Fraility in defence

[Salopian 1]

It continues. In fact a clean sheet at the moment would be something of a miracle.We have heard all sorts of explanations - zonal marking, Doc or Shacks not up to it, Dury not what he was, Otse O.K. going forward but.., Marshall failures, etc. This is disappointing, and any or all of the things I have suggested could be the reason. It has now happened under our last two managers.Among professional footballers it should surely be possible to build a system where everyone know what he should contribute. Derby ground out promotion by making it hard for others to beat them, and poorer teams have made it difficult to beat them.Perhaps the clue is in PG''s comments. He clearly thinks that players are given instructions and the plan is known, but a failure of concentration means momentary failure, which is costly. It should surely be possible to mark opponents properly, and yet they continue to score from unamrked positions.If Dion was the MOM yesterday, although he was not without positional errors, and if the present CDs cannot maintain concentration, then we have either to try the youngsters or find an experienced CD PDQ. PG and Co seem to have been looking at younger defenders, but there are plenty of good potential loan stoppers who could give us a year or two, until we can make better arrangements. Most continental teams  seem to have two good CDs, judging by the trouble the best strikers from the UK have in getting round them. If the injury to Shacks seems to put him out for several weeks, then a loan signing is an absolute necessity.Are we doomed to low table anonymity? To a relegation scrap? Not necessarily! We have two many players who are underperforming, perhaps after injury. I can''t believe that Brellier has nothing more to give, that Cureton will not score a lot of goals, that Huckerby cannot be a winner, that Smith and Fozzy will not make a contribution, that Dave will not come good. I think that we shall play a lot better if we do not suffer so many injuries. But the fact remains that the defence have to smarten up their act, - understand what they are meant to be doing, and then do it for at least 90 minutes! If they can''t, then they must be dropped.

[RobertMack 0]

You make really valid points here and couldnt agree more when you say that PG believes that the plan is known. Now we all know that players can lose concentration, etc but there does not appear to be a clear and consistent plan for the team of belief in a way in playing. Of course tactics change but instilling a prerference for certain approaches whether it be wingers, long ball, man to man or whatever is the responsibility of the manager and where i fel PG falls short as he has no clear idea of howhe wants to play as he has no previous experience of doing it. He should not be allowed to use trial and error at our club.Just one other note, please dont suggest we copy Derby, they still leave a bad taste from last years performanbce and I laughed all the way through their MotD highlights last night.

[tel 0]

Like the comments by Robert Mack and agree the only good think about yesterday (apart from Ipswich) was the Derby result. Wonder if Byfield still thinks he should be automatic first choice for England arrogant *****.  Look forward to seeing Derby (though I suspect not their horrible nasty manager cos he will be sacked), next year. O''h and sorry that is because they will,be relegated we won''t even finish in the top half let alone in a play off slot.