Adam Drury - Championship Chimp or Premiership Pretender

[Yellow Rages 0]

This thread is really designed for the more knowledgable tacticians out there.

I can''t help but notice that when an opposition player attacks slightly right of centre from say 40 yards and in that Drury always seems to get sucked inside and completely forgets about the wide player on the overlap.He seems to get drawn to the ball and completely forgets his left back duty. Likewise you often see that right midfield player recieve the ball with time and space only for AD to realise only too late and a cross is made into the box.

NOW...............there are two schools of thought here that i''m aware of. One is to step inside and and entice the wide pass, leaving your job then to show him the corner flag.

But if that is his instruction, then he leaves the move too late because he doesn''t seem to be able to make up the ground in time before the cross is placed.

The other phylosophy is that you don''t go to ball initially and that you man mark. This means that the wide option isn''t available and you channel a team centrally. This stifles play due to lack of space. You may have seen Arsenal defeated this way recently.

But what I really want to know is this............Is this intentional? because you don''t see Colin/Fleming   do this on the other flank. So it must be the player in my mind. And if so then why hasn''t Worthy picked up on it?

Every week I see him exposed in this way at some point during the game.

Your theories would be greatly appreciated. The sensible need only apply.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Don''t forget, he has no help from Huckerby.

[XXL16 0]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]Don''t forget, he has no help from Huckerby.[/quote]

Exactly to be honest, also a full-back at any level CANNOT SIMPLY defend two attacking players on the nearly same position!

I think Drury was absolutely superb one-on-one situation, even Wayne Rooney, SWP or Ronaldo cannot pass him,

[Syteanric 1]

Drury has come from the lower leagues dont forget....

Watch lower league football and u will see that they dont overlap so much.. it tends to be the big hoof or a winger on his own charging down the wing.. so u have time to get over to him and make the challenge without fear of an overlapping full back....

 the thing with Drury is that he still has this mindest somewhat.. it cost us a lot of goals in the premiership last season.. most noticeably the Blackburn home game where the full back has 20 yards to run into as Drury is on the penalty spot..

he needs this mentality coached out of him... how many goals do we concede on hsi side because he is man marking instead of stopping the cross???

jas :)

[LinkNR9 0]

"This means that the wide option isn''t available and you channel a team centrally."

That''s part of the answer for me - would you want to risk channelling advancing midfielders towards Hughes and Robinson?

You''re also correct because taking the player out to the wing is what you should do anyway, as it''s more difficult to have a shot from that far out - basic defending, really, and he''s good enough to cut out most crosses. The other benefit of this, of course, is that Hucks has less far to run on his covering diagonal into the channel (as opposed to up the wing), which helps the old fella!

Juke Box does the same thing when flighted diagonal balls come out to his wing. You watch him - he''ll stand off his winger by 15 metres or so, goal side, then close him down at the last minute, showing him outside when he does so.

It''s a bit risky at times, but it shows what a good defender he is, because we rarely get ''done'' down that side, in spite of the fact (as Rudolph points out) that he does a lot of defending for Hucks as well.   

[Trent Canary 0]

Yellow, Due to Huckerby he often has to mark two players.

I see what you mean with your two options, it could be argued that he should man mark, however it depends if the centre midfielders have tracked back so that the ball carrier doesnt have a free run towards goal. On a break I would have thought letting them play the ball wide is the best bet, if the opposition are building up slowly I would have thought man marking is better.

However Ill keep an eye out whenever I see Norwich next, and give a better answer.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,158]

I''m afraid Yellow that you really can''t be much of a tactician yourself judging by your  post. If you read your question again you will see that it implies that Drury has got the job of marking two players - the player attacking "slightly right of centre" and the "wide player on the overlap". As Rudolph correctly states most of the time Drury gets little or no help from Hux in this situation. So the situation is not Drury''s fault, but Hux for not tracking back.  

For the record most football coaches would tell you that Drury is defending absolutely correctly given the situation he is faced with. The mantra when defending is that above all you must stay strong down the middle. Simply, it is far easier to score a goal from the middle of the pitch than from the edge of it. Or to put it another way would you rather have an opposition player with time and space wide on the wing or in the middle of the pitch?

And by the way Drury was excellent on Saturday.

[Yellow Rages 0]

Thirsty Lizard.

He does quite often have the job of marking two players and I didn''t once say it was Drurys fault. What I''m saying is that he has a situation to deal with, often two players to mark and the question is how should he deal with it. Obviously the lack of cover from Hucks is the cause of the issue and as a result he finds himself in no mans land torn between two jobs.

It''s interesting to see that you are the only poster who decided to question my observation in such a cynical way. This was merely a question. You are obviously a tactical genius. However I''ll set the standard for you and not question your ability to constructively respond.

Thanks for all of your responses everyone else. Have a look out for what I mean at the next game. Let me know what you think.

[Old Boy 0]

[quote user="Thirsty Lizard"]

I''m afraid Yellow that you really can''t be much of a tactician yourself judging by your  post. If you read your question again you will see that it implies that Drury has got the job of marking two players - the player attacking "slightly right of centre" and the "wide player on the overlap". As Rudolph correctly states most of the time Drury gets little or no help from Hux in this situation. So the situation is not Drury''s fault, but Hux for not tracking back.  

For the record most football coaches would tell you that Drury is defending absolutely correctly given the situation he is faced with. The mantra when defending is that above all you must stay strong down the middle. Simply, it is far easier to score a goal from the middle of the pitch than from the edge of it. Or to put it another way would you rather have an opposition player with time and space wide on the wing or in the middle of the pitch?

And by the way Drury was excellent on Saturday.

[/quote]

Concur with that, Lizard, specially with the last sentence. But Drury was excellent because Hux got stuck in defensively, more than any game I''ve seen since ManU last season.

[Jimaldinho 0]

Quite simply Drury has to go inside in the box behind shackell as cover. So if Shackell misses the ball drury is simply there to stop the attacker scoring. But thats when hucks needs to be back defending tracking the winger or to simply give Drury a shout if the winger makes a run inside the box. Its quite simple really if each player does his job.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,158]

Yellow

Sorry about the first line of my reply. It did seem from a reading of your post (and especially the thread title) that you were having a bit of a pop at Drury for a situation which isn''t really of his making. Lots of other posters also made the point that Hux isn''t really great at tracking back and helping him out in reply to your original question.

Anyway, defend the middle first is still the generally accepted answer to your question. Because Drury is also pretty quick at this level he is quite often (though not always) able to make up the ground if the ball is passed to the overlapping winger.

As for being a tactial genius I wouldn''t claim that, but I am a qualified football coach!

 

 

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Thirsty Lizard"]

 

As for being a tactial genius I wouldn''t claim that, but I am a qualified football coach!

 

 

[/quote]

So is Nigel Worthington!

jas :)

[Huddy 0]

Drury is the best left back outside the premiership, like Barry Fry once said. In his 5 years at Norwich, he has been Mr Consistency and has too be one of worthys best buys. He does a great job in defence despite no left winger and he doesnt get the praise he deserves. Last year he wasnt embarressed, despite facing the likes off, Pires, Ronaldo, Robben, Duff, Wright phillips, downing  with no left midfielder. He is also imo a contender for player of the year.

 

[Rossi 0]

ok here goes

firstly and most importantly it''s not Drury''s responsibility to mark the over lapper - the correct procedure is to hold the man up with the ball, by doing this you allow either Huckerby or another midfielder the chance to move across to a point were Drury can then go to the overlapper. the other reason is to potentially catch the overlapper off-side and it allows defenders a chance to get marked up if the ball gets passed to an overlapper to be put into the box.

i''ve always believed that an overlapper isnt going to score, only cross,so i''d rather have the ball out on the wing thean a player cutting inside for the shot (i.e against Wolves by the korean) However, there is a new train of thought that you invite the man inside, block off his pass to the overlapper, and let him be crowded out by midfielders tracking back - personally i do not like this.

if you were playing norwich you would attack Drury as Hucks isnt great a tracking back, its a soft point that you would look to get stuck into. one the other side with flem you are not blessed with pace, not attacking adventure, so good teams with wingers will use this, hence the tonking by clubs with good wingers, eg reading.

[Chris Meadows 0]

Drury does a brilliant job with no help from Huckerby, i''d rather have a player having to get a cross in from touchline than charging into our box where he can shoot or get a penalty. Whenever Brennan and Drury played together we never had problems because brennan would always track the overlapping full back allowing drury to take the winger

[Northern Canary 0]

agreed. In other teams he would have a left mid to take care of one of those players

[Yellow Rages 0]

Rossi,

The scenario I thinking about Isn''t where an attacker is moving down the right and is one on one with Drury, for the overlap to then take place.

I''m refering to a more central situation where the attacker is carrying the ball say towards the LH Centre Back. What I notice happen is that Drury often goes to ball as well. When the right midfield player pushes on he has alot of room to receive the pass from the attacking player in the middle. I''m not saying it''s right or wrong I just see it happen alot.

I do also think though that if he were to man mark then this would invite a ball in the channel and of course if the wide man was quick enough, when he cuts inside he would leave Drury with his trousers down so to speak.

If you have access to the goal videos on the main web site you might be able to see this.

This would all be so much easier with diagrams! Sorry if it sounds sketchy.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

All of which begs the question for all you Stattos....what is the most common method/movement by which opposing teams score against us?

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]All of which begs the question for all you Stattos....what is the most common method/movement by which opposing teams score against us?[/quote]

This season I would hazard a guess at unnoposed headers from free kicks and corners...

[XXL16 0]

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]

Drury has come from the lower leagues dont forget....

Watch lower league football and u will see that they dont overlap so much.. it tends to be the big hoof or a winger on his own charging down the wing.. so u have time to get over to him and make the challenge without fear of an overlapping full back....

 the thing with Drury is that he still has this mindest somewhat.. it cost us a lot of goals in the premiership last season.. most noticeably the Blackburn home game where the full back has 20 yards to run into as Drury is on the penalty spot..

he needs this mentality coached out of him... how many goals do we concede on hsi side because he is man marking instead of stopping the cross???

jas :)

[/quote]

Drury cost us a lot of goals last season in the Premiership? Are you sure? The one I remember most maybe the third goal Arsenal scored at Carrow Road by Pires was the unforgiveable mistake by Drury, any other than that? I don''t really see it!!!

[0King Juan of SpainddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

A lot of goals we''ve conceded this season have come from players attacking Drury or our right back and then playing the ball inside, rather than crossing it. We have conceded a lot of goals from around the 18 yard line - basically when talented flank players have come inside, catching out our central midfielders, who have been forced out wide to try and cut out the gaps left by Hux and our non-existent right midfielder. This causes our defence to push up flat, covering ground where the CMs should have been, leaving us open to easy through balls or shots from the area - a lot of which Green is unsighted for (check this out on the web - so many shots are ones he can''t see).

In my opinion, that''s why Worthy keeps trying 3 in the middle, in the hope that he can cover this flaw in having Hux, but players just don''t seem very good at keeping to it. And I don''t think this is much to do with either manager or players - we just don''t really know how to play that way in this country. Hux is somewhat unique!

Drury has defended manfully this season, and having Shacks on his side of CDefence has allowed him to relax a little. Flem, slow and old though he is, still has good positional sense and is perhaps preferable in the RB position at the moment as he is much less likely to falter from the line than Colin. It seems to be working at the mo - we look a more solid line, positionally, which allows Doc to do the ''Malky'' side of things... now there was a man who could organise a back line.

OTBC

 

[Foggo_on_the wing 0]

[quote user="Yellow Rages"]

This thread is really designed for the more knowledgable tacticians out there.

...............................squit............................................................

Your theories would be greatly appreciated. The sensible need only apply.

[/quote]

I''m sorry, I normally try to post sensible replies on here, but why are you asking for only sensible replies when you clearly wouldn''t know a good player if you saw one.

Adam Drury has been exceptional for this club, is very rarely given a hard time by anyone despite lack of support from Hux. Don''t give up your day job.

[Yellow Rages 0]

Cheers KJS, some good points to consider.

That has left me thinking this.

I wonder if more goals are scored as a result of playing Hucks, than are conceeded due to playing him.

I think quite a few posters on this thread have said that Drury is under so much pressure because he is so exposed.

Does anybody have access to all of the goals so we can find out?

[0King Juan of SpainddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

I do know that last season Hucks was in the top 5 or 6 for assists in the entire premiership, even despite our lack of goals. Not sure how he''s fared this season. We need a kindly/nerdly statto with access to the goals. I reckon the press office would be able to help - they''d do it if a journo phoned. Any help from the Pink''un to be offered?

[Yellow Rages 0]

Pull your neck back in Foggo.

I''m not slating the man. Read the title again.

Were all just politely have a debate on the issue of  him being so exposed and how he deals with it.

I also happen to think the bow legged battler has been great for us.

You could be great for this board if you calmed down a bit.

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

He was doing exactly the same thing in the Premiership and was eventually dropped. The one position NW does know a lot about is left back!

He does step inside too often but that wouldn''t be such a problem if he reacted more quickly when the ball does go wide (as it inevitably does with such a big, inviting gap). He seems to be surprised when it happens and leaves himself far too much ground to cover to get to the attacking player. It is always a lot easier to beat a player rushing at you. You suddenly have two choices - deliver it early before Drury arrives or take it past him as he''s still moving forward at speed and on the wrong foot.

He looks good in the Fizzy League because there are not so many good right sided midfield players around in this division. One also has to remember that our own lack of such a player means that Drury has had no practice against a good player on that side in training.

I don''t think the Huckerby factor is as important as some might believe. He''s does chase back. He may not be the world''s best tackler but he is often hanging about in that area and probably does as much as a lot of "match winners" in a similar role. Horses for courses. I know which name would go on my team sheet first - although to be fair Drury would be in the first few.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="XXL16"][quote user="jas the barclay king"]

Drury has come from the lower leagues dont forget....

Watch lower league football and u will see that they dont overlap so much.. it tends to be the big hoof or a winger on his own charging down the wing.. so u have time to get over to him and make the challenge without fear of an overlapping full back....

 the thing with Drury is that he still has this mindest somewhat.. it cost us a lot of goals in the premiership last season.. most noticeably the Blackburn home game where the full back has 20 yards to run into as Drury is on the penalty spot..

he needs this mentality coached out of him... how many goals do we concede on hsi side because he is man marking instead of stopping the cross???

jas :)

[/quote]

Drury cost us a lot of goals last season in the Premiership? Are you sure? The one I remember most maybe the third goal Arsenal scored at Carrow Road by Pires was the unforgiveable mistake by Drury, any other than that? I don''t really see it!!!

[/quote]

you need to get the DVD of last season mate..... look at blackburn at home for one example of Drurys wandering.... theres a few more too...

jas :)

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

What a quality debate, at last. I was especially interested in King Juan''s assesment. Good stuff.

[arrdee 2]

the s.n old boy , is right , i twigged drury was no good 2 or more seasons ago his backing off , his last ditch tackle ,giving away a corner is a defeat ,when did he last win a tackle on the half way line ? i went on radio norfolk saying this , i said he was one of worst left backs i had ever seen play for norwich , and that included alan black,well one listner was pulling his hair out ,another wanted me banned from coming on again, well a week later he was dropped , i went on radio norfolk asking if the man pulling his hair out was down to his scalp yet. MATT said he was not embarressed in the prem ,do you not remember arsenal at carrow road?when he deflecked one right into the path of the on coming player ? not clearing, and looking for the ball under his foot when pires had put it into the back of the net ? i cannot believe you of all people MATT said this , Barry fry said he was the best left back outside the prem ,well he did want to sell him ,so we must take that with a pinch of salt , Fry is very shrewd , drury was the worst left back without a doubt in the prem , poor old nigel and norwich had their leg lifted again . do you really think you are going to get anything good from peterbourgh ? and barry fry ?

[canarywise 0]

 No offence YELLOW RAGES my friend but i do not believe you have much tactical knowledge.

  If you ask anybody of authority in football with knowledge of the game they will tell you drurys position when defending is textbook, and that he is only exposed when playing with Huckerby in front of him who neglects his defending duties. Although this all seems to be forgiven when Huckerby goes on a mazy run or produces some magic, with fans forgetting the fact he does not track back and this exposes our consistent left back to the overlap. There is no player in the game who can mark two players at once although drury does have a bloody good try.

 I hope this has answered your question and given you a small insight to a knowledgable fans opinion.