Friday 27 July 2012

Somebody Tell Sullivan It's The Defence Stupid!

I know defenders don't grab the headlines like strikers do and so don't sell season tickets, but if we are to stay in the Prem, we urgently need new defenders. Demel was ripped to pieces in the Play Off final and is not a Premiership right back - even when fit - and McCartney is barely Championship standard at left back.

Some of us were feeling pretty optimistic about Tomkins, but the Olympic warm up game against Brazil showed that, for all his apparent brilliance in the Championship, the boy remains slow of foot and thought when it comes to playing against the big boys. And Reid, as we know, has limitations.

So even the first choice back four looks inadequate, but what happens when any of them are injured or suspended? Who comes in exactly? O'Brien at right back. OK but he doesn't inspire confidence does he? Taylor at left back. He looked even worse than Demel against Blackpool. The kid Potts? Frightening for all the boy's promise. Who covers the centre backs exactly? Spence who couldn't make the Bristol City first team?

The defensive cupboard is frighteningly bare, yet we hear all this bollocks about chasing Andy Carroll. Are we planning on using him as a centre half given his paucity of goals for Liverpool?

I don't want to hear cobblers about how many weeks there are before the window closes, we have to pick up points early doors to survive and a defensive unit needs to be drilled to be effective. As every day ticks by without new defensive recruits - and we need at least three - the chances of us surviving in the Prem recede.

Wake up and smell the coffee Sullivan. If we ship three goals every game, no amount of strikers is going to keep us in the Premiership! Either we build from the back or its back to the Championship!

2 comments:

Sav said...

I just suffered watching the first half of the match against Dresden. It is really depressing. This team is a lot worse than the team that won us promotion. Moreover, there is clearly no attempt to play the ball. Time and again they lift the ball in the air rather than playing on the floor. Time and again they go direct and time and again it cleared by the defenders of the other team. No imagination at all going forward. The Allardyce days of direct football are here and there is nothing else on the menu.

Defencively, we are also a lot worse than last year. Wit h Green and Faye gone our defenders are slow and out of sync, as it was proven in the goal we conceded. It is no wonder that Big Sam is asking the Davids to break the Bank to buy Caroll. We can't play football, we throw the ball up in the air we hope he puts his head to it to score. Pathetic! It really is!

Sav said...

The total disappointment. Utterly pathetic. Dresden is at best an average to good Championship team. We made them look like Barcelona!

There is no hope with Allardyce. He only knows one way to play football and that is not the way that will keep us in the Premiership. Let alone entertain us!