Totally agree. Bring in a defensive coach who can teach the basics of defending, how to set up from corners/free-kicks, mark the man and stay goal side, identify who leads the defence. It's not rocket science!
"We won't get relegated", I wish I could be so sure. Many a team playing lovely football have gone down because they couldn't take their chances, and couldn't defend adequately.
The first thing on my shopping list in January if I was Warburton would be a decent enforcer. The first thing on my shopping list in the Summer if I was Ferdinand would be Nigel Pearson.
Not sure a midfield enforcer would make that much difference. Two decent full backs and a good centre forward would be a big improvement imo. Having said that I realise that we are financially restrained, so Warburton has to find a way to defend better, even with our very average defence. At least then we may have a better chance of at least getting a draw from games we dominate. Maybe it's time to try 3-5-2?
Just seems such an unpleasant fella. Of course maybe that's media portrayal to a degree. Or maybe we need someone with that sort of edge. At the moment, the team are playing really well for MW. We just need that extra little cutting edge. However, if we lose BOS in January, that's potentially a game changer.
Unless we get really desperate, rather than getting hysterical over two narrow defeats to probable top six teams, it would feel a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water to then sit through the grind of maybe rather than definitely scraping some wins playing dour football and stunting the development of our young players we need to kick on to be sold for the very survival of the club.
The morning after... Mmm still not happy. I said after Brentford game that we played well. We did in the first half last night but game should have been over by HT. We once again missed a hat full of chances. Dykes reminds me of Brett Angel. Can take a good pen but slow and missed two good chance that a mobile striker would have put away. He had a first touch of Jack the Ripper as the game went on. Every attack seem to come From BOS. When he goes in January we will be f##ked so we need as many points as we can get. He frustrated me in the second half trying to take on everyone when a top player would have passed. Our defence is shocking and we don't have a plan B when the the opposition decides to score. Frustrated again that we are making the same bloody mistakes week after week.
Warnock was no choir boy either. I’d let Pol Pot manage us for a season if he gets us promoted. Maybe not.
I’d like a good defensive midfielder able to spoil opposition attacks and protect the defence some more. Yeah, our defence is pretty poor and there’s quite a bit to improve, but I’d like a Derry or suchlike to do the unattractive stuff effectively. Don’t think we have that right now, certainly not good enough.
I don't think there's anything wrong with Dykes as a centre forward. He's no world-beater, but he's much better than Hugill for example. His hold-up play is good and he puts himself about, but the problem for him is that our passing game doesn't really suit him as we don't hit balls to him out of defence and rarely get crosses in to him. I'm not saying we should change our style of play, which I like, but Scotland get much more out of him - he's a national hero up there. For a club with our limited resources, we were unlikely to get anyone better.
I reckon at the earliest possible in January we need to get in someone who can anticipate where to be in and around the box when we get forward, and who can regularly hit the back of the net. Probably an impossible ask. On loan maybe. Dykes doesn't seem to be in the right places often enough, and Bonne doesn't seem to have the skills or the hight, muscle or speed for it. Love to see them improve and prove me wrong.
I have to disagree, I think Spurs acquisition of Hoijberg has highlighted how effective a screener can be protecting a vulnerable defence. We're far too exposed to be counter attacked when we employ a high press and it's very difficult to play a press every game in this league and maintain the required energy levels over a season. We need to be a bit more coy away from home to turn some of these losses into draws at the very least. Don't have the required personnel at present to achieve this. You're not wrong re: a CF, although we have to hope that young Kelman comes good as the premium rate for an Ivan Toney is an absurd £10m.
It's really strange the "wall" situation. I haven't noticed if this has happened all season or not. There was no wall for Brentfords 2nd goal which was frankly bizarre based on where the free kick was, then last night a wall of 2 for Nakhi Wells' free kick which just missed. In both cases we made it exceptionally easy for the player to place the ball exactly where they wanted. Is it Dieng that decides this?
There is a huge amount of doom and gloom on the various forums but I feel a bit of perspective is required...... We've played Watford, Brentford and Bristol City in the last 2 weeks, all of those are in the top 6 and have huge budgets at their disposal, Watford via parachute payments, and the other 2 via selling on players that they identified and paid small amounts for and then sold for big sums. Both Brentford and City have state of the art stadiums and training facilities, paid for by their buying and selling approach. Lets face it Brentford should be in the Premier League now but for an almighty bottle job last season. Yet we outplayed those sides for long periods and we were certainly worthy of a point from each game, but that's the nature of this division, there are sides who know how to win and do just enough to achieve that and it will be no surprise to see Watford, Brentford and Bristol City fighting for automatic promotion come May. We're not a bad side, we just need to sort out a few minor bits and pieces. People are pinpointing individual mistakes but their first last night came from a deflection right into Naki's path, without the deflection Wallace clears.......the 2nd people complain about the pass from Dickie, yes it was a tad short but it was closer to half way than goal and they still had a huge amount to do to score. We were back in our defensive formation, but they get a bounce from a mis control by Naki that falls to a team mate, I can see my Ball dives in as he's attempting to block the shot, the same way their defenders dived in to block shots, however their lad showed great composure to move the ball and then shoot after creating the opening........give him some credit. Other than that there wasn't much between the sides over the whole match, we played really well for 40 minutes, they had a purple patch either side of half time and took advantage, then it was game management, but we still had chances..... BTW Naki cost more than our entire squad last night, the same with Toney at Brentford....... Here's the Bristol City manager's view and he is really complimentary to us...... It really isn't all doom and gloom. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/every-word-dean-holden-bristol-4755907
