Well that's my opinion, anyway. I appreciate that seems like a bizarre thing to say in the context of a 0-0 draw, but hear me out. Yesterday Russell Martin, much as I appreciate his contribution to the club, was dreadful. He gave away the ball three times in very dangerous positions (though he was not the only one) and I'm positive that if we had been playing Man City we would be three goals down there. I also feel that Bassong is not playing well - I don't know if he's still not 100% or if he's too comfortable, but I think it's time Bennett came in, if only to put a rocket up Bassong's arse. Added to that, Martin simply doesn't add enough going forward. Tettey oftem looks dangerous going forward and has put some nice balls into the box lately,but he and/or our other midfielders are currently tied up defending. I accept that Snodgrass has not been at his best, but most of our dangerous play came through him. You only have to look at some of the Cardiff supporter comments to see he was onsidered dangerous. Yes, he needs to relax, but what he needs most is central midfield support. This would come if our midfielders felt they could get forward without worrying that on of the defence is going to cock up.
Got nothing bad to say about Martin and Turner, but I must admit I would like to see Whittaker and Bennett in the team instead.
We're not scoring, so there must be a problem somewhere. But it's not coming from Hughton. The teams and subs in my opinion have been spot on, just have to work on finishing.
I think Cardiff's defence was a tiny but worse? If we have that many men up the pitch then we will be vulnerable to counter-attack. I have to ask though why is all the flak directed at Snoddy and Hughton and none at Hooper? Surely in a game where we had so many chances but didn't score then the strikers have to take responsibility, they had plenty of service and chances. And I don't think our defence was bad I think our finishing needed improvement, although it was mainly a lack of luck that we didn't win by 4 goals.
Martin has definitely had a bit of a wobble lately and I think Whits deserves his chance back in the team. As for Bass, he seems to always make one or two strange decisions in a match that worry the hell out of me! I still think he has to be partnered with one of Turner or Bennett to get the best out of our defence. As for the mention of Snoddy, he tormented the Cardiff LB! all game! Sometimes he over played it but he spent so much time attacking the edge of the Cardiff box that you can probably forgive him for that.
Some fans would, we've spent millions on players but we're still having the same problems we had last season. It might be worth mixing up the defence a bit to keep the players on their toes, Ruddy has saved our hide more then a few times, I've been very happy with Olsson he has a lot he has a lot of ideas his not your conventional fullbacks who just loft crosses into the box.
Would leave Russ in for the Man city game (I imagine Whits will play against united anyway) because he is better defensively, I would then bring Whits in against West Ham. With regards to centre back I said before the season started that i expected Ryan Bennett to end the season as our first choice CB, He really deserves a game, I'd drop turner instead of Bass at the moment though. Snoddy really needs to stop being something he's not, he keeps trying to go round players where as really we need to see him whipping balls in to the box. Not floating, whipping. I like our set up with 3 CMs at the moment but against cardiff it was so obvious we didn't need the defensive support, Tettey should have come off after 50 minutes, as Malky took off 2 attacking players, and brought on a second striker at the point.
Have to agree with you on Olsson. He has been brilliant! His defensive working is top notch, but his willingness to support Pilks is fantastic and he delivers a mean cross! Amazed no other Prem teams had been in for him before we got him this season, seems to have all the areas covered.
lots of people have been saying that we don't have any specify role to look for in jan, I reckon we should have a bid for Naughton, would be great to have the pace from both full backs.
That would allow us to convert Russ to a full CB and I think Naughton and Whittaker would be really good competition for the RB roll. Not really a necessity though so I don't see Hughton going for it.
I should think we'd be looking for a right winger but not sure about CAM, as Howson seems to be fulfilling that role pretty well.
You never know what his going to do with the ball when at his feet, it's valuable to have unpredictable players like that on the flanks I imagine it's very difficult play against.
I'm with Bath on this, I thought it was exactly what we lacked on Saturday when Cardiff crowded out their box we needed someone creative who could weave the ball into the box and manoeuvre around. Not taking anything away from Howson as his being doing a great job, but his a box to box player to me not a CAM.
Agree to an extent. It is very much a team game and every member of the team is responsible for both defence and attack. That is why I am not keen on saying we are not scoring so its the forwards fault or we conceded so its the defenders fault. Team game all responsible.
I was happy when Garrido signed permanently. Now Olsson seems like a cut above. Signs that we are moving in the right direction, despite all the doubts. It won't happen overnight.
Yes - depending on what you mean - I would still have criticized both defenders' performances. I have to say I disagree a little - I saw Howson complete at least two successful dribbles, one of which took him passed/through three Cardiff players. He's shown before at Man City he's more than capable of doing this against broken opposition. The trouble is there is nowhere near enough support for him. On both occasions, he stopped his dribble under control, looked for the pass, but other than Hooper no-one was making a run, they had all just stood back and watched Howson go forward, which had the knock on effect of making Hooper's run easy to track. Another CAM would be great, but I don't think it's our weakest position as much as I did at the end of the summer. Right back, preferably an Olsson style right-back-come-winger who could challenge Snodgrass's place and a big centre back like Turner, but better on the ball would be my other priority. Hooper made plenty of very good runs and came very close to scoring, but he was too isolated. He did not have a bad match by any means and it would be harsh to blame him. As for Man City game - it is quite clear that Turner is not the one who would get dropped - it is good to have contrasting centre backs and that's why Bennett would come in for Bassong. I agree that Martin should not get dropped for the game because, for all his recent performances, he is still better defensively than Whittaker.
I remember when teams were difficult to breakdown and parking the bus Hoolahan had the ability to weave that killer pass to a yellow shirt in a crowded box or he could find some space himself, I'd like to see an upgrade on Hoolahan I trust our scouting network could source a player of that ability. Howson was great on Saturday and those marauding runs are part of his game but he offers so much helping out the team, his always backtracking giving Tettey someone to pass to etc
