I will totally agree that there has been visible signs of improvement in many areas but our defending has missed the point. Ranting on about it achieves nothing but surely our defensive meltdowns are clearly visible from the moon but still we stumble in late stages of games. The time has come for a change of attitude which is solely down to Nigel when push comes to shove and I like others wonder if a change in captaincy needs to happen. Although I will agree that goalkeepers get a good overall view of the pitch I think the heart and leader of the team needs to be more central or even in the back line. Yesterday, like many times before, I saw what I thought were far too many players with legs flailing and falling all over the place seemingly getting in each other's way which creates panic and goalkeeping indecision. Someone else used my term of Row Z and yet we still want to show our ball skills in our defensive third of the pitch when an organized team would automatically know that this is the time to use hoofball and then follow it upfield. Falling back when we are leading continues to happen and I have lost count of how many points we have thrown away using this tactic and until it is removed from our game we will fall afoul of our weaknesses. We are better, no doubt, but getting rid of our demons will make us even better considering nearly all coaches, at any level, when it reaches the final throes of a match will bellow - get rid of the bloody ball and put it in the parking lot.
