Yedlin is certainly our weak link defensively. However for a club is our position he is ok. I'm sure it will be something we will target. He does some crazy **** at times, and gets caught upfield a lot. His tackling is poor to be honest, he constantly gives away dangerous free kicks. Its a perfect example of misleading stats. There is some positive stuff however. I think the big bonus has been Lejeune really settling down. He is such a good footballer he makes a good foil for Lascelles. His early season wobbles seem to be going away now. I think you have to accept a new country (despite his Man C time) and settling into a new club can take time. Especially when you pick up injuries. He has been really good of late. Lascelles just looks a really good option. I think the risk Pardew/Carr took on him has really paid off. He looks a bargain now. Obviously Darlow hasn't worked out as well but for the money we paid for them both, the job Darlow has done, I think it looks really smart business now. 5m is buttons for a player of that quality. He is going from strength to strength. Dummett has been excellent since returning to the team. We just look much more solid with him in the team. We've picked up 17 points in the league since he returned. The defence has been much more solid. He is much maligned but he is pacey and dogged. Yes his distribution is limited at times, but he suits Rafa's defensive nature well.
Not sure I completely agree with the pouched one, I like Yedders. But if better is available then we should go for it. What I've noticed about Dummy-Under-Rafa as opposed to the Pardewed version is those stupid long balls happen far, far less. The team ahead of him is so much better drilled and there's no escaping that Kenedy is clearly a proper PL player, but whether it's experience or coaching, he's a really good option and still relatively young.
I don't know what you mean. He was purchased by Carr and Pardew? It was seen as a risk at the time and to be fair he has had his rocky periods here. Plenty had looked at him and not taken the plunge. Its turned out to be really good business and the club and those responsible for the signing deserve credit. Pardew did a hell of a lot wrong here, so did Carr, this wasn't one of them.
I'd imagine its a mix of all of those things. All the coaches in his time here will have worked on it - some can change, some can't. Krul is a prime example. Despite constant coaching no manager could change his desire to lump the ball. It certainly helps having a quality player like Kenedy in front of him. Most of all I think it is down to natural development and experience. Plus his own mental attributes. He has played a lot of PL football now and come through some really tough times where fans just haven't rated him at all. It shows a bit of grit and determination to come out the other side and get some credit. It reminds me of Barton but in a different way. Barton made clangers but eventually settle down and became a fan favourite. Dummett has never really been prone to clangers but he did give the ball away a lot. Around me at the ground I'm noticing he is getting some love now from the fans.
Said the other day, our defense is very average and exceptionally lucky to being coached by Rafa. We could get upgrades on all 5 of those listed above but at the same time we've never had such a well rounded set of CB's as the 4 at present at the club in my memory.
In defence of Yedders, there's no stat for goal-line clearances of which he, and I think Lascelles, has done a fair few occasions already this season. That, in itself, is handy with an ultimately average team. I always remember Danny Simpson for the same fondly, I just choose to forget those constant failed crosses. Yedlin is fine for a while, with the added caveat he looks to be improving. Seen him caught-out upfield less and less over time.
I think the limitation I see of Yedlin is he is not an intelligent footballer. In fact he seems a bit thick. I think this will mean his ceiling in terms of ability is lower.
We should be looking for a new first choice RB in the summer and keep Yedlin as back up. The actual defending side of his game isn't great - positioning, standing off and allowing free crosses into our area, players allowed to go past him too often. Hard worker though and fast as ****, and can be effective on the overlap in attack.
It's hard to rate individuals too much as Rafa has them so well drilled that the unit massively outweighs one player. I think Dummett, Lascelles, Lejuene, Yedlin is good enough for lower midtable and of those Lascelles is the one who could play much more highly than than and Yedlin is the weakest but the most important thing is having players who can carry out the managers instructions, train hard and work as a unit. Leicester won the title with some iffy individual defenders who formed an excellent defensive unit; Burnley sold their stand out defender from last season and seemlessly moved the unit forward - arguably Tarkowski and Mee are a stronger pairing together than the two individuals England will end of playing in the Summer.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Look at Chelsea. Still got great players but are a husk of the TEAM that won the title.
