Defence wanted, apply here.......

I've already got my rant out of the way earlier.

Right......the way forward and where we are.

We are 7 points behind where we ought to be and what price are those 7 points worth? (D&R 3 points thrown away, Shrewsbury at home..1 point thrown away to a 94th min penalty ....and of course yesterday).
That would have put us above Shrewsbury and up with Swindon and still on a roll.

Forward line........as good as anyone's in the division.
Midfield...again as good as anyone's....if allowed to play in their positions and not cover gaping holes in the defence.
Defence.......wobbly at best. So what has happened to the rich solid defence that was displayed at the start of the season where Lawrence and Frampton were lauded as the 'defence of the division' which they are surely not.
Lawrence.......the only area where he is predictable is....that he is unpredictable. MOM one week, villain the next.

We have just sold Rooney and that money needs to be spent on a quality defender/s who can plug the leaks. A Simon King or two of a couple years ago anyone???
Any ideas guys?
Please.......

 

Time for return of the King methinks....can't be any worse !!!

 

Defiantly play instead of Lawrence, Lawrence is far too old to be playing in the football league, causes too many mistakes, which is a shame as he is a quality player, Lee's positioning in defense is shocking, he's not a defender in my opinion, Gary Richards I thought (apart from the own goal) had another solid game. Flinty also did not help the defense, he had a shocker. We need to buy/ or loan defenders in fast. It's a shame as I thought going forward, especially kuffour and tomlin, was an absolute joy too watch. What a partnership they have.

 

I think Hess says he is recalling Essam from wherever he is... problem solved

 

Oh and before everyone starts blaming Matt Lawrence, take a closer look at Joe Martin yesterday.

 

yes we all know we need a defence and some of us have known this from the vey start...yes players need to be given a chance, which they have been, and have now outstayed there welcome!

only thing is with the players that you would want to play ie: king, frampton they are very injury prone...which is a shame...but that being the case we need a overhaul, to start again...think it would be worth it!

yes give our young players essam, davies, evans, rance, brunt, brown and s payne ago or we will just never know, even dack and miller alike!
could come at a cost, but we all know and feel no confidence in our present line of defence.

players that are letting us down or that are past it...in no order....lawrence, weston, richards, montrose, oli and sorry to say but whelpdale...which is a big negative for us and whats been invested!

new signings needed this week, players like matt fry and frank nouble wouldn't go a miss!

things need to be said and if anyone wants hess to succeed i do.
hess needs to be a man of a manager now though and tell players how it is, not just want to be amongst them on the training ground...hence a training coach being needed!!!
what quotes hess makes he needs to stand by them and show it happening!


come on andy hess your passion as a player, now needs to shine through as a manager quickly!

 

brb is lawrence really that innocent mate, he did ok last year but not doing it for me this season and whoever is to blame it's having a knock on effect, even like you say joe martin hasn't been brilliant.

we have had no settled side at the back because of injury and suspended players, but hess wanted these players and now here we are!

 

gills,oxon, montrose is 23, how is he past. he aint great but he is okay, and Richards is 25, again hardly past it, and he hasn't let us down at all this season, he's been our best defender this season

 

Lawrence I accept is not innocent. I could not see from my seat but clearly people who did have a view say it was a blatant penalty (arms around the guy). Also it was said he was to blame for another error (cannot remember which).

However, purely in my opinion, Joe Martin was lazy, he did not concentrate or focus on winning the ball. I give Lawrence's mis-cue as an example. Martin gave up the chase, took his eye off the ball, his mind was more focused on oh well that's it, rather than running every blade of the grass like Keds. If Martin had remained focused and committed he could have opened up an opportunity. One error..No - I watched him and for what I saw he did what he had to and no more, it was like he was give instructions not to step over an imaginary yellow line, bordering his area.

We all know Lawrence is slow, what is new - so who is protecting him? No one, if it had been me, I would have been running my butt off to protect him. Tactically wrong maybe but when you are up against it you pull together as a team and take the blame as a team.

Hessy made the changes for what ever reasons, VALID maybe but they cost us, simple! Change tactics against a team such as Wimbledon and you will pay the penalty (excuse the pun).

I support Hessy but it will not stop me from saying HE was to blame, so forget the dvd and find a mirror.

 

waltz...try reading again, abit slower...i said players that are not performing or past it, but in no order!

montrose & richards are very average at best and when you say richards has been our best defender....is that really saying much really considering?!...NO!


totally agree brb with what your saying about martin, we have to many who are not interested....or as hess puts it wants to wear the shirt!
players who give up the chase and the next player in line is the one who's noticed because thats the most costly position to be in (a defenders position). though surely thats more important we have the rigtht defenders for the challenge!!!

 

Everyone seems to be forgeting that it was Lee playing at right back that must have switched off for the corner .This was the goal that let them back into it. To be fair it is not his natural position.
The penalty looked soft to me the forward had his arms around Lawrence too !!
I would bring King back in to central defence with Richards and try to get a right back in on loan to do the job properly as Fuller will not be fit again this season.
Also would not play Payne and Montrose together as the team sits deep as they are both holding type players.

It has to be said that yesterdays result was very unusual and the Wimbledon Manager reckons that was the best performance in their history so fair play to them .
We just have to learn from it. I would hate the boo boys to start calling for the managers head. He has not done bad but could be better. He is trying to build a team of committed players but this takes time . Tomlin, Kedwell, Kuffour and others are already showing to be astute signings. He now needs to sort the defence.Given more time he will but Playoffs at best for us now this year and I wouldnt bank on us getting promoted

 

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Maybe just maybe everyone is over-reacting to a bad day at the office for the defense? I think Lawrence has been pretty good when i have seen him this year but occasionally a football match goes this way. The defense is the same one that has won matches with 10 or even 9 men. Its not like we have been letting in 3 or 4 goals every week! It happens sometimes, lets hope they can put it right! Maybe it was the substitutions up top that altered the players mindset? No Kuffour up front so its all out defend and invite pressure?

 

sorry...wake up mate...i don't think so jay74, this shake up has been needed for along while now, hence the reason hess has finally...if not a little to late....seen we need to change our defence because some are not up to the task!

this isn't an overnight occurrence, it's not because of the last couple of weeks and whats been blatantly obvious, it's been a long term issue where they have never looked composed or reassuring at the back!

no it doesn't help that we have had no settled backline for more than 3 or 4 games at best...no.
these players are very average at best...one's that won't be seen in the end of season's division 2 best players by along shot.
they don't even work as a unit very well...harsh but so very true!!!

in no way ideal, but i'd rather see the youngsters given a chance, i didn't think i'd say that at this point, but think more passion will come from these up and coming players...or we manage to get matt fry & frank nouble type signings in to step in now?

hess has individuals rather than team players and thats no good in these lower leagues at all!

even charlie lee & chris whelpdale said from the beginning that the experience they have had in a handful of promotions from the lower leagues and being involved in all of them would be a big asset to our cause & success in achieving what we all want....well sorry but these very two people have the biggest by far in letting us down...will this change i doubt it!!!

hess you have some big decisions to make now for your & the clubs sake, and i don't see it happening without someone by your side (don't mean nicky southall either!) john yems???who knows? experience is needed!

now though a shake up is needed and before to late for us to challenge...this season!!!


UTG!!!!!!!

 

I think we need some decent full backs, we should'nt be playing Lawrence out there due to lack of pace and Martin to me is always a red card waiting to happen. I think any team will suffer from not having a consistent back line, but why did they fall apart in the last 20 mins! Maybe we should look to Hessy for the tactics in the last 20 mins?

 

There is some real nonsense being written here. All of a sudden everyone wants to hang Lawrence after he had been man of the match in our last league game at Priestfield and pretty close to it against Stoke. At his age he ought to be slow but the reality is that he is far quicker than Frampton and King and quite speedy enough to put in sounder performances at right back than most of the alternatives. Any way I don't want to spend my time defending Lawrence because at this stage of his career we need a replacement but we should be grateful he is around for the moment.
Looking at things on Saturday it was a strong performance for 60 mins and it started to go wrong when Jackman got injured. This exposed the fact that Martin was every bit as weak as Lee and wimbledon cottoned on to it and exploited the wings. What lee was doing falling asleep for the two crosses I will never know. Richards has been beyond criticism for the last 3 months and he should probably be allowed a one off failing. The quandry is that the defence was ok for an hour and then they played like err..... the last time they played at AFCW which is probably no coincidence. Midson seems to be someone our defenders cannot handle. Sometimes it can be like that.
So what happens? There is a good argument to field a much younger back 4 but it will probably mean saying goodbye to the lingering promotion hopes because errors go hand in hand with inexperience. We could try to recruit a couple of Premiership juniors if they were willing to come on loan but the budget may not stretch to it. We could stick with what we have got who are as strong as any back 4 in the league individually but who fail collectively too often. The midfield should not escape scrutiny either it is legal to point out that Jack Payne was pretty anonymous on defensive duties in that last 20 mins.
Probably the answer is stick with what we have got. I must say that the present set up where Hessy is expected to do everything contrasts with the resources of Wally Downes and Ian Hendon who really did make a difference to the defence this time last year. Their loss is noticeable.

 

I agree Bristol, i think Lawrence has been for the most part immense and i dint see why he is the scapegoat, my point is he should'nt be covering at right back! It is the full back positions that are letting us down. I also agree we should stick with what we have instead of playing youngsters unless we can get some decent fullbacks in on loan. The fact they were good for an hour then fell to pieces... Why? I think we should be looking at the sidelines for answers and getting Hessy some help, Scally has given him the financial backing but i think he needs a decent no.2 to deliver

 

Lawrence has definitely been made the scape goat this weekend. I've been trying to defend him for most of it!

Where was Joe Martin?
Where was he for the Don's first goal? apart from pulling his socks up and realigning his shin pad afterwards.
Where was he for the incident when Lawrence conceded the penalty, watching the video is like trying to spot 'Where's Wally'.
What about the shot that Lawrence mis-cued that Martin could have taken advantage of but instead decided to turn his back and give up the chase, then ended up looking a right dick.

Watch the video and play 'Where's Martin'

 

Lawrence isn't really the problem. It's the lack of pace in the combination of the centre backs.

Lawrence and Frampton = No pace
Lawrence and Richards = No pace

Looking back things were a lot better when quicker loan players like Fry and Dennehy were brought in to cover Simon King's absence.

 

Well 79 you may be right but very few teams look for much pace in their central defenders and it is very rare that sheer pace leads to goals by the opposition. that has not happened since Barry Ashby was up against Championship forwards.
But the name you mention that did strike a chord was Dennehy. What happened to him because he really would fit the bill!