I think other responses have explained my thinking, but for clarity, Dunne is obviously good at defending, but his distribution is poor. As a CB at this level, it's simply not good enough to be one dimensional, like Dunne. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for all he did last year, and think he's good enough for this level too, but Onouha can be better overall, especially with Rio and Caulker to learn from. Did Rio make a mistake? Yes. Does one mistake make him worse than Dunne? Not if you ask me. Rio read the game with aplomb, often stepping up to gain possession, and would then distribute the ball to wide men with real skill. It's something Dunne just can't do! Fully respect if you disagree, but if you ask me Rio won't make the one mistake like he did today every week, whereas Dunne will make the mistakes he made (in regards to distribution) week in week out.
As a big time Rio knocker I thought he looked great. The guy's certainly got a pass on him! Playing him and Dunne in the same though is very short termist. Rio's 36 in a few months- and likely to retire after this season. Dunne's 35 next month, and can't have much more football in him. Why are we engineering ourselves a situation where we have to rip the heart out of our defence at the end of the season? (probably). It's clear the future of the defence lies on the shoulders of Onouha (27) and Caulker (22). That's without even mentioning the fact that Onouha's better than Dunne anyway. People have complained about Nedum's distribution- but it's usually a dam sight better than Dunne's was today. His standard manoeuvre was to telegraph a slow rolled ball sideways to Rio- absolving himself of the responsibility of distributing anyway. Even Onouha at his shakiest could do that. Particularly in the 2nd half Dunne's lack of manoeuvrability saw him getting pressed + flustered by the opposition whilst on the ball. I think this will be more pronounced in a back 3 too- because his space is more crowded than in a CB pairing.
I saw the game guys and have to say Ferdinand looked very immobile. His positioning at times was questionable too. What he was doing to Chester on our goal I'll never know. He should babe just dealt with the cross, not the player. There's no doubt he's a good player but I don't think he showed it today. Mutch looks good. Just needs to work on his finishing. Caulker for me was your best defender. I didn't think Dunne played too bad apart from one or two loose passes. Didn't hear/see much of your wingbacks which is crucial for the 3-5-2 formation. A lot of your play went through the middle. Traore didn't look too interested in tracking Elmo back at times (although the same can be said Elmo too!) Remy bossed the first half but vanished second. Sorry to say it but Austin looked out of his depth. Just an opposing opinion of your team today. I think you've got more than enough to stay up and on another day draw/win 2-1 with some of your chances going in. A lot of teams are only just switching to 3-5-2 this season (Liverpool, man utd, you guys) but people forget this is our third year with the formation now and I think, second half especially, we looked more comfortable playing it. You'll stay up. Question is... Is that with Hoddle or Redknapp?
I thought you played pretty well yesterday, particularly in the first half, when we were fairly messy. We badly missed Long yesterday, we only had three out and out strikers, Jelavic is too slow to play up front on his own, Long was sold on Thursday and Sagbo is suspended for a stupid tweet to Anelka, so we were limited for options. Ince behind Jelavic was new for us and it didn't work at all in the first half, though it improved in the second. I think there'll be worse teams than you, so I think you should be encouraged by yesterday's performance, though I worry for you if Remy buggers off, he's by far your most dangerous player.
Apologies Jock, I skimmed through the thread after getting home, just saw your angry stuff followed by the 'I didn't see the game' bit. Honestly mate, if you had been there you'd feel better. You know I share a lot of your views, but honestly its not worth getting your blood pressure up about it.
Nice , measured assessments lads, cheers. It won't be so apparent to you, but for us that was a significant step forward after the truly dire football we had to sit through last year. We have two proper wing backs in our squad, if we play them we will be much better. I was very worried about facing you lot yesterday, great season last year, Bruce is a good manager and your preparations seemed to have gone well, aside from losing Long (but £12m for him - could not be turned down). You'll get sharper and play better. Hope you enjoyed your day in the delights of W12.
Ever since he joined us Dunne's lack of quality in using the ball has been evident, I must admit every time he got the ball last season I was nervous and in the play-off match against Wigan his stock ball was sideways to Ned who was immense in that game. I really think Ned should start with Dunne as cover on the bench, we would just be a little more mobile...
I thought we played well in patches, although as has already been mentioned too much play went through the middle. Barton's distribution was again wayward and he's going to have to sharpen up fairly quickly. I didn't think we created enough all game, and although Remy played fairly well he was essentially feeding on scraps. Austin didn't really get into the game at all, and the penalty miss [which was never a penalty in the first place] just summed up his afternoon, I don't see from yesterday's performance how Remy and Austin are going to fit into the same team. Special mention to Ale Faurlin who I thought put his heart and soul into his performance. Defensively we look reasonably solid, Caulker had a good game, Ferdinand was at fault for Hull's goal and I hope that wasn't a sign of things to come. Dunne was as solid as usual, but is always going to get caught out with his lack of pace. We came up against a very well organised Hull side that courtesy of the Europa league have got a few games under their belt already and I think that was the main difference yesterday, they looked that bit sharper than we did. Looking forward I would say we are in reasonable shape, one or two additions and we should do OK, I remain positive!
Apparently, Barton was the best midfielder in the EPL on the weekend: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/08/18/joey-barton-outperforms-alexis-sanchez-and-everyone-else-in-key/
OK, just back from a four day break and only got to watch MOTD last night. Interestingly, I was getting updates from two of my lads, one of whom was moderately positive and the other rather negative. In fairness, the negative reporter only saw the second half and by all accounts, from both Hull and QPR posters, the first half was ours. My tuppence worth is that in the first half we looked good; Remy MUST stay if we are to survive (I think we are all agreed on that); it seems to me we created as many chances in that game as we did in just about the whole of our last outing in the PL!! Rio seems to have won many over despite his one error that cost us the points. I feel very sorry for Charlie and I was delighted to hear that we were chanting his name after the miss. Just watching his general demeanor in the game (MOTD highlights only), I think he needs to step up or risk being a very good Championship striker who never quite made it in the PL. All early days of course. Overall it seems that Harry has assembled the makings of a good team. We can but hope that this time we can actually make progress. Can't wait for the Sunderland game now when I can get back to HQ.
