Our Defence

[Stinkin_Thinkin]

Hutton Vlaar Senderos Cissokho is my back four. Although you lose some Bacuna attacking intent it is solid. Need them all fit though, match fit. Baker should be loaned out to develop, let him make his mistakes for another club then you have Clark who is versitle and Okore as back up.

[Toronto Villa]

We've lost balance with Clark being out and quickly followed by Baker. Okore and Vlaar both prefer the right side and Vlaar hasn't looked as comfortable playing on the left. Couple that with Richardson and Bacuna being less than stellar defensively, Okore still learning and Guzan not being at his best it has led to some very poor goals being conceded.

[OCD]

How many times have we conceded late into a half since Sherwood took over too? That can probably only be put down to a lack of concentration from them all.

Clark and Okore would be first choice centre pairing as they could form a partnership for years. Bacuna can get better defensively (though he's already decent) and is far too beneficial to our attacking play to not use (4 assists when he's started already). Left back we might need a new signing there.

As far as cover goes, Hutton, either Richardson or Bennett and Baker/Senderos. If Vlaar goes, we might need another due to injury track records. We might need a signing there unless there's someone coming through the ranks.

[passitsideways]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure I need to let some air out of the balloon, because right now, I'm so confident in Sherwood's apparent ability to invigorate players that I expect Joe Bennett to come out of preseason possessing the best attributes of Ashley Cole and Roberto Carlos, thus solving our LB problem.

[old man villa fan]

The reason why we concede so many goals is that we lack experience defending.  We have two attack minded players at fullback, midfield players that fail to track opposition players running into the box and forwards that do not know how to mark at set pieces.  We constantly have too many players going for the same ball (see Vlaar's penalty on Saturday or the goals against Liverpool as examples).  There needs to be a lot of defensive coaching in the summer.

As others have said, not having a settled central defensive partnership has not helped.  Also not having an aggressive (not dirty) player in the middle of the defence has allowed us to get dominated at set-plays. More than anything else though, we lack experience in defence.

With the way Sherwood looks to want to play, I think we need two good fullbacks that can defend and also are good going forward.  They will not come cheap though.  As well as Hutton did in the first half of the season, I am not convinced with him being good enough going forward.

[aj2k77]

How many times have we conceded late into a half since Sherwood took over too? That can probably only be put down to a lack of concentration from them all.

Clark and Okore would be first choice centre pairing as they could form a partnership for years. Bacuna can get better defensively (though he's already decent) and is far too beneficial to our attacking play to not use (4 assists when he's started already). Left back we might need a new signing there.

As far as cover goes, Hutton, either Richardson or Bennett and Baker/Senderos. If Vlaar goes, we might need another due to injury track records. We might need a signing there unless there's someone coming through the ranks.

We've lost the most points in the last 10 minutes this season so far, 10.

[Toronto Villa]

When I look at how Sherwood sets up it is really a case of having to give something to get something. Unless we have full backs in the very top bracket who are essentially outstanding two way players, to be so aggressive will leave gaps. Couple of that in with all of the other uncertainties in our defence plus injuries it's no wonder we aren't as tight as we might otherwise be.

[TheMalandro]

25/26/27 year old, injury free, dependable, calm, Viking central defender needed. Beard a bonus.

[pooligan]

I read somewhere recently, that if QPR  go down,Sherwood will be in for Steven Caulker ,who he jnows well from his Spurs day. He  has been around a bit,but has looked a solid sort of defender wheni have seen him play

[Matt Collins]

I think caulker has looked awful for the last two years tho he was good at Spurs

I wonder how highly he rates okore. It's hard to plan for our defence because they keep getting injured, suggesting we will still need five centre backs. But that means one or two don't get on the bench when everyone is fit.

All of the tactical stuff about ful backs bombing on is true. But you'd still expect better defending from vlaar of late. Two daft penalties given away.

[UK Redsox]

I think that Vlaar's the weak link. If Senderos is fully fit, I'd prefer to see him alongside Okore.

[Ron Manager]

I think that Vlaar's the weak link. If Senderos is fully fit, I'd prefer to see him alongside Okore.

Vlaar goes up through the gears for the important games but in the day to day league matches he is too often fallible.

Also I think that Sherwood doesn't rate Okore highly but I could be wrong.

[oldhill_avfc]

The main weakness defensively is with the full backs, so much so that I'd prefer to keep with Bacuna and Richardson as they do at least offer something going forward.  I dont rate either Hutton or Cissoko - they're both clumsy and make too many mistakes.  Lowton and Bennett are proven over 2+ seasons to simply not be good enough.

As for the central defenders a few recent goals (Liverpool at Wembley, penalty on Saturday) have been down to indecision and not putting the ball into Row Z when they had the chance.  Maybe that's down to not fully knowing or trusting your partner.  That said all of them are good enough to play in an upper mid table side and on that basis your down to contract and injury issues as to whether you'd keep them or not.

[Gregorys Boy]

Think it is an issue to be sorted in the long term, at the moment because we are so much better attacking wise and doing enough to win matches then its no big issue, but yeah it does need working on over the summer.

We need a more settled back four.  I like Vlaar but he just hasn't done it consistently. Think I would still have him in the squad, but then I don't know if he would be happy playing second fiddle so it might be time to move him on. Based on this season I would have Okore and Clark as the long term pairing.  Think Bacua over time could stamp his mark on the full back spot, but I think we need something a bit different than Hutton he is too static for my liking. 

[Toronto Villa]

I think that Vlaar's the weak link. If Senderos is fully fit, I'd prefer to see him alongside Okore.

I don't think it would be that much different. Look at Vlaar vs Spurs, playing on the right side of the pairing with Clark or Baker and he looked imperious. Look at him on the left and he isn't remotely as comfortable.