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O'Nien at CB


We have became so obsessed with playing 'attractive' football that it's got to the stage where it's impacting results. We play O'Nien as he's seemingly the best at bringing the ball out from the back and granted he does have a canny ping on him. Defensively however he's a liability, He will have two or three decent games and then the next he's caught way out of position, manhandling opposition players in the box or switching off at corners. He's always getting booked aswell.

Any half decent side causes us major problems, We are so easy to play against at times. Teams don't even have to be great to carve out chances as we leave ourselves wide open. The likes of Hume being pushed into central midfield just means we are stretched whenever a team breaks on us.
 
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The issue is our cbs have no protection. It all gets gung-ho. Our midfield is as strong as wet tissue and easy to play around. None of them are really defensive minded. Our fullbacks are often miles forward or inside meaning our CBs have to cover one whole side of the pitch. It's why we are so easy to counter against. Our wingers have okay work rate but still not great at tracking back.
 
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Steady. His fan club will be along to tell you you're wrong (without actually giving any evidence) and that you're a shower for even daring to think it.

It's been evident for a while now that his distribution leads to the 2nd and 3rd phase of that ball heading straight back at our goal, which means he's not picking the correct pass or he's putting himself in positions he shouldn't be.

Play him DM if needed.

But he's not a CB.
 
SAFC11 said:
The issue is our cbs have no protection. It all gets gung-ho. Our midfield is as strong as wet tissue amd easy to play around. None of them are really defensive minded. Our fullbacks are often miles forward or inside meaning our CBs have to cover one whole side of the pitch. It's why we are so easy to counter against. Our wingers have okay work rate but still not great at tracking back.
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Yep playing with two 8s and a 10 doesn't work for most sides.

As Celtic find out in Europe even though it works domestically.

Unless your a really top side you will get found out.
 
What is obvious is that we concede too many goals. Even winning, we tend to concede and it is very rare for us to have a clean sheet. Somehow, this needs to be addressed, almost as much as the striker drought. I suspect the defensive difficulty is as much to do with midfield cover as defence personnel. Either way, I think it is the coach's job to sort it out. .
 
I think he's an average championship CB who fits our style with excellent intangibles. Nothing more, nothing less.

In our first 11, he would be one of the first and most easily replaced ability-wise, however, do so and you lose those intangibles. Balancing act.

I think he has more than proven he can't play in the middle to the standard we require.
 
Ian Lucas said:
What is obvious is that we concede too many goals. Even winning, we tend to concede and it is very rare for us to have a clean sheet. Somehow, this needs to be addressed, almost as much as the striker drought. I suspect the defensive difficulty is as much to do with midfield cover as defence personnel. Either way, I think it is the coach's job to sort it out. .
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Only 4 teams have actually conceded less than us, and only Leicester conceded less that a goal a game on average
 
He's not covered himself in glory for the goal, but he wasn't solely at fault. From what was a clearance from our keeper, it took three touches to have their attacker one-on-one with our centre back. Absolutely no way should he be left in that position. As happens far too often, we didn't even compete for the second ball, meanwhile Hume has charged forward to try and win the first header, and Roberts gets himself caught in no-man's land instead of properly filling in.

Defensive shape is absolutely all over the place.

Poor team goal to concede more than anything. O'Nien's alright - liability gets thrown around far too much.
 
I've read on here over the weekend that most of the squad aren't good enough, or there are issues with injury among other things.
"None of the full backs are particularly good".
"O'Nein is not a centre half and lacks discipline".
"Ballard is good, but whenever he makes a challenge he limps back into position".
"Ekwah is nowhere near the player he was before his injury".
"Neil is okay but he's too soft".
"Roberts has talent but no end product".
"All of our centre forwards are useless".
"Seelt has the pace of a snail".
"Ba is a liability".
"Even if Evans fully recovers from his injury he's not good enough any more".

It's all a bit worrying, do we scrap the entire squad and start again?

I get the impression if Clarke fails to score for what would be a fourth game in a row on Wednesday, he'll be written off and not even worth a million now.

Everyone seems to like Aouchiche though, but wait until he has started a few games and done nowt..
 
Roker Rick said:
Love him to bits, tries his heart out, but he's a liability at CB. He was at fault for the 2nd goal on Sat imo. He still loses his head easily and goes wild, which is not what you want for a CB.

Thoughts and pelters on a postcard.
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Cannot understand why we didn’t just offer Danny Batth a one year contract. I know the system we use but surely in certain situations it’s flexible.
 
HitchBerg said:
I've read on here over the weekend that most of the squad aren't good enough, or there are issues with injury among other things.
"None of the full backs are particularly good".
"O'Nein is not a centre half and lacks discipline".
"Ballard is good, but whenever he makes a challenge he limps back into position".
"Ekwah is nowhere near the player he was before his injury".
"Neil is okay but he's too soft".
"Roberts has talent but no end product".
"All of our centre forwards are useless".
"Seelt has the pace of a snail".
"Ba is a liability".
"Even if Evans fully recovers from his injury he's not good enough any more".

It's all a bit worrying, do we scrap the entire squad and start again?

I get the impression if Clarke fails to score for what would be a fourth game in a row on Wednesday, he'll be written off and not even worth a million now.

Everyone seems to like Aouchiche though, but wait until he has started a few games and done nowt..
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Don't forget Danny Batth

We'd not have conceded a single goal if he'd been starting every game
 
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