Okay we are all wondering when it is going to get sorted and indeed if it is going to get sorted and how many more stabs in the dark can Grayson make while trying to discover a defender who can defend? Bessone now gone, Bruce is a waste of a wage, O'Dea is useless, Parker should have been shipped out the minute he was injury free (admitted hitting that minute would take precision timing) White isn't a LB, Kissa isn't like having a "new signing" that we had hoped for (sorry I love the guy but he hasn't hit the form we all hoped), Bromby and Conolly have mixed reactions from the fans and I don't really want to mention defender and O'Brien in the same breathe. I have made up my mind that Tom Lees is not a RB he is a promising CB but are we going to ruin him? I mean, he is at a stage where he is still learning but who is he learning from on the training field, the likes of Bruce, O'Brien and O'Dea and co WTF?? Now we look set to sign Pugh, is he an average LB or is he an average LM, Grayson sends out signals that he is looking to fix the leaks but we know the signing of Pugh alone isn't going to be the cure.
Get shirts on them both, I bet those two could still do a better job than the bunch we have at the moment.
I know it's not saying much, but every time I see Leigh Bromby I think he's the best centre back we have. I would say I can't understand why he's ignored so often but then I know who the manager is. Lees has been hit and miss, which you expect from a young player, but it can't help him being played out of position. O'Dea reminds me of Collins. He's not as bad as Collins but not many players are. I think White is very promising and can grow into the role the more he plays. He's done well since he came in. I think we can forget about the defence ever being properly sorted until we get a new manager.
Do you think the defensive players we have are good enough to get us promoted? Or even into the playoffs? I don't. The management/training of those defenders definitely needs a breath of fresh air, but like you just said, none of them are what you'd call top Championship quality, are they? And it's no wonder when all we can attract are crocks, has-beens, rejects and freebies due to our Chairman's "policy".
None of our defenders are top quality Championship, but on paper none of them should be contributing to one of the worst defences in the league.
I say that Grayson is part of that 'policy'. He spent a big chunk of last season's budget on Neill Collins, who is the worst professional footballer I've ever seen. Grayson just seems to keep bringing in defenders of similar quality and swapping between them at random, in the hope of an improvement. If you can't get better players in then you at least need to have a settled defence. Collins, Bruce and O'Brien were brought in last season, supposedly to improve us for the Championship, yet Grayson keeps having to turn back to Leigh Bromby. Then, despite playing well, Bromby always finds himself dropped again. It would cost Ken Bates a lot less for Grayson to make no signings than to sign players who make us worse. It seems Grayson feels he has to make his poor signings first choice and stick by them until they become so bad that it's farcical.
It depends what your perspective on them is. For example, you could say the following: White - had a promising start this season and was a star at West Ham, showing some fearless defending and great pace after a semi-successful spell at Oldham. O'Dea - promising natural defender who's come from a Champions League side and knows the division after a spell at Ipswich last season. Kisnorbo - had a slow start but when he regains full fitness he will be recognized again as one of the Championship's bravest centre-backs. Lees - Bury's player of the season and well equipped after starring in a team that did well in a very physical, pace-oriented division. Bromby - unremarkable 6/10 player who rarely puts a foot wrong and seems quite dominant in the air. Connolly - very solid last season both defending going forwards and a recognized leader at Derby who should bring some control to our backline. Or you could equally say: White - not a natural defender and often gets skinned or crossed past when tracking back, even when he uses his pace to match the winger's run. Several goals have been conceded from his side this season. Kisnorbo - has lost a yard of pace and all of his confidence, as well as some of his passion with tackling and the spectacular diving headers away from defence. You'll mostly beat Kisnorbo. Distribution from headers and clearances has been woeful, nine times out of 10 giving the opposition playmaker the ball straight back, albeit further down the field. O'Dea - reject from a Championship-standard club in Celtic and one in Ipswich too. Slow and unintelligent in his play - disputable whether he's anything more than a younger Neill Collins. Lees - Constantly gets done by wingers when playing on the right and has been beaten in the air a few times too. Played in the wrong place, but doesn't look like he's going to be a resilient enough defender for any Championship team at this moment. Bromby - a Sheffield United reject at a time when they weren't exactly doing great and is hardly the leader we need at centre-back. Connolly - looks like he's lost his positive mentality from last season and doesn't have a great recent pedigree coming from Derby's reserve team and being resented by many of their fans. At the moment, my opinion is somewhere between those two extremes. But if they keep playing the way they have, I'll be more and more certain that they fit into the latter category.
I don't often agree with you but I do on this one, I wonder myself if it is Bates not giving Grayson the funds which is causing the 'hit and miss' approach. I know you hate Grayson Clivetime and you will blame him no matter what. I look at Bessone absolute garbage yet when we signed him I thought he was a decent player and to see Swansea took him back leaves me scratching my head. O'Brien was good when he first came so what went wrong, did old age just creep up and does he suffer more than the average Joe when it comes to confidence. I don't rate Bromby any better than Bruce or O'Dea, for me the jury is out on White, he isn't a LB and if he can't make it as a LM we should let him go out on loan just one more time before considering his future at the club.
The defence will never be sorted out as long as Grayson is manager, anyone who rates a carthorse like O'Dea above a competent if unspectacular defender like Bromby knows nothing about defending or sorting a defence out,which is all the more remarkable considering he was a top flight defender himself for Villa & Leicester. I never thought I'd long for the days of George Graham,but I do. He turned our leaky defence round in no time at all,had us organised,& you knew if we went ahead in a game there'd be a good chance we'd hold on to that lead. Not anymore unfortunately,under Grayson,if we take the lead there's an inevitability that 1-0 won't be enough to go on to win.
Dom Matteo said a week ago in his column, that the club should bring in a defensive coach to provide an outside solution. This should be done. Clearly SG and our current coaching staff don't know how to solve this, which is weird considering SG was a decent defender himself. Whilst we lack a top quality defender, there's no reason why, given good organisation, this set of DECENT standard defender couldn't form an okay defence. Connolly was good last season. Consistent and IMO should be brought back into the first team. Tom Lees is played out of position and has been poor so far. Maybe a break from first team action but should be given a chance in his natural position. Bruce is a decent defender, as most Ipswich fans would tell you, and shouldn't be cast to the reserves. Bromby is similar ability wise. For me, Kisnorbo, O'Brien, Parker and O'Dea are the defenders who aren't actually good enough. The only thing O'Dea has going for him is that he's left footed. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be in the team anymore.
I saw an interview with him once, he said he always looked at the backbone of a team first, Keeper, CB's and Defensive Midfielder, they were his priority and when he had those positions right and you were not going to concede it meant you were not going to lose. His theory was if you have two CB's doing the business it didn't matter too much about the RB and LB because if they did get skinned and a cross came in, then between the Keeper and CB's it was going to get snuffed out and of course nothing was going to get through the middle (in theory).
