How have those managers faired? As I’ve already stated we were 5th for goals conceded because we were a shambles going forward. We scored 52 goals in 46 games. We’ll revisit this next season when he’s making the same mistakes as always and you can frantically try and refuse to acknowledge them because he made a decent 10 yard pass five minutes beforehand, like several others do. Only took until the first game of the season against Ipswich to be proven right last season.
As you say,no guarantees. I'm on record on here to say I have my doubts about the lad,although I do hope I'm wrong.
But you are ignoring the good games that hes played, he made a few mistakes that cost us goals but you are making out that hes a liability weekly - he isnt He played well at the back for tje most part, as sourpatch said defence isnt the issue but if an opportunity to strengthen comes up then we should take it O9 is a top half of the championship cb, thats from data n the eye test. He isnt an elite CB at this level tho, ballard falls into that camp, so we can def improve on him but he isnt as bad as you are making out (well in my opinion)
Jobe will have a cracking career in my opinion but if we get offered 20 million with a sell on clause we would be stupid not to accept it With that money we would have a cracking opportunity to improve the squad immediately
The problem is though he can’t defend and he’s playing in defence, you can’t just ignore that. He’s piss poor in the air, he’s not great at standing up his man, he’s constantly getting dragged out of position, set pieces aren’t even worth mentioning they’re that bad, he can only play with the game in front of him. What else is he there for? You could put 90% of CM’s at CB to pass a ball around and do what he does. McNair, McClean, Ampadu, Beilik all done it last season off the top of my head. Surely signing a CB who’s good defensively but also good on the ball is the solution.
We're going to have to make a big sale at some point to progress as a club. I think a lot of the fans are going to really struggle with it as a concept(we've not had the luxury of having players others desired to often), Bellingham could be the ideal player to go first and act as a gateway based on a lot of our support already not being overly enamoured with him (which I find odd).
Stood ball watching when Hirst peeled off him in the first game of the season for a start. I knocked up a list of about 10 games that he’d cost us a goal last time this debate was raging I can’t be arsed to do it again.
Not really in this day and age mate. Defenders are used to playing a much higher line now. Just feel like we’re sacrificing far too much just for the sake of having a nice lad who can ping a 40 yard pass occasionally in one of the most important roles on the pitch.
Absolutely they are. Thats why the ones who can do both go for such high fees. We're sacrificing a bit with him but when you look around the league the best centre backs will either have a passing, defending or pace issue. How many are competent with all 3? I personally think Ballard on the ball is quite poor and will affect his career going forward. You look at someone like Callum Doyle, extremely highly rated but turns like a tank. If we want to upgrade on O'Nien it will have to be with a youngster making his way in the game.
Yet he is good at defending, i never mentioned his passing stats, and the stats back that up. He wins a hell of a lot of his defensive duels, ranks in the top 10 for CBs on wyscout and wins more duels, regains possession more times than a defender like jake cooper who some are desperate for us to sign. He gets caught out occasionally when he gets over aggresive, not consistently - if he was as bad as you keep saying then he would have had more bad games than good but he didnt. He had a few poor performances, but so do all championship players, but he was good overall for the season You are making out that he can pass a ball and thats it, thats doing him a massive disservice I was totally against o9 as a CB at the start of last season by the way but he impressed more times than not last season - and got better as the season went on Not going to go back n forward anymore as its taken over the transfer thread as you clearly dont rate him so no matter what me or anyone else says will change your mind O9 is a cracking player for us but if theres an opportunity for us to improve then we should 100% do it
The two matches last season where Dan and Luke were both missing, indicated to me why we need another experienced CB. Maybe Aji can do it eventually, but I definitely think another CB is needed.
I have a feeling we might get a signing in for kit launch - no info or anything like that but i reckon we might have a signing in this week Hoping its alan browne, big fan and is the type of player we are crying out for Would be ok with a oli norwood or alex mowatt as well but feel browne is a better fit alongside Neil
Another Batth type would be ideal, I wouldn't be looking to spend much of our budget on a new CB but some experience there would be useful throughout the season.
Fair enough we’ve been back and forward far too many times on this to hijack another thread so I won’t go on, but what I will say is how does his poor defensive work relate to the stats he’s being monitored against on wyscout? Ballwatching against Ipswich at home when Hirst peeled off him. Wrestling his man for the corner when Cardiff scored late. Stood rooted to the spot when Jackson scored at Portman road. Running into no man’s to chase a long ball he had no chance of winning and leaving cundle(I think) totally unmarked after being stood right next to him a few seconds beforehand. One of those goals will down as a lost aerial duel but the others won’t have a “bad mark” against him even though he’s cost us a goal? They’re just off the top of my head I’m sure I’d find more if I could be bothered.
