Vs Liverpool dribbling out of central defence and getting embarrassed by Suarez? Not just once when youd hope he'd then hoof it clear but on numerous occasions in one game.
i wasn't at that match unfortunately but from remembering the highlights he was out wide at the time when he made the error, wide left cos naughton was upfield. fox was at fault for one of the goals and the other was from the halfway line - not sure you can blame anyone for that! honestly, i've said it before, ward is not my favourite player - i think he is suspect, but he is nowhere near as bad as some are making out and his errors are all errors which could be cut out playing in a different system. he is easily good enough to be cover for others and play maybe 9 or 10 games a season. to replace him would cost a million plus.
I agree with you supers and just don't understand why Ward has suddenly become the hate figure. He is not first choice and he knows it but when called upon I think he has always puts in a shift. He is a decent squad player and, I think, more reliable than Barnett. Mistakes are punished in this league and all defenders make mistakes - remember De Laet. Even Bennett had a couple of nightmares as did Ayala - why do people just remember the mistakes Ward makes?
Far from a hate figure 1950. I don't hate any of our players and would never get on his back. I just don't think he's a PL defender - even as 4th choice! Would rather keep Barnett to be honest behind Turner; Ayala and Bennett. Or shift Martin there full time.
i agree with that elliot ward is at worst a £1m centre half. just put that into perspective for a second - that's a £1m player who is 4th or 5th choice in the position he plays. i don't personally think there was an awful lot between him and whitbread - i do feel zak was the better of the two but the margin between the pair was not a chasm. whitbread wanted out when he didn't get what he wanted; ward wants to be here and is happy to fight for his place. time people got off his back
Spot on Supers Most central defenders made individual errors in games last year that ultimately led to goals against - as it would do when you play in the PL - sometimes in L1 and The Championship you don't get punished by your mistakes, in the PL you do. Ward is a decent CB - he'll never be a Terry, Ferdinand or Lescott (look at what Holty did to those guys last year though) but as for a do or die "solid" CB he's a good enough player for the squad.
It sometimes makes me smile when I read ' X must go or ' Y must stay ' The power is with the player - if he wants to go (e.g. Whitbread and Snodgrass ) he will but if he wants to stay he will even if it means just seeing out his contract. Often this depends on his family for if the family are really settled he will not want to move and will put in an extra shift to stay. Look at Hucks - his family settled and he put in a better shift for City than for any of his previous clubs. As I understand it both Ward and Lappin love the area and to their credit I think it shows in their attitude. I am not his greatest fan but have you ever hear Lappin moan about not being in the team or hear of him not giving 100% in training. Until something better comes along I am happy for Ward to be in the squad.
I was at the game and for the 1st goal, he was trying to play it out of defence and got robbed by Suarez, not quite so bad for the 2nd and you're right, there's nothing anyone could have done about the 3rd. Yes, as you say, he could be good to have in 'reserve' should any of the others get injured and given the choice; would probably prefer to see Barnett sold.
Both Ward AND Whitbread made me nervous for the past couple of seasons. I don't think that Whitbread is as good as others do but I suppose it is all about opinions. Everyone remembers Ward v Liverpool as Suarez scored possibly the best hat-trick I've ever seen, had he not applied world class finishes to all of those chances nobody would remember Ward's part. I am sure we can all recall other defensive howlers from last season from all of our defenders where we weren't punished due to Ruddy or the forward missing but nobody mentions them. Bottom line is can we get a better 4th/5th choice centre back than Ward who is happy to have that role? I suspect not. I can't see the point in shipping him out for peanuts if we then spend much more on someone else to play a handfull of games in the PL and get knocked about in the League Cup. We look like we have another CB and so surely we should focus on getting a RB ans a DM. I am open-minded about LB as I think that Tierney is an excellent 1st choice and Lappin can offer cover (I though he did OK at LB last season when used).
the 2nd goal was definitely david fox's fault cos i'd been praising him all week and then he did that! the first one was ward turning too blatantly out wide left, he was robbed and suarez scored a frankly brilliant goal from a tight angle. anyway, that's by the bye - ward is only going to be back up in all likelihood. as mentioned by 1950 above, he seems to love the area and is happy to stay and fight for a place in our team. meanwhile simon lappin's staying power is astonishing! and to think he was frozen out completely by roeder... disgraceful.
Nothing against Ward at all and wouldnt get on a players back - just a case of, if one CB had to go to even up the squad, for me it would be Barnett or Ward - especially if we are getting in a reported younger defender - Barnett looked pretty tidy last night and I'd like to see if he can push on with a change of manager/coaching - pretty damn pleased if we get our men - am I right in thinking he was in capellos thoughts not that long ago (or am I getting he and Dawson muddled?)
not sure he was ever called up but he was certainly touted for a spot in the england squad whilst at hull. not sure he's quite in that class but he's decent enough and is the experienced, battle-hardened defender we've been crying out for since the admiral left
If he is going to be 4/5th ice then fine I don't mind him staying at all but he started more games last season than I care to remember. He is a liability and not a PL defender. Regardless of being happy on the bench of liking the area its just the truth.
The problem with Ward is he thinks he can play football! He can't, well not very well anyway, but I'm not knocking him for that, he's a big lump of a centre back, he wins loads of headers, is quite good positionally, he just needs to understand that instead of trying to pass the ball all the time, he needs to just clear it upfield, in the general direction of away from his own goal. He's fine doing that! ILD OTBC
This is word for word my assessment of Ward too. I totally agree. People saying we need to sign one or two "quality"centre backs have to bear in mind how this fits in the squad. That's why I'm so delighted with the possibility of Turner- a much safer bet than Davies (simply because Davies could possibly be the Earnshaw's defensive brother) and will slot in nicely with Ayala and Bennett. neither of the latter will be happy spending too much time on the bench. As for the signing of Snodgrass, I'm delighted. Great signing. If the Turner rumour is true, we will need to start off-loading players- possibly Crofts- and maybe we could sign a defensive midfielder, though I'm not convinced we would be set up that way. As for the Leeds fans, with as many as there are there are always going to be a couple of complete idiots like the fool who wrote the article above, but the ones on here have been pretty gracious IMO all things considered.
but he started the games because a) lambert was a fan and b) we had so many injuries. we played with 2 full backs at centre half in one match with a winger at full back!! hopefully we won't suffer the same defensive headaches this season. i really do wonder what you would have made of gary doherty if you think ward is error strewn...
but he can do the basics! ILD is saying that its when he tries to be a bit clever that he comes unstuck, something i agree with.
