Forum | Whats wrong at the back? by Rockerdale97

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Whats wrong at the back? 18:52 - Nov 2 with 3423 views

Conceded two again today. 3 last week at Daggers. 2 at home to Northampton. Cant keep conceding two every week and be challenging. Whats wrong? I have to say Rose is the weak link as he cant defend. Good going forward but awful when it comes to defending and that is what he's in the team. Lancashire sometimes gets bullied and as a big man he should be bullying them. Lillis costs us too many points and it maybe time to have a look at Thomson who is highly rated by people North of the border.

Whats wrong at the back? on 19:09 - Nov 2 with 3356 views

rochdale1987

I agree with alot of that, we have eastham and bennett to come in if required, it's a combination of alot of things, lillis, losing the ball in midfield to easily, and then our inability to defend certain situations, start thomson on sat and see how we go!

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:01 - Nov 2 with 3217 views

boromat

I'd say our problem isn't that we can't defend its that we're so good going forward and involving our defenders in that offensive play we put too much into going forward (get carried away if you will) and forget about the defensive side of the game. I don't thing there is anything huge wrong just need a little more composure by the team and I include us fans in with that as well. We're still up there 2 points off top and most of us would have been happy to be fighting for 7th at the start of the season.

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What are we more excited for?

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:07 - Nov 2 with 3189 views

isitme

We gave away two silly free kicks which we didn't defend well. This is becoming a theme.

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:21 - Nov 2 with 3144 views

Frog

I think George could have been useful today, we didn't have anyone hassling their full backs or holding the ball up

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:51 - Nov 2 with 3066 views

TalkingSutty

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:07 - Nov 2 by isitme
We gave away two silly free kicks which we didn't defend well. This is becoming a theme.

Agree with that, a couple of times we gave away needless free kicks around our penalty area. Rose in particular has a habit of just grabbing hold of the forward and giving away naive free kicks. Set pieces where Wimbledons main threat today and we played into their hands. I also think we are a bit too nice and could do with a vocal leader on the pitch. Up front I am disappointed with Cummings who seems to have been presented with plenty of good scoring chances but has failed to convert them, you can't fault his effort though. I think we will improve as the season goes on though and would be surprised if we dont finish in the top seven. There are a lot more positives than negatives this season.

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:59 - Nov 2 with 3032 views

Rockerdale97

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:51 - Nov 2 by TalkingSutty

Agreed. Definitely play offs with the current squad. Cav is that vocal leader but Midfield is where we are strongest so i'm not sure if he will get back in. Agree about Cummins he will not score you the goals you need from him and i expect Hilly to send him back in January. If we sign a centre forward who can put away the chances the midfield are creating I'm positive we will go up automatically

Whats wrong at the back? on 21:08 - Nov 2 with 2998 views

robbowood

Whilst Lillis was initially at fault for their second goal (and the wet and swirling conditions made it difficult for any goalkeeper to catch the ball) he has won us points in previous games by making saves at vital tines in which we have gone on to win. After he pushed the ball out we seemed to have (at least from the Sandy end) at least two chances to clear the ball which we didn't. Their first goal was one Hilly will I think put down to poor defending but with so many tall players in their team it wasn't easy to mark them all

Wimbledon played to their strengths which were mainly 'long ball' tactics apart from their winger (the one with the beard) who had a decent game. The wet and windy conditions helped them more than us. Our passing let us down more than usual

We could have done with Donnelly's pace and strength to get amongst their defenders who had an easy time of it most of the game. We seemed to be lightweight up front. I would have had Hogan on from the start but he may have not been 100% fit. In those conditions I was suprised both Done and Allen played from the start

We won and lost the game when Lund headed over from about three yards at 1-1

However let's keep thinking positive - it's a marathon not a sprint. We are joint 2nd in terms of points and have nothing to fear from anybody

Whats wrong at the back? on 21:23 - Nov 2 with 2923 views

TalkingSutty

We keep mentioning COG but that was the signing that proved the difference and I think we are at a similar stage now. Hogan has bags of potential and will only get better but I don't see Donnelly as being a forward who can provide the week in week out quality to keep us at the top of the league. It's a difficult task for Hilly to find a forward who will give us that extra quality but I think that's what we need. Plenty of pretty football but in the final third we need forwards to be in the right places.Henderson put a corner over in the first half which landed in the middle of the six yard box,it was crying out for a forward to nod in and there was nobody there,it's a bit too regimented at times.

Whats wrong at the back? on 22:07 - Nov 2 with 2818 views

D_Alien

If we're going to keep developing along the lines of Hill's footballing philosophy we'd better get used to having centrebacks who are very comfortable on the ball, and therefore not the most rugged or dominating.

I'm more than happy with Lancashire and O'Connell.

Our fullbacks need to be able to get forward but have the speed and tactical knowledge to know when to do so and when to hang back. Rose and Rafferty fit that bill. Raff was the sponsors MoM and my MoM today - very pleased to see him coming on as a hungry young footballer.

Lillis needs to know he's got competition for his place and as others have said, time to give Thomson his chance in the cup and if he does well, keep him between the sticks.

In summary, theres nothing much wrong with the defence. On the other hand, I didn't think I'd be saying this but I'm looking forward to Cav getting fit again. Dicker has proved to be a disappointment IMO. He has plenty of class but possibly thinks he's better than he is and its costing us. Cav can fulfil the same role with more fight and more will to win.

[Post edited 2 Nov 2013 22:11]

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Whats wrong at the back? on 09:12 - Nov 3 with 2583 views

regjenkins

Whats wrong at the back? on 20:01 - Nov 2 by boromat

I would agree with this if we hadn't conceded the goals today from set pieces. If we can't defend set pieces and we cant score from our free kicks or corners then its a struggle. Just missing some spark on Saturday.......

' I started out with nothing and i still got most of it left'

Whats wrong at the back? on 09:31 - Nov 3 with 2545 views

kirbys

Whats wrong at the back? on 22:07 - Nov 2 by D_Alien

[Post edited 2 Nov 2013 22:11]

Good summary. It's not the first time our back two have been given a bruising by a more rugged if less skillful forward. Wimbledons Peter crouch lookalike was a good example yesterday. Not being over critical of our pairing as they are young and developing very well but they were given a bit of a lesson yesterday by a less skillful yet very effective tall player who was a pain the whole match.
Elsewhere it was said it was like the Wimbledon of old and for the purist spectator not pretty.
Overall were were unlucky not to have put one or two more efforts into the net and on another more benign match day might have had it wrapped up by halftime.
Credit to the Dons who stuck to their plan and their strengths.

Man of the match for me was mat Lund who did everything well except score. A good prospect this lad.

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