Elliot Ward

[Excited Canary 19]

Okay, lets just start this off by saying I am 100% sure I will get shot done for this, but here goes:

When we signed Elliot Ward, everyone was going hyper about how good a signing it was. I stayed quiet; he had been on loan at a few clubs from Coventry and they obviously didn''t see much in him. Apparently he was going to make our defense amazing, unbeatable, well here we are 3 months into the season and it seems our defense is our continous downfall.

I went to both home pre-season friendlies and the Lincoln away one. After them 3 I still wasn''t convinced, and I started a thread voicing my concern. Obviously, no-one took much notice and it took us to the first game of the season. He was awful. Clumbsy and it reminded me of Nelson''s debut.

Now, most fans love Ward so he must be doing something right but I have now seen 7 games where he has been involved and believe it or not I''m still not convinced! Donny away he was run ragged, Hull at home, poor, yesterday, poor. Barnett makes him look rubbish and I can''t help but think Ward may held some of the blame for the sloppy goals we gave been conceding. Against Cardiff everyone was going on about how it wasn''t a penalty, and although it was harsh, the ball hit him from quite a distance and unfortunately they are given nowadays.

Yesterday evening, he was hopeless in the air. One more obvious moment when he totally mis-timed his header to let their player through and if it wasn''t for Ruddy (my MOM) we would have lost. He just looked lost out there, slow and didn''t seem to care half as much as the loanee beside him.

It may be that I have just seen lots of bad games from him, and he is actually a gift from god as some fans seem to think but I- and I reiterate this is just my opinion- am far from convinced.

I know we don''t have the funds to get anyone better in and that he won''t be dropped or anything because Lambert obviously rates him. However, signing Barnett is a must. A special mention to R Martin who has proved the critics wrong the season and pull off yet another exceptional performance last night.

My hard hat is on, I pop my head up from the trenches, now for you too fire away...

[Excited Canary 19]

No-one agree/disagree?

[Morisons Prozac 0]

There''s no point anyone proving you wrong as you will just come out with the pathetic line "it''s only my opinion".

[Liam 0]

Would you rather have askou there?

[kilroyslefteyebrow 0]

He may not be the best center back, but he is the best we have at the club who is available.

Do some people seriously think that players go out to deliberately play badly? We should give them a break.

[Essexiled Canary 0]

In response to your point, he is more than good enough for this level.I think a bigger question appears to be leadership in defence. It is no coincidence that we continue to concede from set pieces. Noone is taking responsibility for organising the defence, so we have a situation where we have a good bunch of individual defenders but no cohesive unit (Mackay, Fleming et al). Case in point would be the goal we conceded last night - where was the defender on the post where the goal went in?You can see this at every set piece - during one corner last night there was no defenders on either post. The question is, who is going to take that role on?

[Excited Canary 19]

Crofts No.1 fan...that''s a bit harsh....I wouldn''t have done the post in the 1st place if I didn''t want a debate would I you idiot?!

[GJP 79]

I like Wardy a lot but as I said on another threat recently...Gary Doherty would be slated for someone of the things Ward does that are seemingly acceptable just because he is Elliot Ward and not Gary Doherty.

 

But then I wouldn''t slate them for those sorts of things anyway because I like them both as players and I know they''re both good players.

 

If you look at it we signed Doherty from a big club where he had been doing pretty well up until he broke his leg. Yet some people thought "Oh, we''re signing some big ginger oaf who is a reject at Spurs, he obviously isn''t going to be good enough and can''t play football". Yet the whole bloody reason he was at Spurs was because he was doing very well - up until his leg break.

 

But funnily enough, when we sign Elliot Ward who was frozen out at Coventry and loaned out to other Champs clubs before signing for a club promoted from League 1 it''s the same kind of people who are saying things like "great defender, calm and composed, can play the ball out from the back" In other words they''ve already decided they will like him before they''ve seen him play.

 

Again, look at Russell Martin, there were plenty of people who decided that because he wasn''t in at PBoro he clearly wasn''t going to be good enough.

 

Anyway, I''m pleased we''ve got Ward and I think he''s doing pretty well but I''d be very worried if we didn''t Leon Barnett in there with him.