The Defence

[carlmc25]

I know we've been struggling to score goals but my main concern when watching us this season has been the defence, every time Utd and Villa attacked they looked like scoring. Since we signed Distin we've kept virtually nil clean sheets, he was absolutely abysmal yesterday and wasn't much better against Villa. Heitinga was awesome in defence last year, he and Jags looked like they could be potentially the best partnership in the league yet Moyes won't drop Distin, probably because he wants a left footer in there. He needs to sort out the defence, if he does we'll fly up the table and top 4 is still a possibility, otherwise we're stuffed. People criticised Yobo but he was ten times the defender Distin is and at least had pace to cover any mistakes he made. Jags was excellent yesterday but with Baines lack of closing down and Distin's awful positional awareness and decision making we're screwed. GET HEITINGA IN THERE. As it happens, I thought Heitinga was very poor yesterday in midfield and looked a little disinterested, he is nowhere near as good as Fellaini in DM. The team that finished yesterday's match, with the exception of Distin, should start every match until Anichebe is fit.

 

We need to start winning, we're lucky that all our rivals have had a poor start as well.

[Romey 1878]

im glad you admit that heitinga was poor yesterday,i actually think hes to small for a centre back,also he just watched the ball go past him for fletcher to score i thought he could have headed it out for a corner....regarding distan more often than not hes playing with no left back alongside him bainesw was in uniteds halfe for the berbetov goal i dont think one bad game warrants him being dropped.

 

 

Heitinga is quite small for a CB yes but he rarely gets beaten in the air tbh. Lets just play our best players in their best positions. Heitinga's is CB. Let the rest take care of itself.

[MikeO]

...i actually think hes to small for a centre back...

He was just an ever present center back in a team that went to the World Cup final .

[jcrawfor]

What the hell does height matter when Johnny wins 90% of balls that comes his way? Moyes needs to give the pair a go this weekend; Newcastle shouldn't do too much to test them and it'll give them an opportunity to learn how the other plays and create an understanding. Distin needs a break anyway, and perhaps a couple positioning lessons at the Academy.

[FairWooney]

The worrying thing i found was that BOTH jonny and Distin struggled at the back and made a number of errors that either gave away or very nearly gave away goals.

 

Heitinga was right by Berbatov for their first goal but got nowhere near the ball and earlier on he showed his lack of pace and the pretty average paced Fletcher easily ran away from him as he covered Baines and struggled with it.

 

Distin I thought has looked fairly decent in the earlier games but he certainly didn't look good yesterday.

 

Our defence looked very shaky and despite Utd not really doing anything special we looked like we could concede whenever they went near our goal as we backed away but still couldn't deal with them.

[jcrawfor]

Perhaps Lescott was a bigger asset than we believed him to be? I remember hearing (and even saying) how his form at City showed how shit we was without Jagielka, but after seeing how many players go to City and do nothing, perhaps J.Lo was well worth the money City paid. Or perhaps it was that Jags and Lescott were the perfect pairing and without one another are not near the class they are together.

 

Trade Heitinga for Lescott? City were meant to be looking at him anyways.

[MikeO]

Trade Heitinga for Lescott?

Rearrange the following words to form a well known phrase or saying....

 

DEAD OVER MY BODY

[jcrawfor]

Well, with Lescott (non-money-grabbing version) we managed to keep 16 consecutive clean sheets and I believe a total of 23 throughout the year. Since selling Lescott I don't think we've managed more than 3 in a row (if that). It's not that I'm not a fan of Heitinga, I think he's a great player, but the quality of our defense is undeniably poorer since J.Lo left.

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

Perhaps Lescott was a bigger asset than we believed him to be? I remember hearing (and even saying) how his form at City showed how shit we was without Jagielka, but after seeing how many players go to City and do nothing, perhaps J.Lo was well worth the money City paid. Or perhaps it was that Jags and Lescott were the perfect pairing and without one another are not near the class they are together.

 

Trade Heitinga for Lescott? City were meant to be looking at him anyways.

 

 

Maybe we could swap Arteta for Steven Hunt or Felli for joey Barton

 

I know how about Moyes for Brian Laws!

[jcrawfor]

The point still stands. Clean sheets with Jags and Lescott at the back severly outnumber clean sheets since. And Lescott was quite th player before becoming a money-grabbing cunt.

[Blue 250]

The point still stands. Clean sheets with Jags and Lescott at the back severly outnumber clean sheets since. And Lescott was quite th player before becoming a money-grabbing cunt.

 

Lescott had a couple of bad games for us, maybe more than a couple, but then so has Jagielka and Baines.My point, Lescott was a bloody good defender, we/some might hate him but I'd take him back for the right money.OK!.....that's not going to happen, but we do need something more in defence, at the moment.

We are playing decent football and when we start scoring it WILL be the defence that stands out! I liked Yobo, at his best he was pretty dam good, but it seems we must move on.

 

I'd go as far as saying if we CAN start scoring, and at the same time tighten the defence then opponents are going to be very very happy to get a point out of us.

 

Moyes knows this

Edited September 13, 2010 by Blue 250

[Matt]

Rearrange the following words to form a well known phrase or saying....

 

DEAD OVER MY BODY

and add several expletives!

 

As for Johnny being small, hes apparently an inch taller than Skippy who is just as strong and quite successful in the air too! Positioning and timing is more important that height....

[Romey 1878]

Who gives a shit if he's small anyway? We have the man mountain Fellaini shielding the defence from open play. We have him and Cahill in the box defending set-pieces. I don't see the problem.

[marcopaulo]

Who gives a shit if he's small anyway? We have the man mountain Fellaini shielding the defence from open play. We have him and Cahill in the box defending set-pieces. I don't see the problem.

 

when he gets played upfront

[Romey 1878]

when he gets played upfront

 

 

Hopefully that's never going to happen again!

[Bailey]

Who gives a shit if he's small anyway? We have the man mountain Fellaini shielding the defence from open play. We have him and Cahill in the box defending set-pieces. I don't see the problem.

 

Exactly... The height and left foot thing are bollocks. Heitinga bossed drogba when we played Chelsea and Drogba isnt exactly shit in the air and Heitinga is equally adept at playing with both feet so I dont see a problem.

 

We didnt seem to concede too many aerial goals when him and Lucas Neill played together! Also Jags may not be the tallest but he wins countless headers (especially highlighted in the England games!).

 

What I would say to those who doubt is that we should at least give it ago as its not happening for us at the back with Distin at the moment.

[Romey 1878]

you might be right heitinga had a great run of form at cb but somehow i cant see moyes changing it...the biggest shock for me was osman playing i like him but dont think he should be in the first eleven.

 

I can't see Moyes changing it either if I'm honest but he really should!