What is wrong with our defence?

[metalgear]

Yeah seems that way but there is nothing to stop Tim asking both Bentaleb and Dembele to cover that space a bit better. I like Bentaleb but I still think Sandro/Demebel is our best pairing.

I was very impressed with City's 'Guardiola-esque' high pressure tactic. They were all over the man is possession in numbers immediately after they lost possession. Straight from the Barca defensive handbook that one. If you are bored have a read of this ....

good philosophy that actually is underpinned by street football or 5x5 if you asked me. good reading nonetheless. but we're heading another direction with timmeh now.

 

[mason]

Well several people got their strongest defensive lineup against Hull and we were the same if not worse than in the other matches. Jelavic & Long (decent but a long way from being a top strike force in the EPL) caused them many problems.

For me I think nearly all our defenders are overrated, we do not have a CB paring that is good enough to cope without a defensive midfielder in front of them. So for me either Sandro or Capoue MUST play if fit. This whole "We don't need defensive midfielders" argument is naive and is only really true when you pack the midfield or you have world class central midfielders who can do multiple roles at once, e.g. Yaya Toure.

That along with Dawson continually being in the back 4 are for me the main reasons why our defence is so leaky at the moment.

The fact that Timmy feels we didn't need either a CB or a LB has really cast doubt on his judgement for me. Time will tell but I struggle to see us keeping up with Everton let alone Liverpool!!

 

[IulianSteaua]

I've stoped counting Kaboul as a part of our defence. Until he can acctually put a run of games together I'm not counting on him.

I recon Tim's preffered line up would be


Walker - Dawson - Vertongen - Rose

I've got more confidence in Rose when he's next to Verts, but should still be upgraded on in the summer. Dawson is not going to get any better, and will still be good against the more physical sides, but he will always be exposed as soon as we meet someone with pace and tecnique. In my humble oppinion, if we want to get better, we need a new first coice cb and lb. Who that is, I don't know, I'm sure Gb has a bunch of candidates.

Edit:

Maby Vlad can replace Dawson, but does he not also play on the left of the cb's? More as a understudy to Vertongen rather than a partner imo. (I might be way off here)

Actually Vlad plays best at RCB position, but I guess he is more flexible than Dawson, so he was used as LCB. Vlad is young and still improving while other CB in our team do not have that luxury(Dawson). We really need to take a decision on Kaboul, he is too injury prone, he plays 2 games then sits 20, so we are down to just 3 CB for most of the season. When 1 of them is injured you just have the 2, who may or may not be in form at that moment. Who may or may not be tired or struggling with a minor injury themselves. It was the case when Dawson and Chiriches had to play all of our recent 10-15 games. We have to do something about that LB position so we would not make our CB Verts to play there. If Naughton or whomever is not good enough to replace Rose(who ain't that great either) then what are they in the squad for? If you have to move a guy from his natural position, so he can play lb, even though we have a LB available, why are we still holding naughton still at the club? Why are we not buying someone ?
The BIGGEST problem i think we have in defense is the midfield. A opposition player can not just come charging from the central midfield with the ball and not being chased by one of our cm or dm. It's tactics 101, you need to come back with your man, not talking about and opposition striker here, talking about opposition cm or am. You can not leave your cbs 2 on 2 with a charging guy with the ball, trouble is bound to happen.

 

[Robspur12]

Well several people got their strongest defensive lineup against Hull and we were the same if not worse than in the other matches. Jelavic & Long (decent but a long way from being a top strike force in the EPL) caused them many problems.

For me I think nearly all our defenders are overrated, we do not have a CB paring that is good enough to cope without a defensive midfielder in front of them. So for me either Sandro or Capoue MUST play if fit. This whole "We don't need defensive midfielders" argument is naive and is only really true when you pack the midfield or you have world class central midfielders who can do multiple roles at once, e.g. Yaya Toure.

That along with Dawson continually being in the back 4 are for me the main reasons why our defence is so leaky at the moment.

The fact that Timmy feels we didn't need either a CB or a LB has really cast doubt on his judgement for me. Time will tell but I struggle to see us keeping up with Everton let alone Liverpool!!

Nothing wrong IMO with the centre backs we have but I believe we need a defensive coach to work with the whole team, a bit like Steve Bould has done with l'****. You do not need a sitting midfielder IMO although Sandro playing does provide us with better cover. We need our midfielders as a unit to defend better and be more disciplined. For me the defensive side of our game will determine whether Sherwood gets the job long term. I understand that when he took over from AVB that sorting out our "goals for" column was the priority. However hopefully he will be aware that success must be built on a solid defensive base. The Blackburn team he captained to the title were.