I wouldn't say I bang the drum. I have praised 09 loads. But now is the time if we are going to build into the play offs. Both of them are better than 09 at centre back. It's not even about brining the ball out and blah blah any more. They are just better centre backs and valued as such. Get them played.
Fair points. Personally I think that injuries have impacted us more than other top teams. We do not have the squad depth however perhaps a touch unlucky to lose both left wingers at the same time.
My opinion on the CB situation is that it should be horses for courses. In games we are going to dominate possession wise I want O'Nien playing to act as another midfielder almost. But when we are going up against a good attacking side or one with a physical monster up front I'd go with Ballard and Mepham. Think Ballard has been the worst of the 3 this season but he was good against Leeds and Luton.
Should have been that from the start for me. We have plenty of ball playing players throughout the rest of the team.
Irrelevant. All teams are judged over the same 90 mins and extra. It evens out. Control the controllables. Get better output. The defence is leaking a the moment. Especially in the box, Arial pressure.
Probably harsh, but does a proper defender look to block the 1st Leeds goal on the line rather than trying to clear it like O9?? Probably me being harsh on the lad.
Why. Both Ballard and Mepo are more than comfortable getting it to the midfield. We have become blinded by 09 doing his dribble out from the back. When Mepo does it regularly and so does Ballard. Ballard even whipped one down the the channel for Wilson at Leeds. Job done. I think we need to get the best to centre backs playing, to help with assuring the goals against and to protect Patterson. 09 gets whooped in the air and it's a weakness
Fair enough However I do think bringing the ball out, stepping into midfield etc. is important. If you have 2 defensive CH then you are looking to play short balls into the midfield and one of your midfield to either carry the ball or hit that pass. There are arguments both ways but at this relatively late stage I don't think we should be looking to change things at back. Rather we should look to take the brake off going forward and look to outscore the opposition. Personal opinion and all that.
Boro game reminded me of ours at Leeds, second half they just couldn't get out of their half, no chance we'll be meeting these in the play offs if thats where we end up. Carrick must be on the brink.
Ffs we aren't even playing tonight and folk moaning about o9 Hes having a really good season this yr but aye hes just playing because he can bring the ball out of defence blah blah Get its a forum to debate stuff but we aren't even playing tonight and our team and players keep get brought down - dont see the point in it myself All for debates about team selection and performance on match day threads but don't see the point in it on the non Sunderland thread
I said earlier this season that Mepham and Ballard should start, I think they will soon enough. Think Ballards injury problems have stopped it from happening sooner and I think Mepham wasn't 100% against Luton and Leeds after he limped off late on against Watford, just a guess that though.
Makes a mockery now of my first half analysis. I guess this is what seperates the men from the boys in this league. Quite often we've been dominated too from lesser teams and managed to pull it out the bag
