Well you're right to say that you've got the drop on most of us to assess him, and your opinion is worth listening to. He strikes me as being an old fashioned stopper, with no other notable skills (like directing & developing Lees, for instance). He's far from brilliant, as are the lot of them, in fact. Mediocrity reigns supreme in central defence. The thing is though, any one of them could play alongside a Leader. If we had a Lucas-type, we wouldn't have the problems we have. I also wonder if O'Dea simply lacks confidence as he's not had a consistent run with a settled defence. In fact, it might be the same for all of the CBs. Who knows? I wish I hd a magic wand!
I have sympathy for all our defenders, I don't think they've had a great deal of help from the midfield. I played centre back in my more senior years and it's a very difficult position if there's no assistance from the middle of the park. Making the right choices at the right time is crucial, knowing when to go for the ball and when to hold the line is a very difficult talent. O'Dea isn't that bad, give him a good run and the way he plays he could be a big favourite......hopefully!
I agree the lack of a decent DMF has hurt us in games this year and the CB's have suffered! Brown has tried but he is just a tired box to box midfielder left no other choice than throwing himself into tackles because his legs have gone!
no, i disagree with the lot of you, he causes errors in the defence and is the most shocking defender we have had for such a long time maybe forever. Worse than collins imo And he has no bottle, i remember distinctly him backing out of a header in such a fashion that i would to ****ing knock him out. Whenever he has a MASSIVE error its because of concussion. He is useless and the sooner he ****s off from leeds the better. I'd have Lees, Kissa, Bromby, Bruce, Connolly, White, Brown, Clayton, Howson, Becchio, Paynter, Snoddy, Townsend, Sam, Nunez, Parker, Lonergan, Taylor and Rachubka etc. in CB before O'Dear Hes ****
thats just silly. hes not that bad, decent most the time but comes up with some stupid errors. agreed we should be looking tho
I have to say that I was one of those supporters who wanted him to do well and I hate having a go at any player who wears the white. But watching him against Arsenal, I saw him passing to empty spaces, hoofing it no where. But yet he got 8/10 in the paper the next day. FFS whoever was watching must have been pissed.
O'Dea's not good enough to get promotion with. I don't see him as an improvement on Bruce, Bromby or Kisnorbo. What's the point of bringing another average defender in permanently - we should be bringing in a good CB, and not settle for just another average player. He was signed to play leftback anyway - as shown by his first appearance, and would have played there for longer had we not been destroyed by Southampton on the first day. The club should get rid of AOB, O'Dea and Kisnorbo. Keep Bromby and Bruce as back up and bring in a quality player to partner Lees.
I think you summed it up beautifully there, BF. I agree wholeheartedly. The only thing I would add is that we need a CB that is a teacher & leader on the field. We've got to stop having these headless chicken days, & above all, we need to convince Lees that we're the team to develop him best.
Best fans, one of the main reasons we got destroyed by southampton was because of O'Dear's defending imo, he was shocking and out of position pretty much the whole game and because people are covering it makes others make mistakes and means that the blame goes elsewhere when its actually O'Dear's fault because he wasn't doing his job properly. And he was bad against Arsenal, not terrible but bad, I think Lees was outstanding though and hes the main reason we only conceded one I feel
Well i was only replying to someone saying he was signed as a LB But if a defender has a football brain then they can do a job at full back. I mean they may not be able to make the surging runs forward but you can still play the position easily enough. Lees, Bromby and Bruce are all able to, I'd consider that Kissa would be able to as well. O'Dear should be able to do a job there but he isn't good enough (bearing in mind he has played there before for Celtic and Ipswich)
Collins his hands down Graysons worst signing! Odea is a bit of a donkey but we will probably sign him How the **** he kept AC Milan out for 90 minutes in the champions league ill never know
hmmm, I think O'Dear is worse than collins. Collins won headers but nothing else and cause massive mistakes, O'Dear doesnt win headers (infact backs out of them) and bad at everything else and causes massive mistake Collins > O'Dear
Collins may have won headers but his triangular head meant no-one was really sure which direction the ball would go. O'Dea's spoon feet has the same effect with his ability to pass the ball accurately.
If O'Dea is so bad, can anyone name 5 better CB's that are available & that we can afford (circ 7k-10k a week)? PS: St Ledger is overpaid and does not count...
