Well as we all no how difficult it is ,how about we stop ****ing moaning about players who are performing to a high standard and put trust in Sir AleX to sort out our defense? . Rusty is quality , yes he made a boo boo today in the 2-1 win but please get the **** off his back please.
ps OLSSON #23 for me is one of our best performers At this stage doubtful .Olsson Is one of our most consistent players i m h o .
Again mate, I'm not knocking their ability, and I am comfortable with the two of them, but that's where I would look to improve. To be fair to the guy, Russell Martin has grown into the captaincy role, he has become more vocal and also leads the line well. He's a good reader of the game but I don't think he is the best aerially and can lose his man on occasions.
For the record, I'm not saying Rusty has some divine right to start every game at CB, that he's indispensable or that he's first name on the team sheet or anything. He is fallible, of course he is and he does make mistakes, but so does every defender, even the top, top quality ones - of which I accept Rusty is not - but he's certainly good enough to do a good job for us in the Premier League, and I personally see no need to have any nervousness at all when I see him lining up at the heart of our defence.
I'd rather keep Russell Martin than pay £8 million for James Chester, put it that way. I would rather we scouted abroad heavily this season and than look at bringing in bigger transfers next summer (Yes, I'm very confident we'll stay up this year). The prices for players because they are English are actually ridiculous. Incidently, what about Andre Gray. I was really impressed with him last year and his finish today was actually really neat. He's a constant thorn in most defences side. I saw Hull had a £4 million bid which was rejected. He seems to fit a Alex Neil type player as well.
Exactly! You could make a list of mistakes made by Kompany, for example. Martin was played into an awkward situation by the pass and then he didn't make a good job of it, but Brentford still had to work the ball forward and then score with an excellent shot into the top corner. We will concede goals, like every other team in the PL, but AN is putting the emphasis on a style of play that makes opposing teams hesitate before pouring players forward. Mulumbu has added more protection in front of the defence, while also being able to push forward to support the attack and Brady was a threat from LB. Both goals yesterday were good examples of catching out teams playing a high line and pushing too far forward. That will be our strength this season rather than trying to build an inpenetrable defence.
I didn't see the match, but based purely on the highlights: Definitely Martin made a big mistake, no doubt, BUT it was a pretty unhelpful hospital pass from Mulumbu who basically knocked the ball two yards into Martin right in front of two players. Also, despite the mistake, Martin was agile and quick enough to get goal side again and, frankly, if it wasn't for a pretty sensational shot, Martin would have atoned for his error. He brings far more to the team with his ability on the ball from CB than we lose from his weakness in the air and the occasional mistake. I notice that Martin gets slammed for a mistake, but Toffolo against West Ham was caught on the ball very early on and it was only a shank by the striker that saved his blushes, yet nobody mentioned that error after the match, he mostly got plaudits.
I don't know if it's a football thing - or just an NCFC thing but it seems our fan base need somebody to pillory every time we lose a game or concede a poor goal, misplace a pass or miss a sitter. It seems it's been that way for years, Shaun Carey, Keith O'Neil, Paul bloody Dalglaish, Stephen Whittaker - until Alex Neil 'reinvented' the Whitts when he came to the club. Even Redmond has had his share, though to be fair, despite still being quite young, some of his decision making used to be abject - though it's improved radically towards the tail end of last season
Actually the player who get's the most abuse in my opinion is Wes, I have never seen one player that divides the fans of the club, one moment his invaluable then all he needs is to have a bad game or try something flash and people start going mental. His the longest serving player at the club we would of never got out of the championship twice without him in the team, yet some people question his loyalty based on comment some scum fan in media made up.
Hurray someone else finally mentioned the hospital pass to him. Sometimes you shouldn't pass it round the back four and a big old boot is needed to reset people in position and stop silly mistakes like this happening.
Sorry Zogean I didn't read the whole thread so missed you already picking that up. Some very different highlights here which show a few of the Brentford chances:
yeah I don't think either goal can even slightly be blamed on Rusty! Turner was the liability in the reverse fixture iirc
We will see I guess. I personally don't think the defence is good enough and I think we should have invested there. I know it was a friendly and all that, but Brentford got in behind us a lot. I have concerns in that area of the team and whilst I respect that now we have a defence full of international players they didn't seem to cope very well against Brentford. Could we swap Grabban for Andre Gray? He looked very decent.
Totally agree with your summary K E M P. If Wet Sham had been able to convert more or their crosses in the 2nd half on Tuesday, the score could have been embarrassing and luckily JR was on top form. I'm still hopeful that we'll see a quality CB come in, but I'm not holding my breath
