Is it just me that thought Onuoha would have been given the nod ahead of Dunne? Can anybody please try and justify Harry's thought process on this one?
Why not Onuoha or Ferdinand? It was Ferdinand not Dunne that made the mistake that cost us the game through school boy defending.
I'd have played both of them and make Caulker work his way into the side. Same goes for Mutch and Hoilett.
Onuoha for me. I totally get what Dunne offers but Ferdinand, Ned and Caulker will be the overall best package IMO. I think with a run Ned can prove to be as good as Caulker and they can be the backbone of the team for a long time.
I Like Dunne and Hill but i see them as backups now, I think the extra pace of Ned and Caulker helps protect Rio. Using 3 at the back they have to be a little more mobile covering the wing backs on either side.
I expected Onuoha to play. But to be fair, I thought that Dunne was the pick of the 3 centre backs on Saturday. That said, Hull made it simple for our back 3 most of the time by playing it long which suited Dunne down to the ground. Perhaps he was picked because we were aware that Hull would be playing this way. Hopefully Ned will be used more often against livelier forwards. The bigger concern for me, if we are to stick with 3 5 2, is that Simpson and Traore didn't have a great appetite for getting past the half way line.
Honestly? We only have 2 first choice CBs, Rio and Caulker, in a 3 CB system. I like Onouha, but he's not a great defender, pace or not, and offers nothing more than Dunne in distribution, i.e. nothing. He's also 27, should be nearing his peak, yet we keep on talking about him needing to play next to experienced CBs. Did Donaldson play pre season - if he's not in the running he should be loaned out at hopefully championship level to get some games under his belt and let us see if he's up to it. What happened to Magri? All of Dunne, Ned and Clint give 100% commitment though, and as DT says I suspect it will be horses for courses with Ned asked to man mark pacey opposition when needed. But we could really do with another slightly younger PL standard CB.
I sort of switched off after this point. I know not everyone rates Clive's work, but he gave Onouha 7Motm's last season, more than anyone else (Clint + Dunne had 3). The LFW fans' average ratings over the season were: Onouha 7.26 Clint 6.8 Dunne 6.56 Why do you so readily assume newcomers are "first choice" over our loyal seasoned players who've earned their place? Overall performance aside, Rio lost the game singlehadedly for us at the weekend. I can't remember Onouha doing that in the entirety of last season. Unless you're a Utd or Cardiff fan, you've seen neither him nor Caulker play regularly recently. Why are we just assuming their pre-eminence?
I also rate Onouha for our backline. He has the skills, ability and is of the age that we should be lining him up now. Dunne was terrific on Saturday, fair dues to him, but Ned would be my longer term choice. Clint and Richard should be our key back-ups - but Harry is there at training and must be making his decisions based on what he is seeing every day.
What is of more concern to me is the fact that Rio is playing the 'sweeper' role in this system which he is tailor-made for. However, should he be injured we are f*cked as none of the others have his ball-playing skills. The three at the back system leaves plenty of space for the opposition to hurt us if the wing-backs are suspect and Simpson can defend but is rubbish going forward whereas Traore is better going forward but can't defend. My back five choice based on what I've seen would be: Isla, Caulker, Ferdinand, Onuoha, Yun... Dunne and Hill will get plenty of opportunities but neither should be 1st choice...
Sorry for having an opinion and sharing it. It's Redknapp leaving him out, not me. Presumably because both he and Caulker are right sided. I said I don't think he is a great defender. He's serviceable, gives 100% but if you think he is great we have different definitions. And by the logic of your argument we should never be playing any new players and our back three should be Onouha, Dunne and Hill? Presumably we buy players who Redknapp thinks are better than the ones we already have, or who will grow into better players with game time.
Sorry for having an opinion on your opinion and sharing it? Fair enough, my mistake- I thought by "not great" you meant "pretty naff". I do think we should play new players, but immediately superseding the likes of Onouha/Green/Barton/Austin/Simspon/Hoillet sets a bad precedent. They're a group who looked capable of stepping up last season- and have earned their shot through services to the club. Caulker, Rio and Mutch are entirely unproven in the Hoops. None of them looked anything special during preseason- so they haven't done enough to be "first choice" yet. I can't remember the last time we actually saw Onouha partner an inexperienced CB- so the "needing experience next to him" myth is a bit of a relic.
An easy choice. I thought Dunne started well on Saturday, great in the air and a man mountain to push off the ball, but he got worse as the game went on. Unsurprisingly he looked his age; he was slow and ponderous which lead to him doing some clumsy stuff, giving away unnecessary fouls and getting himself booked. Whilst he wasn't always presented with many options, his distribution was also poor at times. Onuoha has the pace we need and his aerial weakness compared to Dunne will be covered by Caulker and Ferdinand. I value Dunne as back up.
I'd prefer Traore as the CB on the left side, alongside Caulker and Ned. Though I'm not convinced by Ned either, I'd prefer the younger ones to the older when there isn't much to choose between them. Now Traore concentrates he should be an excellent left sided defender with good running and crossing ability when he can break. He hasn't the close ball control needed for midfield.
Mmm..................it would be a definite advantage having a left footed player on the left of the 3 centre backs, but not Traore mate. On the OP.....has to be Ned, who I rate highly as a defender. The only problem for him is that our new system requires all the CBs to be able to play out from the back. But as both Dunne and Hill are no better, I'd go with Ned every time. Anyway, the poll looks pretty one-sided.
