Whittaker out and we leak goals for fun !

[The Judge 0]

It''s no coincidence that since Whittaker has been injured we have started to leak goals which inevitably has led to us losing games. I appreciate Russell Martin has chipped in with a couple of goals in the last two games but he is in the side to defend and I''m sorry but he simply isn''t up to it.

Losing Ruddy to to injury clearly hasn''t helped either but if you look at the stats for the season so far our unbeaten run came when Whittaker was in the side.

I was surprised at CH''s decision to drop Garrido today and not replace him with our other left back - Tierney. Instead he moves Russell to LB where he is just as weak as RB !

The sooner Whittaker is back the better or if its a long term injury we should be looking to strengthen in that position in the window - loan for Naughton ?

[Gingerpele 0]

He''s only missed two games hasn''t he?

And we have been leaking goals since Everton, most of the games. Since then Whittaker has played in. It''s Ruddy missing that''s the problem.

And I assume you haven''t seen Spurs play lately as Naughton has been starting a few.

[Gingerpele 0]

Ok 3 1/2 games. In that time we''ve conceded 7, in the 3 1/2 games before his injury we conceded six... Huge difference, and add in the fact Martin has scored treble the amount of goals in that time, personally I think your point isn''t right.

[The Judge 0]

I believe he went off injured in the West Brom game - since then we haven''t won a game. Appreciate 2 of those games have been Chelsea and Man City but if you look at the start of the season when he was injured as well and RM was in the team - the results and scorelines are there for everyone to see.

Our defence is much stronger with Whittaker in it and the back up isn''t good enough.

[Gingerpele 0]

That''s hilarious, how on earth can you blame Martin... He''s better than Whittaker defensively, gets back from attacking a lot quicker and has scored more goals than him.

[Cantiaci Canary 560]

Have we been told anything about his return date?

[The Judge 0]

I agree that defenders scoring goals is a nice bonus (just look at the goals Bassong has got for us) however for me first and foremost defenders need to defend.

I assume you have been to the home games as I have. Stats and results tell you one thing actually seeing what has gone on the pitch is also revealing and we are a much more solid and confident defensive unit when Whittaker is in the side than when Russell is. However Whittaker is injured so we just have to get on with it but I would actually rather see Elliott Bennett given a go at RB rather than Russell because (as you can probably guess) I don''t think he is up to at this level.

It will be interesting to see what CH thinks when Whittaker is fit again bearing in mind Russell has chipped in with the goals recently.

[The Judge 0]

You really think he is better defensively - now that is hilarious!

[Gingerpele 0]

No it''s not hilarious, Whittaker is an attacking FB not a defensive one, he isn''t half as good at holding up players as Martin.

[The Judge 0]

OK ginger - we will obviously agree to disagree. At least we both agreed about The impact of the loss of Ruddy.

Happy New Year

[Morisons Prozac 0]

I normally agree with you Pele but Whittaker is such a step up from Martin defensively it''s staggering. I like Martin but he is only good as back up imo

[AJ 1,232]

Or maybe, it''s because teams have sussed us out and our patched up line-up isn''t doing the things well enough that we were doing before to win games.

Whittakers absence may well change thing, but changing one player in a line-up shouldn''t make our defence turn into a sieve. I think it is more the loss of Ruddy than Whittaker

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Agree in every respect with Prozac. Like Ginger, like Russell but Steve is a quantum leap ahead of Russell

One of the main reasons cited in a discussion on Five Live as to why Craig Levein got the poor results that led to his sacking was the absence from his squad of Steve Whittaker. As I hadn''t seen him play at the time I was surprised but having watched all his home games, I can see it.

[Yobocop 1,105]

Steven Whittaker is in a different league to Russell martin

The sooner we get him back the better

[ZLF 275]

IMO they are both capable players with a nothing between the pair defensively but I dont think either have affected results - with most of the goals leading to our defeats coming through the middle.

would still want to be aiming for a naughton level player in teh medium term