[Football] Lewis Dunk

[Stat Brother]

Mabbutt
Only a Spurs fan would give Mabbutt his first job in football for 30 years.

 

[erkan]

Clearly the one big flaw in Dunk's very good game at the moment.
Sadly, the same goes for Duffy as well. They are two big guys and are good headers of the ball and should be sticking like glue to the good headers in the opposition. But over and over again, this season, they keep losing their men in the box and it costs us dear. Sure it was a good ball whipped in by Matic but Dunk should never have let Lukaku get goalside of him. The second goal was an embarrassment. Dunk was caught out of position again and fell over and Duffy, nowhere near the back post was seen chasing the header back into an unguarded net!!! United couldn't believe their luck. Just overcrowd the far post, against small players like Suttner and Matic gets a simple, free header, whilst our two centre backs are like headless chickens.
What the hell is going on at the training ground!!! Time and again this season, teams are scoring headers against us, either from set pieces or from the quick ball whipped in and our centre backs are in no-mans land and not challenging. Its totally different in open play. We are covering, blocking and making life difficult for the opposition. United just waited patiently, twice, to pick us off, from balls whipped in. Simple stuff. They knew our weakness, like everybody else. The list of teams doing the same just goes on and on. Twice a poor WBA did it. Twice an ordinary Huddersfield did it. Everton, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leicester etc all did it but nothing seems to change.
Nobody seems to be able to work out whether we are man-marking or zonal marking. Whatever it is, it ain't working and for all our decent approach play last night, once again it showed where we are vulnerable.
Dunk is clearly talented but for all his bravery, his ball carrying and his distribution assets, he will ultimately be judged in how he helps to control and dominate his own penalty area. Like good strikers, centre backs have to have good positional sense. They need to be aware of everything around them. Almost to second guess where the striker will be and where the danger will be. Too many players this season are being allowed a free rein against two big centre halves. We constantly see Dunk and Duffy grabbing desperately at shirts to try and regain position, as quick movement finds them out. Its a big learning curve at this level, as the quality of delivery is so much better and varied. But learn they have to, else savvy teams will continue to exploit.
Time will tell, whether Duffy is the right partner for Dunk. I have my doubts. I believe Duffy's lack of mobility means that Dunk spends too
much time covering for him and this causes uncertainty in the box. Personally, I believe that having Goldson alongside him, will help Dunk more. Goldson is more agile and has better positional sense than Duffy. Our play from the back would be more fluid and I firmly believe there would be more certainty in our own box.

Very long and very negative.

You couldn't be more wrong.

It is no secret in professional circles that our major strength as a team is Dunk and Duffy.

How exactly has Glenn Murray scored his goals this season? It happens.

As for set pieces - how many times do we see Dunk and Duffy get completely, or relatively, free headers in more illustrious opponents' boxes?

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[LamieRobertson]

I thought he could of done better for both goals

I thought he was fouled for the second goal

 

[BensGrandad]

Mabbutt
Only a Spurs fan would give Mabbutt his first job in football for 30 years.

He is an old fiend and playing mate of CH who was a good no nonsense CB and it would appear that the others I mentioned are probably out of our grasp I thought that perhaps an 'old pals act' could cover what we appear to have lost when Calderwood left, a man who played at the top as a CB and know what is required.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I watched the game with a very experienced pro football coach/scout and he attached no blame to Dunk when I asked him about it. Apparently that combination of ball delivery and forward movement is pretty much impossible to defend without just abandoning the offside line and sitting on top of your keeper.

He went on to state the fairly obvious that Dunk is a quite brilliant player in most aspects of his game - with pace added he would be at a Champions League club.

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Also, some seem to forget how many goals the guy has scored this season and will be at the World Cup ...Dunk hasn’t even played one full season in the PL

 

[LamieRobertson]

He is an old fiend and playing mate of CH who was a good no nonsense CB and it would appear that the others I mentioned are probably out of our grasp I thought that perhaps an 'old pals act' could cover what we appear to have lost when Calderwood left, a man who played at the top as a CB and know what is required.

Razor Ruddock is still available

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Why the others, irrespective of numbers as only one person headed it but is was HIS MAJOR JOB to win those headers and he failed so his fault both goals.

Disagree completely on the first goal.

It was a brilliant cross, Dunk was in an awful stick or twist position.

If he goes tight on Lukaku, Lukaku nips inside and scores, everyone is ‘Dunk was asleep’.

The fact is the cross was so good, it took Dunk out of the game.

Presumably in ‘83 when Smith scored at Wembley, it was McQueen’s fault, when all the ‘pundits’ were stating ‘the cross was the goal’. For me it was the same yesterday.

For Gary Howlett read Juan Mata [emoji2][emoji23]

The second goal was a defensive disaster, 3 on 1 at the back post. Dunk was culpable, as was Duffy, Murray/Ulloa or whoever was picking up Matic.


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[London Irish]

I thought he could of done better for both goals

Suttner too - defending not clever or physical enough. Dunk is a wonderful player but to pretend he’s the finished article is blue n white spex.

 

[BensGrandad]

Razor Ruddock is still available

Wouldnt he have trouble wlaking from his car toi the training ground due to his size

 

[LamieRobertson]

Wouldnt he have trouble wlaking from his car toi the training ground due to his size

Just wheel him in and plonk him on a chair ...and give him a megaphone ..job done

 

[Pevenseagull]

Showed last night why the big clubs and Southgate have shunned him as he had a reasonably good al round game but made 2 mistakes and they scored 2 goals.

......and after 60,000 posts I agree with one about football (generally reliable on films, IT inadequacies, what's wrong with pubs etc.... (and probably football, but I don't read much of the stuff on here about football)).
Well put B'sG.
Fortunately he's more than good enough to do a BELTING job for us at this level, BUT maybe not good enough for a bigger club to lump in with a £20 + million bid.

 

[BensGrandad]

Very long and very negative.

You couldn't be more wrong.

It is no secret in professional circles that our major strength as a team is Dunk and Duffy.

How exactly has Glenn Murray scored his goals this season? It happens.

As for set pieces - how many times do we see Dunk and Duffy get completely, or relatively, free headers in more illustrious opponents' boxes?

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In their general defending I would agree but the statistics, which many on here shout about and rely on, suggest that defending crosses and set pieces is a weakness which has to be addressed if we are to prosper.

 

[luppers]

Agree. Shirley Dunk didn’t attend Bhasvic, as he was full time with the Albion ages 16 to 18

We don't have a female player named Shirley Dunk

 

[dazzer6666]

There are 13 teams in the PL that have conceded the same/more than us, including Arsenal and ex champs Leicester so overall that suggests we’re doing most things pretty well at the back. Sometimes the attacking side are just going to do their job well enough to score. Whilst there will always be areas for improvement, it feels a bit unfair to making a biggish deal out of it when there has been so much mightily impressive stuff. Sure CH and the CBs are as aware as anyone and will keep working on it. Sure Wenger would have loved a Dunk or Duffy type in the middle when Murray scored a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Stat Brother]

If only we didn't play other teams really good at attacking crosses and set pieces, with their international players.

If only CH would sort out the defending at corners.

Oh no wait a minute, him and his excellent coaching staff have done just that.
To think they were able to do that without the help of Gary Mabbutt, truly inspirational stuff.

 

[dazzer6666]

If only we didn't play other teams really good at attacking crosses and set pieces, with their international players.

If only CH would sort out the defending at corners.

Oh no wait a minute, him and his excellent coaching staff have done just that.
To think they were able to do that without the help of Gary Mabbutt, truly inspirational stuff.

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

 

[Questions]

The stats don't lie.
We concede far more goals from set pieces than any other side. Every side in the PL is trying to whip quick balls in. They all know that they are difficult to defend. So defenders are constantly under pressure to find ways to keep the opposition out. We all know we have been a bit naive in that respect this season but we want to see small signs of improvement. We have a relatively settled back line but we keep conceding from these situations. Nothing seem to be changing. We assume defence duties are being drilled into players on the training ground but the message doesn't seem to be getting through. So its either the coaching staff or the players.

Well that does cover it. I cannot believe the experience we have within our coaching that they do not plan for all this. Of course there is the undefendable ball in but that hasn’t been every time we’ve conceded on these fronts is it ? The players must therefore in my opinion just be a tad short when it comes to defending these situations. Look at us when we attack on set pieces - how many goals have we scored ? Duff and Dunk have had countless chances in the air - probably close to as many as our opposition have had but they failed to register. I’m not banging about our centre halves being poor but this is in my opinion an obvious observation to make.
It can be rectified though, it must be. we’ve lost far too many points in these areas.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

There are 13 teams in the PL that have conceded the same/more than us, including Arsenal and ex champs Leicester so overall that suggests we’re doing most things pretty well at the back. Sometimes the attacking side are just going to do their job well enough to score. Whilst there will always be areas for improvement, it feels a bit unfair to making a biggish deal out of it when there has been so much mightily impressive stuff. Sure CH and the CBs are as aware as anyone and will keep working on it. Sure Wenger would have loved a Dunk or Duffy type in the middle when Murray scored a couple of weeks ago.

The argument is over the balance of goals conceded from open play and those from set pieces.
With us, it is too heavily toward the latter and hence the highest number of those type of goals in the PL. You survive/prosper by small margins at this level and small mistakes are punished heavily by top quality players. We have to work harder and better at making it more difficult for the opposition at set pieces.

 

[Stat Brother]

The stats don't lie.
We concede far more goals from set pieces than any other side. Every side in the PL is trying to whip quick balls in. They all know that they are difficult to defend. So defenders are constantly under pressure to find ways to keep the opposition out. We all know we have been a bit naive in that respect this season but we want to see small signs of improvement. We have a relatively settled back line but we keep conceding from these situations. Nothing seem to be changing. We assume defence duties are being drilled into players on the training ground but the message doesn't seem to be getting through. So its either the coaching staff or the players.

Those figures will include the disastrous corner defending from earlier in the season.
We have all noticed the change in how those have been defended and lo and behold the team haven't conceded from a corner since.

If this team were the finished article when facing the likes of Mata and Lukaku it wouldn't have spent the previous 6 seasons in the Championship.

 

[Brighton Mod]

Very long and very negative.

You couldn't be more wrong.

It is no secret in professional circles that our major strength as a team is Dunk and Duffy.

How exactly has Glenn Murray scored his goals this season? It happens.

As for set pieces - how many times do we see Dunk and Duffy get completely, or relatively, free headers in more illustrious opponents' boxes?

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I don't mix in professional circles, so i'm not sure if thats correct. The two centre backs are great shot stoppers and give everything of themselves, this cannot be denied, but we have conceded too many goals from set pieces or crosses, a matter which appears not to have been addressed or at least not acted upon. Regarding goals coming from our centre backs, both Duffy and Dunk have had many great opportunities and even a free header last night which have not been converted.

I would tend to agree with the sentiments of Mo, but last night was a cup game and in the great scheme of our season was a bonus game, from which I hope the centre backs and the coaching staff learned.