Defence v Derby

[a1canary 0]

Don''t know if this has been said but Derby''s goals were poor ones to concede. Zak lost Davies badly for the first while for the second there are 4 city men between Bueno and the goal when he shoots. We defend like that in the next two games and we''ll leave ourselves needing 3 goals each game. Can''t we just have a boring 1-0 for once?!

[Aggy 755]

Whitbread isn''t good enough. I''m from Nottingham, so a lot of my mates were at the Forest match - I deliberately didn''t tell them anything about my views on players because I wanted their independent views - Hoolahan dives too much but was the best player on the park apparently and the only negative thing they said about us was that Whitbread looked slow and clumsy all the time. Which is fair I think.

[Sing Up The South Stand 0]

Never thought I''d see you on here aggy (im bparkin1988)!!

I''m not sure I agree, at times I think he''s been class. But has been poor of late, maybe he''s getting tired having played almost constantly since he came back from injury with Barnett being injured. Still a better choice than Edwards imo.

[CanaryJames 0]

Whitbread not good enough? Sorry, but 99% of the time he oozes class! Admittedly, he wasn''t at his best on Monday, but he was outstanding against Forest and Ipswich I thought.

It''s incredible how well he''s done this season considering he''s played nearly week-in, week-out since returning from a year on the sidelines as well.

If he''d been fit all season, he''d be right up there in the POTY stakes.

[judderman 0]

I like Whitbread and want him to be brilliant for us, but I agree with what Aggy said. I think Whitbread has been off the pace for a month or so.  Hopefully it is tiredness after coming back from injury.I''m remembering the QPR 1-0 win where he was solid as a rock for the entire game and nothing went past him. Compared to that I think he''s been very poor. He still wins a lot in the air, but there''s a lot of times when he should be winning it in the air and he''s nowhere near the challenge. And every match I''ve seen for some time recently he''s been beaten in key places where he really shouldn''t have, at least 3 times leading to opposition goals

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Perhaps he is carrying an injury because he suffers in one on ones lately although his bravery in the air cannot be questioned.

[211203 0]

Whitbread did look very static for the first goal and left Tierney stranded with two Derby attackers from a pretty straightforward ball into the box.

 

But he was subbed soon after with a thigh injury which could be the explanation.  Given that our best CB has been out for the past few months I think it would be harsh to knock him - I''m hoping Whitbread will be back for Monday.

 

For the second goal, yes the striker should''ve been closed down a bit quicker, but he got the shot away just before a couple of challenges came in, and I suspect Ruddy was unsighted.  We do need to be sharper at Pompey though.

[Shack Attack 0]

Both Ward and Whitbread look troubled by balls played into the channel between them and the full back position. This was a particular problem in the first half against Forest and to a lesser extent against Swansea. I posted after the Forest game that I wasn''t sure whether this was down to a general lack of mobility from Ward and Whitbread or a consequence of the diamond formation (the full backs are forced to stay wide to compensate for our lack of width in midfield and therefore cannot provide cover for the centre backs). I suspect it is a combination of the two and as the other central defenders on our books are probably even less mobile and we are unlikely to change formation any time soon you''re probably not going to get too many routine 1-0 wins!

[Salopian 1]

I think that it is a collective habit to shadow a player rather than tackle - a half hearted tackle allowed the Ipswich goal.

Why do they back off? Is it in part that we are such an attacking team, almost scoring goals for fun and with backs getting forward leaves defednders exposed.In trying to sehpherd oppoonents are they trying to delay until one or two midfielders can get back?

The promotion under Worthington had a philosophy of "Doesn''t matter how many we concede so long as we score more". Perhaps one or two of our defenders will be found out for pace, but they can have presseure on them when a 4-4-2 becomes in effect a 4-1-3-2, and even the one midfielder, Crofts or Fox, gets into advanced positions.

It should also be said about the goals scored from distance,and Ipswich had several long range attempts, that Ruddy can get his angles wrong. He will improve, but even the best keepers will concede goals from range, but it must be true that keeping strikers outside the penalty area will reduce their chances..