I Think Defence Is Our Problem

[magic_eyes 0]

I believe one of our biggest issues to resolve is our central defence.   We started the season well enough, and to their credit Flem and Charlton looked to have formed a decent partnership.  However, over the last 2 or 3 games the gaps and cracks have started to appear.  

The lack of height at the back presents two problems.  Obviously, defensively this puts us under a lot of pressure from set pieces (I bet Bolton can''t wait to sling a few long throws into our penalty area).   But the other problem is that we rarely seem to present any threat in the opposition penalty area at set plays - remember how many headers Malky used to win.

Flem''s lack of pace has been harshy exposed more recently also.  

IMO we should give Shackell a go instead of Flem, he has done well in the reserves and played well against Newcastle in the Carling Cup.  I believe he also thumped a header against the bar.  Whenever I have seen him play CB he has looked very classy, remember Cardiff at home last year, Earnshaw never got a look in.

I think that would give us the pace and height we are currently missing.

Get this right and stop the opponents scoring, then the number of goals we get at the other end won''t matter so much.   If we give teams 2 goal headstarts, we shouldn''t blame the strikers for not winning the games 3-2.

OTBC

 

[StevenageFan 0]

I agree with that.  You need to build from the back and at the moment we are leaking too many goals, putting loads more pressure on the strikers.  The midfield are also sitting deep to help out the defence inviting more pressure.   The defenders we have in Eddie, Flem, Shacks, Charlton, Drury and Bren are all good players, they just lack organisation sometimes and pace and height is a clear problem, so Shacks would be a good idea.

[Tacklebury 0]

What concerns me is the way we allow the opposition to bring the ball forward to the final third without so much as a single challenge. Also, the school-boy defending of all running towards the ball will one day back fire on us massively - and nearly did last night but thankfully Wright-Phillips'' ball was overhit to Anelka.

Maybe we should play wing-backs. We still haven''t solved the winger problem from last season, and it would allow us to play 3 centre backs. We could also put Hucks in behind two strikers with Holt and Francis covering him.

[norwichtillidie 0]

I agree totaly with you, solve letting in goals, and goals WILL come the other end.

[silver fox 0]

I agree that Shackell should be in the centre of our defence but you have as much chance of Worthy dropping Fleming, as you have of him dropping Holt.  I have regularly heard Worthy say that young Shackell will get his chance, but when he does play him, and he has an excellent game, he is subsequently dropped for the next fixture.  Let us be honest and admit that Worthy is never going to take a gamble and play a promising youngster on a regular basis.  The only reason Bentley plays is because Wenger said he would only loan him out to a club that would play him regularly.

I don''t know how young Shackell must feel, because every report I read about the Newcastle game said he played really well, and his reward from the manager was to not even be included on the bench for the next match.  I know that you have to bring the youngsters along slowly and not burn them out, but most of ours could be drawing their old age pension before Worthy gives them a chance.

Given our financial predicament I wonder what the club would do if another Premiership side made an offer for the likes of Shackell, Henderson, Jarvis or any other promising youngster that we have coming up through the academy. 

[LinkNR9 0]

Craig Fleming has just been awarded a new contract - can you really see Worthy dropping him? He is definitely our weak link at the back at the moment, although this may just be a temporary dip in form. Pairing the youth and pace of Shackell with the intelligence and experience of Charlton would undoubtedly work well. It would also give us some height at corners at both ends of the ground.  

[DDD In The Fine City 1]

[quote]I believe one of our biggest issues to resolve is our central defence. We started the season well enough, and to their credit Flem and Charlton looked to have formed a decent partnership. However, ...[/quote]

Totaly agree with this post, we keep blaming the strikers for not getting enough goals but if you take a look at everton and the amount of goals they have scored its about the same. have a look at their defence and you spot the difference we are conseeding far to many goals and most of the problem is height, its not just a case of winning the header like it was in the 1st division we need to get some sort of direction on the ball so we get it clear and not just to the opponants midfield or deffence so they can get the ball back into the danger area. until we do this we are going to continue to leak goals every game.