The defensive errors have to stop!

We're shooting ourselves too often in the foot and at this level we're going to get punished.

I am all for Martin maurading forward but he has to make certain when he does that he doesnt give away the ball.

I just annoyed that the last two games it feels like we have beaten ourselves. There was no reason for us to loose today. Agiasnt Villa it was a similar storey. We have had two incredibly tough matches and both games we lost because of our own mistakes not because of the quality of thE opposition. That is saying alot considering the opposition but we wont last long if we continue to gift goals.
Maybe im just annoyed because I was in a pub full of Arsenal fans.



anyway heres hoping for a good result agaisnt QPR

 

Arsenal are a top 4 team in the PL every season. and probably in the top 8 club team on the Planet................ 2 1 is a good result

 

very good result, After man city arsenal are the form team.

 

To be fair to Martin that goal line clearence was phenominal.

 

It wasnt a bad result. But could easily of been a better one.

 

also both fullbacks were guilty of sloppy passes that resulted in efforts on goal. also thought wes ineffective, seemed unable to make up his mind what to do when he had possession and either lost the ball easily or made bad decision on what option to take. i know to many on this board this will seem like heresy but i have been less than convinced with his performances lately.

 

It's wasn't a bad performance, but it was a frustrating one. Who knows what could of happened if we had kept hold of the ball. But literally 80% of our time on the ball ended with us giving up the ball when we really shouldn't have - followed by an Arsenal break at pace.

Agreed with Eddie Tierney, and Naughton left passing to be desired, but Hoolahan and Fox where the main culprits for conceding possession. Morrison was excellent as usual, and Rusty and Barnett where phenomenal even given the former's mistake.

 

Barnett looks twice the player i thought he could be.

 

The defensive errors have to stop!

With the players we have I don't think it's ever going to happen. They give all they have but they are not good enough to face top strikers week in/week out. Too many times we have been exposed this season. Get some pace against us and our LB & RB can not live with them.

 

I have to agree with Thai, and it's not going to improve anytime soon! The defenders who are able to defend to that high standard cost as much in wages as we would want to pay as a fee!

All we can do is keep trying to improve with training, and by finding a gem or two in the lower leagues! You can guarantee PL will be working hard on the task in hand!

 

It may be the standard of the opposition that is causing the errors. Barnett and R Martin had a fantastic game. The second goal was a tackle which happens all the time in football. Agree about Hoolahan though.

 

Thai is on the money. I think we should invest in jan in the defence, but the gaffer has pretty much ruled that out

 

I would argue that the reason for the poor passing today was because of the system employed. It is incredibly hard to link the play from back to front with it being so congested in our own half. You have to punt it clear at times an over the past few games Morison has performed brilliantly at holding up the play long enough for others to join in the attack. However I felt that he struggled today. He was not so dominant in the air as he has been of late. To be fair to him some of Ruddys kicks up to him, from the inevitable pass backs, were poor and made his job even harder, especially in the first half.

I'm not having a go at anybody inparticular. The system that has served us well kept us in the game all match. If we employed a different system with the personel we have at our disposal we would be looking at a goal difference of minus double digits by now. Bearing in mind that nobody has tanked us yet that could well be our saving grace come the end of the season - it will be the equivalent of another point.

It is just such a shame that Russ' mistake has gifted them a goal. I can just see the MOTD hihglights already in my head - glowing report of his performance, highlights reel bringing praise from all quarters until the blooper that has ultimately caused our demise. Second half especially I thought the boys were right in the zone and to be fair there weren't that many clear cut Arsenal chances after the break. Then again, we looked pretty toothless up front today.

 

Hope you get the defence problem sorted, other than that you could do ok and you should stay up. Good luck.

 

The way some of you are talking you would think we were an established premiership side! Yes we will make mistakes and yes we will usually get punished at this level, but we've just given one of the form teams in europe a close game!

There are better players in the country than our back 4, but not many in our price range. Lets not write our defence off because they couldn't keep VAN PERSIE out!

 

I think the attack are doing their job well lately, Pilkinton has been great.

 

Just where is the top class defender going to come from? I'm sure Arsenal are in a better position than us to buy top players and their defence is shocking at defending as well. We knew we would have problems in this division as will all the clubs of our ilk. We could weill be in the bottom three in a couple of more games.
But thats what this division is about. Half a dozen massive clubs and then the rest. We've made a good start but recently we've played two teams who are considered among the better teams and we've lost.
Sure it was another bad mistake that cost us but we have to accept we made a few mistakes today and got away with it. I lost count of how many time poor old Tierney got caught out and crosses came in only to be blocked or missed.
However, I wouldn't blame the players. I would blame PL for our defensive system from the start. Crofts and Fox signalled a defensive midfield with a lone striker that allowed Arsenal to play the width, traditionally our system. They could have scored in the 1st minute and we never learnt. If it weren't for Ruddy we would have lost heavily.
However they have better players than we do so you can't blame Crofts who looked hesitant or Fox who gave it away every time. And Hoolahan does not play his best behind Morison, rather behind Holt. Morison tried his best but he didn't have enough support when he needed it. Johnson and Pilkington were the only outfield players who looked capable of matching them.
We need 10 wins and 10 draws to stay up. Target those teams and we could make it. That should leave us the option of nothing to lose against the Arsenals of this world and go out with the "no fear" attitude.
But all said and done, I'm sure they are all trying their best and if we come up short then we can applaud them for at least giving us the pleasure and adventure that this season was always going to be.

 

We were ****e today FACT, we made an average Arsehole side look like Barca. Today made me realise that there's no way we are gonna survive with the players we have. For ****'s sake, how many times did we just needlessly give the ball away today? Hoolahan looks like a little boy trying to play with the big kids and what the **** was Martin doin' fannying about in the centre circle before gifting Arsenal their second? No disrespect to them but our players are what they are, good lower league standard albeit with a hunger to succeed, but that I'm afraid just isn't good enough. Let's get real here, unless we invest some serious money come January there's no way we are gonna stay up.
Paul Lambert has done a marvellous job for us but at the end of the day, you can't 'make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear' .......................... <vdepressedhavewokenupandsmeltthecoffeemoticon>

 

Our defence was the best part of our team that game, its the midfield who let the side down...

 

Not one clean sheet so far does not bode well. Comments such as 1-2 is a good result belies the truth of the gulf in quality and we could have easily been 1-4 at half time. I keep thinking that the players are learning and improving, which they are, but there are three additions needed, 1) central defender to organise the defence, this could simply be a partner for barnie, and guide him a little more. 2) Central midfielder strong tackler with a little more guile than Johnson; that would make a good central midfield and 3) another striker, (not a 20 goal a season person, because impossible to buy or if got lucky and found someone to do that, they'd be bought in a heartbeat.

Finally, i'm pretty pissed off with Holt's antics,