...is wafer thin, according to this Archant piece by Steve Plunkett (who he? ) Does he have a point or do we just need the current first choice defenders to sharpen up a little? http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/in_a...ch_city_are_on_course_for_31_points_1_4298875
I would like to see a speedier RB to deal with some of the speedy wingers that some of the other teams have and Whitts (along with RM and SB), worries me. They so nearly got it right on Saturday and I know RB was at fault for the free header for the opening goal, but most of the goals we concede come from poor marking rather than the other team's skill.
[QUOTE="Braveheart, post: 8553382, member: 1016291"]I would like to see a speedier RB to deal with some of the speedy wingers that some of the other teams have and Whitts (along with RM and SB), worries me[/QUOTE] Now watch Kyle Naughton have an absolute stormer against us on Saturday, now you've said that! Assuming he features, of course.
Aside from a small number of additions we are the side that came up. We are where we are on merit, realistically what do we expect? If we lose today then we are looking in serious trouble IMO.
Well we didn't lose Thurnmeister and the table certainly looks a lot better now as we go into the international break. It's surprising how just one win in this league can make so much difference, talk about small margins
The margins above us are even tighter too, 8th to 13th separated by 3 points. If we were nicely ensconced in that bracket, which would only have taken one result, I think the alarm bells would have been further off. As it is, roughly third of the way through the season, with nearly a third of the points we'll need to survive, isn't a terrible position. Only dark cloud on that is the comparatively few top teams we've played in that period.
I still feel that our performances have been better than the results we gained and yesterday was the exception with a dour performance producing 3 valuable points. I feel that though it's not the most attractive, AN has added another dimension to our tactical approach to matches that will prove effective against the bigger teams or away from home. Chelsea and Arsenal in the next two matches will be a test of that. My view may be a bit jaundiced (ie. yellow in nature), but I though Wisdom was better than Naughton yesterday and that Howson had his best game of the season and was my MotM. Mbokani terrified Swansea when he came on and got the crucial assist for Howson's goal.
I think Wisdom is steady and the equation is that he defends better than he attacks. Whittaker is the opposite. I'd rather have a defending defender if you know what I mean. I realise Rusty has scored a few and Whittaker's link up play with Redmond is sometimes amazing, but for me, the two times I've seen Wisdom play he has the fairly no nonsense Culverhouse style of just doing the business
The margins at the moment are very small. To I agree, I wasn't too put off by wisdom attacking either, he's more consistently in position than Whits. I dont think it's a coincidence that, including the league cup, we've only had 2 clean sheets and that back 4 have played in both.
I hope it's a back 4 we will stick with for the next few games and see how it goes. But I think Martin will be back for the next game.
Yes, I think he will as well, but I'd like to see the defence work together as a unit. Let's hope we only see Whittaker as a sub now!!
Has Martin got 1 more game ban? If so, same back 4 again. If they do well/ok again. Probably leave Martin out. Keep him hungry. People quickly forget his hero antics in the lead up to, and the game at Anfield. Also the goals scored on top of that. I don't think he's been really bad.
If Rusty can adjust to right back again and not get dragged back into the CB position, then all good for me. Bennet really needs a string of games to demonstrate his potential, and I think we're onto a winning formula. I've said it before and I'll say it again, as long as Bassong can adjust himself a bit better when he gathers the ball (often from Ruddy) and look like he has a semblance of control of this spherical thing at his foot and it is not to be passed to a person wearing a different coloured jersey, then the early onset IBS that I attribute to him might skulk off and leave me alone. Cheers Seb!
Absolutlely KIO and thus far I don' think we have had the rub of the green. Hopefully this might be a turning point and it is interesting that the improvement in performance has come hrough a toning down of the previous policy of attack. Maybe CH wasn't too far off the mark.
It's a bit amusing that praise is being heaped on a return to Hughton type tactics because it has produced a win and a good showing against both Everton and ManCity. AN has the advantage of having better counter-attacking options than Hughton had (Jerome, Mbokani, Brady, Jarvis and a more mature Redmond). I wonder if we might see 3 CBs against Chelsea and Arsenal, with Olsson and Brady as WBs again.
I can see us going with 2 DM's again in an attempt to bore Chelsea and indeed Arsenal to death. I have to say the game on Saturday was turgid and made to look much better on MOTD than in reality. The first half sitting watching the Swans pass the ball across their midfield as we dropped off to defend was particularly painful. Still a win is a win and we certainly needed one given the tough run ahead of us.
It is worthy of some praise as it illustraites both a flexibility in tactics and 3 points as a consequence. And after Hughtons last attempt at dealing with Man Citeh I think an impressive performance is definitely progress! And if AN has better counter attacking options, it is by design, lest we forget that it was Hughton's choice to sign RvW, Hooper, play Snoddy and Redmond inverted. It was signing and playing players who appeared so at odds with how he appeared to want to play that was so baffling about how he was moving us forward! However if Neil see's three points from this and thinks that's it we're binning the attacking play book and we then start/continue to lose, then he too will start to get seriously questioned. Bah!
Your points about Hughton are valid, GM, but you neglect to say that we held ManCity to 0-0 at CR after the 7-0 thrashing. AN has indicated that it won't always be like that, but I suspect we will see more of it against the big boys in the next few weeks.
To be fair to us, if we do we are just going in with the tactics of 2/3 of the division. If you go all out against these teams you will likely become unstuck. Unfornunitely as much as the romantic in me would like us to have a go and win 4-3, I think Newcastle put paid to AN romantic streak. I'm sure Arsenal and Chelsea won't care as they get confrunted by such tactics most weeks. Bah!
