A case for the defence

[Phil from the upper holte]

Is it time for a change? Week after week we are giving away sloppy goals, look at yesterday, the smallest man on the pitch scores a header in the 6 yard box. Mcleish said before the Albion match he would make changes if they failed to defend. They didn't they didn't lose their place again yesterday they didn't.

Will they play next week? I bet they do.

Is it time for Clark Cuellar Herd & warnock?

[taylorsworkrate]

I'd definitely get Cuellar into the team, and Herd moved to Right back.

Not too sure that Clark would help our set piece problems too much.

[Rigadon]

Honest question, if Cuellar is as good a centre half as a few on here seem to think, why is he still sat on our bench?  My own opinion is that he's solid, dependable and won't let you down too often.  So why is that none of the managers (inc the one who bought him) trusts him at centre half for more than a game or two?

[Chris Smith]

Other than set pieces they're defending well (Man City aside). There's clearly an issue now with corners in particular but I'm struggling to work out why as up until the last three games it hadn't been a problem.

Cuellar for Collins would be the one I'd consider but I'm not sure it as simple as that.

[taylorsworkrate]

No idea Rigadon.  I cannot honestly think of a bad game Cuellar has had at centre half for us.  Granted his distribution isn't the best, but its no worse than Collins.

[Rigadon]

Maybe it's something to do with the fact that centre halves tend to be about partnerships.  Maybe he doesn't gel well?  I don't think we'll see any defensive changes anytime soon. 

[Lambert and Payne]

I'd get Collins out of the team like a bullet, he doesn't give us anything imo. He dives into tackles, gets turned far too easily, mis-judges the flight of the ball and keeps trying to hit the ball up to bent to header, giving the ball away every time. Carlos doesn't have the presence of Collins, but his judgment, reading the game and not diving into tackles means he waits for the opportune moment to tackle. I haven't seen him play a bad game.
I'd keep Dunne in, so long as he behaves well, repeats of last season can't be tolerated

[Rancid custard]

I'd personally like to see Clark and Cuellar start a game, if anything just to light a fire under Dunne and Collins asses. The defence has been a problem for a while, there was all that talk of MON's zonal system and GH saying he wouldn't rock the boat with it until he got to pre season, then he left and now it doesn't look like Eck wants to change it either.

Back in my playing days, it was go man to man, don't let them goal side, but give them about a foot of space so they can't turn you. That was the basic rule and it worked pretty well.

[Nastylee]

I believe it's more to do with defensive tactics than personnel. The two CBs are regarded as being good in the air so it makes no sense to be shit a set pieces. I still can't work out if we man mark or do zones and I think the players are unsure too by the looks of it. Needs a shake up but I don't think Cuellar or Clark are going to transform us into clean sheet specialists.

[GJH]

Got to bring Cuellar back into the team. Good in the air and a great tackler of the ball.

Really annoyed with Mcleish comments when he congratulated Larsson for a great free kick "i tought him well" he said!

Well he wants to teah the defence how to defend against a 5 foot 6 striker! Back to the O'leary days of congratulating opposition players, never heard O'neil doing that!

10 games in and he still doesn't know his best midfield, Heskey just doesn't look right doing a job in there.

Got to sort it out Mr Mcleish, if you lose the remainder of the fans who are still backing you then your days will be numbered.

[Eigentor]

10 games in and he still doesn't know his best midfield, Heskey just doesn't look right doing a job in there.

As mentioned by Mat Kendrick on Twitter, the inclusion of Heskey in midfield probably says more about McLeish's opinion of Ireland than his opinion of Heskey. Maybe he's coming to the same conclusion as Mancini, Houllier and (possibly) Pardew.

[Shrek]

Honest question, if Cuellar is as good a centre half as a few on here seem to think, why is he still sat on our bench?  My own opinion is that he's solid, dependable and won't let you down too often.  So why is that none of the managers (inc the one who bought him) trusts him at centre half for more than a game or two?

If I could second guess managers I would, I can't think of another manager that would play Heskey and Hutton in our team.

[Chris Smith]

Honest question, if Cuellar is as good a centre half as a few on here seem to think, why is he still sat on our bench?  My own opinion is that he's solid, dependable and won't let you down too often.  So why is that none of the managers (inc the one who bought him) trusts him at centre half for more than a game or two?

If I could second guess managers I would, I can't think of another manager that would play Heskey and Hutton in our team.

So you've already forgot that MON and Houllier both picked Heskey. I'd get yourself down the doctors as your memory is fucked.

[Clampy]

Heskey did some good things yesterday, but also gave the ball away a lot, one of which led to their first goal i think. The fancy back flick he tried in the last minute in the middle of the pitch was stupid, and not what a man of his experience should be doing.

As for the defence, the one i'd leave out if i could would be Warnock. I wonder if Clark would be any beter there
.

[Risso]

Honest question, if Cuellar is as good a centre half as a few on here seem to think, why is he still sat on our bench?  My own opinion is that he's solid, dependable and won't let you down too often.  So why is that none of the managers (inc the one who bought him) trusts him at centre half for more than a game or two?

If I could second guess managers I would, I can't think of another manager that would play Heskey and Hutton in our team.

So you've already forgot that MON and Houllier both picked Heskey. I'd get yourself down the doctors as your memory is fucked.

You can't blame him for wanting to block out those two.