That's because all full backs are occasionally caught out of position. Danny Fox however, has no positional awareness as a full back, none at all. He should be playing left midfield.
I think he does and intentionally positions himself where he does due to instruction. Do you really think the coaching staff would allow a player to be positionally poor for a season and a half? Please tell me where you think a left back should stand at different stages of play and how that goes with the teams tactics.
I'm not that interested in tactics, I'm talking about awareness. As soon as his team concedes possession, a full back should be looking for threats down his side, tracking back and covering his area. He should always, always know where the oppositions wide men are, where his own centre back's are, and who if anyone is available to support him. Fox, for me, just lacks this awareness. When we are in possession, however, he's a different prospect, so I'm not completely down on him. When Gareth Bale played Left Back for us, he was out of position a lot too; though I wouldn't really compare Fox to him.
Comparing Fox to Bale is a bit like comparing the weather they are having in New York to a spot of rain in the Queen Victoria Country Park.......
Ok. Elaborate a little on "looking for threats down his side, tracking back and covering his area". "looking" and "awareness" are not positioning. You and several others call him for his poor positioning. He knows where his CB's are and he is usually tucked in level with them, which is what I believe (we'll never know) he has been asked to do. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a great Prem left back and would be happy if we signed a better one, however I think people get down on him too often and for the wrong reasons. He is usally exposed on that side and therefore gets a lot of stick if teams attack us successfully down his side. Watching from the stands it looks like Nigel wants us to be very narrow at the back and this is probably to try and stop teams playing though the gaps between the CBs and FBs. On Sunday Fox had pushed forward when they broke quickly for the second goal (I think). That's not poor positioning, that's the opposition breaking quickly. The only way to stop that is to tell your FBs they can't go over the half way line.
The problem is: If you notice, Puncheon plays on the right but is left footed, and Lallana vice versa. Nigel plays them on the wing, and they cut inside to put in crosses that swing away from the keeper towards the back post for Rickie to knock in coming in at pace towards the net. Now as they cut in, if the move breaks down, our full backs are left vulnerable to counter attacks. Clyne however has the pace to go and close his man down quickly, as if a winger knocks it past him, he can use raw pace and his general tackling ability to stop him in most instances. Fox doesn't have that luxury, and so means he has to give the winger space so he doesn't get outpaced. He would get away with it in the championship, but up against the very quick wingers in the Prem and even the better wingers in the championship, such as Kebe at home last season, they can get past anyway and put in a decent ball. If they go past but don't cross, the left sided centre back has to go to the winger, leaving space in the middle. In January, we need a decent quick left back, if Shaw isn't ready yet.
Clyne could have been tighter on Bale, but I don't think he would have stopped him anyway. Bale's height is one of his many threats, and Clyne's a shortarse.
Not a bad assessment st George. Apart from the pedant in me insists that I say that the crosses swing the other way!
Joe you still dont get it do you , its not about the jumping or height otherwise more goals would be scored like that , its was because he was allowed to run in without any opposition and just lined up his head . Clynes fault all the way , he lost his man .
The real problem was that we had so little of the ball in the first half, and gave it away so often, that Tottenham's quality players were bound to pick us off for two goals. Play like we did in the second half against most teams in this league, and we will be ok.
well, they kind of curl away from the keeper, before swinging into the far post! do you get what i mean?
One thing i forgot to add: He plays them on the opposite wing, because as they cut in, they don't have to be quick they just have to have good dribbling, which if you think about it matches the description of Lallana and Puncheon : Lacks pace, but very good control and very good in terms of dribbling. When Mayuka came on against Spurs, he could easily outpace the left back, Vertonghen, and had time to put in a dangerous cross.
Yes but the 2nd half was desperation football as we were 0-2 down , it nearly paid off but we cant play like that again or we will get picked off , Spurs just sat back and soaked up the pressure .
We didn't have much of the ball and gave it away wasn't helped by the fact they play with two holding midfielders in Huddlestone and Sandro meant that as Punch and Lallana cut in, they would close them down easily enough. This meant that Lennon and Bale didn't need to cover our wingers, and when the ball was lost, they could easily have their two most dangerous players one-on-one with our full backs. The pace of Lennon against the lack of pace against Fox was scary i have to admit.
MAJOR CALL FOR BEN REEVES!!! He was superb for the time he was in on Sunday!!! Think he could be the answer!
