Monday 22 October 2007

Defensive frailties - Par for the course?

We got roughed up and turned over at Wolves, well that is what Pards is saying and we came away from Molineux with nothing, no points and no goals, so it was not a good day, we even came back without a left back. It appears that McCarthy, Sankofa and Sodje all candidates for the position. if this is the case I would like to see a place on the bench for Basey to have 15 minutes blooding in seeing as he has had a good spell out at Brentford and receiving rave reviews from Terry Butcher and he knows a thing or two about defending.

Most fans will be dissapointed at our defensive record this season, any high balls into the area have condemned our players to stresses and strains that should not be allowed in the work place. But lets look at it in context of the players we have and the league we are in.

Moutakill looked the part but his early scything down at Stoke has not allowed us to get a real impression of him, Mills has however deputised well and added a dimension to our attacking play that was lacking when he swapped on Saturday. McCarthy, Bhougerra and Fortune are worries and this is really where everybodies concern lies. pards has played Fortune and Bhougerra together more to forge some form of consistent partnership in the centre than in the conviction that either of them have anything to offer. Fortune was going to be off loaded before Diawarra decided to jump ship and we have not replaced his considerable talent and Bhougherra is a poor mans El Karkouri. Who knows about Sodje, he has only had a right back and cameo midfield appearances so far and seems to be a loan that we got just because we needed one not because he was the answer. The left back position has become this seasons cursed position, Powell has been put through too much, Thatcher has vanished and Gibb decided to get his metatarsill injuries done all together - even Rooney did his two on seperate occaisions.

So defensively where are we in the league? Well the league believe it or not, is not very good. There are only three teams who have conceded fewer goals than our 12 - Leicester - 8, Wolves -9 and bristol City 11 and there are three teams on 12 - Us, Watford and Plymouth. So maybe all the worrying and wailing is exageratted, we maybe crap but theres even more crap out there just waiting to be breached and if we can get it together in defence we will be awesome to beat.