Defensive conundrum

[unique 466]

McGovern is currently the only change to the regular defence that last year proved itself unfit for PL purpose.

AN is extremely keen to sign Olson onto a new contract, with both Olson and Pinto showing good attacking intent so far this season.

Yet still the defence is leaking goals for fun and currently proving itself unfit for defensive purpose in the Championship.

So roll on ten months and let''s suppose Norwich meet expectations and gain promotion.....who, from the current five incumbents, would you expect to start the opening PL fixture?

[Canary Wundaboy 1,423]

If I had an influence:

Klose, Pinto.

But I''d happy enough with:

Pinto, Klose, Olsson.

Priority needs to be another CB of PL quality, and PL quality cover to compete with the 1st choices. If we go into another PL season with Whittaker, Martin, Bassong as cover we''re toast.

[Van wink 2,994]

The defence is only as good as the players in front of it.

We shouldn''t just have a go at the back four IMHO.

[AJ 1,359]

Martin, Klose and Olsson definitely as they''ve been there and done it. Pinto I''m still not sure on defensively at that level but he''s certainly come on massive strides in the time he''s been here. Both McGovern and Ruddy are for enough keepers

[Bill 1,788]

[quote user="unique"]McGovern is currently the only change to the regular defence that last year proved itself unfit for PL purpose.[/quote]That is extremely silly. It was the squad as a whole that got us relegated, not one set of players.

[canarycop 232]

What about the 19 yr old French lad we were linked with, will he come in January..?

[Bill 1,788]

I expect that it will depend on where we see ourselves next season, and more importantly whether the club thinks he can develop to PL standards

[i,coopius 0]

Well we were in for that koulibaly at napoli for 12m the summer before we were relegated till another of their cb''s got injured. We could try again for him :D

[Iwans Big Toe 382]

I hear that it is unlikely Jérôme Onguéné will sign for us at any point. After spending hours on the therapist couch and trying all manner of holistic treatments it is probable that he may never even play professional football again. This is due in whole to the trauma suffered when hearing a small section of the Norwich crowd boo after the Sheffield Wednesday game. When will people learn? Booing solves nothing.

[Bill 1,788]

" Jérôme Onguéné"I can imagine the problems pronouncing that name will cause some of Canary Calls finest.

[Indy 3,471]

Not sure he will be allowed into the UK post March will he?

I''m with others, we need a couple big upgrades in certain areas.

With the likes of Pritchard & Wes, Brady, Howson, Dorrans, Klose, Pinto, Olsson we have a very good core of premiership quality players, with others a very solid back up on these.

But we do really need a very solid player who can sit deep to take over the Tettey role.

It''s not a bad squad if we go up, with a few good buys, we have a big pool of good youngsters to push on too.

Great place to be.

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

"Iwan''s Big Toe"

I hear that it is unlikely Jérôme Onguéné will sign for us at any point. After spending hours on the therapist couch and trying all manner of holistic treatments it is probable that he may never even play professional football again. This is due in whole to the trauma suffered when hearing a small section of the Norwich crowd boo after the Sheffield Wednesday game. When will people learn? Booing solves nothing.

Thank god for the booing, we''d never be top of the league right now if those ''fans'' hadnt reminded everyone what a terrible result a 0-0 in the first home game of the season against the beaten play off finalists was.

When will people learn? Sarcasm solves everything.

[daly 551]

Lovely to see City top of the league and fans getting value for money from the games in TC. Great shame we threw so many points away last season as I think even with the current team we would be in the top 12

[Number 9 0]

Whittaker, Martin, Turner and Bassong.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

"Whittaker, Martin, Turner and Bassong." are coming to the end of their lollipops.

We''ve had this a lot of course, but they continue to make good back-ups for the Championship.

Martin deserves respect, if not a regular starting place, if we go up.

The rest should deservedly get lucrative new pastures for them to see their years out.

I would hope that the search for a new central defender or two is underway, along with a full-back who is more a defender than a wing-back, as more defensive caution is needed in the Premier League.

[paddycanary 579]

Agree with above poster about Tettey upgrade IF (early days!) we go up.

1) Solid defensive midfielder

2) Premiership quality centre-back

3) Premiership quality striker/goalscorer

Easy to write, very difficult to acquire, pretty much every other club will have a similar shopping list. Also, we should enjoy Wes this season

[ZLF 335]

Little point making any changes until we know which league we are in; we are playing our best defensive 4 for this league and they are coping well.

Its a different ball game if we get promoted; neither pinto nor olsson will have as much time getting forward so will have more time defending - whether either is really up to it is another thing. I suspect they will do (assuming olsson signs an extention / new deal) but with better back up needed.

In CB its another matter - at least two new signings will be needed with most of this seasons option needing to be sold come the summer.

but thats a bridge to cross if we make it there

[Salopian 1]

The problem as I see it is twofold:

1) of the back four, only Klose is a very good defender. The others are very good going forward, but have limitations in defending. AN seems to be of the same position in using Tettey to protect them, and in expecting his wingers to perform defensive duties in addition to racing forward.

2) There seems at times a lack of concentration, with players not staying in position. The late goals we concede seems to suggest this.

The art of defending is difficult, and may explain why top defenders fetch high transfer fees. Many teams now have pace down their wings, which leaves slower defenders - Martin and Whittaker, for example, struggling. The effectiveness of the Murphy lads this season has demonstrated how difficult it is to defend against pace. If Pinto can develop his heading and his defensive abilities we could have a solution on the right.

[lake district canary 4,830]

I''ve just looked at their goal again from saturday and the two players nearest to getting back to help - Tettey and I think Dorrans - showed absoulutely NO urgency to get back and help the defence.  Tettey lolloped back, slowed down, pointed and by then it was too late.  You would hope, especially given our history, that players would be running flat out to help in defence.  The two players were just trotting back, ball watching. We were too open and too casual.  Again. Against better teams we are likely to be punished more unless a bit more urgency is shown.

[Ray 111]

LDC,

This is something I have been concerned about for a while (seasons) now, very often when we concede and our defenders are blamed it is the lack of tracking back, or urgency in tracking back that exacerbates the situation, there is often oppo bursting into our box untracked.

Attacking is the responsibility of the entire team as should be defending.

[westcoastcanary 173]

@LDC @Ray

I''ve made this same point repeatedly in response to the unfair criticism levelled at the back four, and the CBs in particular. It''s clear from our attacking play that overloading the space between the opposition midfield and back line features prominently in training. It''s equally obvious that exactly the same offensive strategies are being coached into the teams we face. Why is it that a midfield which clearly understands the strategy from the offensive point of view, show so little understanding of their role in countering it when the opposition have the ball? Ray is right that this has been a problem for season after season; Hughton tried to instil the necessary defensive discipline but the midfield then seemed incapable of shifting to attacking mode when possession was won. All that the post-Hughton commitment to entertaining attacking football has achieved is to have our midfield revert to the same old defensive failings. That may be enough to get us back into the EPL, but unless this is addressed now we''ll be back in the Championship the following season.