GersDude90 1 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I dont like to think any of our players are taking their positions for granted, but the defence has no real competition at all. They are all certain starters for every game. Whittaker is the the only back up for both full back positions and he's not fully fit (and pretty dire). Daily and McCulloch are our CB back ups and i dont think too much really needs to be said regarding that. McGregor hasnt been controlling the box as well as he should, but in fairness goalies are a tough breed to deal with when it comes to dropping. It does come back to Walters transfers at the start of the season. Midfielders were the priority and that was sorted, fair enough (although no wide men were brought in). However he failed to buy another CB besides Bougherra and Weir is too slow (and his general performance last night was dire). Again, the 1 million spent on Velicka even the 3.5 million and 2.7 million on Lafferty and Edu could all be questioned. I do actually like both Lafferty and Edu, but thats nearly 6.5 million spent on fringe players. Now, we have very little money to spend in January, and the players that are likely to be offloaded arnt going to bring in big money, so i dont see it getting sorted soon unless something happens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 505 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 With each passing game it is getting harder and harder to justify the money spent on Lafferty, Edu and Velicka in particular. Smith just doesn't seem to trust them to do the business so the question has to be asked, why did he buy them? Hopefully we'll start to see more of the first two especially. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chookes 21 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I find it hard to judge the Lafferty signing because I think he was signed for the future. In a couple of years time, he could very well be our first choice striker so his outlay might have been a successful one.Time will tell. I'm not so convinced that Edu was worth spending £2.7M on when it seemed like we were crying out for a mobile CB to partner Bougherra. I believe the right and left back slots are our main problems. Fill them and you've got 4 CB competing, Bougherra, Weir, Broadfoot and Papac. Personally, Papac or Broadfoot could fill in beside Bougherra and I'd be happy and comfortable with it. I'm hoping Smith makes a return soon and Whittaker finds some confidence and form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLUWDC 1 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMitch 4 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I find it hard to judge the Lafferty signing because I think he was signed for the future. In a couple of years time, he could very well be our first choice striker so his outlay might have been a successful one.Time will tell. I'm not so convinced that Edu was worth spending £2.7M on when it seemed like we were crying out for a mobile CB to partner Bougherra. I believe the right and left back slots are our main problems. Fill them and you've got 4 CB competing, Bougherra, Weir, Broadfoot and Papac. Personally, Papac or Broadfoot could fill in beside Bougherra and I'd be happy and comfortable with it. I'm hoping Smith makes a return soon and Whittaker finds some confidence and form. I would never play Papac at CB. He is dire in the air! I would like to see Broadfoot at CB next to Bougherra and Whittaker at RB. I'd give Broadfoot his chance in his natural position and if he doesn't impress then a CB must be bought in January! Whittaker is a good player and I think if he gets his chance and plays a few games then he will make the RB position his own! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMWWBK 0 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 A back four of Whittaker, Bougherra, Broadfoot and Papac is becoming more enticing by the week. Weir could always count on Cuellar covering his back last year. Cuellar's magical reading of the game meant he was able to take Weir's runner and as well as that, he would also gamble forward an extra yard or two to beat Weir's opponent in the air. Bougherra and Weir just don't have the same understanding, and i don't think Bougherra can handle the onus of continually bailing out his partner with his pace. To be honest, Bougherra has been our only good defensive performer this season. The department is in dire need of a shake-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kplfishtank 4,657 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. out of curiosity why have you seen something everyone watching the reserves and all the training staff see every day that we havent is he better than novo beasley miller boyd or lafferty imo i dont think he is or he would have been used Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 With each passing game it is getting harder and harder to justify the money spent on Lafferty, Edu and Velicka in particular. Smith just doesn't seem to trust them to do the business so the question has to be asked, why did he buy them? Hopefully we'll start to see more of the first two especially. I agree entirely. I like Edu but his continued place on the bench given the cost of him suggests Smith bought him to appease the fans rather than because he intended to use him. As for Lafferty, well tbh he doesn't look worth over £3M - £1M at the most, and I simply think Smith bought unwisely. But even if he'd cost only £1M - where the hell would he play - he's not a winger, and Miller is playing the workman second striker role very well. As for Velicka, isn't he struggling with injury/virus? And then there's Aaron - that superstar we borrowed from Valencia - a kid who is sinking without trace at Ibrox. Rarely getting on the bench these days, and looking mediocre in the reserves. The situation at Ibrox is currently rather odd. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. out of curiosity why have you seen something everyone watching the reserves and all the training staff see every day that we havent is he better than novo beasley miller boyd or lafferty imo i dont think he is or he would have been used Aaron isn't even better than Loy or Fleck, never mind first teamers. He's a mile off the first team. He needs to improve drastically. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chookes 21 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I find it hard to judge the Lafferty signing because I think he was signed for the future. In a couple of years time, he could very well be our first choice striker so his outlay might have been a successful one.Time will tell. I'm not so convinced that Edu was worth spending £2.7M on when it seemed like we were crying out for a mobile CB to partner Bougherra. I believe the right and left back slots are our main problems. Fill them and you've got 4 CB competing, Bougherra, Weir, Broadfoot and Papac. Personally, Papac or Broadfoot could fill in beside Bougherra and I'd be happy and comfortable with it. I'm hoping Smith makes a return soon and Whittaker finds some confidence and form. I would never play Papac at CB. He is dire in the air! I would like to see Broadfoot at CB next to Bougherra and Whittaker at RB. I'd give Broadfoot his chance in his natural position and if he doesn't impress then a CB must be bought in January! Whittaker is a good player and I think if he gets his chance and plays a few games then he will make the RB position his own! Papac's natural position is CB and while he's not as dominant as others in the air, he'd still do a good job for us there. However, given the choice, I would put Broadfoot beside Bougherra too. I agree with everything else. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jardy 0 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 just got to wonder how much davie's got left in the tank. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chookes 21 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 just got to wonder how much davie's got left in the tank. Surely his hip will go sooner or later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbm26896 995 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. out of curiosity why have you seen something everyone watching the reserves and all the training staff see every day that we havent is he better than novo beasley miller boyd or lafferty imo i dont think he is or he would have been used Aaron isn't even better than Loy or Fleck, never mind first teamers. He's a mile off the first team. He needs to improve drastically. agreed, having been at a couple of reserve games, fleck and loy are better, at the moment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBlue 136 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. Are you sure he's tall enough to play at the back? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxwellrfc 6 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Aaron would have been perfect for last night. there wasnt really a problem goin forwardlast nyt, the utd keeper pulled off some excellent saves and boyd had a couple ruled out for offside, it was just bad defendin that let us down. and aaron isnt as good as every1 seems to think he is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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