Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Stu Robson

Its not the defence

Recommended Posts

Our problem is not the defence. Its the midfield. Apart from francis what is there. Holt is just there to make the numbers up. Stuart was total anonymous. There is no service to the strikers. We need a Gary Speed in our team.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Have to agree - I felt especially Shackell and Duke box had good games today - there was no fight or creativity in midfield. I think Hucks has given up, Holt not good enough and Francis lost on his own. I have to blame the coaching staff for not seeing this and changing - we know Safri can win and pass the ball well even if he is a bit of a liability. The front players got no service today and spent most of the game defending.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree that our midfield needs 2 or 3 decent players, but Fleming and Edworthy are also in need of urgent replacement. Shax was superb - again! - and Adam Drury seems to have regained his form.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

why did we buy stuart exactly he''s done nothing all season, holt has been a passanger all season, we have no natural width and francis is prone to going awol.

that midfield is really the worst in the league, as is the defence and is the attack. go figure why were getting relegated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Personally i think apart from the goal when stelios could have been closed down quicker, that the defence did very well. I think deano and mckenzie gave there best. Its the midfield NO CREATIVITY, NO BALLS TO STRIKERS, NO DEFENSIVE help. Dont blame defense and strikers

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It''s the whole team. Remember last season when Wilnis said we''ll need 15 new players just to compete in the premiership, everybody scoffed but it turns out he wasn''t far off. The fact of the matter is that we''ve carried the workman like consistency of last season into this season and not signed the kind of players we needed to improve the team. On the whole the players brought in have just kept the numbers up rather than strengthen.

Teams around us have gone forwards, we have gone backwards. All we can hope for now is getting at least one away win and perhaps not finishing bottom of the pile but it''s not looking likely that we will.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I was actually quite impressed by the defence but where were the midfield?

The defence kept clearing it and time after time it went back to Bolton. Isnt out midfield ment to be there.

secondly, in attacks there were no midfielders to put it in the net. About 3 times either McKenzie or Ashton held it up and all it needed was for somebody to take it from them and have a shot but there was nobody there.

The midfield did not turn up today. Defence and attack played fine but neither had any support.

i think its time to drop Holt, iv always thought of him making good hard tackles and getting into them but today he was like a headless chicken.

Shackell was great once again

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Its not the defence?

What game were you lot watching. It was the entire team that let us down.

Strikeforce = ineffective

Midfield = Non existant

Defence = Too deep, too slow, poor

End of.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No I have to agree that the defence were better yesterday.  Not brilliant, but better.  The goal that was scored came from a sloppy clearance from Edworthy but it was a shot that Green stood no chance of saving.  At least we didn''t give away those silly goals from set pieces yesterday.  Losing 1-0 is bad because while game is 1-0 you are always in with a chance, but chance is one thing the Canaries don''t take

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Simple facts are that Flem, Edworthy, Holt and Stuart are either past it, or didn''t have it in the first place.

At the end of the season we need to replace all of the above with younger, better players.

I know they can do a job next season, but our realistic aim is to return to the Prem in 2006-7.

These players won''t be able to serve us then, so we need to get their replacements in and give them a season to bond with the team.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote]Simple facts are that Flem, Edworthy, Holt and Stuart are either past it, or didn''t have it in the first place. At the end of the season we need to replace all of the above with younger, better playe...[/quote]

Unfortunately Dom, our wonderful learning manager has tied Fleming and Holt to 2/3 year contracts, extending them at the seasons start, and no doubt Edworthy, who''s contract expires at the end of this season, will get offered a new one. So it''s either a question of terminating the contracts and having to pay up, or someone coming in to buy them. Hmm.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You''re right, it''s not just the defence. See my recent thread on our midfield

Managers often talk of a spine in a team...and in Shackell, Francis and Ashton, we have a good spine for the future.

However, we do lack creativity, and if we could get a ''Gary Holt'' with creativity and the ability to deliver, we''d be ok. Is Safri the answer? I''m not sure. So this needs to be addressed.

If we cannot find a ''Holt'' type with the creativity, then we''ll have to stick with a Holt/Safri type, and get creativity from wide areas. We have Huckerby on the left, but is that where he is most effective for the team both offensively and defensively? Bentley started to provide creativity and a spark, but realistically he''s not going to be here next season. Jonson is a forward, not a creative midfielder.

Didn''t Worthington say of Huckerby that ''he''s the type of player to be given license to get the ball wherever in the final third'' and do damage? Playing left midfield does not enable Huckerby to do this. The gaffer seems to prefer workman-like efficency and solidity over unpredictability and spark. Jonson is a great example of this: solid and steady, good touch; a neat and tidy player. Never in a million years got the attributes to be a proper winger, but he is solid and does a job protecting Edworthy and keeping things ticking over.

We''ve established the work ethic at the club, now we must ensure that next season, and the season after, we have a bit more flair in the team in the right areas.

The defence should be Doherty, Shackell and Drury for next season, with a good right back coming in (no more than 27 years of age)

Whatever happens, I want at least 5 players out and 5 in.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote]Its not the defence? What game were you lot watching. It was the entire team that let us down. Strikeforce = ineffective Midfield = Non existant Defence = Too deep, too slow, poor End of.[/quote]

The problems start with the manager and coaching staff because they decide who will play and what tactics we should employ. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is not just the defence but again a poor choice from a defender gave the ball back to the opposition directly leading to the goal.  However the game was lost in midfield and on the tactics board.

As Tumbleweed suggested on Friday the way to play Bolton was with a 5 man midfield and as I argued ANY team with a midfield 4 of Holt, Francis, Stuart and Hux is doomed to failure.  I was the same with Manure when insisting on playing Keane, Scholes and Butt together in the European Cup - too many defensive players and at least one uncomfortable out of position dulling their effectiveness - they then got thumped 4-0 by Stoichkovs Barce (happy memories!)

Hux is too weak on the left as a defensive foil leaving the other three stretched.  Stuart is played wide right where fitness and pace are needed to get up and down the wing.   Since he has been at the club it has been obvious that Stuat is not match fit and at 35 does not have great pace - what he does bring to the side is prem ability on the ball making him an ideal candidate for the central midfield - but,as with so many players this season, we waste him by playing him out of position. 

Most teams have a spine of strength (ours of Shax, Damo and Ashton is a good foundation) but we have a spine of weakness to go with it - and that has cost our season - Flem, Holt & Leon are good honest pros who work tremendously hard and cover enormous numbers of blades of grass on a pitch but simply not up to prem football.

Until Worthington can come up  with some tactical astuteness and identify his own squads strengths and weaknesses we will not keep another clean sheet this season.

 

OTBC

 

OTBC

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes it was a shoody Edworthy clearance but it went to the edge of the box on the left wing side.  Stelios can''t use his left foot at all, so why did Graham Stuart not show him the outside and ferry him towards the touchline.

Granted the defence aren''t good enough for this league (although Shackell was excellent and it was nice to see Greeno and Drury back to normal) but the midfield don''t help the team at all.

I have always said that you can''t play Holt and Francis on their own in there.  Everytime any of our defenders have the ball Holt and Damo turn round and run off.  The only ball they then have is a hoof up to Ashton.  Neither of them want the ball, damo only wakes up when the ball is around their box and holt just covers anything that does or doesn''t move.

We have very few people in the team who are comfortable on the ball. I hate Jim Magilton but he always asks for the ball passes and links and keeps it moving.

I know Mulryne is rubbish but at least he asks for it as does McVeigh as does Bentley.  The only way is three in the centre of midfield, a coverer, a get forwarder and a bloke who can pass it.

Graham Stuart is equally as rubbish as Jonson.

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote]Our problem is not the defence. Its the midfield. Apart from francis what is there. Holt is just there to make the numbers up. Stuart was total anonymous. There is no service to the strikers. We need ...[/quote]

well said mate. you''ve hit the nail bang on the head.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

no it wasn''t just the defence on Saturday. Shackell apart the majority of the team were a complete embarassment. I watched the game in a pub in Essex with my 2 sons and was grateful that the volume was turned right down.

personally i feel completely drained and in some ways its a relief that we are certs for relegation because I don''t know if I could face another season like this.

I didn''t see the promotion as an opportunity to gasp in awe at the likes of Arsenal, Man U etc.

Give me the Championship anyday and a chance to see Norwich win a few games. Last season''s away days at Walsall, Coventry, watford etc eclipses anything this season (only Bolton at home has come close).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holt couldn''t get close to his man because he was too slow and Damo wandered around as if he was Phil Mulryne on sedatives. The defence had no chance poor sods, they didn''t help themselves by sitting deep but ha no cover whatsoever with waves of Bolton palyers coming through each one with acres of space.

With such an inept midfield the attackers had no service and weren''t in the game.

Like Zipper said it was obvious to me that we had to go 4-5-1 and take control of midfield. We didn''t and they had the easiset 1-0 win you could hope for.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The defence is A problem, but not the only one. Posters above are right about mid-field failings, but the fact remains that we would not be in our dreadful position but for a string of defensive mistakes - getting out of position, losing shape and drifting concentration. There has been a great improvement since Shackle arrived, not least pace and an ability to challenge for high balls, but mistakes are still made that are heavily punished. Even Greeno has been guilty, and cost us a point or two.

Perhaps we can survive in the Championship with much of the present defence, - we did before, with Malky, but generally our defence just is not good enough, and I include Flem, Doc and Eddy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This thread is a joke. If it wasn''t for our bloody defence we wouldn''t be in the position we are now. I''d say 85% of the goals we have conceded this season have been conceded due to a defensive error. We have the worst defensive record in the league. How is our defence not to blame?

I admit that our midfield is not the best and surely can take some of the blame but its not the midfield''s fault where we are now, staring relegation in the face.

I seem to recall around December-November time everyone blaming the strikers for not finishing all the chances we had. Now everyone is blaming the midfield for not creating ENOUGH chances. That is called contradiction and it just shows some of you fans fickleness on this subject and general support.

Just give the team some slack and let them get on with it rather than slagging them off all the time. It''s pathetic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...