t do too much damage defensively and can push the team up offensively.

[Clint 221]

Maybe had Bennett been playing from the start (which he should''ve) then Lukaku would''ve been in his pocket all game rather than giving our CB''s the runaround for 45 mins!

[Holtcantshoot 0]

[quote user="Clint"]Maybe had Bennett been playing from the start (which he should''ve) then Lukaku would''ve been in his pocket all game rather than giving our CB''s the runaround for 45 mins![/quote]

Well yes, you would have thought anyone who had seen how well Bennett and Bassong dealt with Giroud at the last home game would have realised that they are well adept at dealing with physically strong target men. (unlike Martin who struggles dealing with crosses.)

Can only hope that the second half performance has enlightened Alex as to his best back four.

[ron obvious 1,711]

Sorry, Mrs. M., but Bennett is too agricultural to be a good PL defender. I saw him make 3 mistakes in the first 5 minutes after he came on. His attempts at ''long passes'' looked more like lumping the ball up to me, certainly in terms of accuracy. However, he is simply much stronger all round than Martin, who would never have set Wes'' goal up. So, overall, I rate him in the crude but effective camp.

Whatever, Russell was much better out wide today, & had a lot more to offer than Wisdom.

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

Second half we cut off the supply to him as well, Luckily he didn''t have his shooting boots on and should have had a first half hat trick.

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

"Who put Sanchez in the bin? Super Ryan Bennett". Quality.

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

If Russell Martin is good as a RB & Ryan Bennett good as a CB, surely we only need André Wisdom as a bit of insurance cover?

[mrs miggins 0]

ron obvious wrote the following post at 12/12/2015 5:04 PM:Sorry, Mrs. M., but Bennett is too agricultural to be a good PL defender. I saw him make 3 mistakes in the first 5 minutes after he came on. His attempts at ''long passes'' looked more like lumping the ball up to me, certainly in terms of accuracy. However, he is simply much stronger all round than Martin, who would never have set Wes'' goal up. So, overall, I rate him in the crude but effective camp.

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

Its a shame you missed those passes, especially his first one, hit with pin point accuracy to Brady.

Also, good header for the goal.

As you say he made a few mistakes though if you look at Martin at CB he had a mare in terms of mistakes.

On the subject of not being a good PL defender, I think it''s good that people are finally starting to see that he''s a better CB than Martin, however, like in other areas (e.g right back) we do need PL quality. Is Bennett PL quality? Probably not. Is Bassong? Probably not. Is Martin? Probably not. Is Tettey? Probably not. We need to spend the money, which is what we''ve been saying since we won the play-off final. The question is, ''what is our best team at the moment?'' For me it''s Bennett and Bassong in the middle.

[ron obvious 1,711]

Hmm. I''ll see if I can find a decent replay for those pin-point passes Mrs. M. I saw one mistake by Martin ( the back pass) but I''ll look out for the others.

Certainly agree about our best back 4 (from your other post). Opposition teams will always target any weakness ruthlessly, & Martin''s ultimate lack of strength is terminal for a CB.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

Bennett is quality, and by far our best centre half.

Rate him highly, old school, no nonsense defender. But can also play a bit too. Rarely makes a mistake and great positional sense.

[mrs miggins 0]

ron obvious wrote the following post at 12/12/2015 6:50 PM:

Hmm. I''ll see if I can find a decent replay for those pin-point passes Mrs. M. I saw one mistake by Martin ( the back pass) but I''ll look out for the others.

Certainly agree about our best back 4 (from your other post). Opposition teams will always target any weakness ruthlessly, & Martin''s ultimate lack of strength is terminal for a CB.

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

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2015/12/12/norwich-city-vs-everton-highlights/#4

If you watch the 2 half (titled 2H ENG) and go forward to 11:28 you can see the pass by Bennett that I remembered earlier.

In terms of Martin (who made a great tackle just after our goal to stop Lukaku I think), if you just watch the normal match of the day I seem to recall them pointing out more than one of his mistakes, and that was just in the short highlights. (tbf no-one was good in that 1st half though).

[GJP 79]

He''s not as good as Turner used to be and so we''ve gone backwards in that area. He''s doing ok though.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="GJP"]He''s not as good as Turner used to be and so we''ve gone backwards in that area. He''s doing ok though.[/quote]

No way. Turner was a decent centre half, but not nearly as talented as Bennett.

[GJP 79]

John Stones = talented

Ryan Bennett = ordinary

[ZLF 335]

I would agree with Miggins - Bennett with Bassong is probably our best CB partenership; although there really is diddly squat in it. And even "ordinary" is being a little generous - a decent champs stopper is about his limit.

Turner was a successful and able premier standard defender until time caught up with him here - he remains a solid if uninspiring mid table champs defender.

For me wisdom is still the best defender for right back - but both martin & whittaker are better going forward; he was comfortably the city defender yesterday before his injury - all of the gaps and errors were in the middle and left first half; and then right and centre second half.

As was perfectly pointed out by an earlier poster Bennett had the advantage of us being on the front foot second half - he wasnt called into action often and proably a good thing as his position remains suspect - just fortunate not to be caught out for it. His talents are overrated - probably as its a case of anyone is better than Russ (similar syndrome for Rudd/Ruddy)

A couple of centre backs is the minimum signing need for Jan - and the priority

[mrs miggins 0]

Much prefer Bennett to Turner.

Better passer

Much more pace

Better header of the ball (Although Turner was tall, like Martin, he headed straight to the oppositions midfield from long balls)

Bennett''s positioning is weaker though.

Turner was an old fashioned CB. Bennett is more of an all rounder. This is not to say that he brilliant; he''s jack of a lot of trades, but a master of none.

We need defenders, we all know that.