Numerous articles are suggesting that NCFC need a more experienced defender to guide the defence through the demands of the PL. Defending too deeply against Stoke: seemed to be corrected against Chelsea, but 3 penalities (whatever your views on the rights and wrongs of these) is very poor. Any thoughts, I'm sure Lambo will be addressing this in training, but who will take command of the defence on the pitch.
We need to stop the Centre Backs tarting about whilst on the ball, a lot of the goals or penalties we have conceded are down to defenders being caught out and panicking whilst on the ball or acting like a Barcelona player and being cocky.
I hate to say it but I think that the penalty decision against chelsea WAS a penalty and WAS a red card. He was going away from goal but he was still able to score, he was initially running at a very fast pace. The ball wasn't going to far wide and it was far enough out for an easy finish. Also I think that ruddy was the last man as pilkington only became the last man after the foul. Even if Ramires did fall early this is very hard for the ref to spot. This is just my opinion.
I agree with wonky re: the Chelsea penalty/red card. Yes, we got stuffed in the carling cup (Lambert out) mainly because we gifted MK three of their four goals. I have no problem with that, as the league is clearly our main focus - as it should be. But as the O.P. says, unless our CBs are world class, sometimes a hoof upfield, in the Doherty style, would be less dangerous than a mazy run that goes wrong on the edge of our area. Let's hope they use the current international break to tighten up defensively on the training ground.
The worst naivety was against Stoke.It would have been easy to have played out those last 5 minutes of injury time by various devices.The obvious one would have been for Holt to have taken the ball into the corner and invited Stoke to come and get it.We were still playing football at 93 and a half minutes.We shouldn't have been,in two senses.
A good experienced centre half would certainly help. I personally still feel that Ward will be a huge benefit when he gets back from injury (and has a few reserve games under his belt for fitness) as I feel he is more commanding than our other options. De Laet is certainly our best option at the moment, he's given away a silly penalty and was at fault for the pass that lead to Chelsea's third but his mistakes are outweighed by the good points so i don't dwell; he's still young and learning. Still feel the decision not to bring in a more experienced backup 'keeper may be a decision that comes back to bite us, if Ruddy was to get injured then I don't think Rudd is ready to be #1 for a prolonged period of time. If we could bring one in and let Rudd out on short term loan, that would be excellent all round. However, I think we are adjusting well to this league and that first win could well be on the horizon.
3 points against the Baggies no problem, Its not the way we let in the goals its how many? We have to score 2 or more each game to get a win FACT. Ruddy is great but will always let 1 in.......At this standard 1 is OK... Barnett is our best CB for me
Another point, not sure about you guys but I think our fullbacks and central midfield can help a bit more, it's great how Tierney, Naughton, Martin & Co get forward but sometimes these mistakes have happened when the centre backs are isolated. One a positive note a lot of it is down to nerves and a complete lack of concentration at times, we've played one of the top four teams and not done too badly, we've certainly learnt a few lessons from the mistakes they've made, they can only get more confident by knowing their enemies and knowing their own weaknesses.
