italian dave Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Our defence has been one of our strengths this season - has to be, given our goalscoring record! And although all the questions after todays game have been about the inclusion of Murray/Noble, I'm puzzled by decisions about the defence. I thought Vasko was immense second half at Charlton, and followed that up with a good home performance as well. He really looked like he was coming good. Then Cardiff; OK he messed up big time for their first goal, but he'd done OK til then. As a result he's replaced by Fontaine, who lost the same guy at least twice in the second half and was just lucky that the ball didn't reach him. Today, McCombe lost Stern John in an almost identical way. So, it happens - but is Vasko really missing just because of that one mistake?? We all know that McCombe is awesome in the air; play him against big sides who pump high balls up (Watford) and he'll do a superb job. Against players who can run with the ball, and team who play on the deck (Cheltenham, Barnsley) and he struggles. We know that, GJ knows that - and he's switched between Mcombe and Fontaine (who is much more comfortable on the deck and reads the game better) several times this season. With Stern John, Jason Euell and Wright Phillips up front Southampton are clearly going to be stronger on the deck. So why do we not only start with McCombe, but don't even have Fontaine or Vasko on the bench? Were they both injured or something? I'm just puzzled... Positives today - very few, but Basso was awesome again; we'll struggle to keep him, I fear, if we don't go up. And Lee Johnson showed on a couple of occasions why we've missed him. It's his passes backwards/sideways. I mean it! When the balls pinging around in midfield, and we really haven't got it under control, instead of a hurried pass forward he puts his foot on it, slips it back 10 yards, and suddenly we've got control and can start to build again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fka dagest Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I think you're right to look at the defence. It's been sometime since we kept a clean sheet. All these theories about Carey having to play for us in order for us to defend adequately just don't fit. I honestly don't know why Vasko has disappeared. Why has Byfield disappeared? They have both proven effective as impact players if nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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