I am not sure. Whilst he is committed in the tackle, I think in the air is his weakness (as in the England game). Is there too much of an air of sentiment within our side that causes players to be picked rather than ability? Russell is well liked by all and no one can fault he gives everything, but I prefer him at RB and think we could do better at CB. Anderwield for example should be the quality we should be going for to improve the side but do appreciate his situation. Thoughts?
I was always of the opinion that he was equally good at CB as at RB. He has also stated in the past that his preferred position is CB. However, i think I may be beginning to think like you, Surgeryman. Give me Ryan Bennett or Turner (obviously Bassong is our 1st choice CB) over Russ at the moment.
Personally I would rather have Bennett or Turner at the back alongside Bassong, but I would also have Whittaker at RB which means Rusty would be on the bench for me. I like the guy and you can't fault his effort but for me we have technically better players in those areas now.
Initially I was not that impressed when RM first came but he did what any player needs to do and that is perform consistently on the pitch. His work rate and commitment is not in question but the team always comes first and we should be playing the best quality players we have in whatever position and not be caught up with sentiment.
That tends to be my thoughts also Suffolk. He is a makeshift CB and indeed Whitaker is better at RB for me. Prefer Kyle Naughton to both TBH!
I thought he was one of the best against Everton and let's not forget the instrumental role he played in Scotland's fine victory over Croatia. He's not a star name but is better than many give him credit for.
Did Russell Martin put a foot wrong defensively in either the Everton or the Hull game? I can't remember him making one defensive mistake. On the contrary, against Everton I believe he made one of his trademark blocks preventing an almost certain goal. The only fault that could be levied at him on Saturday was that he caught a bad case of the same illness afflicting the back four and the two in front of them post-penalty, missplaced passing. I don't know where the "selection by sentiment" is coming from. I can only think it is being suggested as an explanation of why Martin was preferred to Ryan Bennett. But there are other far more plausible reasons for that.
Not sure why we've gone with Rusty at CB to be honest. Ryan Bennett certainly proved himself at the back-end of last season when Anthea was injured and is a more "natural" centre-back. That said, Rusty is reliable, dependable and is better than many in the centre of defence, however, I prefer him at RB and would have given Ryan the gig meself....
He did get caught in possession twice, if I recall correctly - though arguably you could say that was due to a hospital pass originally. His passing was extremely, and uncharacteristically, poor.
He had a shoddy game against Hull lost the ball on more then a few occasions. Garrido was the poorest of the back four on Saturday but Rusty was no better.
As I said, he kept giving tha ball away. But defensively he was solid. To describe his performance overall as "shoddy" just isn't warranted.
It was hardly the most testing game defensively though Robbie. We are not saying that he is a poor CB, just that some of us would prefer Bennet to play CB after proving himself at the end of last season.
We can look into it as much as possible, but misplaced passes from the back are suicidal for defenders especially when they're up against nippy forwards or crafty players like Suarez, distributing the ball from the back is an important part of a defenders game in my eyes.
No dispute about his performances at the end of last season, paired with Bassong (which I think is important). However, he didn't particularly shine in pre-season and made (as I recall) at least two bad errors which cost goals. Also he is most comfortable on the right, as is Turner. I don't think Bennett is currently so obviously vastly better than Martin as to make Martin's selection ahead of him in the last two matches incomprehensible.
martin had a bit of a stinker at hull (he was not alone) but he was very good against everton. in my opinion he is not a centre back, he's a right back who is good enough to be our fourth choice centre back. he should be behind bassong, bennett and turner (probably in that order) so i'm unsure why bennett hasn't been played although he did have a poor pre season by most accounts. when bennett is playing well though he's terrific. turner hasn't played much football lately as he's been recovering from injury and we'll have the same issue with seb once he returns. defence is a bigger worry than anything else at the moment in my opinion as we can't seem to get everyone fit enough to build partnerships. i would still like to see a new centre half brought to the club if possible, so long as they are as good as bassong. i want garrido replaced by olsson once he's fit enough too.
He isn't vastly better no, but his aerial ability is a fairly key improvment on Rustys and his positional play is slightly better IMO, he does have the potential to be far superior though, which is my personal reason for wanting to see him get an extended run of games, unfortunately that would be at the expense of Martin, who has'nt done too much wrong and will always put his body on the line, but isn't quite as good. Garrido being removed for Olsson would make the biggest improvement though. My back four for the season would be Whittaker Bennett Bassong Olsson (swap Turner in for Bassong while he is injured).
Indeed, which is why it is such a pity that we didn't manage to sign Alderweireld. One positive amidst all this is that we do seem to be trying to play the ball out of defence rather than hoof it clear to nobody in particular. That must be good and I hope we don't let Saturday prevent us continuing that way.
we certainly seem to be trying to use the ball better from the back but surely ryan bennett is the guy most at ease doing this? it is a bit odd he's not been starting so far but there could be any manner of reasons behind it. as soon as bassong is back though i'd like him with bennett again as i think they complement each others games very well. nothing against turner, i like him, i just think bennett is better
