Premiership Relegation Watch

[JM Fan]

The table doesn't lie - getting promoted to the Premiership - fearsome in itself - is probably easier than staying there.

With the money getting thrown around at the top level I can only seeing the gulf becoming greater.

Makes me wonder about NCFC's chances if we did get promoted. The defence would petrify me. Olssen has slipped back ('done a Bassong'), Whitaker is a liability even at Championship level, I don't buy Martin at CB and most of the rest are barely tested even at Championship level.

We are a very long way from where I think we would need to be.

I know I'm a 'JR Fan' and have been since he joined us, but I feel he could have done better with some of the goals we've conceded this season.
I TOTALLY agree that the defence has been woefully lacking for most of the goals and NA really needs to address that if we're to mount a serious challenge for staying in the top 6. WHY does he insist on playing Martin at CB when he has Cuellar/Hooiveld available????

 

[General Melchett]

Is Hooiveld available though? Seems odd that he hasen't even been making the matchday squad. I'd be worried by the lack of pace between Cuellar and Tina, but would definitely play Martin RB, just because I also think Whittaker is a bit of a liability.

Bah!

 

[JM Fan]

Is Hooiveld available though? Seems odd that he hasen't even been making the matchday squad. I'd be worried by the lack of pace between Cuellar and Tina, but would definitely play Martin RB, just because I also think Whittaker is a bit of a liability.

Bah!

I think he is, but the sooner R Bennett is fit and available the better. Hopefully if we can attack more (assuming NA only 'tinkers' with the starting 11 from Fri night), then we won't have to defend so much!!!

 

[Walsh.i.am]

Is Hooiveld available though? Seems odd that he hasen't even been making the matchday squad. I'd be worried by the lack of pace between Cuellar and Tina, but would definitely play Martin RB, just because I also think Whittaker is a bit of a liability.

Bah!

It does seem odd that he perseveres with ostensibly a 'makeshift' back four when we have specialist CBs available and by doing so give the oppo a helping hand down their left as Whittaker, as you say, is not really up to the standard required at this level - at least, not consistently. Unfathomable in the extreme and has already cost us points in recent games.

 

[Canary Rob]

I agree that the problem seems to be one of pace. We have Cuellar as back-up to Turner I think, but the modern wisdom is two CBs, one fast, one dominant. It's now that I realise how frustrating Ryan Bennett's injury was, because he is the perfect partner for Turner. So as far as Adams is concerned, with Hooiveld out there is no choice other than to play Martin as the "fast" CB.

I think this also shows that Miquel really isn't up to it yet.

 

[Canary Rob]

It does seem odd that he perseveres with ostensibly a 'makeshift' back four when we have specialist CBs available and by doing so give the oppo a helping hand down their left as Whittaker, as you say, is not really up to the standard required at this level - at least, not consistently. Unfathomable in the extreme and has already cost us points in recent games.

I think "specialist CBs" is the problem here - I think gone is the day that all four of your CBs are interchangeable. There are now specialist fast, ball-playing CBs and specialist big strong aerially dominant CBs. The ideal pairing is to have one of each kind, which provides balance. Our problem is that we have an abundance of fit specialist big CBs, but only one fit semi-specialist ball-playing CB

 

[Walsh.i.am]

I think "specialist CBs" is the problem here - I think gone is the day that all four of your CBs are interchangeable. There are now specialist fast, ball-playing CBs and specialist big strong aerially dominant CBs. The ideal pairing is to have one of each kind, which provides balance. Our problem is that we have an abundance of fit specialist big CBs, but only one fit semi-specialist ball-playing CB

Which surely defeats the point of buying Ignasi Miquel on / near deadline day? A ball-playing CB should have been the priority with that long term injury to Ryan Bennett

 

[Canary Rob]

Which surely defeats the point of buying Ignasi Miquel on / near deadline day? A ball-playing CB should have been the priority with that long term injury to Ryan Bennett

I think Miquel was intended as a ball-playing CB, but once he joined it was clear that currently he is not as good as Martin (or at least doesn't bring all round to the team as much as Martin). I suspect if Whittaker was to get injured, we would see Miquel come in and Martin moved to right-back. Unfortuantely I haven't been able to see much of us play recently, but I understood over the last couple of matches the Martin/Turner CB pairing has improved?

But I agree with you - I remember being surprised by the Miquel purchase and a number of posters weren't keen at all. I would have preferred a more experienced CB of that style, but I suppose we still had Bassong on the books at that time. I reckon the club just heard Miquel was available at a knock-down price and thought he could well be worth a shot, which was a sound bet. Whether it pays off, I don't know. He looks like he has some class, but a lot to learn.

Mind you, shouldn't R Bennett be fit soon? We were told two month when he was injured back in August, so I imagine with a couple of weeks to get up to speed he could be back in contention by the Brighton match

 

[JM Fan]

I believe that R Bennett should resume light training soon, so we could see him return by next month at the latest. We'll need him to try and stop Crissy Martin, who i'm sure will be 'fired up' to try and score against us!!!

 

[Canary Rob]

I believe that R Bennett should resume light training soon, so we could see him return by next month at the latest. We'll need him to try and stop Crissy Martin, who i'm sure will be 'fired up' to try and score against us!!!

Thanks JR, I definitely think this is a massive bonus, because two of our three clean sheets came with Bennett starting (though admittedly he only played 7 mins of the Ipswich game).

 

[Cruyff's Turn]

Apart from Leicester it all seems pretty tight amongst the bottom seven clubs. It is starting to look like close to 38 points might be required this season.