Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
kentcanary

Hoiveld??

Recommended Posts

Anyone know what has happened to Hoiveld? He now seems to be behind Miguel and Cuellar as well as Martin.

A few weeks ago he was first choice.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I find it bizarre Adams has signed 3 centre backs but plays Martin there, despite the fact Martin is a better right back than Whittaker. Last time we were in the championship Martin was quality at right back. Ryan Bennett is back soon and i think him & Turner will be our best partnership at the back. Hooiveld & Turner together will be easily undone against any sort of pace.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="CJRV 2014"]I find it bizarre Adams has signed 3 centre backs but plays Martin there, despite the fact Martin is a better right back than Whittaker. Last time we were in the championship Martin was quality at right back. Ryan Bennett is back soon and i think him & Turner will be our best partnership at the back. Hooiveld & Turner together will be easily undone against any sort of pace.[/quote]

Agree. Signing 3 centre backs but not playing any of them is rather strange. I know there''s the whole ''you need a deep squad'' argument which is true, but to get 3 players in the same position, but then play our best Right Back there is really strange. Whittaker seems to be one of the ''Undroppables''

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
To be fair Whittaker had a good game on Friday. Not as good a full back as Martin due to lack of pace but credit where due, attacked and defended well the other night, works well with Redmond.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Well I think Whittaker is a better right back than martin

I also think yhe only reason martin keeps getting played is because he''s captain

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Whittaker did well on friday;   fingers crossed that level of performance becomes the norm,  rather than the previous 5 / 6 matches.

 

Defensively we were ok with the olsson and martin calamity a major lack of concentration blip.

 

As for hooiveld its hard to see what he has done wrong having not been on the losing side when he has started...  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
There is only one question really.  How many goals are we conceding?  Hardly any is the answer.  So the defence is ok.Martin is a good versatile footballer and could play anywhere on the pitch.  You only had to see him marauding up the pitch on a run right up to the edge of the opposite penalty area on Friday to see that.   He can head, shoot, cross, pass, defend, attack, link well with midfield - and on top of that is the best speaking and intelligent sounding of our players.  He has been made captain because of all those things imo - and that is why he is key to the central defence.   He is not guaranteed a starting place though - but any of the present four will only be dropped imo, if we start conceding goals.   At the moment we are not, apart from the odd one - the main issue is the other end of the pitch and us scoring enough goals.    Injuries can happen as can loss of form.  Hooiveld - and Cuellar and Miquel will have to wait their chance.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Agree with LDC, we don''t have a problem with defence, we''ve conceeded more than 1 goal on only 2 occassions this season.

Martin is a quality centre back, sick of hearing he''s too short to play centre back etc when he''s taller than R Bennett!!!!

Whittaker is coming under some unfair criticism, had a couple of dodgy moments but on the whole he has been fantastic, offers us a good attacking motive, Olsson needs to start learning from Whittaker as Olsson has been our worst defender this season,.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well done Ellis for pointing out that our defence is NOTthe weakness that many make it out to be. It has the third most frugal defensive record in the league to date, with only Wolves and Wednesday slightly better.Martin is, IMO, a much better central defender than many make him out to be as well and is not a Scottish international regular for nothing. This may not be the highest acclaim, but some very decent defenders in this league are denied caps by his presence in that team. Strachan and Adams are not daft after all.Whittaker had a very good and very involved game, both at the back and coming forward, on Friday yet some still singled him out as a weakness. There has to be a scapegoat, even when we win.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
If it ain''t broke...?

Obviously, any injury to Whittaker/Martin will leave the door open for another CB to come in, and we are only a third of the way through a very long season.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Agree, we are not conceding many so why change. Neil has built a squad that can cope with injuries as they arise and also to provide competition for places. All good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The main defensive problems have been tactical and to do with getting caught on the break whilst attacking very defensive sides. If we were able to attack teams which park the bus in a less risky way then the worst of our defensive lapses would disappear. To do that our midfield needs to be better at shooting and our close passing up front needs improving.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
How many of the goals we have conceded have been shots from outside the penalty area? It matters not how good, or bad, your defense is for those type of goals.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I do think it is a concern.

A good concern as we will improve.

But to go up from this league in an automatic position you need clean sheets. 13 league goals in 15 matches is probably a little too many and hence why we needed a win, and now a run of wins under our belt.

The aim this year is promotion we should be playing as a team with that on show every minute of a game and noting to our opposition that we have the capability and will get over the line in every match.

This defence would not be comfortable in the premiership it may be steady in this league and this is with teams who are being here parking a bus. So their few attacks are leading to goals, we may be going forward but we do need to get organised and tighter at the back. It is constructive criticism for this season.

But if we go up, which is what we need to do, we will need to look at a right back and two centre halves if we are going to play this style of football. I think turner is good enough but we need three quality centre halves. The lad from arsenal needs some game time, fa cup, and Martin can be cover.

This season not so much of a major concern in regard to personnel, but next season there is if we are playing in the top flight.

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...