Ayala

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Superman wears Grant Holt pyjamas in bed said:
problem is northants, defenders with pace who are also cultured tend to cost about £30m! thats why i suggest balance as we can't have a player who is brilliant at both. not too sure what ayala is like so maybe he could be the answer. whitbread would have to play alongside barnett in my opinion as he is just far too slow. also don't agree with the sweeper. there was a time in the early 90s when it was employed by many teams, including ourselves, but its so outdated now and i've not witnessed a team play it successfully for about ten years. i doubt we will be able to, as you say chelsea away would have been a bout 10-0 had whitbread not come off and a change of system was necessary. three centre halves doesn't work these days. when you think most teams play with one up front - flexible with a 4-3-3 with two wide forwards, its so unbalanced that it does nothing other than see your team penned in and overrun. far better to jam-pack the midfield using two or even three holding players. its not pretty but it adds security. it didn't work on saturday as frankly man city were way too good and we didn't actually play very well. as i state above i feel we are making more problems for ourselves by trying to defend better. we don't defend appallingly but we do make mistakes. however nearly all the teams below 7th make mistakes. far better to play to our strengths which is to get the ball on the deck and attack with vigour down both flanks, using both full backs as well as wingers.
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Not a Beckenbauer but someone who is half decent with the ball at their feet not talking about someone who is going to dribble the ball out and take on the world but someone who can pass the ball and a strong head when there stranded and a forward is charging at them. I agree football has changed but we can experiment from time to time. Wasn't at the game but that midfield wouldn't of been my first choice but I do agree with playing two holding players.

The mistakes have got to stop it's not like we're being let off hook we're getting punished for it. I know I've mentioned cultured centre backs but we need a bit sharpness and awareness more then anything, we'll have five minutes of madness where we look sloppy.
 
northants, there's a reason why nobody plays that role anymore. its cos it doesn't work against 4-5-1-/4-3-3. you are effectively carrying a player when facing those formations. total waste of time as you lose out in midfield <ok>

mistakes wise, i'm not sure its quite as simple as saying 'cut them out'! as i've said, ALL the teams below 7th are making mistakes every game AND being punished. its not just us. i do think we tend to lose concentration a bit but i still believe that the best way for us to defend better is to attack more effectively. face facts, we aren't going to improve at the back massively this season - there just isn't time to do so and we don't have the personnel at the back to be mistake free. not their fault they aren't world class! but the players they are often up against ARE world class and it shows.

when we are playing the top few teams i have no problem at all being more cautious and even attempting damage limitation - its not great but its so easy to get a thumping. however against everyone else i do feel we need to concentrate more on what we are good at rather than think about our opponents too much. i do think lambert has been distracted slightly by trying to combat certain teams like for like.
 
Superman wears Grant Holt pyjamas in bed said:
northants, there's a reason why nobody plays that role anymore. its cos it doesn't work against 4-5-1-/4-3-3. you are effectively carrying a player when facing those formations. total waste of time as you lose out in midfield <ok>

mistakes wise, i'm not sure its quite as simple as saying 'cut them out'! as i've said, ALL the teams below 7th are making mistakes every game AND being punished. its not just us. i do think we tend to lose concentration a bit but i still believe that the best way for us to defend better is to attack more effectively. face facts, we aren't going to improve at the back massively this season - there just isn't time to do so and we don't have the personnel at the back to be mistake free. not their fault they aren't world class! but the players they are often up against ARE world class and it shows.

when we are playing the top few teams i have no problem at all being more cautious and even attempting damage limitation - its not great but its so easy to get a thumping. however against everyone else i do feel we need to concentrate more on what we are good at rather than think about our opponents too much. i do think lambert has been distracted slightly by trying to combat certain teams like for like.
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It depends good article here on sweepers if you want to read it a bit old and unfortunately Terry Butcher get's a mention http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/sep/22/football-tactics-trends. I'm all for it if it's going to be playing for damage limitation sake against teams like Man City not saying you can't attack or not have a midfield, you have to know how to move off the ball and break. Having a spare defender to man mark their main creative output in Man City's case David Silva might be a good thing, you'll be cutting off one of their main supply sources in return you'll be frustrating them.

I'm sure we've moved on as Lambert has said, but that will remain at the back of their minds to some extent. It's not the fact we conceded five goals but the manner we conceded some of them. Your right about our attack, it's the strongest point about our team. I wasn't at the game on Saturday seen the goals, seen the stats and to be honest the scoreline could of been worse so it's not just the defence at fault, since we are against who I'd call the 2nd best domestic football team at the moment behind Barcelona!

We've gone out and played football against Chelsea, Man United, were a bit lucky against Liverpool and Arsenal but I'll take those results, only team I'd gates and dig against would be Man City. I agree but always learning from mistakes too I don't think we've done that with some of our errors but the lads are doing a great job. I'd like to see Lambert find the best midfield I think it's our strongest area but we don't seem to know who'll fit in and where.
 
supernorwich23 said:
FFS poor old Doc, he`s still getting crap:emoticon-0106-cryin
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That is all he is getting - he certainly isn't getting many games for his current team. Mind you the same applies to virtually all the players PL has sold in the last 2 years against the wishes of a proportion of the fans!! I cannot understand the hatred of De Laet. Yes he made a few mistakes but so have the rest of them but the rest seem to get forgiven. If you are looking for pace and/or football ability then surely it is any 2 from Whitbread, De Laet and Ayala.
 
I would like to see a clean sheet, but not if it means scoring fewer goals. We are even on points for ninth place with 16 points from 14 matches. I see that as a cause for celebration not criticism. I don't want to see City playing deep and defending like they did in the first half against Man City. At least we had a go in the second half and scored an excellent goal. 'Never mind the danger' should be the motto and as long as we outscore the opponents in enough matches to stay up, that'll do for me! OTBC!
 
I agree about not sacrificing goals for defending. I think we gave ManCity the game from the off by our formation and it was poor and boring to watch.
We haven't got top defenders but I would like them to clear properly instead of just banging it up the middle. Bang it into touch if you have to. At least you can reform from a set piece but just giving it back to the opposition in their own half solves nothing.
 
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