Our Defending Is Poop- discuss

[NZamba Legend]

SERIOUS POST ALERT

I am optimistic about the new season and am especially looking forward to hopefully beating Orient and mounting a decent challenge for promotion.

Yet it dawned on me this morning that unless we score 3 or 4 goals tomorrow we wont win. Why? Because we are bound to let in 2 or 3, especially against Orient

Most attention has been on our forwards and finding a replacement for Freddy. Yet, to be honest in preseason we haven't found goals hard to come by. The concern with our forward line masks the thing that is really worrying me- our defence. Last year we let in a ridulous amount, especially at home where it was comonplace for 3 to fly in (sometimes before half-time). However, preseason does not seem to have ironed out these problems and we have continued to ship goals. A good performance for our defence these days is only to concede twice.

So what's gone wrong? Our defence was strong in the two promotion years.

• Is it personnel? Clarke, Hammell and Francis being last years new additions. Can Liptik, Richards and Gilbert solve the problems.
• Is it lack of height? Will Tilson have the conviction to drop either Clarke or Barrett. My thoughts are that one will have to be sacrificed sooner rather than later.
• Or is the system?
• Or is it because we dont defend as a team?
• Flahavan? Contrary to popular opinion I dont believe Lil Flavs is a Tilson favourite. He bought Bart to replace him three years back but he got injured and we've been eyeing a giant Reading keeper. No coincidence- Tilson knows this a weakness

Prove me wrong lads and keep a clean sheet.

 

[leeblue]

Good points indeed, I believe francis and clarke are quite simply poo defenders(at ccc level), clarke is commited no doubt but he coks up on a regular basis, lack of height is also a concern for me and Darryl cant even command his six yard box let alone the penalty box, maybe the new defenders brought in this summer will help solve this or act as a kick up the *** last seasons defenders need, maybe francis getting injured is a blessing in disguise, Although against league one opposition it may be a very different story.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

I'm reserving judgement...

 

[Beefy]

The turning point for our defence was Efe Sodje breaking his leg at Bournemouth. The second that that happened we looked a different side, we conceeded within moments and haven't looked the same at the back since. One thing I'd have loved to have seen was a big, powerful and experianced centre-half to come in to replace Sodje & Prior (who was also injured when Sodje broke down). A Kenny Cunningham or someone like that.

I don't think our defence is necessarily s**t because the players themselves are all talented and have proven themselves at this level. But as a unit I have concerns about their ability to play together and to mask the obvious weaknesses of their goalkeeper.

Flavs will be a massive deciding factor this season. In our promotion season he won us countless games with some amazing stops. He'll be busier this season and we'll need him to play at least as well as he did then.

 

[TTS]

SERIOUS POST ALERT

I am optimistic about the new season and am especially looking forward to hopefully beating Orient and mounting a decent challenge for promotion.

Yet it dawned on me this morning that unless we score 3 or 4 goals tomorrow we wont win. Why? Because we are bound to let in 2 or 3, especially against Orient

Most attention has been on our forwards and finding a replacement for Freddy. Yet, to be honest in preseason we haven't found goals hard to come by. The concern with our forward line masks the thing that is really worrying me- our defence. Last year we let in a ridulous amount, especially at home where it was comonplace for 3 to fly in (sometimes before half-time). However, preseason does not seem to have ironed out these problems and we have continued to ship goals. A good performance for our defence these days is only to concede twice.

So what's gone wrong? Our defence was strong in the two promotion years.

• Is it personnel? Clarke, Hammell and Francis being last years new additions. Can Liptik, Richards and Gilbert solve the problems.
• Is it lack of height? Will Tilson have the conviction to drop either Clarke or Barrett. My thoughts are that one will have to be sacrificed sooner rather than later.
• Or is the system?
• Or is it because we dont defend as a team?
• Flahavan? Contrary to popular opinion I dont believe Lil Flavs is a Tilson favourite. He bought Bart to replace him three years back but he got injured and we've been eyeing a giant Reading keeper. No coincidence- Tilson knows this a weakness

Prove me wrong lads and keep a clean sheet.

I would say and point out that we are in a different league this season. We are playing in a league where Clarke apprenetly excelled when he was capt of Blackpool.

Last season, we was NOT good enough for the championship, the season before we was GOOD enough to win League one. The problem lies in us going up again.

Please lets reserve judgment, before heading up threads saying our defence is S H I T ??? You have nothing to compare it to and before you consider responding to my email saying , "yes compare to last season" , again I point out that we are not playing last season tomorrow, we are playing 2007/08 season in league 1 NOT the championship.

 

[Jam_Man]

I would say and point out that we are in a different league this season. We are playing in a league where Clarke apprenetly excelled when he was capt of Blackpool.

Last season, we was NOT good enough for the championship, the season before we was GOOD enough to win League one. The problem lies in us going up again.

Please lets reserve judgment, before heading up threads saying our defence is S H I T ??? .

Agreed.Why on earth wont people realise this!?!?!

We were in a tougher league last year so we let in more goals!! The friendlies were training matches with experimental defences and teams and cant be used to judge our performance over the next season.

Its not rocket science....

Lets see how we get on over the next few weeks.

 

[leeblue]

my point too, the championship is much much better than league one, lets see how we start.

 

[NZamba Legend]

I
Please lets reserve judgment, before heading up threads saying our defence is S H I T ???

In all fairness, I also said 'discuss'- which was the whole point, I was interested what other people thought.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Jam_Man has it spot on IMO. The standard of League 1 is much lower than the Championship, and we should wait a few games before we make any damning judgements about our defence.

 

[NZamba Legend]

The turning point for our defence was Efe Sodje breaking his leg at Bournemouth. The second that that happened we looked a different side, we conceeded within moments and haven't looked the same at the back since.

Very good point, the problems started here rather than last season.

 

[leeblue]

On last seasons efforts the defence was indeed **** this should be remembered, Personally I love a thtread like this gets peoples juices flowing.

 

[Pubey]

my point too, the championship is much much better than league one, lets see how we start.

agreed... we arguably have the players who are too good for league 1 (i don't have any doubt that hammell, francis, gilbert, clarke and barrett could all be established championship players) but we didn't gel last season and with a weak midfield they were exposed also. this season i am confident in the players we have and just hope they gel quickly and we get of to a winning start. for me the keeper problem is still an issue but i think flavs probably makes up for the dodgy set piece moments with his outstanding saves... i would still like to see collis a bit more though

 

[TTS]

In all fairness, I also said 'discuss'- which was the whole point, I was interested what other people thought.

to be honest your title of the thread was not something to start a discussion, it was to have a pop ( a ridiculous pop at that ), if you had wanted to have a discussion, your heading could easily have been " Our Defence - Lets Discuss". I am sorry if it seems I am being picky, but some people are quick to jump and judge WITHOUT any thing to make such accusations on that it is laughable.

 

[loz]

while league 1 is obviously an easier ride, I think the concern here is that both during the tail-end of the title-winning season, and throughout our season in the Championship, there seemed to be a) a lack of organisation at the back (especially from set-pieces), and b) a lot of individual errors. These are things that can and will bite us in the backside no matter what standard of football we're at, and they need to be addressed if we're going to do well this season. Somebody at the back needs to step up and take more responsibility, hence the calls by some for a more experienced centre-half. Of the players already at the club, Clarkey seems the only obvious candidate, and we may need him to have a really big season (AB, bless him, having slight headless chicken tendencies despite being a top player).

 

[Mr. Benedict]

to be honest your title of the thread was not something to start a discussion, it was to have a pop ( a ridiculous pop at that ), if you had wanted to have a discussion, your heading could easily have been " Our Defence - Lets Discuss". I am sorry if it seems I am being picky, but some people are quick to jump and judge WITHOUT any thing to make such accusations on that it is laughable.

I don't see a problem with the title of the thread. Surely every debate needs to have an opinion to start it off, and the opinion that our defence is sh!t will get people fired up to rebuke or confirm the statement.

 

[TTS]

I don't see a problem with the title of the thread. Surely every debate needs to have an opinion to start it off, and the opinion that our defence is sh!t will get people fired up to rebuke or confirm the statement.

Personally think we will have to agree to disagree on that one !!!

 

[Jam_Man]

Very good point, the problems started here rather than last season.

Sodje's injury was certainly a negative factor but I wouldnt say our defence disintegrated from that one moment.

Thats over simplifying it and our wobble at the end of that season was just as much to do with pressure than a poor defence.

Our last 3 home games without Sodje were against Gillingham Doncaster and Bristol City. We lost 0-1, 0-1 and 1-0. To me the two defeats werent down to having a poor defence just that we were almost bottling it.

After all prior to Sodjes injury we had lost just 0-2 to Brentford, 3-4 to Chesterfield and 1-2 to MK Dons!

I do agree with Barrett and Clarke we are lacking in a commanding centreback but I think they will do ok, and if not Richards may get a chance.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Sodje's injury was certainly a negative factor but I wouldnt say our defence disintegrated from that one moment.

Thats over simplifying it and our wobble at the end of that season was just as much to do with pressure than a poor defence.

Our last 3 home games without Sodje were against Gillingham Doncaster and Bristol City. We lost 0-1, 0-1 and 1-0. To me the two defeats werent down to having a poor defence just that we were almost bottling it.

After all prior to Sodjes injury we had lost just 0-2 to Brentford, 3-4 to Chesterfield and 1-2 to MK Dons!

I do agree with Barrett and Clarke we are lacking in a commanding centreback but I think they will do ok, and if not Richards may get a chance.

We didn't lose this one though.... :cool: ;)

 

[NZamba Legend]

to be honest your title of the thread was not something to start a discussion, it was to have a pop ( a ridiculous pop at that ), if you had wanted to have a discussion, your heading could easily have been " Our Defence - Lets Discuss". I am sorry if it seems I am being picky, but some people are quick to jump and judge WITHOUT any thing to make such accusations on that it is laughable.

Not trying to have a pop at all- though the title was not very subtle I'll admit.

However I would argue that the motion I was carrying is not without some substance. Higher division or not, our defence was atrocious last year. We have also continued to ship goals pre-season against some very lowly teams. Simply going down a division will not make us defend better.

 

[Jam_Man]

Higher division or not, our defence was atrocious last year.

And it would have been even worse if we had been in the premiership.

This year we are in a league lower and the players we are defending against are without a doubt easier to defend against.

You can compare our defences chances this year based on how they did last year.

We have also continued to ship goals pre-season against some very lowly teams. .

Where we never played our actual first team....

Friendlies are a test to try out new players etc.

We have no yard stick to measure the actual defence against until tomorrow.