I agree, just saying that earlier in the season Martin was to come into the side to be the saviour as people though SW defending was not good enough. As a general viewpoint I would say fans like to pick on individuals but it is the team as a collective unit that is not performing. Everyone must play their part. Sometimes I don't think fans watch the game properly at all. Often a player who is perceived to be playing well through thier individual skill, is actually not helping the team at all as they drift out of position etc
That's a good point especially concerning flair players. Collectively we've had some very poor games, but I find with us quite often there will be an individual who'll put them team under pressure and that could be some Hollywood pass or taking on an extra player right the way to a nervous first touch or shaky passing. With us there is a lot of lapse's in concentration from our players defensively but then there are poor decisions made by our players which put us in a difficult positions in the first place, in the lead up to their first goal we put ourselves under pressure and it was absolutely pointless. In Martin's case I'm not sure whats up with him, but that right hand side has been marauded this season and we're not preventing crosses coming etc.
Whittaker is far more suspect defensively than Russ Martin, even when Snodgrass (who puts in a far better defensive shift than Redmond) is playing. Russ might have made errors yesterday, but they didn't actually cost us anything. What cost us was failure to mark Remy at the corner (not Martin's job) and Ruddy spilling the ball from the header.
So what your saying Robbie is we allow him to continue on? I know he has a big fan club but his not the same player we had last season he needs time to reflect on things. First goal was down to pressure conceded from their first corner there was no reason for Martin to put the ball out he panicked, we conceded possession to Newcastle the goal followed up a minute or so later but it was all unnecessary pressure, Johnson ball watched on the set piece itself but it was a situation which could of been avoided. The second goal was inexcusable he was asleep and had no awareness of what was going on around him.
One thing I would say against CH is Im not sure he plays the right tactics defensively for the players we have. His preferred method of defending appears to be sitting back and absorbing pressure (at least in our own half) rather than play a pressing game. Now this is fine if you have the players suited to it but I am not convinced we do. Depends if you pick a way of playing and gradually mould the players into it or pick a set up that suits the current players? With sitting back players individually need to be better defensively and be able to look after themselves when it comes to a one on one etc (still a team game so positioning is of utmost importance for a cohesive unit). Whereas playing a pressing game you can cover up some of the individual deficiencies of players through getting close to individuals and pressing more as a team. Both systems have their advantages although I feel many of our players would be more suited to a pressing game (how we got much of our success in the past). It would also help us play further up the pitch but can lead to a loss of shape if not employed perfectly and more susceptible to a counter attack.
Last season we were ranked 13th in the PL defensively, and registered clean sheets in 25% of our games. This year we are currently ranked 19th and have kept clean sheets in only 16% of our games. The only differences in defensive personnel from last season are Olsson at LB and Fer in midfield, both of whom you would class as improvements (the other differences are Ruddy back in goal, and Redmond, who is certainly less good tracking back than either Snodgrass or Elliot Bennett). Overall I don't see the disparity can be accounted for by the personnel not being suited to sitting back and absorbing pressure. If anything I would say that the root cause is not maintaining the same defensive discipline as last season. The same people who grumbled so loudly about the defensive-mindedness which gave us the greater solidity last season, are now grumbling that we are defending poorly this season! At the same time some are complaining about continuing to play one up front!
Im not saying we shouldn't play like that and I completely agree it is down to defensive discipline which we have lacked at times this season. But as you allude to its not just down to defenders the whole team has to both defend and attack. If that is how CH thinks is best to take us forward then he may well need a lot of time to bring in the right players (as he is doing) to play this way, not just a few games. Nothing wrong with having a style you want a team to play but it can take a long time (seasons not weeks) to make it successful especially as it is so different to what we previously had. Although many can't see it I'm sure some of the lack of defensive discipline is down to CH trying to develop the attacking side of things and not just the defence as with last season. Personally I think if given time it will come good, sadly I doubt he will be given it.
I'd prefer it if we pressed more too, providing the players know how to move off the ball and cover one another you can still keep organised defensively. We play a bit of a zonal game, this is why I reckon we have so much difficultly against mobile players like Suarez, Aguero, Silva and co they have an amazing ability to beat offside traps and they run across the defensive lines it's a nightmare to watch, it's where we lose concentration you need to keep tabs on those types of players even if it means using up resources to deal with those threats. We need a good proactive defensive system for the whole team but we need one that is adaptable when the game changes, we have to be more intelligent against those big teams as this is where the systems fail.
Agree with that entirely. That's how I read it, and I think that is CH's brief from McNally and the board, and therefore how they will be reading it too. I believe (and hope) the idea that CH is surviving match to match is very likely way off the mark; time will tell.
Again agree with much of this. But your proviso is the crucial thing. Our players have a lot to learn on that score, even if we allow that they are all capable of learning it. But as Man City v Spurs demonstrates today, we aren't the only team to struggle when faced by that sort of quality of movement.
On that front we won't be the last in that category. In regards to the players learning you'd expect most of them to have caught on that front, some of our more senior players have been playing against this quality of opposition for technically three seasons now, we have the tendency to marvel at the ability of these players we should be looking at ways to disrupt and hassle their game.
If you go back to the Everton game right at the start of the season, we defended excellently in very disciplined fashion in the first half (even without Bassong), went in at 0:0, then went more on the front foot second half and took the lead. We then conceded two goals in quick succession before salvaging a point through RvW's header. That first half defensive performance showed that we can do it; the question is why we don't do it consistently. I don't think there is a single answer to that, but it must drive CH mad. And having supporters constantly moaning about negative tactics doesn't help. What is so difficult about grasping that keeping a clean sheet doesn't just earn you at least a draw but actually increases your chances of winning the game?
My biggest concern is the 'soft' goals we keep conceding. The goals scored by Villa, Wet Sham and both goals at Newcstle fall into that category IMO (I didn't watch the Citeh game on MotD, so can't comment on those 7 goals). These goals we concede are not down to CH, but indivdual players 'switching off' at critical times. Unfortuntely, I don't have an answer to the problem, but we need to resolve it SOON.
JR not regaining full agility yet is another factor. At least two crucial second goals conceded have been down to that, including Saturday.
Can't win? Yeah, poor old Chrissy, having to deal with such footballing simpletons. Some weeks we even want players picked on current form. Bizarre.
I accept that. He's getting close to a position where everything he does is wrong for a lot of people. If he goes defensive, we call him negative. If he becomes more attack-minded, we say he's opening up the game too much. It's a horrible position for him to be in and it must be affecting his ability to make calm, disinterested decisions. He could do himself some favours by cutting out the really stubborn stuff, though, like making substitutions in the 88th minute. That's just giving his enemies ammunition for what seems like no other reason than sheer obduracy.
I don't by any means think CH is perfect and there are things I would like to see being done differently. Not sure you can blame him for late subs on saturday, we had just scored and were on the front foot (maybe bring Wes on earlier?). But I take your point their are times when it appears we require a change and it s made very late. Equally you could argue if he believes what he has out on the pitch would give us the best chance of winning he should stick by it and not make changes because of fan pressure. People say you have to be brave and make changes early, but you have to be equally brave to be patient and stick what you have if you think it is right.
