5 reasons why we shouldn't be THAT bothered about losing Enrique

Weaker, but still very strong.

Everton - Hibbert
Chelsea - Bosingwa
Man Utd - Da Silva

Let's say Enrique is as good as the left backs of these three teams (or everyone thinks he is). Hibbert, Bosingwa and Da Silva absolutely piss all over Simpson. And who does Simpson have helping him? Stevie Taylor. Who does the likes of those teams have down the right-centre-back side? Ivanovic? Luiz?

With Enrique, the difference in quality between our left side and right side is far, far more prominent. We may as well have put flashing neon arrows on the pitch showing the opposition which side to take it down.

Simpson is quite average at the moment, and has the big issue of continually backing off. Enrique is substantially better and has Colo alongside him. Compared to other teams, we had a MUCH clearer weaker side to exploit. I fear that despite Enrique's ability, this may have caused more harm than good.

 

That was Willo most of the season!


Also, I think defensively Jose is one of the best around. Going foward he is pretty ****e. It's a myth that he is good. Can dribble yeah, but doesn't really get anywhere. His crossing on the whole is poor. Always hits the first man. His passing is decent... but too many are incredibly sloppy. We'll miss him at the back, but not so much going forward.

 

If we get a good replacement quickly, then there will be minimal damage caused by him leaving, but if we do what Ashely normally does ie. we tried but they didn't match our valuation then we could be in for a stressful few weeks.

 

Im sorry but to say the fact that he was so hard to beat meant our team became weaker is very much the definition of clutching at straws. Although I can see what you are saying and I was one the few people to say he was over-rated when he was here (although we should have got way more money for him)...

But thats like saying Ronaldo goals for Man U a few years back weakened the team as he was marked more so the team had to rely on other players...

It may make you feel better, but there is no avoiding the point, this view is fundamentally wrong!

I agree with the rest of the article.

 

The view is fundamentally right. Prove to me where it's wrong?

Attack is significantly more different than defence. Any attacking player is capable of scoring, so whilst Ronaldo was probably marked more than other players, they HAD to stretch the defence to make sure all of the other goal threats were covered.

In defence, four players make up one defensive line. If you have a strong left and strong right, the opposition will have no choice but to go through at least one of them. However, if you have a very strong left, and a markedly weaker right, absolutely nothing is stopping the opposition from going down the easier right hand side at every opportunity. It cuts out the strongest side of the defense and simply makes it much easier to get through and score.

If that happens, then the weaker side of the defense has to deal with a far higher number of attacks and far more pressure (because the attacks are saturated on one side instead of being evenly balanced out between both sides), so in Enrique's ability, the chance of goals being conceded overall is higher.

There needs to be a good defensive balance. If it's too lob-sided it just causes more harm than good.

 

You should be a coach.

 

Okay so what your saying is our defence is now stronger this season.. Now we have lost Enrique our left hand side will now be weak enough for teams attack down that side too, it will be less lob-sided so they will attack both flanks relieving pressure off Simpson, thus conceding less goals??

Our defence will be stronger as they can get more crosses in from both sides?

 

Yes. That's genuinely my prediction. I think we'll concede less this season.

The quality of the defence is slightly lower, but it isn't all about individual players abilities. It's about how the defence as a unit links up. As weird as it sounds, with a less defensively threatening left back, I think we'll concede less.

However, if the left back turns out to be just as good as Enrique in defensive duties, and the opposition managers eventually twig onto that, then they're likely to just start sending players in Simpsons direction again.

If we want to start seriously pushing forwards, we need to upgrade the defensive unit as a whole. No blatently obvious weak points for the opposition to exploit. Enrique is only useful if players have no choice but to try and go through him. However, they did have a choice last season, a much easier choice, the other side of the pitch.

 

Why would anyone attack down our right because our left was stronger? That would make your attack so one dimensional which would be weaker than attacking from everywhere. Maybe if Enrique was unpassable like totally unpassable it your theory would be feasible.

If we do concede less this season does not mean our defense is better, as it also depends on the opponent as they need to score or not score.

Clutching at straws totally, you must of been dumped a lot to.