I could see the thought process behind the team today but, I didn't agree with it. Without Baldock and or Davies up front, WE HAVE NO PACE and our attacking threat is severely reduced and I thought that we were on the back foot today pretty much from the off - our attacking presence only really changed the moment Sam came on... Ryan Taylor had his usual excellent game, he really is showing us some proper centre forward display however sadly, whilst Steady is plenty in credit for me, he just isn't up to his normal game at the moment. That's not a critism, just a fact and we know he can play better. Woolly has dropped off a bit, I would like to see what Anderson has to offer, this is why we have competition in the squad. I guess we sacrificed some of our threat to keep things tight today and it worked for 45 minutes but even then, we still lost more 50/50's and challenged for less balls than normal. That's fine, but if you are going to do that, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SOLID DEFENCE and right now, we are light years away from that. I know it, you know it, even the City supporters in Estonia know, damn it we ALL know that we have a soft under belly and it is such a shame that this is in severe danger of de-railing a promising start to the season. We have solved the scoring problem but now, we need to act at the back. We are leaking 2 goals a game, mostly through "rabbit in a headlight" defending, when Leeds hit the bar early in the second half, the writing was on the wall - we just cannot defend set pieces properly and it is panic stations whenever we are put under threat by better teams. I hate to critise our own but clearly we are not good enough at the back at the moment so Derek, you MUST go and sign 2 experienced and footballing centre halfs now as the better teams will continue to take advantage and that all important momentum will be lost. Tuesday brings us a game we should be able to win BUT it also brings the prospect of one Darius Henderson who just LOVES to score against us and currently, he will eat our centre halfs for breakfast. PLEASE ACT NOW - thank you.... EDIT:- hope George and Joe Bryan are ok, looked like George dislocated rather than broke has ankle so hopefully not as bad as first thought...
'I didn't agree with it' Nor did I but for different reasons. Mainly, what did Elliot do to deserve being dropped, he was excellent last week in BOTH boxes. Whether it's because of Fontaine's injury I don't know but he's lost it, totally. Said it time and time again - with our clown CH's we need that defensive midfielder. Anyone, and that includes you Mr McInnes, who disagrees hasn't got a clue.
****ing hell what's the world coming to I have to agree with Redprint. No midfielder to break up their midfield. I could see using Taylor and Stead to try and wear out their defenders, then bring on Baldock and Davies to run them ragged. But injuries rail roaded us into other plans. McInnes knows we need a decent commanding CB probably 2 but if they ain't available he is going to have to go to SL and explain to dig a bit deeper. Maybe go back for Elliott Ward and McManus. Then take the captains armband of Fontaine!
Just read DM's comments on BBC - its not the bloody left back position that is the problem.... IT'S THE BLOODY MIDDLE..!!!!
Del says on the OS that he is infuriated with the defensive mistakes. Roll back to when Millen was in charge and you will see EXACTLY the same comments week after week. We gave away soft goals.......we can't win games defending like that.....etc......etc Nothing has changed because the heart of the defence hasn't changed! We only pulled away from the drop zone last season when Del brought in McManus then Bikey. We are all sick of seeing the same mistakes from the same players week after week. I personally am also sick of hearing the same moans from successive managers. Yeah it is good to have more goal threat in the team but a winning team STARTS from a solid defence. That is where we should have started when re-building this summer. Not left it to the end as an apparent afterthought. Waiting for Monk - who may never come - is looking like an increasingly poor plan.
So are we all when its costing us valuable points. The best way to stop this is to permanently drop the culprits (Fontaine especially) and bring in others who are better. Del is doing this but wont be rushed, and wont pay over the odds. This season was never going to be anything other than trial and error with a new manager and a host of new players, and we were never going to threaten automatic promotion or even the playoffs in my opinion. When we get it right, and have the necessary players on board we will be formidable opponents to anyone at this level but I am not expecting that until the latter half of this season. Next season might be the one to see us really go marching on.
The interview I heard with McInnes it seems he will move pretty quickly to sort out the CB position (went on about not dealing with balls coming into the box well enough and fed up with telling them) As for centre midfield - I kept saying last year that Killkenny can't play in a 4 man midfield
Derek. We were unlucky with injuries today but, Kilkenny in midfield in a 2 = lose, please stop doing it!! We never controlled the centre of the park today and we always need to do that at home! I thought we looked ok at the back until Elokobi got injured and I didn't realise just how small Joe Bryan is. it was always going to be a very hard game but we didn't get any luck either.
We did make some comical errors in defence which cost us 3 points. But one to remember is before lady luck decided our match we held our own against them. She even decided that we could not use Elliott before kick off. I'm sure if he was fully fit the whining Aussie would of been on the bench. But fair play to him he did win one tackle which is more than the whole of last season. Yes we need a new possibly two central defenders. I still have faith in Del to finish the transformation and maybe defenders like Elliott Ward will take notice of us now. Where's before people like him had us down as relegation fodder. Love the fact that some of us are saying only 3 points of relegation in September where's we are also 6 points of leading the championship. Tuesday is another day, we probably won't get this elusive defender by then struggle with the left back position and so on. If players choose not to join us we have no chioce we roll our sleeves up dig deep and get on with it. And that includes the crowd, never when I was younger only 20 years ago would teams come and out sing us like that. To make AG a fortress is not down to the team it's us. And before some say when the team preform's the crowd will correct me if I'm wrong but all matches start 0-0. As Deliah said to Norwich lets ave them. This is our ground let the opposing teams know it
That goes to the heart of it ROD because you could feel the unease in the crowd over the selection from the moment the team was announced. We almost surrendered the game before the start and I think that the crowd sensed it and were nervous hence the lack of noise. It was almost like we were waiting for the inevitable and only when SB came on and Albert scored did we get any real belief but this wa soon deflated by the usual keystone cops defending... Message to Jersey office, needs sorting NOW...
City soft underbelly is its midfield. It has no defensive shape. When City lose the ball players hold their original positions, so City defend with four- five - six instead of six-seven - eight. Wide players fail to go narrow, and runners are not tracked through the centre. Basics such as putting the opponent on their weaker foot no chance, you have to get tight to do that. If you attack with five - six and City do they have to come backwards as a well. City have been over ran away from home by Barnsley and with respect they are not one of the better teams. "Footballing" centre halves won't come cheap or easy. Midfield working harder should come with there is here now. Sign muscular club foots and the football will lack tempo or go aerial. Nothing to get vexed about, its been fun to watch. Score at this rate and the team will be safe.
I was shocked to see he never lined up but then again a unprecedented set of circumstances didnt help our fluidity... as I said in the week the next few games all have the tag of banana skins hanging over them.... HOWEVER win one lose one win one lose one win one draw one lose one win one ..we'll be safe.
I suppose we can say we have been incredibly unfortunate, with 3 serious injuries in 2 games. There is no doubt that a new central defensive pairing is vital. Its a mark of the job Cisse did for us that he made our defence relatively secure. If we get harder to beat then our threat will diminish, so the question is what would we prefer ? Entertainment or low score results
I don't think you can have a go at Del for his team selection in regards to strikers - by and large we've been banging in the goals for fun, so whatever rotation system he's employing seems to be working. ...And I think he has been trying desperately to get new CBs in, but it just hasn't worked out for him. Keogh would've almost certainly have re-signed for us had the money been available, with money probably playing a big part in missing out on Gerrard too - and Gary Monk wanted to fight for his place at Swansea. There would be no point in getting in any old dross that wouldn't improve the 1st team as it would only drain resources and as frustrating as it is there aren't many available players that fit the bill. Unfortunately it could be the difference between mid-table and a playoff challenge, but I'm also very happy with the chances being created and taken at the other end of the pitch which is something we haven't really seen at City for a while. Remember, a win and a loss is more valuable than two draws and I for one think fixing a leaky defence is a slightly easier task than getting a non-scoring side to do so.
