Are the full backs our biggest problem?

[Shack Attack 0]

Last month I suggested in another thread that there was a strong case for suggesting that full back was one of the most important positions on a football field these days. See below.

http://www.pinkun.com/cs/forums/1/1579919/ShowPost.aspx#1579919

I was reminded of this when reading this excellent blog* by Jonathan Wilson on Guardian Unlimited today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/25/the-question-full-backs-football

This got me thinking further as to whether, despite the fuss made about the lack of a target man for most of the season, the question marks over our central defender or a lack of creativity post-Hucks, it is a weakness at full back which is causing most of our problems. As few sides play with out and out wingers and even teams who play 4-4-2 rarely play wide midfielders who stay high up the field it is the full backs who most regularly have space in front of them. Have our full backs made the most of this or are we in effect giving the oppositions wide midfielders an easy ride by not having two full backs who are prepared to take the game to our opponents.

I don''t get to too many games these days but a lot of people here seem to have been quite critical of Otsemobor this season and Bertrand doesn''t appear to be the same player he was last year. Could this go some way to explaining our poor record this year?

* Even if you don''t feel compelled to reply please take ten minutes to read the blog. It makes a refreshing change to see something in the media that actually tries to explain why things happen on the pitch rather than obsessing with the celebrity of individuals.

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="Shack Attack"]

Last month I suggested in another thread that there was a strong case for suggesting that full back was one of the most important positions on a football field these days. See below.

http://www.pinkun.com/cs/forums/1/1579919/ShowPost.aspx#1579919

I was reminded of this when reading this excellent blog* by Jonathan Wilson on Guardian Unlimited today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/25/the-question-full-backs-football

This got me thinking further as to whether, despite the fuss made about the lack of a target man for most of the season, the question marks over our central defender or a lack of creativity post-Hucks, it is a weakness at full back which is causing most of our problems. As few sides play with out and out wingers and even teams who play 4-4-2 rarely play wide midfielders who stay high up the field it is the full backs who most regularly have space in front of them. Have our full backs made the most of this or are we in effect giving the oppositions wide midfielders an easy ride by not having two full backs who are prepared to take the game to our opponents.

I don''t get to too many games these days but a lot of people here seem to have been quite critical of Otsemobor this season and Bertrand doesn''t appear to be the same player he was last year. Could this go some way to explaining our poor record this year?

* Even if you don''t feel compelled to reply please take ten minutes to read the blog. It makes a refreshing change to see something in the media that actually tries to explain why things happen on the pitch rather than obsessing with the celebrity of individuals.

[/quote]

 

Good post Shack. I''ve been very critical of Semmy this season, and have also felt that Plastic has not lived up to his promise of last season. However, they have both come into a bit of form in the last few games, and I think that there''s a reason for that. They are both good going forward, and Semmy''s pace makes him potentially devastating, but I don''t think that''s where the problem has been this season. Although we started with two experienced centre backs in Steffy and Kennedy ( a left and a right footer crucially), that didn''t last long and since then we''ve had many games with fullbacks, in the form of Omo, Drury and Grounds, playing centre back. Inevitably they don''t have the natural positional sense of a "true" centre back and get caught out of position. In a standard 4-4-2 the fullback on the opposite side to  play should tuck round to provide cover for his centre back as the back four pivots as a line. However, Omo particularly tended to ball watch leaving a lot of space behind him which Semmy then had to cover. The same is true of  the other two to a lesser extent. On Plastic''s side another issue was the failure of Hooly to give cover when we were defending, often leaving his full back (Plastic or Grounds) with three men coming at him on occasions (the Bristol City and Coventry games spring to mind).

This does nothing for the fullbacks'' confidence and means that they are more worried about covering their centre backs than concentrating on their game. What''s more, if you''re worried about being overrun defensively you''re going to be reluctant to fully commit  forward

To me, the fact that we have now re-established two "true" centre backs ( a right and left footer, by the way) gives us balance that we have lacked since Steffy''s unfortunate injury, and that, in turn, is rebuilding our fullbacks'' confidence. Simples[:D]

[Lambo 0]

I think it''s the full backs that are our most vunerable area when we''re on the back foot. Both can be great full backs on their day but like the rest of the team haven''t delivered the goods this season for one reason or another.

[Yellow Shirt 17]

Our most successful wide pairing recently was Hucks and Drury I''d have said. McVeigh and Helveg worked well on the other side at times but it was the clear definition of roles (Hucks attacking, Drury defending) that I feel led to the reletively solid feel down that side.Full backs didn''t dare bomb on as they knew if Huckerby got the ball they had to be in position and Drury could comfortably do the same knowing he didn''t need to get ahead of his midfielder.I remember the days when Bowen and the likes were wide at the back for city and the oposition would be pullled wide defensively leaving holes to exploit in the middle, because they would come forward. Maybe the key is really what we were always taught... play to your strengths and not your ideals. When there are pacy wide men who cant tackle for toffee stick a solid full back in who won''t get caught out of position... when you have a tricky playmaer who drifts around but isn''t quick, get a wing back in and make sure there is a holding man in midfield who can get back to cover if all else fails.Maybe? ;)

[Robert N. LiM 4,238]

Really interesting thread. I don''t have much to add except that Semmy has been getting forward more recently, possibly because he''s recovered from this mysterious illness people have been going on about, possibly because we now have two centre-halves.

The blog you linked to was fascinating. It''s just about the first piece of football journalism I''ve ever read which is about tactics, which, given how much coverage of football there is everywhere, is quite staggering. I guess people just prefer to read about how wonderful Stevie G is every other week...

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

4 weeks ago I would have agreed but since Butterworth worked his magic Berty and Semmy have both been back to near their best, Berty in particular...the summer will bring new problems a lack of cover at right back and only an injury prone Drury at left back...personally I''d be delighted if we signed Berty on a permanent.

[Jimbo_Jet_Set 0]

To me it''s no coincidence that our recent mini upturn in form has coincided with a massive improvement from both Semmy and Bertrand.

To me it''s a crucial position, especially in the Championship, as they are often the "out" ball for a team.

Infact with all of this talk about scraping together the money to buy Shackell, Gow etc I would suggest that a permanent deal for Bertrand would be the best if the lot. To my mind he is the type of young, quality, ambitious player we should be looking to bring in- all of which means we haven''t got a cat in hells chance of signing him!

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"] The blog you linked to was fascinating. It''s just about the first piece of football journalism I''ve ever read which is about tactics, which, given how much coverage of football there is everywhere, is quite staggering. I guess people just prefer to read about how wonderful Stevie G is every other week...[/quote]

There''s a whole load of his stuff here http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jonathanwilson if you''re interested. I''ve posted links to some of his blogs before and tried to shoehorn an NCFC angle in to it but people don''t seem that interested. If he wrote a blog about accountancy I''d be laughing [;)]