Whilst watching the Wigan match, I noticed as I'm sure many of you did also that there was a distinct lack of defending aptitude. Not for the first time this season, goals have been conceded through some really lazy defending. Reaction in certain situations seems almost slow motion, players appear out of position and the lack of ' The art of defending as a unit' is blatantly apparent. Surely defensive strategy takes up a decent percent of training time. It is unbelievably frustrating, watching, screaming at the players, " move out", or "watch him, watch him" only for a reaction to take place a second too late. I saw plenty of issues that need work within the team and whilst there were a few positives, the negative issues need in ny humble opinion, strict attention
I like the fact that the discussion of general defending is coming to the forefront as We now have to accept that the game is linked directly into the European game and its happened in under three years. I said on another thread that generally the defending as we all knew it has now gone ... Diving, cheating and fear make the defending now laughable at ALL teams in this league. I blame that tit Hansen who makes a bloody living out of picking holes. The game is in serious trouble IMO ... you only have to look at the Stoke game this weekend to see how its all gone tits up On the radio this morning they are writing off Man City because of a 92 minute goal as not being very good defensively These ****ers who nit pick are all brain washing us. The rules have changed ... it's that simple: they have gone too far?
it was pretty poor 5 defenders came rushing for the cross if two had stayed back a bit then the wigan lad wouldn't have got his shot in & also one attackers are midfield should have picked him up, the more i saw of that the worse it gets.
I think lack of confidence is part of the problem. For the 2nd goal it looked like there was a seige atmosphere, got to defend at all cost to ensure 3 points - that lead to 4 or 5 defenders being way too deep when the cross came in. One probably played Wigan onside. The first goal came not for the first time because we failed to pick opposition lurking on the edge of our own box, McCarthy shot unchallenged.
I think the central defensive pair actually performed quite well during the Wigan game. The amount of crosses etc they had to deal with really stems from the TEAM not defending as a unit. General rants such as these aren't actually very constructive or analytical: where were the individual problems that you noticed, Microwill?. Both the Villa goal and the second Wigan goal on Saturday were, in my opinion, more the responsibility of the central midfield not picking up players on the edge of the box or making runs into it. True, Bosingwa is an awful defender (hopefully we won't see him on Sat) but I think we need to be slightly more specific in our criticisms as Hill, Nelsen and Green all played well.
I thought Taraabt was at fault for the first goal . This hardly gets a mention , and even though i think Bosingwa has been generally poor i can't see the point of pursuing a witch hunt against him . The same goes for SWP . Now we have a good manager and chairman the team needs our complete support and i think we'll comfortably pull away from trouble.
Yeh, Adel was one player who stood off for Wigan's first goal, and he did the same for Villa's goal last week. But I agree with you, I think especially the defensive problems are collective and no one player deserves to be picked out. Adel and Bosingwa both did more going forward than others at the back and in midfield.
Derry was appalling for the 2nd goal, that was his man but he had no confidence in his defence so he went right back to the defensive line. I dont think Boswinga will start because he was hauled off and it looks like arry wasnt impressed with him.
If you watch the 2nd goal again you'll find that it's Diakite ball-watching that was one of the critical issues there. A single glance to his right and he would have seen McCarthy all alone. As for Bosingwa, not sure if HR 'hauled' him off - he was removed in the last 10 mins or so, hardly a signal that the manager is displeased with a players performance overall. Though with the Twin back to fitness he might well start, even though he's come in for a fair amount of criticism on here anyway.
why would you swap RBs when you are going for a win? It makes no sense unless he was injured or arry was making a point. Neither Mbia or Diakite were making that much of an effort but it was still Derrys man.
I looked at it again yesterday and thought the same thing, I have a feeling that the players are not as fit physically as some other teams as alot of players seem to be blowing hard towards the end of games with out really putting in too much effort.
If he was so unimpressed with Bosingwa why not replace him at halftime or the 60th min? Why wait til the last ten? Why start him at all? Much more likely that he felt that Bosingwa was tiring, that's all. How can you be so certain that McCarthy was 'Derry's man'? He made a late run into the box and was between Diakite and Mbia - one of them should have picked him up.
True, Derry was out of position, he had gone back too far into the back 4. I have watched the goal again and must agree with you there. However, had Diakite glanced to his right, he would have seen that the Wigan player was unmarked and could have covered the pass.
It frustrates me that we defend so deeply, particularly at set pieces Over the last few games this his frequently meant everyone in the box, and when (if!) the ball is cleared it comes straight back Indeed having so many bodies in the box seems to have meant players getting in each other's way rather than actively defending
I thought Saturday was one of the worse games Diakite has played for us. M'bia wasn't as good as he has been since he came back from suspension. Derry was sloppy with his passing 2 or 3 times, but also put in some very solid tackles. After doing pretty good in the first half, our midfield faded badly 2nd half.
Personally, I'm wondering what Mbia best position is and if HR knows yet: he seemed to be the centre-mid with the responsibility of playing highest up the pitch, at times he was level with Mackie from goal-kicks etc.
