Our defence- a real problem?

A forum for all things Cardiff City

Our defence- a real problem?

Postby davids » Sat Nov 03, 2018 9:53 pm

Last year our defence was excellent, the rock on which our promotion was built.

But this year they have been found seriously wanting and it's costing us big time. We all know the struggles we are having up front but it's almost as bad at the back.

Only two clean sheets in eleven games against two of the worst teams in the division (one of whom played for 30 mins with ten men, the other of whom missed a penalty!) means that we have a real problem at the back.

I excuse Etheridge as he's been generally excellent apart from some of his kicking.

Bruno is NOT a right back. Even Stevie Wonder could see that but Warnock insists on playing him there. He is caught out of position so often and yet again the goal today originated down his side of the field. I'm a Bruno fan but he has to be played at Centre half. It seems that everybody with the exception of the management could see that we needed a quality right back in the summer and the lack of one is now costing us.

Morrison and Bamba were magnificent in the Championship but both are struggling badly in the PL. Morrison's lack of pace is being exposed more often and he's certainly not as dominant in the air as last season. Sol has struggled against better quality players but still gives it 100% every game.

I know many on here like Bennett but to me he's a liability. Always seems to be out of position - seems to be constantly on the edge of the box when the ball is played out to a winger who then has a clear run at him. Lacks awareness of what's going on around him as seen today when he lost their player who scored the goal.

It may seem extreme but for me if we are going to have a realistic chance of staying up we need two new full backs and a new centre half to play with Bruno come January.

Either that or the players we have are going to have to improve dramatically and stop leaking goals at the current rate and though their effort can't be faulted, do they have the ability to do so?
davids
 
Posts: 9296
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:16 pm

Our defence- a real problem?

Advertisement

Advertisement
Login or Register to remove this ad.

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby Dahboy » Sat Nov 03, 2018 9:57 pm

davids wrote:Last year our defence was excellent, the rock on which our promotion was built.

But this year they have been found seriously wanting and it's costing us big time. We all know the struggles we are having up front but it's almost as bad at the back.

Only two clean sheets in eleven games against two of the worst teams in the division (one of whom played for 30 mins with ten men, the other of whom missed a penalty!) means that we have a real problem at the back.

I excuse Etheridge as he's been generally excellent apart from some of his kicking.

Bruno is NOT a right back. Even Stevie Wonder could see that but Warnock insists on playing him there. He is caught out of position so often and yet again the goal today originated down his side of the field. I'm a Bruno fan but he has to be played at Centre half. It seems that everybody with the exception of the management could see that we needed a quality right back in the summer and the lack of one is now costing us.

Morrison and Bamba were magnificent in the Championship but both are struggling badly in the PL. Morrison's lack of pace is being exposed more often and he's certainly not as dominant in the air as last season. Sol has struggled against better quality players but still gives it 100% every game.

I know many on here like Bennett but to me he's a liability. Always seems to be out of position - seems to be constantly on the edge of the box when the ball is played out to a winger who then has a clear run at him. Lacks awareness of what's going on around him as seen today when he lost their player who scored the goal.

It may seem extreme but for me if we are going to have a realistic chance of staying up we need two new full backs and a new centre half to play with Bruno come January.

Either that or the players we have are going to have to improve dramatically and stop leaking goals at the current rate and though their effort can't be faulted, do they have the ability to do so?

This season is going to pass us by because of our lack of talent in key areas.
User avatar
Dahboy
 
Posts: 2614
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 5:18 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby pembroke allan » Sat Nov 03, 2018 11:18 pm

Got a point here today's goal came from a player not looking or concentrating! Like a lot goals we concede it's usually down to a defender not doing his job properly? Whilst we lack talent all over the park the hard work is being undone by poor defending :old:
User avatar
pembroke allan
 
Posts: 29543
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:00 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby dogfound » Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:43 am

it wasn't a great championship squad with a small summer budget...not sure what you expect..

only 2 clean sheets but that's not the worse record in this league its the same number as Arsenal and 1 more than Man Utd have...


surely this is a collective thing ,its not 1 area is short of quality its the whole squad..
dogfound
 
Posts: 12529
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:52 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby BlueMoon1974 » Sun Nov 04, 2018 9:50 am

20% possesion and no srikers is the problem. Average strikers in this league will cost you 20mill.

Where's the fun in getting beat every week
User avatar
BlueMoon1974
 
Posts: 426
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:56 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby Trueblue49 » Sun Nov 04, 2018 10:19 am

Not sure where BlueMoon got his 20% possession stats from as according to Match of the day we had 40% possession. Whilst even that figure is poor I don't think it helps if people are being critical and making things worse than they are. I know it was a poor 2nd half performance but we were in a no win position regardless of the result.
Trueblue49
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 12:02 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby 2blue2handle » Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:28 am

What did we know in the summer? We needed a right back, a defensive midfielder and a striker and I don't think any of these were covered.

I think a striker able to hold up the ball is more of a concern than defence. I still can't believe we didn't sign a Right back the one position that was obvious last season that we needed better. Transfer wise we had a poor transfer window last season and its costing us.
User avatar
2blue2handle
 
Posts: 31127
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:31 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby actionman » Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:51 am

I always remember what a villa fan said on our forum when we were on about going up he said be careful what you wish for.he said it’s not nice getting beat regularly and was enjoying the wins in the championship
actionman
 
Posts: 367
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 4:01 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby Wolfpac » Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:08 pm

Very simple for me Warnock needs to adjust defence massively and stick with it, I’d go with this back 4

RB Jazz
CB Manga
CB Mozza
LB Bennett

Manga is quicker than our captain so can help him out and both wing backs are actual wingbacks
Wolfpac
 
Posts: 2541
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:03 pm
Location: Llanishen

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby SirJimmySchoular » Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:19 pm

There's a 15/20 feet elliptical area half in and half out of our penalty area and directly in front of our goal where we make most of our important mistakes and fail to cover people . I can see why this occurs because people are covering other potential threats but my knowledge is insufficient to work out the answer without creating other problems.
I can only suggest that we try and bring in some defensive coaching expert very urgently indeed.
Let's also face the fact that we don't have a single player capable of playing right back and do something about it
SirJimmySchoular
 
Posts: 1936
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby 2blue2handle » Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:24 pm

actionman wrote:I always remember what a villa fan said on our forum when we were on about going up he said be careful what you wish for.he said it’s not nice getting beat regularly and was enjoying the wins in the championship


I wouldn't change it, what's the point in winning every so often if the end product is nothing.
User avatar
2blue2handle
 
Posts: 31127
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:31 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby City Slicker » Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:25 pm

actionman wrote:I always remember what a villa fan said on our forum when we were on about going up he said be careful what you wish for.he said it’s not nice getting beat regularly and was enjoying the wins in the championship


Very true but do we hear Leicester fans saying that? Or even those of Wolves, Watford, Brighton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Southampton or Palace?
City Slicker
 
Posts: 5252
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:00 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby Cardiff dyskinesia » Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:51 pm

What’s going on with Jazz Richards? Is he injured again?
Cardiff dyskinesia
 
Posts: 388
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:20 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby dogfound » Sun Nov 04, 2018 7:55 pm

Cardiff dyskinesia wrote:What’s going on with Jazz Richards? Is he injured again?



strange...loads of our players get regular slaughterings on here but this one seems to fly under the radar...
dogfound
 
Posts: 12529
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:52 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby northernbluebird » Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:07 pm

morrison and bennett are good enough to not need replacements. manga can play centre back but not right back. we need a right back anyway. bennett is not bulletproof in defence but his passing game is decent and he can put in a decent cross.

bamba is popular and tries hard, but lacks discipline and is highly prone to lapses in concentration. he has cost us on so many occasions this season.

the lack of goals is also a huge concern, but if funds are tight, it is much cheaper to remedy a dodgy defence at the price and quality bracket we would be shopping in.

a decent striker would cost at least £10-15m.
User avatar
northernbluebird
 
Posts: 498
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:29 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby bridgendbluebird30 » Sun Nov 04, 2018 9:15 pm

Our defence was our strength last season however it’s a huge step up having quality strikers/wingers coming at you.

Saying that we have given some ‘sloppy’ goals away this season where the opposition have been more switched on, smarter & quicker e.g. Gray getting in from of Bennett, Bamba with 2 of the Arsenal goals and Cunningham with one of the Burnley goals. There are others. If we were to cut out the mistakes then things would look better. Also going to be difficult when for the majority of games we have a lot less possession than the opposition.
User avatar
bridgendbluebird30
 
Posts: 3218
Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 3:56 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby City Slicker » Sun Nov 04, 2018 11:27 pm

northernbluebird wrote:morrison and bennett are good enough to not need replacements. manga can play centre back but not right back. we need a right back anyway. bennett is not bulletproof in defence but his passing game is decent and he can put in a decent cross.

bamba is popular and tries hard, but lacks discipline and is highly prone to lapses in concentration. he has cost us on so many occasions this season.

the lack of goals is also a huge concern, but if funds are tight, it is much cheaper to remedy a dodgy defence at the price and quality bracket we would be shopping in.

a decent striker would cost at least £10-15m.


And £10-15m is probably £15-20m in January. It would have been better value to have spent that first as last in the summer. For any club that has serious ambitions of staying in the Premier it's just the going rate.
City Slicker
 
Posts: 5252
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:00 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby TopCat CCFC » Mon Nov 05, 2018 12:20 am

There are enough defenders in this squad to sort out the problem ... or do we need to get new faces in ???

Most on here are saying we need a striker of forward minded players - since we started this season .
User avatar
TopCat CCFC
Moderator
 
Posts: 24970
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby pembroke allan » Mon Nov 05, 2018 12:55 pm

TopCat CCFC wrote:There are enough defenders in this squad to sort out the problem ... or do we need to get new faces in ???

Most on here are saying we need a striker of forward minded players - since we started this season .



Enough defenders but are they good enough? Saturdays goal was typical of ones we let in This season!
Attacker on the move before the city player notices and it's to late, quite few goals scored because defenders to slow to get to opposition.
User avatar
pembroke allan
 
Posts: 29543
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:00 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby City Slicker » Mon Nov 05, 2018 1:04 pm

TopCat CCFC wrote:There are enough defenders in this squad to sort out the problem ... or do we need to get new faces in ???

Most on here are saying we need a striker of forward minded players - since we started this season .


Quantity over quality! Doesn't work at this level.
City Slicker
 
Posts: 5252
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:00 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby SirJimmySchoular » Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:01 pm

Cardiff dyskinesia wrote:What’s going on with Jazz Richards? Is he injured again?



Don't like to have to say this, but he can't do it. He'd be far better off in the championship. Same applies to Ralls and Madine I'm afraid and we can't afford to be pretending differently at this point. I aporeciate all of them but that's the brutal truth
SirJimmySchoular
 
Posts: 1936
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby TopCat CCFC » Thu Nov 08, 2018 11:11 pm

City Slicker wrote:
TopCat CCFC wrote:There are enough defenders in this squad to sort out the problem ... or do we need to get new faces in ???

Most on here are saying we need a striker of forward minded players - since we started this season .


Quantity over quality! Doesn't work at this level.


I asked the Question ??? - Focus on this board come Jan is more attacking players ( looking at most threads ) .
If we have to start again from the back - Gary Cahill who wants 1st team football at Chelsea,but only gets Europa League games would be the type of player to start with ( loan ) .
User avatar
TopCat CCFC
Moderator
 
Posts: 24970
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Our defence- a real problem?

Postby northernbluebird » Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:05 pm

City Slicker wrote:
northernbluebird wrote:morrison and bennett are good enough to not need replacements. manga can play centre back but not right back. we need a right back anyway. bennett is not bulletproof in defence but his passing game is decent and he can put in a decent cross.

bamba is popular and tries hard, but lacks discipline and is highly prone to lapses in concentration. he has cost us on so many occasions this season.

the lack of goals is also a huge concern, but if funds are tight, it is much cheaper to remedy a dodgy defence at the price and quality bracket we would be shopping in.

a decent striker would cost at least £10-15m.


And £10-15m is probably £15-20m in January. It would have been better value to have spent that first as last in the summer. For any club that has serious ambitions of staying in the Premier it's just the going rate.


it's clear we tried to get someone in, but were hopelessly outbid by rivals. after all we're all looking at the same players.

either you live in the present and pay the prices, or you don't, and you don't get anyone in. arsenal did this for years and have gone from being the biggest, best team in the country to the 5th or 6th best. still don't think van persie was worth £250k a week?
User avatar
northernbluebird
 
Posts: 498
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:29 pm
Location: Leeds



Return to General Chat

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bytespider [Bot], Clickagy [Bot], DotBot [Bot], Google [Bot], Grapeshot [Bot], MillenniumNova, oohahhPaulMillar, Proximic [Bot], YM Bluebird and 221 guests

Disclaimer :
The views and comments entered in these forums are personal and are not necessarily those of the management of this board.
The management of this board is not responsible for the content of any external internet sites.