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Michael Bates

Anyone else concerned about defence AGAIN??

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Before i get totally shot down and people say 3-clean sheets i would like to mention that the last few teams we have played are the teams who will be struggling for points this season. I am a little worried that once we face the Charlton and Leeds teams we will get well and truly battered to pieces if we continue to defend like we have. I really do hope Lambert manages to find a young Premiership/Championship gem out there who can join us on a season long loan. Because he obviously doesn''t rate Doherty and that then leaves us with just Nelson,Askou and Spillane with the latter in my opinion better at fullback.

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More than a little concerned, if Lambert does one thing as soon as loanee window open. In my opinion it is find a centre back to play alongside Askou, he clearly doesn''t rate Doc (I agree with him), Nelson should never have made it into the pro ranks, I have never seen a worse footballer in yellow n green ever and I don''t say that lightly.Spillane is my choice at centre back until another person is found.

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Only three clean sheets because of the opposition. When they play MK and Charlton or anyone with firepower it will be different story. The two matches I have seen Nelson play he has been very poor indeed....at least three basic mistakes each time...punished by Col U, NOT punshed by Walsall, but just as easily could have been.

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I have my concerns, especially about Nelson, but I suspect we''ll be in a better position to judge once we''ve played the next two matches against stronger opposition.  From all the noises coming out of Carrow Road, Lambert and Culverhouse have done a lot of work so far on "team" defence.  I suspect that is one of the reasons why we suddenly seem far less creative.  Lambert has also said that the current squad need a "bit of help" and that he would like to bring in a few players to do this.  I would be amazed if that didn''t include at least 1/2 defenders. 

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In their defence the two CB`s won virtually every header and i think Askou is decent as this level.  Nelson whenever the ball was on the ground was,well, very worrying.....

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Nelson missed quite a few headers as well and although i was impressed with Askou who won most of his, his positioning worried me at times getting under the ball and really having to stretch to reach it although this is something that can quite easily be rectified unlike Nelson unfortunately

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[quote user="Michael Bates"]

Before i get totally shot down and people say 3-clean sheets i would like to mention that the last few teams we have played are the teams who will be struggling for points this season. I am a little worried that once we face the Charlton and Leeds teams we will get well and truly battered to pieces if we continue to defend like we have. I really do hope Lambert manages to find a young Premiership/Championship gem out there who can join us on a season long loan. Because he obviously doesn''t rate Doherty and that then leaves us with just Nelson,Askou and Spillane with the latter in my opinion better at fullback.

[/quote]

Am only concerned about Nelson and I am sure PL is aware of his weaknesses and will be getting another CB in asap. On a positive note, 3 clean sheets is 3 clean sheets regardless of whom they are against and one of these struggling teams ( Hartlepool ) stuffed Oldham 3 - 0 away Friday night, so its not all doom and gloom.

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As Adams said neither cb played well,  midjudging balls,  poorly positioned and generally looking poor.  Askou was comfortably the better of the two and blocks like those in the second half afetr nelson was made to look like a statue and forster made a meal of the cross shot will endear him to the fans.

However both neither are dominating in the air,  BA is poor on the ground too although not as bad as Nelson and neither retain possession well,  which is why Lambert has told them to hit it long,  better to conceed possession to their keeper back four than in themiddle of the park.

Doc wont appear again - we have to offload him and Hoolahan as they are too expensive.  I can understand the manager thinking that he cannot afford to get used to them playing as he has to succeed without them.  But other players are needed particularly in those two positions - we have no cover left wing in particular,  poor options up front and a hole in the column called central defence.  Loans needed - and quick 

How times change,  it seems the fans are for this prudence at the cost of ambition in disposing of Hoolahan and Doc...

 

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Sorry ZLF. I''m not buying the too expensive comment regarding Hoolahan and The Do''h.

Adam Drury is the highest paid player in our squad, is he being dropped for being too expensive? No.

The reason that neither is playing is simply down to a clash of personality with the manager.

If this manager needs to succeed at this club he has to put personalities aside and play his best side.

SEE SIMPLES

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The difference with Drury is that we dont have an alternative.  Lappin has been looked at but is not as good at left back,  but has stepped into the left midfield space well eliminating the need for Hoolahoop.   We have ample centre back bodies.

This means we can free their wages,  reducing the wage bill and get in cheaper alternatives.   With drury we would have to release him and sign two more - would that give us any financial savings? 

We do need to budget. Simple as. 

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

The difference with Drury is that we dont have an alternative.  Lappin has been looked at but is not as good at left back,  but has stepped into the left midfield space well eliminating the need for Hoolahoop.   We have ample centre back bodies.

This means we can free their wages,  reducing the wage bill and get in cheaper alternatives.   With drury we would have to release him and sign two more - would that give us any financial savings? 

We do need to budget. Simple as. 

[/quote]

Rhoys Wiggins - Who Should Be Ready To Start Playing Soon [:P] Lets See What He Is Like........

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I too am concerned about the defence. after the performance against Walsall

It was my first look at Nelson and having read the Hartlepool reports was expecting him to build on that performance

I was totally unimpressed,heading ok, tackling ok, looked slow, got turned to easily,quite static. His ball control and distribution was awful.

He could have been responsible for 3 goals and was saved by the Walsall forwards missing the target on 3 occasions.

Normally a clean sheet is seen as a positive for the defensive set up of the team - saturday it was pure luck

Ii think that PL is well aware of this weakness at the back and the midfield was called upon to defend really deep and assist. I am convinced that this led to a really poor visual midfield contribution and thus few scoring chances up front.

I think that Askou is raw, good in the air and quite basic in his clearances and distribution

I know he''s a fall guy on here, but Otsemabor was efficient, he played close to the two CBs ( as asked - no doubt) and showed he would get forward when allowed.

Finally I would play Docherty or Spillane ahead of Nelson ,

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I''m going to go a little against the grain on this one and say that yes the defence wasn''t at the top of its game yesterday, but still did enough to prevent Walsall creating much at all.

A lot of people, me included, said that we needed to start at the back and stop conceding, and that does seem to have happened - for that, Lambert does need to be congratulated....but of course the test will be in the coming games against better opposition.

But a clean sheet is a clean sheet and I can''t recall too many (if any) occasions in the last few seasons that we had 3 on the trot.

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

The difference with Drury is that we dont have an alternative.  [/quote]

Wiggins.. how good is he? we shall have to wait till he plays.

 

jas :)

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[quote user="Branston Pickle"]I''m going to go a little against the grain on this one and say that yes the defence wasn''t at the top of its game yesterday, but still did enough to prevent Walsall creating much at all. A lot of people, me included, said that we needed to start at the back and stop conceding, and that does seem to have happened - for that, Lambert does need to be congratulated....but of course the test will be in the coming games against better opposition. But a clean sheet is a clean sheet and I can''t recall too many (if any) occasions in the last few seasons that we had 3 on the trot.[/quote]

 

Absolutelt right. We had a couple of dodgy moments at the back, but there was always cover when it mattered (ie when Forster palmed out the cross in teh middle of the goal). We got the job done even if it wasn''t always pretty. Big Duncan didn''t often please the eye, but he didn''t give much away!

The bottom line is that we are miles ahead of where we were when Gunn was sacked. There is still much to be done, but with limited resources Lambert will need time. Rome wasn''t built in a day.

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Rome wasn''t built in a day.

 

Reminds me that when someone used that phrase to Brian Clough it provoked: "That''s because I wasn''t in charge of the project YOUNG MAN."[:)]

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

Doc wont appear again - we have to offload him and Hoolahan as they are too expensive.  I can understand the manager thinking that he cannot afford to get used to them playing as he has to succeed without them.  But other players are needed particularly in those two positions - we have no cover left wing in particular,  poor options up front and a hole in the column called central defence.  Loans needed - and quick 

How times change,  it seems the fans are for this prudence at the cost of ambition in disposing of Hoolahan and Doc...

 

[/quote]

I have no reason not to believe this Zip and if it''s true then I really do fear for how low we could fall.

I don''t claim to know which players earn what but it would probably be a reasonable assumption to say that Cureton, Russell and Drury are on comparitive high wages as they were signed on long contracts in 2007. Hoolahan was afforded with losing Hucks wages so he would be too. I would guess that Doc is on less than those because he signed a new deal last season but I would think he''s earning more than the other players in his position.

So if this prudence at the cost of ambition happens then it can only be because Hoolahan and Doherty are the only high earners at the club who are wanted by better clubs. So Hoolahan and Doc will go play in the Championship  for clubs who can afford their wages and we will carry on paying the others because nobody else will. Which looks to me like we are budgeting to stay in League One. Just like when we replaced Earnshaw with Cureton and Etuhu with Russell we were budgeting to stay in the Champs. We ultimately got relegated because the Championship moved past us. Let''s hope lightning doesn''t strike twice[li][li]

 

 

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