spudski Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 ... It was my first game of the season last night...mainly down to work commitments. I've followed our antics through this forum and the media this year. You always wonder whether what you are reading is correct, as I always like to judge with my own eyes. Well it's good to know, a lot of fans on this forum are correct in their opinions. Whilst watching last night it felt like I already knew where we would be lacking based on info from this forum and from what i saw last season. This is good news for all forum members who follow the Club from abroad ( which i often have too ) We are getting good info... even if you have to find it amongst a lot of dross. A short opinion from what I witnessed last night. Heaton, Looks a fine commanding Keeper with good distribution. Wilson, Unspectacular, went about his job quietly but looked comfortable. Fontaine, as discussed many times on here...awful... in every way. Looks low on confidence and his touch was appalling. Looked a yard slow and slow in decision making. McManus, Did his job without fuss, cleared well but lacked distribution. Foster, Positioning was awfull. Too many times cut inside and played balls across the park putting his team mates under pressure. I don't think he is Championship quality. Adomah, Wasn't his normal self. Head dropped. Tried hard in parts. Morris, In the Killkenny mould...covered ground well, tried to distribute and breakdown play, but pretty much uneffective. Skuse, Has got to learn to track back and follow his man. Often left the defence exposed. Bryan, Hardly noticed him tbh... Baldock, Looked good. Didn't get much service. Davies, Our best player by miles. Quality and Solid in everything. Pleased we've bought him. What saddens me the most, is that I don't think we have anyone in our squad who is good enough to come in on a regular basis and do a good job in Centre Midfield. Cunningham at LB is sorely missed... Apart from him, I believe all of our defensive options are poor to average quality in this league. As a side note... I was told last night that Bikey is on over £20,000 at 'Boro. Apparantly we are paying £9000 for Mcmanus a week, a third of his salary. Don't know if it's true...just what i heard from a good source. Based on what i saw last night and all last season... We need two CM's of quality and two more defenders of quality to stay up. All imho of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Squirrel Kingdom Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Can't disagree with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roe Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I still don't think our midfield is as bad as some people make out. We have one major problem and that's just getting a solid, settled back four that can last 90 (or 95) minutes without letting 3 or 4 goals on average. Picking holes in the rest of the team is still unnecessary IMO. Just gotta keep the faith that our defensive problems will get sorted soon. It's ironic though that the first goal aside, Fontaine actually looked better tonight. It's no coincidence that 10 minutes after Fonts went off we went 3-1 down. Carey came on and looked out of place straight away. I'm not blaming Louis but he was definitely a factor in those two goals against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudski Posted October 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I still don't think our midfield is as bad as some people make out. We have one major problem and that's just getting a solid, settled back four that can last 90 (or 95) minutes without letting 3 or 4 goals on average. Picking holes in the rest of the team is still unnecessary IMO. Just gotta keep the faith that our defensive problems will get sorted soon. It's ironic though that the first goal aside, Fontaine actually looked better tonight. It's no coincidence that 10 minutes after Fonts went off we went 3-1 down. Carey came on and looked out of place straight away. I'm not blaming Louis but he was definitely a factor in those two goals against. Defence starts futher up the field though. With respect...our defence is constantly left exposed...no wonder they concede. They are constantly on the back foot with no respite and this also leads to individual errors that are costing us. Our Centre midfield has been lacking since Hartley left...and tbh...he was on his last legs, so that says something. Burnley didn't break into a sweat last night and hardly got out of 3rd gear. They did when they had too. It was all too easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmond Million's Bung Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I still don't think our midfield is as bad as some people make out. We have one major problem and that's just getting a solid, settled back four that can last 90 (or 95) minutes without letting 3 or 4 goals on average. Picking holes in the rest of the team is still unnecessary IMO. Just gotta keep the faith that our defensive problems will get sorted soon. It's ironic though that the first goal aside, Fontaine actually looked better tonight. It's no coincidence that 10 minutes after Fonts went off we went 3-1 down. Carey came on and looked out of place straight away. I'm not blaming Louis but he was definitely a factor in those two goals against. Look closely at Bolton's 2nd and 3rd goal and others too many to mention already this season and come back with the same analysis, teams just waltz through our midfield virtually unmolested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talk Of The Town Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Defence starts futher up the field though. With respect...our defence is constantly left exposed...no wonder they concede. They are constantly on the back foot with no respite and this also leads to individual errors that are costing us. Our Centre midfield has been lacking since Hartley left...and tbh...he was on his last legs, so that says something. Burnley didn't break into a sweat last night and hardly got out of 3rd gear. They did when they had too. It was all too easy. Dito. Take a bow son Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Robbo Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Look closely at Bolton's 2nd and 3rd goal and others too many to mention already this season and come back with the same analysis, teams just waltz through our midfield virtually unmolested. We've seen this before haven't we. This huge hole in our central midfield which allows opponents to take route one to our box. McInnes saw that Cisse could plug that gap and now he must see that none of our current players are capable of doing what Kalifa did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudski Posted October 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Dito. Take a bow son Only stating the obvious... We've seen this before haven't we. This huge hole in our central midfield which allows opponents to take route one to our box. McInnes saw that Cisse could plug that gap and now he must see that none of our current players are capable of doing what Kalifa did. I can only think it's his wage demands that are stopping us signing Cisse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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