That miss

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, MJP3 said:

It somehow feels very wrong and dirty of me to disagree with your opinion for the first time.

Love and Appreciate your contributions normally though. (Perhaps he'll go easy on me now.)

"Hard work!!  With his GK coach and CBs!!" is the obvious and simple answer.

However, I haven't heard of anyone of the opinion that he doesn't work hard and is anything but professional.

Regarding coaching, he has been coached (and I assume working hard) for 17 years since joining Arsenal academy at the age of 11.

He is now 28 with over 360 1st team games under his belt and still has that weaker aspect of his game.

So minor improvements are possible, but likely he is close to being as good as he's going to be.

I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, but I don't see him ever being known as one to command the box. Improve yes, command no.

I'm still of the opinion that pressuring him to do so, (i.e. change his game drastically) could be detrimental regarding confidence/flappiness.

Brian Tinnion always appeared a dedicated professional among our drunkards of the time. (Story to follow one day)

I can't believe he didn't work on improving his right foot, however, at 28 he probably had to accept he had the right leg of a golfer or snooker player, and there was nothing more he could do to change that to any worthwhile degree.

 

 

 

Haha, all part of good debate.  I agree he isn’t gonna change his technical ability now.

I should’ve explained better though.  The collective need to work harder / better on deciding how they want to defend those types of situation. For me he has to stop them dropping towards the 6 yard box (his domain) so he has room to decide whether to come or not.  In turn they need to stop dropping back.

I think we’ve dropped 3-5 yards too deep here.  That’s what needs to be worked on as a collective. Imho

 

[MJP3]

45 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Haha, all part of good debate.  I agree he isn’t gonna change his technical ability now.

I should’ve explained better though.  The collective need to work harder / better on deciding how they want to defend those types of situation. For me he has to stop them dropping towards the 6 yard box (his domain) so he has room to decide whether to come or not.  In turn they need to stop dropping back.

I think we’ve dropped 3-5 yards too deep here.  That’s what needs to be worked on as a collective. Imho

 

Agreed.

Although I'm not great with tactics and shape, I feel we just defend too deep in general, inviting pressure we're frequently not very good at dealing with.

As for Bentley keeping the box clear, I don't think he can overcome the back line's herding instincts without a cattle prod.

(There's probably some silly rule about them on the field of play.)

[Davefevs]

6 minutes ago, MJP3 said:

I feel we just defend too deep in general, inviting pressure we're frequently not very good at dealing with.

I do too.  Kalas is a bit guilty of it.  I wonder whether for the Czech Republic the technical discipline of two banks of four in international football might lead him to do the same for us.

But by the same token, no point Martin trying to run long every time we clear.  Sometimes come short and allow Wells (or whoever) to utilise the space behind.

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

The collective need to work harder / better on deciding how they want to defend those types of situation. For me he has to stop them dropping towards the 6 yard box (his domain) so he has room to decide whether to come or not.  In turn they need to stop dropping back.

 

I actually typed out something similar for my post above, deleted it as I'd started to wander, again 

7 minutes ago, MJP3 said:

Although I'm not great with tactics and shape, I feel we just defend too deep in general, inviting pressure we're frequently not very good at dealing with.

As for Bentley keeping the box clear, I don't think he can overcome the back line's herding instincts without a cattle prod.

I'd say generally 5-10 yards too deep, specially as we do have a little pace in the back 4.   
It's something we have done for a while, but it is also a natural thing. Think of all those games where we've battered teams in the last 10-15 minutes. That's not all us being good, some part of that is teams retreating to hold what they have. Better teams will be able to push up and keep the ball better, to see games out, we are a long way off that ATM.
 

[MJP3]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I do too.  Kalas is a bit guilty of it.  I wonder whether for the Czech Republic the technical discipline of two banks of four in international football might lead him to do the same for us.

But by the same token, no point Martin trying to run long every time we clear.  Sometimes come short and allow Wells (or whoever) to utilise the space behind.

Thankfully I'm back to agreeing with everything you say again. The World is normal. The World is good.

Edited November 1, 2021 by MJP3

[bcfc01]

14 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

It was a corner, Martin was back to defend so it was his job TBF.
Bentley was drawn to the near post to cover, they hit the bar and it bounced to their player and Martin is in the right place, Bents hacks clear.
Martin just happens to be in the right spot as you can see.

The other one I think you mean, "the miss" , he looks really awkward. The thing is, if he just stays on his line he'll get criticised if the ball ball goes to another striker. He tries to block an attempt, yeah looks clumsy , but genuine effort. 
As for the miss, I think Atkinson misses it, but it was a combination of bouncing ball and Kalas nudging Gone in the back that does it. Just enough of a lean not to look bad , but enough to knock him off his stride .

 

There are plenty of times we can criticise Bentley, I think these are a bit harsh. I do want him to dominate his area more, I want him to catch balls more, but I thought he was OK Saturday.  

I had it in my head that it was Tanner who gave Cole a push in the back but that pic clearly shows it was Kalas. I held my breath at the time as I thought they may get a penalty. But a clever "lean" by Kalas put enough doubt into the refs mind.

[Clutton Caveman]

On 30/10/2021 at 19:00, Dullmoan Tone said:

TBF he was under significant pressure - it wasn't an open goal.

I think I have seen more opposition easy misses this season than ever.

If that had gone in, I can't begin to imagine the reaction of the crowd or how different we would all feel right now.

And the mad thing, even Pearson admits this, is we weren't good today and the stats show we were outplayed by the bottom team.

Not sure luck will last long.

He keeps saying we were not good, when is he going to do something about it?

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, bcfc01 said:

I had it in my head that it was Tanner who gave Cole a push in the back but that pic clearly shows it was Kalas. I held my breath at the time as I thought they may get a penalty. But a clever "lean" by Kalas put enough doubt into the refs mind.

It was one of those, never gonna get near challenges, one that nudges the player enough to put him off. TBF even Cole doesn't moan, it was that subtle.