Central defence

[michael]

This area continues to concern me .

 

Currently we seem to have possibility of Jay ,alongside Louis Smith.

Maybe that will work, but realistically ,whilst good, Jay is not ideal to play there alongside a newcomer in Smith.

 

I'm sure LS will do ok and will become a good player worthy of that position, but his heading is a bit soft and probably not good enough to play 50 games in that position whilst still learning.

Also means we lose Jay in midfield,and thus one injury there and we are scuppered.

Not ideal imo.

RT there in an emergency -also not ideal-as you are simply playing regularly or you are not.

 

Then i assume we are looking at Payne and Young.

No idea what they are like,but can only assume intention is to sign one or both.If they are good enough though-why have they not yet been signed.

Eitherway, we will have a very very inexperienced central defence and looks a bit of an achilles heel to me.

 

Maybe RT is still looking for an experience defender ? Can he find one though in time.

 

Anyone else any thoughts on this .Maybe those who have seen us play this season will say my concerns are unfounded; but there is a massive difference to playing a friendly in the sun, compared to a rugged Ryman game for real against experienced strikers.

 

To me, we need someone equivalent to Eddie Youds turn up out of the blue as a commanding defensive leader.

[styx45]

i think trott is looking at playing watson there. he sounds a very experienced player and may well do a very good jub

[michael]

Is Watson now 'off the scene'?

 

Am i missing something here, but we have strikers in Side,Haworth,Pinnock,and arguably Bagley and Barron at the club already 'secured'.

Why are we seeing so many 'trailist forwards-Coleman and Akinde today,Watson before etc.

 

Yet there seems to be a complete defecit of defenders

 

Is RT planning something stupid like 4-2-4 next season so thinks he wants about 6 strikers at the club ?

[Cookie]

Coleman played full back if I'm not mistaken,(& its quite possible that I am after all the changes made today).

Unlike most,I'm still not convinced about Smith,wherever he plays.He's doing fine I admit but not showing ENOUGH flair to give the team ADDED impetus from the back & he STILL retreats to an oncoming forward.(But then so do others on occasions too I have to say).Sorry,but Harte & Skinner get the full back roles for me with Jay & Watson central defending.(With Trotty as an alternative). Incidentally Trotty also had a fine game today in defence I thought.

 

[I am Spartacus]

How can you say Watson as a central defender. In the 2 games he has played for us he was a centre forward not a centre back.

[michael]

Is Watson still on the scene anyway?

Did not play, and from what i've read not there today-perhaps trialling elsewhere

 

Not in the squad photo

[Cookie]

Originally Posted By: Joseba

How can you say Watson as a central defender. In the 2 games he has played for us he was a centre forward not a centre back.

Sorry,I must have got my players mixed up there then.
Seems I will have to look again for an alternative. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
Maybe best to wait for the OFFICIAL squad details before I give my preferred line up then.Only two weeks at most before we know what our OFFICIAL squad is.(If we are very very lucky).

[michael]

In the abscence of Saunders for the first game through suspension, it begins to look like Smith and Young in central defence against Chelmsford and the likes of Ibe and Hallet;and Bertie B who will definately be out for revenge.

 

(prediction-Skinner and brayley to fight and be sent off )

 

Could be a busy afternoon for Scott.

Have we effectively written off this game as a loss and it will be a damage limitation excercise and season starts at ETU on the Tuesday.

 

I think RT has doen a better than fair job in assembly a squad for this season-albeit too late-as you really need your 'settled' side to be playing at least 2 friendlies together and it seems we will be experimenting up and including next saturday.

I do think he has made one catastrophic error though in not finding an experienced central defender.

 

There again, maybe he is that good as a coach to a defence ,he will turn Smith and Young into stars-i hope he does.

[MargateFan]

Trotty looked pretty good on the pitch yesterday, Michael, perhaps we should not rule him out for the first game.

[Cookie]

Agree June,Trotty was solid yesterday.

[michael]

To be honest, i think RT should and will play; but its not exactly what he had in mind is it 4 months ago.

 

Jay and RT would be a pretty good pairing ,with Young and LS as cover;but thats not what RT had in mind; and he could yet be a very good manager if he can concentrate on managing.

 

I agree that needs must v Chelmsford, albeit of course Jay will be suspended

[michael]

Interesting and arguably telling radio interview with Hessentauller on Dover official site,where he says that :

 

he thought the Dover(newly assembled) defence looked alot better than margate's defence.

 

Also that Dover were alot fitter than Margate ?

 

It seems from reports that no body would argue much with his other comment that Dover should have won 5-0.

 

Work to do then, but pre season results don't count for that much, although time is running out a bit

[Wellsie]

But they didn't win 5-0 partly our defending and partly them not taking their chances. If they don't take enough chances in all of their "should have won 5-0" games, then they may not go up. Also, that was much closer to their first 11 then ours. It also seems to have been a very good peroformance from them (according to their fans) and a disapointing performance from us (according to Robin).

 

 

[michael]

As i said, psf's don't count for much, but do give a bit of a clue.

 

Imo, it was fantastic to have a big wake up call yesterday for players and management, to show that whilst we may not be expecting promotion, things need to get better or we will be bottom half.

 

better those signs are seen now ,than in a months time.

 

No great surprise that we lost the midfield battle, where we obviously were disjointed.

 

Was it our quality defending that 'saved' us from a heavier defeat or SCS

 

 

[Wellsie]

Agree with your assessment about seenig this stuff in PSFs rather than league games. Then again, I guess that is what they're for.

 

The other thing that strikes me, in terms of team buildong we're not as advanced as we were last year, but still miles ahead of this stage 2 years ago!

 

 

[michael]

I remember a forum post in early May along the lines of

 

'If i know Robin, he'll get his signings in early '

 

Anyone remember who said that ?

 

In fairness, i think he's done a pretty good belated job-its just the lack of a big strong experienced defender that frightens the life out of me-hopefully i'll be wrong.