Our Defending Is Poop- discuss

[Yorkshire Blue]

Rubbish, aweful defending full stop, the header was from the edge of the area and was short , far to short. That is the defenders CHOICE to head back from there, h is fault and his fault alone.

And to say we are bouncing back, not sure that fans are expecting that this season, but I will say again, you are talking about issues that and problems that for the 2007/08 season are as of yet unfounded !!!

Of course its Sodje's fault. But my point was that if someone tells him to clear it, he doesn't make that mistake. It may seem like a really small point, but its something which would have prevented a goal. Its little things like that which is the difference between being a poor defence and being a decent defence.

 

[Jam_Man]

Buggered up front you mean, the defence and keeper is the least of our problems, Tilly is gonna try and justify getting Matt Harrold from Yeovil. Wayne Gray or Matt Harrold, who would you rather?

Wouldnt want Gray back whoever we had.

He will of course now score a hattrick tomorrow...

Of course its Sodje's fault. But my point was that if someone tells him to clear it, he doesn't make that mistake.

If an experienced international defender needs to be told to clear the ball and not head it to Jamie Cureton then we dont stand much chance....
Good communication is vital but that was just a case of a rusty defender coming in and making a pigs ear of things.

 

[NZamba Legend]

A good debate about one of the more pressing issues. It is a worry. However, I've decided I dont like the title of the thread- too much hyerbole. Please can a mod change it to something less extreme and a bit more civilised such as:

Our defending is poop- discuss

Cheers.

 

[TTS]

A good debate about one of the more pressing issues. It is a worry. However, I've decided I dont like the title of the thread- too much hyerbole. Please can a mod change it to something less extreme and a bit more civilised such as:

Our defending is poop- discuss

Cheers.

I like the new thread !!

 

[silentshrimper]

I have been worrying to about the defence ( and the strikers)
Tilson has done well to bring in some height with some promising defenders, I really dont think we will go straight back up this season, we shouldn't have let Jupp go! HE IS THE KEY(dont no if I was being serious there or not).

Only time will tell what happens, last season we leaked goals easily, this year we should be very improved, plus playing against weaker teams.

 

[Jam_Man]

e shouldn't have let Jupp go! HE IS THE KEY(dont no if I was being serious there or not).

.

With comments like that you really should be more of a silent shrimper!

Jupp was certainly no better than Francis and Gilbert will no doubt be far better.

 

[shrimper dan]

i cant understand why everyone blames our defence for last season. we just wernt good enought attacking and defending. yeah we conseded far to many but compare that to how many we scored. there was lots of errors at the back and lots of missed chances.

 

[CM2 Blue]

If we can learn, again, that we must work as one unit- defending as a team and attacking as a team- then I think most of the fears expressed in this thread may be unfounded. I think this season's squad has massive potential and I for one expect that there will be changes as the season unfolds and our new players begin to bed in and show what they can do. I certainly feel that we have the numbers of players with quality for Tilly to be able to ring the changes this season- something we didn't have the personnel to do last year.

 

[Beefy]

Wayne Gray or Matt Harrold, who would you rather?

Matt Harrold. And I don't rate Matt Harrold that much.

 

[GodblessArthurRowley]

Have to say I am a bit concerned we went through pre-season without keeping a clean sheet and conceded 18 goals. 3 against the might of Maldon Town and Chelmsford City and two against those giants of Great Wakering. Worried? I am

 

[Medway Blue]

I'm not prepared to get concerned about anything yet. If anything will worry me, it'll be our apparent lack of potency up top, but at the moment, I am reserving judgment on anything and everything until 8-10 games in.

Problem here is people going on pre-season. Yes we played some ****e opposition, but, bringing in an old cliche here, pre-season is not about results. I doubt whether the players, fighting for a place or not, were going all out. Tilly regularly changed everything twice or thrice in a match, so the defenders have all played in different combinations; some of the didn't have the understanding or even the time to form one given the amount of different line-ups and style TandB tried, and two of them were meeting the team for the first time when they made their first pre-season appearances! They need to gel, and once Tilly has found his best combo and given it 5 games, I'm certain that it will start shoring up. It will be better against inferior opposition (in comparison to who we played last season) and in fact, IMHO, our defence looks stronger than it did when we won this division in 05/06, even without Gilbert. Francis and Hammell, especially at L1 level, are steps above Che and Jupp/Hunt.

I'm reserving judgment for a number of games, but have confidence that the defence will find its right combo and shore up and if we do well this season, on paper, it should let in less goals than the 43 (?) we let in in 05/06.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

the amount of stupid goals we saw home and away last season was very dissappointing and very very predictable.

corner comes in easy header or goal line tap in.

i really rate clarke and Ab but championship strikers are much better at taking there chances, i noticed this a lot with the step-up when we started last season. i think/i hope we will be a lot better this season. but we do lack height and i do think this is the key.

 

[sufcintheprem]

I'm inclined to agree with Shrimper Dan. We didn't score enough goals and we conceded too many. However, the only time where we seemed to defend well was when Prior or Sodje (at times) were in the team. They're both gone and I think we may lack experience.

Also, the more I think about it, everything people told us would happen last year happened. Eastwood was virtually our only player who looked good at this level.

Strange time to start this thread though. Could have waited another day or two and made a thread about how things are this season.

 

[* ORM *]

Trying hard not to be too pessimistic before we've even kicked a ball in anger here. Quite a few people seem to forget that defending wasn't really a strong point of ours when we got promoted out of this division, not that the Kevin Keegan school of football is necessarily a bad thing (they score 6 we score 7). We've struggled for as long as I can remember against set pieces and the worst thing about many of them is you can predict what's going to happen as the cross floats in. Perhaps one of the newbies will be thrown in at the deep end with AB at left back (not ideal but a better option than Che surely ?).

The football we played to get out of this division was by far the most attractive in the league and that's unusual for the lower leagues. Whether we can recapture that this season remains to be seen. We have the creativity needed in midfield and we have enough forwards to juggle around to try to find the winning formula. Much as it pains me to say it I suspect Harrold's awkwardness at this level might just prove invaluable.

Virtually all of the defence/midfield have proved themselves at this level (subject to comments above) with the only worry for me being the lack of out and out proven goalscorer. Whoever is given a run out for a few games up front I only hope the boo-boys stay off of their backs and give them a decent chance.

Finally, as we're playing Orient today a home defeat is a virtual certainty. It may be worth a few quid on first o.g. scorer :p Still leaves 135 points up for grabs. :hilarious:

 

[Beefy]

the only worry for me being the lack of out and out proven goalscorer. Whoever is given a run out for a few games up front I only hope the boo-boys stay off of their backs and give them a decent chance.

Amen to that.

 

[turkishm]

If we can learn, again, that we must work as one unit- defending as a team and attacking as a team- then I think most of the fears expressed in this thread may be unfounded. I think this season's squad has massive potential and I for one expect that there will be changes as the season unfolds and our new players begin to bed in and show what they can do. I certainly feel that we have the numbers of players with quality for Tilly to be able to ring the changes this season- something we didn't have the personnel to do last year.

Spot on, teams defend not just defenders. Defend from the front. When we lose the ball to there defence,strikers chase the ball, dont make it easy for a c back to clear with all the time in the world. Mid field players must remeber there defensive dutys.I also would like tilson to play three c mid field players and 1 wide,ithink that would make us more solid in front of our back line