Kortney Hause - here for good

[SoccerHQ]

It's odd he dosen't make the bench given he's been o.k in the cup, last season and can cover two positions.

Can only think Taylor was o.k for DS last season, didn't let him down at the start of this and so loyalty is repaid by keeping Taylor involved from the bench. Mind you the same applies to AEM and he struggles to make 18 now despite being MOTM v Wolves.

Ultimately though Neil Taylor isn't going to be at this club beyond the summer and Hause should be so I'd rather have him there and would like to see him at LB when Targett isn't fit.

With Chester fit again he's even more down the pecking order, perhaps he'll be loaned out in January to the championship.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

He won us two points against Brighton so I think he's still in credit.

Despite being gash the whole game, we give him credit because he scored? You're not alone in this school of thought, Eamonn.

[SoccerHQ]

He was good at Norwich. Norwich will likely finish 20th though.

My gut feeling on Targett is he'll just fade into another at best unmemorable player as that seems to happen to pretty much all the LBs we've signed in the last decade, they have a good debut or early few games and become a shower of s*** very soon afterwards.

Seems he was fairly rated at Southampton but he couldn't nail down a regular place in what has been a poor team in last 2-3 seasons.

I'm happy with Gulibert on the other side though. He's done fine so far and AEM is decent back up.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Seems he was fairly rated at Southampton but he couldn't nail down a regular place in what has been a poor team in last 2-3 seasons.

I'm happy with Gulibert on the other side though.

Fairly rated? They were queuing up to drive him to Villa Park. The general concensus was we'd over paid by at least £10m.
Maybe Deano thought, despite his lack of match play and speed, there was a half decent player there that could be developed. Personally, I think Targett is a bit too thick to take advantage of the opportunity and coaching. I hope I'm wrong.

Guilbert on the other hand, seems to be quietly going about his business, working hard and seizing the opportunity with both hands. He'll be around for a few years.

[Luke8]

It’s a bit early to be making a definitive judgment on Targett either way surely?

He has only started six league games. Of which, we have won two (and were wining before he went off against Burnley) and lost against the best two teams in the league. He has had a couple of good games, some ok one and was pretty awful on Sunday. So a fairly mixed bag all in all.

Maybe I’m too generous but think he needs to be judged over quite a few more games before we write him off as needing replacing.

[rooboy316]

Jury is still out on Targett for me but in his defense, he got no help from Trez, especially against Traore who clearly had him for pace. Trez is really lazy tracking back, and often lets runners go past him and doesn't respond.  I feel Trez also hasn't figured out the high press we employ sometimes. He often presses the wrong person, and leaves a huge gap behind him that someone else has to get pulled out of position to cover.

[Drummond]

Agree, full backs can't do it all by themselves.

[paul_e]

Jury is still out on Targett for me but in his defense, he got no help from Trez, especially against Traore who clearly had him for pace. Trez is really lazy tracking back, and often lets runners go past him and doesn't respond.  I feel Trez also hasn't figured out the high press we employ sometimes. He often presses the wrong person, and leaves a huge gap behind him that someone else has to get pulled out of position to cover.

I think the 2nd half of this is the important bit and is pretty much exactly what the problem was on Sunday, AEG did the same thing. I get the feeling that they were told to get high up the pitch and support Wesley in closing down the back 3 and Neves but to try to not let the fullbacks become isolated and because of how Wolves played they couldn't do both so they got stuck in between and did poorly at both jobs. I'm a glutton for punishment and watched the first half again last night and I firmly believe the biggest problem was that too many players didn't know what they supposed to be doing.

[rooboy316]

Jury is still out on Targett for me but in his defense, he got no help from Trez, especially against Traore who clearly had him for pace. Trez is really lazy tracking back, and often lets runners go past him and doesn't respond.  I feel Trez also hasn't figured out the high press we employ sometimes. He often presses the wrong person, and leaves a huge gap behind him that someone else has to get pulled out of position to cover.

I think the 2nd half of this is the important bit and is pretty much exactly what the problem was on Sunday, AEG did the same thing. I get the feeling that they were told to get high up the pitch and support Wesley in closing down the back 3 and Neves but to try to not let the fullbacks become isolated and because of how Wolves played they couldn't do both so they got stuck in between and did poorly at both jobs. I'm a glutton for punishment and watched the first half again last night and I firmly believe the biggest problem was that too many players didn't know what they supposed to be doing.

Wesley too causes a big problem with this. He's meant to be at the top of the triangle that leads the press, but often seems confused about who to go to or when to go.  I've noticed others (SJM mostly) shouting instructions at him when he's made the wrong decision or hasn't lead the press. It's such an easy out ball over the top for oppositions when this happens, because a midfielder or fullback will get in behind where the gap is, and leaves us scrambling to cover the quick transition.

A hard working winger a la Snodgrass would be great in that system.

[Mister E]

... I firmly believe the biggest problem was that too many players didn't know what they supposed to be doing.

My son, a B licence coach, made a similar observation no Sunday: that - with Wolves playing with width - our possession should have been through the central part of the park, where there was more space for us to hurt them.
In the event, we were crap at keeping possession anyway so it probably wasn't that impactful on the outcome.

We didn't seem to have a plan to exert our game on the opposition: we seemd to be there to react to them rather than impose ourselves on them.

[eamonn]

He won us two points against Brighton so I think he's still in credit.

Despite being gash the whole game, we give him credit because he scored? You're not alone in this school of thought, Eamonn.

Well, it's a long time since I've seen any of our left backs do that. It was a great finish from a difficult angle and it being practically the last kick of the match, was wut won it for us (credit to Grealish too of course). 

I've not seen enough of him to make a firm judgement but I was surprised and a bit disappointed that we spent so much on him when a better player could have been sourced from abroad. Smacked of it being something MON would have done. But Dean probably placed a premium on his PL experience, something sorely lacking from the squad so I can understand why he went for him.