When he was signed many on here thought why are we wasting our time bringing him in. I chirped in and said the guy will be a very important member of the team and will do well here. Wilbs and Flint have been fantastic so far. There is a famous saying get the spine right and you will have a good chance. well we are nearly there wilbs up top,Elliott in the middle,Flint at the back,just the goalkeeper position to rectify and we will be sorted. My son summed it up-it took us to boxing day last year to get three wins chalked up,this season we have done it in the first month and are unbeaten as well. It is nice to see such a improvement long may it continue.
Flint was at fault again for a goal saturday. That is two now already at the least. Not sold on Cotterills 3-5-2 but Little has done very well.
Not that simple RA? The two centre backs, Flint and Ayling both went for the same ball and in doing so appeared to get in each others way allowing Notts forward to get ball goalside of them. Alan Hansen in the summer at World Cup showed a perfect example of this with both defenders going for same ball. The same happened last weekend at Tottenham when Lovren and Sakho both went together against one attacker. One should attack the ball and the other should drop off a couple of yards toward his own goal to provide cover in case the forward wins the ball. They are young in football years experience and will have to learn this rule very quickly otherwise it will happen again and again. Maybe Osborne or El Abd with experience, would have dropped off but we do not know that for certain. Playing together for a while, will help Flint, Ayling and Williams to read situations like this better and not behave like schoolboys all chasing the same ball. Time will tell if they are good learners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ytu6Kh_sZw Ball winning centre half clears that out all day instead lets it bounce and then goes into the hokey cokey. Ball winning centre half v Sheffield is rooted to spot as player runs past him to score. Colchester hits the ball into another defender = goal again. He also is limited when bring the ball out which is a big drawback in this 3-5-2. Fielding has not made a mistake this season that leads to a goal . Won points at Sheffield and Rochdale making great saves but is seen as a weak link.
I'm not trying to defend either Flint or Ayling or to point the finger at either. It is basic two centre half defending but neither has played too much at centre back in League football. Flint at 24 years is only in his third season as a full time pro while Ayling has played mostly at right back. And Williams is in his second full season. We have several young pros (24 and under) all over the pitch who are still learning the game. An ideal average age for a good side going for promotion is probably around 27 to 30. So while we all want a seamless route to automatic promotion this season, they will make mistakes along the way that look like howlers. I suppose that Cotterill trusts them to learn fast and come good, so must we; at least until the end of this season. Just watched video again. Ayling runs toward Flint and he then veers away toward our right touchline. If he had immediately made a beeline for our goal he would have been between Flint and our goal to offer another challenge on the Notts forward. Flint in turn appears to hesitate about going for the ball and is thus beaten to it by forward. Flint does at least chase the forward as fast as his tiny legs will go. Ayling just jogs back. Both at fault, both not learnt the way to play off each other. But as I 've said, it is how quickly they learn that will decide if they are going to make it as good League One or Championship defenders.
When we were originally linked to Wilbraham wasn't he supposed to be a good mate and potential link up player for Sam? Seems to have worked out in a totally different way but, what the heck, it is working. Let's hope some of the defensive frailties work themselves out soon and allow us to build up, and strengthen, our league position.
'Just watched video again' - And me. Flint and Ayling cocked up, neither took control and both must have kept there mouths shut. Useless, buy they hopefully will learn. Fielding stayed rooted on the 6yrd line, made it easier for their player to score. It was long punt from their half, one of our many coaches will question why he wasn't on the edge of his box when the ball was 60-70 yards from him. Flint and Ayling should learn with experience. It's basic, one attacks the ball, the other drops off. Fielding won't learn, you can't teach anticipation.
AD - Stop it - SC just reads and learns on here. As long as El Abd and Wagstaff remain on the bench we'll remain successful.
So he should have dashed off his line and been lobbed? You obviously detest Fielding: whatever he does is wrong. The goal was conceded by two or three players, if one asks where was back three member Williams, mistakes!
I have to agree, don't think Fielding did to much wrong, i personally think Ayling should have dealt with it better, he was running the same way as the attacking player, but left it to Flint, who was coming from the side, saying that, very poor goal to give away.
'Point taken, i'm glad you think SC can read'. 'So he should have dashed off his line' 'I have to agree' I give up. Who said 'dash off his line' ? Fielding should be on the edge of his box when the ball is 60/70 yards away. His starting position was all wrong, if you don't get it I'm sorry.
Its an easy ball to deal with down the centre of the pitch till Flint the centre half lets it bounce. I would be disappointed to see a youth team player make Flints error.
Flint has played well on the whole but that was a mistake- Still, better to make a mistake and learn from it in a 2-1 win. On that note, that's another game this season, that in previous seasons, I reckon we would have lost.
I don't know, we are 3rd in the table, joint 2nd on points, we have racked up 11 out of 15 points, we have lost only 1 league match in the last 18 league games, we have a plus 3 G/D, we've just sold last seasons golden boot winner for twice what we paid for him, we currently have one of the league joint top scorers as a striker and we're moaning and groaning about ****.. What has our manager and team got to do...?
Can't believe we won, and people on here still ****ing moan about who made this error who made that. If Fielding, Flint, Williams and Ayling were faultless then they won't be here, it's simples really. As pointed out earlier in this thread, top professionals make mistakes, Chelsea's defending was terrible on Saturday. Vincent Kompany should of easily dealt with Diouff but they never so goals was conceded. But I can bet my left bollock that if any of their defences was offered to us we would all be jumping with joy. Let's just be happy, 5 games undefeated I'm happy.
It is nice to see fans moaning with us joint second with a team of newbies,we should get better and better as time goes on. Much better than those bad old days of the last four years.
I think their goal was the fault of.........................................................................................................LJ
