Barrett or Clarke?

[Shrimp Curry]

Peter Clarke was to blame for two of the goals on Saturday but if one of the two had to be dropped in order to try and establish a better central defensive partnership who would it be? Personally I would drop Clarke, I dont rate him much at all, I think its no coincidence that Blackpool narrowly avoided relegation with him in the side and then the year after selling him to us they got promoted with one of the best defensive records in the division.

 

[ElstreeBlue]

Peter Clarke was to blame for two of the goals on Saturday but if one of the two had to be dropped in order to try and establish a better central defensive partnership who would it be? Personally I would drop Clarke, I dont rate him much at all, I think its no coincidence that Blackpool narrowly avoided relegation with him in the side and then the year after selling him to us they got promoted with one of the best defensive records in the division.

Agreed. And Barrett won back-to-back promotions with us - without us leaking goals left, right and centre. Clarke's positional sense and his propensity to fall asleep and lose his marker cost us. As does the way he gives away needless free-kicks in dangerous positions and surrenders possession easily. He sometimes looks good by making it up with last ditch tackles. He's not the worst defender we've ever had by any means, but if we can get better in than him, I say we keep Barrett - Mr Southend and Mr Dependable in our promotion years. He has a proven track record.

 

[seany t]

Yeah, drop them both!

And then play... erm.... whats his name? You know, those £1 million guys we have warming the bench...

 

[Yer Blues]

Peter Clarke was to blame for two of the goals on Saturday but if one of the two had to be dropped in order to try and establish a better central defensive partnership who would it be? Personally I would drop Clarke, I dont rate him much at all, I think its no coincidence that Blackpool narrowly avoided relegation with him in the side and then the year after selling him to us they got promoted with one of the best defensive records in the division.

perhaps the most foolhardy post of all time. who on earth do you replace either with. poor show sir

 

[TrueBlue]

perhaps the most foolhardy post of all time. who on earth do you replace either with. poor show sir

Matty get your boots son

 

[jackspratt]

perhaps the most foolhardy post of all time. who on earth do you replace either with. poor show sir

Tilson's got today to get a decent defender then he can drop him

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Yeah we can afford to drop them both, cause we have two replacements to come in and do a better job dont we.

 

[Shrimp Curry]

perhaps the most foolhardy post of all time. who on earth do you replace either with. poor show sir

I did say 'if' one had to be dropped who would it be? I know there are not many other options at the moment but thats Tilsons fault for not acknowledging the problem. The idea of the poll is to find out which of the two people blame for our poor defending over the last year or so.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

I did say 'if' one had to be dropped who would it be? I know there are not many other options at the moment but thats Tilsons fault for not acknowledging the problem. The idea of the poll is to find out which of the two people blame for our poor defending over the last year or so.

Why do people always look for someone to blame ? Think TrueBlue said that in another thread.

It was awful defending and Tilson has come out and said it was just a bad day at the office.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better but i would put money it will be the same back 4 starting.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

I think this is the problem, there is no back up or competition, which I think has led to complacency in both their games. Clarke was excellent on the opening day against the Posh but shocking against Wallsall. Seeing as he is likley to leave at the end of the season on a free, we should be looking for at least one other centre back. Barrett for me is not the player he was with Spinner next to him.

 

[Jam_Man]

Defended pretty well up until Saturday so no need to drop either.

No one better to put in anyway...

 

[Shrimp Curry]

Barrett has formed good partnerships with Prior, Edwards and Sodje since he has been at the club so we know what he is capable of. I think its Clarke that has affected his game, you just dont get the impression that Barrett is comfortable playing with Clarke and its Clarkes positional play that is a big part of that.

 

[Andyhsufc]

Why not drop Francis as well because he played poorly on Saturday? In fact, Mildy had a poor game as well so we could drop him as well. Keeper and defence for tomorrow -

Joycey

Sankofa Harrold Foran Harding

Sounds alright to me!

 

[turkishm]

A decent tall centre half is long overdue. If we have another season,where we concede another 60 plus goals, i dont think this year we have the players to score enough goals at the other end, to get us out of trouble.

 

[chapperzUK]

They have a good partnership and they work well together and for that reason i would drop neither. Unless we get a good defender who can work well with Barrett and they can gel together quickly, then i will drop Clarke.

 

[ldnfatso]

Bring back Dave Cusack, He looked good at MTBD.

 

[David Icke]

Have been a sufc fan since I was 1 heartbeat old. Didn't want to let on though in case some people thought I was mad!

Seriously, If we had decent cover I would drop both. Was there on Sat and Baz failed dismally as a captain after Granty's spectacular. Watched Baz closely afterwards and he never tried to gee young Granty up at all. With the Walsall fans singing Granty's name Baz should have continually tried to get the lads morale back up and he didn't. Consequently Grant went awol all second half, so we were minus a midfielder. This allowed Walsall to come straight onto our back four.

GIVE MACCA THE ARM BAND WHEN HE RETURNS. Macca would become a more responsible player and Baz can then concentrate solely on his job as defender. Win, win, imo.

As for Clarky, like the bloke, but his clearences never find one of our players and we quickly end up on the back foot again. Ugh. New central defenders please!

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

I think Barrett is the stronger defender of the two. Plus he chips in with more goals and he can actually pass the ball. Clarke's not a bad defender though and the two of them did well together last season. We must remember they're getting used to a new goalkeeper.

 

[Beefy]

I think Barrett is the better defender of the two, personally. Clarke just gives too much away in terms of both possession and free kicks in dangerous positions.

That said, up until saturday both had been playing well this season and were benefiting from having a goalkeeper behind them as opposed to just a shot-stopper. we've all got to hope that Walsall was a blip in terms of the performance of the whole of the back five.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'd look to build my defence around Barrett rather than Clarke. Putting aside Clarke's tendencies to make howlers, his awful distribution and the fact that he arguably spends more time wrestling than even Barrett, Barrett is the local boy who has been part of the heart beat at Roots Hall and helped us win consecutive promotions.

Barrett also has about 4 years left on his contract whilst Clarke is transfer listed. I'd cash in Clarke if anyone is willing to take his wages off our hands