Worst defensive performance of the season

[supaseagull]

Midfield was the reason we lost. Anyone who knows anything about the game could have seen that

 

[London Irish]

For me defence starts in the midfield and that is where Hughton got it wrong. Fair enough needing to rest Kayal but not so that Crofts can come in. Should've had Stephens and Sidwell and gone 442 with Hemed on. Brings Crofts on later to shore it up. We were just horrendously unfortunate that on the day Hughton makes a mistake our usually reliable back line make three.

I'm afraid I don't buy the idea that we have a reliable back line.

I think we have one Premiership class defender in Bong, so yes it's unfortunate we lost him but injuries happen to every team, Cardiff were missing very influential players yesterday.

We have a mixed bag of centre halfs. Greer has the poise in possession but I'm not sure is quite good enough for a top 2 team. Dunk got a lot of pelters for QPR but it was Greer's mistake for the first goal that led us to throw away the 3 points there. Dunk is a great talent like Stockdale but both have a wearily inevitable mistake in them, temperament? Uwe looked good for a while but then got bullied a bit in the air. Goldson is learning his trade - perm two from that lot is very difficult - Greer and Dunk I'd punt for but if someone said Uwe and Goldson I wouldnt argue too much - it's much of a muchness.

Gus's team with the dominant leader in Upson and a younger Greer, was much more secure. Bruno is decent but again his strengths are more linking with midfielders than the hard graft of defending.

The away point at Hull ended up being a bittersweet one because I think it convinced Hughton that we could rely a lot on our solidity in defence to manage games. The shambles yesterday so hard on the heels of the shambles against Bolton should convince you that we have a good team, but its strength lies in sharp attack and counterattack not defence.

That's why defensive 4-5-1 formations are so wrong for this group of players - it cuts our attacking options and places a premium on our defence getting it right, they typically I think won't - they are not good enough or reliable enough.

I hope Hughton will ditch this defensive mindset - we must stick with 4-4-2 and look to attack and score early both home and away. The best way we can protect our suspect defence is to sow fear and doubt in the opposition and that means hitting them hard early with the pace we have our wide and the class of Kayal to getting us moving forward at high tempo.

 

[Blackadder]

I have to agree with this post, I can't put the blame down to CH, as I don't think I have seen a game where every player in the team were awful.
Can anyone tell me a player who they thought had a good game?[/QUOTE]

Didn't play from the start but should have done. Rosenior. Breathe of fresh air when he came on.

 

[Trelford Mills Guide Dog]

I have to agree with this post, I can't put the blame down to CH, as I don't think I have seen a game where every player in the team were awful.
Can anyone tell me a player who they thought had a good game?

It's been said by a couple of others, but Skalak had a decent game. Great to see Rosenior back ... these two connected very well in the 2nd half.

Everyone else was pretty shite to be honest

 

[goldstone]

I'm afraid I don't buy the idea that we have a reliable back line.

I think we have one Premiership class defender in Bong, so yes it's unfortunate we lost him but injuries happen to every team, Cardiff were missing very influential players yesterday.

We have a mixed bag of centre halfs. Greer has the poise in possession but I'm not sure is quite good enough for a top 2 team. Dunk got a lot of pelters for QPR but it was Greer's mistake for the first goal that led us to throw away the 3 points there. Dunk is a great talent like Stockdale but both have a wearily inevitable mistake in them, temperament? Uwe looked good for a while but then got bullied a bit in the air. Goldson is learning his trade - perm two from that lot is very difficult - Greer and Dunk I'd punt for but if someone said Uwe and Goldson I wouldnt argue too much - it's much of a muchness.

Gus's team with the dominant leader in Upson and a younger Greer, was much more secure. Bruno is decent but again his strengths are more linking with midfielders than the hard graft of defending.

The away point at Hull ended up being a bittersweet one because I think it convinced Hughton that we could rely a lot on our solidity in defence to manage games. The shambles yesterday so hard on the heels of the shambles against Bolton should convince you that we have a good team, but its strength lies in sharp attack and counterattack not defence.

That's why defensive 4-5-1 formations are so wrong for this group of players - it cuts our attacking options and places a premium on our defence getting it right, they typically I think won't - they are not good enough or reliable enough.

I hope Hughton will ditch this defensive mindset - we must stick with 4-4-2 and look to attack and score early both home and away. The best way we can protect our suspect defence is to sow fear and doubt in the opposition and that means hitting them hard early with the pace we have our wide and the class of Kayal to getting us moving forward at high tempo.

Spot on analysis.

 

[chaileyjem]

I hope Hughton will ditch this defensive mindset - we must stick with 4-4-2 and look to attack and score early both home and away.

Mindset ? He's preferred and played 4-4-2 virtually all season with switches to 4-5-1 to occasionally and successfully protect leads.
Against, for example, Middlesbrough and Rotherham (A) he played 4-4-2 . Why did we not do better in those games ?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Mindset ? He's preferred and played 4-4-2 virtually all season with switches to 4-5-1 to occasionally and successfully protect leads.
Against, for example, Middlesbrough and Rotherham (A) he played 4-4-2 . Why did we not do better in those games ?

I agree, I like a manager who picks a team to who he has available, not fitting what he has available to a prescribed system. I wasn't unhappy with 4-5-1 Saturday, it looked okay on paper, just didn't get the performances he needed. Had most of the team played well and we lost, then I might get a bit critical of the manager / formation / selection, Saturday for me however was one of those days the players have to take full responsibility for the result.

 

[darkwolf666]

Midfield was the reason we lost. Anyone who knows anything about the game could have seen that

How condescending is that, there is obviously a typo in that statement, as what you clearly meant to say was that anyone that doesn't agree with your opinion knows nothing about football...

Don't imagine Stockdale (keeper) blasting a ball at a defenders heels for number two or Goldson (centre back) giving away a soft penalty for number four helped the cause much. Yes we may have been outplayed in midfield for much of the game, with the midfield simply being passed through, but we can't keep giving sloppy goals away and hope to succeed!

 

[sydney]

having been unable to get on here since friday .....this was the one thread i was itching to comment on , the defensive display on saturday was the worst since the liverpool pasting ....comic , shite , inept , clustermuntery of the highest order supplemented with two catastrophic goalkeeping errors .......that is all...!!

 

[Ameliaance]

The players should pay for everyone's ticket who went today, ****ing disgrace

Indeed..

 

[Westdene Wonder]

That is all

If we do have a Bad Day then its better the match is played away from the Amex,Lets keep our best days for home matches

 

[Westdene Wonder]

This. It is really frustrating the hell out of me. Dunk's positional play is poor and frequently goes unnoticed or ignored if we're not punished but it happens too often - it showed today and another recent example is Heskey's goal for Bolton at the AMEX last week. He ball watches. And as for his shirt pulling - I don't think I've seen another professional player as bad as him at this. I really feel he is our weakest link and needs to be dropped now that GG is fit again.

He came very close to being booked again,he can play a decent game at times however his positional play and concentration leads him to being unrealible.

 

[West Upper Seagull]

He came very close to being booked again,he can play a decent game at times however his positional play and concentration leads him to being unrealible.

Dunk came close to conceding another penalty, let alone another booking. Sadly he has a mistake in him every game and more often than not we get punished for it