Our Defence

[TopCat 4,511]

Our defence and certain individuals in our back line take a fair bit of abuse on here at times ........... but I thought they showed collectively and individually  how solid they can be .

 

Thought the whole back line were outstanding tonight  until that late goal.......with  which there was little they could do about tbf .

 

Thoughts.

[bluenoz 30,681]

I thought both full backs were excellent all night. As the game wore on, I thought our centre-halfs were average.

[dummiesoot 15,999]

Second half wd defended ok though I am concerned st how much we struggle against route one football. We struggle to get out. Must do better on that score but yes better all round performance  Borna was immense

[RobertN 390]

The problem second half was it just kept coming back

Law of averages something is going to fall sooner or later

We needed somebody to hold and pass the ball in midfield to give us a breather 

Maybe missed Davis for this

[barrymorrison1 1,033]

I worry about goldson. I’ve noticed he regularly puts his hands on players just before contesting a high ball. I’m convinced he’ll concede penalties doing this. Was at it tonight, although to be fair to him, he played pretty well tonight. 
 

[Laudrupsleftfoot 10,775]

1 minute ago, dummiesoot said:

Second half wd defended ok though I am concerned st how much we struggle against route one football. We struggle to get out. Must do better on that score but yes better all round performance  Borna was immense

He was, the work rate from him in a left wing position up against two of them in their corner in the first half at one point was unreal.

Tav deserves a mention too though, flawless defending on a good handful of occasions.

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,613]

Midfield packed it in at about 60 minutes leaving it down to the defence to stop us from blowing it. Thought they all did well particularly full backs. And Katic did his chances no harm with that performance.

If I'm finger pointing tonight then Kent, Arfield and 2nd half the whole midfield and forwards bar Alfie are culpable.

[BearInTheToon 1,577]

Agreed. The problem tonight wasn’t our defence. Our midfield couldn’t keep the ball in the 2nd half and became totally disjointed with chasing shadows.

It was further exacerbated by the fact Kent/Ojo weren’t at it and Aribo was clearly knackered. 

[TMB 14,167]

We finished with the best defensive record in Europa Group G and we've only conceded 10 goals in our first 15 league games.  Our defense gets a bit of stick at times but it's pretty solid.  

[BearInTheToon 1,577]

2 minutes ago, TMB said:

We finished with the best defensive record in Europa Group G and we've only conceded 10 goals in our first 15 league games.  Our defense gets a bit of stick at times but it's pretty solid.  

Totally. The problem is not enough of our players are stepping up to score goals and help make tight games more comfortable, which only leads to greater pressure/nervousness creeping in  further back.

[GlasgowRangers1983 461]

Although we sat deep for 30 mins I did not think we defended great. How many times did we half clear our lines and not relieve the pressure. I am still concerned with our general mental strength from most of our defenders and think we need to claimer heads to settle the team in times of need. Not taking away from a decent result the defending was ok but think we still need better and stronger leaders in our team.

[AGM_72 3,604]

They deserve plenty praise. We faced an experienced European opponent who were throwing everything at us trying to qualify, it took an own goal to spoil our clean sheet. We have a very good defense. It can make mistakes, it's not perfect, but for this level it's very good.

[GA1972 9,492]

Thought we looked far more assured with Katic on

Also yet another performance where the midfield looked far better without both Davis and Jack playing 

[Fatman10 148]

Thought this was Goldson's most solid performance tonight, done nothing wrong passing was solid, reading of the game was good too.

[bluenoz 30,681]

1 minute ago, GA1972 said:

Thought we looked far more assured with Katic on

Also yet another performance where the midfield looked far better without both Davis and Jack playing 

I think that is a myth that seems to be growing legs.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

36 minutes ago, bluenoz said:

I thought both full backs were excellent all night. As the game wore on, I thought our centre-halfs were average.

Goldson is just not strong enough in a physical  duel near our own box . His height helps him win most of the headers outside the box when defender has back to goal

Yet we can't argue with the big mans record . Astounding

[GA1972 9,492]

Just now, bluenoz said:

I think that is a myth that seems to be growing legs.

I’ve thought it from when we played Midtjylland away 

When Davis plays Jack is shifted out to the right and doesn’t have as much impact on the game, our play is far quicker when Jack plays in the centre of the 3 as well 

[ForeverAndEver 71,364]

35 minutes ago, SeparateEntityMyArse said:

Midfield packed it in at about 60 minutes leaving it down to the defence to stop us from blowing it. Thought they all did well particularly full backs. And Katic did his chances no harm with that performance.

If I'm finger pointing tonight then Kent, Arfield and 2nd half the whole midfield and forwards bar Alfie are culpable.

Thought Arfield had a good first half tbh, blowing out his arse again in the second though and again still not getting subbed.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

35 minutes ago, SeparateEntityMyArse said:

Midfield packed it in at about 60 minutes leaving it down to the defence to stop us from blowing it. Thought they all did well particularly full backs. And Katic did his chances no harm with that performance.

If I'm finger pointing tonight then Kent, Arfield and 2nd half the whole midfield and forwards bar Alfie are culpable.

Lot's of fingers there mate . Harsh on Arfield who was outstanding first half I thought . As was our midfield collectively

Kent was trying hard and although not playing well . Continued to track back and put in a shift  . One simple sub and all that changed . the hapless and hopeless Ojo came on to help an already tired team . Bonkers from SG

[Bearsden bear 2,376]

Thought Goldson was excellent and Katic did fairly well considering lay off and such a huge game to return to.

Tough when the opposition go for broke like they did and not to fall back and try to hang on.

We got the result we needed and again something tangible to demonstrate progress made under Gerrard.

[Broxi 11,473]

We absolutely do not play better with only one of Jack or Davis lets nip that in the bud right now. 2 of our absolute best players.

[Hadron Collider 30,780]

A lot of the players were out on their feet after 65 mins after the league cup exertions. You could see what was happening as we went back deep to defend. We bring on a useless cunt in Ojo for an out ball to take a sting from them and it didn’t work. Needed help in midfield and new legs. Those guys did a stellar job tonight. If they weren’t so tired Jack doesn’t get the red. I know we’re through but we should’ve won the game and the group tonight. Well done Gers. 

[siddiqi_drinker 14,635]

1 hour ago, bluenoz said:

I thought both full backs were excellent all night. As the game wore on, I thought our centre-halfs were average.

because by that time our midfield was offering nothing and constantly giving the ball away -- we missed the Ulsterman's experience when came to game management 

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,613]

23 minutes ago, ForeverAndEver said:

Thought Arfield had a good first half tbh, blowing out his arse again in the second though and again still not getting subbed.

I never find fault with his effort. It's just the quality that I find lacking. Think he's offered little in his more advanced tole this season, and is behind Jack, Kamara and Davis when hes a bit further back.