I certainly do believe that tierney has been a big miss for us this 2nd part of the season and will be glad to see him back in the summer. As for your list, i honestly would only have 2 off that with rodriguez and snodgrass being them! One concern of mine is the fox role, either cover or a better option and i though of the perfect choice for that. Hes only young but when he played earlier in the season he looked terrific in that sort of role and that was the young lad who chelsea bought from barcelona called Oriol Romeu. Hasnt had a look in but may get his chance next year but he is certainly a player that i would take a look at. If we were to invest now (realistic of course) then were we to stay up next year it then wouldnt need to be such a overhaul as we would have decent squad in youth and experiance throughout. But it MUST be done this season unless we will be heading down the flusher!
Exactly! Mentioned this on a number of occasions but felt no one believed what I was saying - nice to have it confirmed that I am not totally losing the plot and someone else can see the same pattern I have noticed for most of the last 11 games
Only two...? I think james Tompkins and Adrian mariappa are far better than what we have, but each to their own. Joe Bennett is a quality young left back with good pace.
Yes, Tierney has been a big miss and look forward to seeing him playing again next season, as not only was he good defensively, but he could also put in a telling cross from the wing. Also looking forward to seeing Ayala and Whitbread back in the heart of the defence, to hopefully limit the 'goals against' total next season. I'm not convinced that RM has what it takes to play at RB in the Premier league, as he's beaten too often by pace for my liking. Just a personal view, but I hope I don't have to witness Morison in 'yellow and green' again - I know he has scored some vital goals for us up to and including the winner at QPR, but since then, he seems to have completely lost the desire to work for the team. I remember how he terrorised the Swansea defence when they came to Carrow Road, but something has gone very wrong with him. I'm sure it will be an interesting summer to see the players PL gets in 'to give the lads a hand' and who he considers to be 'surplus to requirements'.
I must admit that I viewed yesterdays game from a different perspective. My brother in law is visiting and watched the game with me and made an interesting comment. He's in the merchant navy so doesn't see much football anymore and he said he thought there were more goals being scored nowadays. And I think that observation summed it up. Defences are overall, pretty poor nowadays and ours is as poor as anyones. There just aren't the Watson/Bruce or Linighan/Butterworth combinations around anymore. We looked terrible defending yesterday, not only with another dreadful showing from the centre backs but the defensive midfield cover. That of course shouldn't detract from a near world class performance from an undoubtedly talented striker. Leave the racism and diving slurs out of it and you have a great player. He was awesome, his second goal was as good a confident finish as you will ever see and the vision for the third was breathtaking. We have stayed up because we have beaten the teams around and below us by scoring more goals than them. But yesterday, we didn't really ever look like scoring. And I think that was one of the reasons for such a rotten performance. Liverpools confidence must have been at an all time low yet we gave them time to build and build from the back because their back four was so comfortable. Why was Holt on the bench after he scored a goal against them at Anfield which was a header from width. We named two widemen and Morison. To be fair to Morison, I don't think he got a decent cross in the box all game. But to be honest I don't think he is up to it as a Prem striker. His control is poor so his value is in the box and he never got a decent ball. Vaughan battled well but with the class showing going on at the other end, our strikers looked pedestrian. Even though they had some awful passes to deal with. Next season, and with luck, we can probably muster a reasonable back four with Naughton, Tierney, Bennet, Whitbread/Ayala plus Martin. And I believe if we stop the tinkering, a four of Pilks, Bennet, Howson plus a new signing or two and two new strikers, one of whom ought to be strictly a finisher not the strong hard working types we have in abundance, then I think we still have a show. And leave them to play together and form an understanding and create a side that will be hard to break into.
Bravo sentiment is where our fans get it so wrong. I bring the case forward for the defence again. Sloppy mistakes made and why did we play the offside trap yesterday? Which Suarez is an expert at beating.
I agree that more goals are scored now, but its hard to say if it because defences are worse. I feel much of it is due to the game been structured in favour of the attacking team. I'm sure more penalties and free kicks are given know providing more opportunities to score. While the art of defending seems somewhat undervalued and even if you put in a tackle that gets the ball you can be penalised for "excessive force" (possibly the most stupid rule ever written). Maybe defences will in a few years adjust to the newer form of the game and seem very strong again, who knows?
You may have something there. There are as many defenders in a team as attackers and their art should be appreciated. But they are not practising their art particularly well at the moment. Maybe the game will change again. All things are cyclical.
I think that the defence has been pretty awful the last part of the season, it is not hardly surprising given the fact that a partnership has been unable to be formed due to the constant chopping and changing due to injury. You have to remember it hasn't been all that long since ward was sidelined with an injury and was out for months now he is back he has to play with someone he has never played with before. It is hardly surprising we are shipping goals at the rate we are. We lack pace in the lb and rb positions when Naughton doesn't play and playing the diamond leaves our centre backs exposed as shown yesterday when fox lost the ball on halfway. The wing backs were pushing too far up the pitch and couldn't get back to cover when we lost the ball. You need REALLY pacey wingbacks to play a diamond in the prem because of the high line you play, if you lose the ball you are vulnerable to the counter more than if you play a 4-4-2 standard. I think Tierney has been a big loss, we looked better when he and Naughton were on the wings. I think we need to look at l/b and r/b in the close season especially if Naughton is leaving us. I also am not so sure about the defence simply because I think we have good defenders, like Whitbread, Ayalla and Bennett but I'm just not sure if they can stay injury free for a season. This is of massive concern as if we fail to score as many next season and the defence gets crocked we will be up **** creek. It's put up, or shut up time now for the board. Investment in the squad is needed and some hard decisions have to be made regarding some of our current players, the momentum of seasons past is fading and the late goals have dried up we need to strengthen to maintain our premier league status.
Well said, it's unbelievable some of the responses on this forum when the defence is mentioned. We've been absolutely awful at times and with the injury situation we need decent cover we have a lot of error prone players in that area on the pitch, too many sloppy mistakes you can't get away with them at this level they're ruthless.
