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What is wrong with our defence?

scaramanga said:
I wouldn't if the only available alternative was Livermore.
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Fair point though we could go with a trio of Hudd, Dembele and Holtby or Siggy say and have neither Parker nor Livermore in the team.

Actually I thought Livermore was OK when he had that extended run in the side under Redknapp, but he's not improving any sitting on the bench. Probably another candidate for a PL loan and then see how he progresses.
 
I must admit I was only half listening, but wasn't Lawrenson blaming Ade for the set piece yesterday on MOTD 2? If not must of been another game they had given an example of but pretty sure was him...
 
Nzonzi was being marked by Ade at the start. Then he moved (surely you should expect people to do that?), Ade let him go and Bale didnt cover. Not sure that Parker could have done much as the guy ran behind him! Mainly Ade's fault though as you should go with your man if he makes a run
 
AdamB said:
The problem with our defence is the continual rotation and Sandro being out
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Not sure if serious...

Recently the rotation has died down, we rotated the back four far more during our defensively stable period, in fact this season it's looked far more like our defence has suffered when we have kept a 'usual' back four.
 
AdamB said:
Nzonzi was being marked by Ade at the start. Then he moved (surely you should expect people to do that?), Ade let him go and Bale didnt cover. Not sure that Parker could have done much as the guy ran behind him! Mainly Ade's fault though as you should go with your man if he makes a run
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I think Nzonzi was Ade's man but to be fair any one of 3 or 4 Stoke players could have nodded it in. They were queuing up behind Nzonzi and their defensive markers were nowhere to be seen.

And how the fudge did Nzonzi get MOTM?
 
Walker falls asleep, dawson dives in recklessly and both jan and benny can get pretty lazy. You couple that with sandro being out, parker spending half the game as a forward, dembele out with hundredstone as a replacement and our horrible set pieces and we'll always concede.
 
Rorschach said:
I think Nzonzi was Ade's man but to be fair any one of 3 or 4 Stoke players could have nodded it in. They were queuing up behind Nzonzi and their defensive markers were nowhere to be seen.

And how the fudge did Nzonzi get MOTM?
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Stoke are very good at set pieces, but we were woeful. As you say, when that free kick was taken they had us completely, with 3 or 4 unmarked to nod in a free header. If you watch stoke defend a set piece, they are never static as we were. Always keeping their man close - or even holding them - on their toes and ready to move. We were flat footed. We improved our defending a little as the game went on, but there were still a couple of free headers and one that they shoudl have scored from.

Coaches have to stop that kind of play occurring. They have to make it unacceptable to switch off. You simply can not do it, especially against stoke. Anyone, but especially them. I think AVB would benefit from having someone to focus on defense. Someone who briefs the players on the opposition and makes sure they don't ever get caught flat footed. The stakes are too high to give away easy goals.
 
I guess a fair question would be whether we can expect to continually have this achilles heel..

Does anybody know what Chelski were like defending set-pieces under AVB?:-k
 
we need kaboul back and we need a player at the front post.
ade there is better than bale for me - not the first time bale has been caught just standing there watching
 
After conceding 16 goals in 3 games with and without a holding midfielder, the common denominator is our horrible defence.

6-0 against city it was Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen
5-0 against liverpool it was Walker, Capoue, Dawson, Naughton
5-1 against city it was Walker, Dawson, Chiriches, Rose

I'd keep Walker and Vertonghen and buy proper defenders in the summer.
 
I will never understand why we sent BAE out on loan. The geezer is a bit of a *** at times but he's a good left-back. Our three left-backs for most of this season:

Rose - decent going forward but ****poor defensively if you ask me
Naughton - okay right-back, joke of a left-back
Vertonghen - gets caught out way too much in that position

If we are able to recall BAE then it will be daft not to.
 
Lilywhite said:
I will never understand why we sent BAE out on loan. The geezer is a bit of a *** at times but he's a good left-back. Our three left-backs for most of this season:

Rose - decent going forward but ****poor defensively if you ask me
Naughton - okay right-back, joke of a left-back
Vertonghen - gets caught out way too much in that position

If we are able to recall BAE then it will be daft not to.
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But is the problem no one ever mentions our central defence?
 
It shouldn't be, no.

Dawson - not as good as our other options but he's a leader, something our other guys at CB haven't proven to be so it's a catch 22 with Daws
Vertonghen - good defender, would get in to most Premier League defences IMO
Chiriches - more good than bad so far, still needs to settle fully, judge him then
Kaboul - GHod knows what's wrong with him at the moment, quality when fit but never fit

So yes maybe we aren't great there but TBH apart from the City, Chelsea and Arsenal centre-backs I think ours are around the level as the rest of our rivals. Maybe upgrade there if we get in the Champions League but left back is more of a concern for me personally.

I still maintain Caulker should never have been sold mind you. That was short-termism at its finest and summed up our summer transfers woes.
 
Said in another thread but i'll repost. Rose didn't look as bad as Walker did last night. Dawson and Chiriches for me were both as bad as one another though. One of them always seems too eager to challenge when they shouldn't, diving in at the wrong time. Walker got caught our by the flight of the ball and closed when he shouldn't have. Our whole back line seems badly balanced and at times not disciplined enough
 
Cochise said:
Said in another thread but i'll repost. Rose didn't look as bad as Walker did last night. Dawson and Chiriches for me were both as bad as one another though. One of them always seems too eager to challenge when they shouldn't, diving in at the wrong time. Walker got caught our by the flight of the ball and closed when he shouldn't have. Our whole back line seems badly balanced and at times not disciplined enough
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Thought Dawson was one of our better players yesterday. Tried to provide leadership. Chiriches also good but is still settling in and looked all at sea yesterday. We also had very little protection from midfield that makes a big difference when players make runs as good as City's.
 
I agree there was little cover from the midfield which was more to blame, but there were still occasions where mistakes were made.
 
Do you see how many players the **** or Emirates Marketing Project got back every time we play them ? They fill that box, deny space or secondary opportunities ! You just see the mousse just jog back, or we are too open relying on our defenders to cover all the space and it's ludicrous, we are far too open,and don't work hard enough - only when the oppo has a slow build up do we get two banks of four. Against the top top sides, we can't afford to be too attacking or open at the back, they will keep mullering us.

Also, having a centre back pairing of King and Woody doesn't hurt, what players, and what leaders they were - read the game, physically and mentally strong and showed by doing. Having verts back won't harm us I think - Daws dives in far too much for me, over comits and others aren't trained to drop back.

However, against other than say other top 6 teams, we get away with their woeful finishing.
 
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