Disagree about the Naughton part mate, twice he made great tackles on the weekend which would resulted in a potentially dangerous cross and a shot on goal. As for their goal, surely Ekotto and Vertonghen are more to blame, both were in no mans land and they should have prevented the player from crossing it in the first place. Admittedly Naughton isn't much of a threat going forward but then in fairness, bar a few overlapping runs, what has Walker really offered going forward this season? Naughton needs more games at RB in my opinion to truly show what he's capable of, many seem to compare the two when Walker has had about 25 games there to Naughton's 4 or 5 which I think is a bit harsh. On Holtby completely forgot about him! I'd have him in the squad over Gallas. Though in fairness, apart from his first two games he hasn't really made much of an impact as expected even if he has shown great enthusiasm which is nice to see from players these days. Sig's form bar Fulham would make it quite harsh to drop him though, we FINALLY could be seeing the guy from the second half of last season and the fact he'll know Swansea better than most, I think he should be a definite starter for this one. Plus he started on the right against Fulham, he's best either behind the striker or coming inside on the left to shoot with his right foot. Dempsey in fairness has only just returned but he did look **** on the weekend (and most of the season ), I'm not his biggest fan but with Dempsey, I always feel like when you NEED a goal, he'll pop up. He's grabbed some important goals for us this season despite not actually playing that well (Utd A, Southampton, Utd H, would have won us the game at Everton if it weren't for shocking defending in the 91st and 93rd mins). It's a tough situation with him. When it comes to strikers, both have been well off form but Defoe has looked more of a threat than Ade, especially in the League. The goal ratio is far in Defoe's favour - 10 in 28 to Ade's 2 in 18 - for me that's a poor return from a £100k a week player. He may be working hard but it's not really been effective, for me a lone striker MUST be grabbing goals or at the very least getting assists, something Ade just isn't doing, and while Defoe isn't either, with JD I always get the feeling he's more likely to score than Ade. For the record I think an on form Ade is unplayable and far superior to Defoe but I don't think we have a chance of seeing that guy this season, his confidence is shot to bits and it doesn't help with some knobheads in the crowd booing him but unfortunately when you're on the money he's on with his history as a former Gooner, sections of the crowd are always going to be less lenient.
It would be a way of getting our best defenders on the pitch at the same time but I think him and Verts are our 2 best CBs assuming Kaboul comes back the same player and they should be played there. Harsh on Caulker and especially Dawson.
I think our backline would be far stronger with Kaboul at RB. It may result in less of an attacking threat on the right but defensively it'd be hard task to break through that back line. I'd be a all for it. It'd be unfair to drop Dawson after the way he's performed and Walker's performances don't merit a first team place.
Don't agree, with the high line you play you need quick full backs that can get across the line quickly, that's the one thing Assou Ekotto and Walker are good at. Put Kaboul at RB and he will be exploited by the likes of City and Chelsea that play in between the lines. I still think your best back 4 is Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen and Assou Ekotto. There will be a massive chase for Luke Shaw (who is IMO a future England LB) as United, Spurs, Chelsea and possibly Liverpool all require new Left Backs. Thankfully Luke is a Kingston B&B Chelsea fan
If he is then I hold my hands up but he seems less mobile than Walker and more to the point is your best CB. The best players play in their best positions, if they aren't then the manager is at fault or in the case of clubs like Chelsea or Real it's entirely political. Either Walker is a good enough or he isn't (same with Kaboul), the moment you start tinkering about and playing people out of positions to try and accommodate everybody ala Wenger, form and therefore confidence invariably starts to dip.
tbf, i think it was over 100m, which is kinda irrelevant in a football match, but he's certainly no slouch. He's been out a long time now, we need to see what he's like once back before slinging him back in. Not everyone is a Ledley
Kaboul actually made a really good fullback but I do prefer him at centreback. I'd rather play Dawson than Walker at the moment though, even if it meant playing Kaboul slightly out of position.
You should have watched Football Focus, last Sat. there was an interview with Kyle Walker who was asked "who's fastest, Bale or Lennon or you?", his answer was don't discount Younes Kaboul he's unbelievably quick, then showed a clip. Not that they needed too imo, are you sure you've ever watched Younes?
Kaboul is faster than most of our players DL, after Lennon, Walker and Bale I'd consider him next in line. Surprising for a man of his build but he has pace to burn. This has actually been backed up by Walker or Lennon (can't remember who gave the interview), they said Kaboul would be in the mix when it comes to the fastest at Spurs given a 100m sprint . As for Shaw, I think he's a fantastic prospect, bit early for media to be saying "The English Gareth Bale" as they have been but you can see the early comparisons. He'll be at a top 4 club within a couple of years I think, would be best sticking with Southampton for the time being though.
It was Walker on Football Focus last Saturday. He reckons Lennon is fastest over 50 metres, Bales over 400 metres and he is quickest over 100 metres. Kaboul he reckons is close to all of them.
why are they wasting their time and energy running 400m for crying out loud? No wonder they look shattered on match days. (lol)
I didn't watch that last week mate, the one I saw was from about 1 or 2 months ago . Think it was on Soccer AM Team mates. Been backed up twice then it would seem To be fair, we've seen Kaboul bomb it up and down from full back (and centre back!!!) enough to know he's not a slouch anyway. Kaboul seems to be a very "complete" player. If only he'd have avoided injury I feel we'd be far better off in the league, massive loss for us this season.
SoS - Naughton has played 20 games for the first team this season!! Admittedly, the majority of those have been at LB rather than RB, but I think he should be making more of a mark than he has so far. Agree that others were at fault earlier in the move, but his 'marking' of Berbatov was awful - in fact entirely reminiscent of Walker several times this season!! Just not convinced that he provides enough defensively to make up for what he lacks (against Walker) going forward - although I agree that KW hasn't exactly set the world alight in that way with this term. From what I have seen of him at Spurs and on loan, Adam Smith is the one we should be looking to promote to the first team ASAP!!
That's what I meant sorry Relayer, I meant 4 or 5 games at RB. It's too hard to judge him at LB and then say if he's good enough at RB in my opinion. I'd like Naughton to have perhaps 4 or 5 straight league games there to get a proper idea, his RB appearances are too sporadic to compare him to someone that's featured there regularly. Though from this season (both LB & RB appearances combined) I'd actually say Naughton is marginally (still below par for us) better than Walker defensively, which is worrying as both have made poor mistakes but to me, Naughton has a more "sensible" head on him. As for Smith, 100% agree mate, I literally said on my End of Season awards thread that Smith gives me the belief he can be our number 1 RB. Great talent.
