I miss Richard Dunne

[foreverblue]

By that I mean the version at the beginning of the season who helped us keep clean sheets (not the own goal scoring version).
I fear the blend of our defence is wrong and the only parts that seem to fit are Given, Toure and Bridge.
My knee jerk reaction is that we have blown 22m on a bench player and need to buy someone like Upson, Cahill or Hangeland to partner Toure.
For the right back? God alone knows.

[Fish111]

Well go and support Villa then.

[Dubciteh]

By that I mean the version at the beginning of the season who helped us keep clean sheets (not the own goal scoring version).
I fear the blend of our defence is wrong and the only parts that seem to fit are Given, Toure and Bridge.
My knee jerk reaction is that we have blown 22m on a bench player and need to buy someone like Upson, Cahill or Hangeland to partner Toure.
For the right back? God alone knows.

upson and cahil are no better than lescott, dunne should of been sent off after 5mins and a pen given against wolves on sat. how about we stop going for average defenders and lok on the continent for worldclass ones?

[Hazy]

Alves, has to be on the radar. Hughes seems to have Dracula at the back in a blue shirt, 44,000 fans know we are i trouble at every corner set play. I am not convinced by any of the back 4, Bridge is the only one you want on the ball, the rest are not playing well or as a unit, Micah needs 2ys of 4 a side sessions. he cannot get away with this much longer. The poor lad does not seem to be footballer to me, harsh I know just my IMO.

[foreverblue]

Well go and support Villa then.

That better be a fucking joke.

[avoidconfusion]

I think Toure and Bridge are fine, it's Lescott and even more so Richards that worry me. Zabaleta looked much much better at Right Back but of course he has to go and get himself sent off again.

I hope Hughes will give Kompany a start ahead of Lescott and finds a new Right Back in January.

[Fish111]

Well go and support Villa then.

That better be a fucking joke.

No it isn't. Keyboard warrior.

[Vhero]

I think Toure and Bridge are fine, it's Lescott and even more so Richards that worry me. Zabaleta looked much much better at Right Back but of course he has to go and get himself sent off again.

I hope Hughes will give Kompany a start ahead of Lescott and finds a new Right Back in January.

I agree on these points but as better as Zabs is at RB I am still not convinced of him I think we should try and get better. I'm just glad we didn't try to get Glen Johnson in the window as we would have been screwed (before you ask I really hate GJ).

[MaineRoadMemories]

Bridge is playing out of his skin this season and is looking like a world class left back. I'm so pleased with his form.

Given is just Given, amazing shot stopper, better agility than a cat, superb keeper but always rooted to the line unfortunately

Toure is looking every bit like what Arsenal fans told me about. Does well on the ball, is a good tackler, but can be beaten for strength quite easily. He's also a bit prone to playing hospital balls into midfield.

Lescott is the one which has really surprised me. Again, going back to what Everton fans said about him been weak and not that good in the air, first of all I thought it was sour grapes from them, especially the not good in the air part. But it's true, he fails to jump and tries to win headers whilst grounded. He is especially weak and gets turned very easy, he made Zamora look like a good player! Good job Zamora let himself down :-)

Everton fans said Lescott needs a strong centreback to play with. Arsenal fans said Toure needs a strong centreback to play with. I'm thinking both are right and we have two soft centrebacks each looking at each other to take the lead.

Lescott needs to up his game considerably. We have Kompany to come back but I'm not convinced at him playing centreback as he fouls time and time again, we'd be giving away many freekicks around the box and we can't defend crosses into the box.

I'm pinning some hope on Nedum. He was awesome last year and won everything in the air. He was so strong and fast, no striker turned him easily. I'd love to see him and Toure at the back when he gets match fit.

Richards is strong, good in the air and good at tackling, however, his positional sense is taking the piss now. He doesn't know where to stand and what the hell to do, standing off the winger so much so that they can do whatever they wish, Micah should play in a t-shirt that says "welcome to the freedom of Manchester" on it.

Zabaleta is always going to cost us points, just like Micah. If he played a full season, he'd have a leastt 5 red cards and the amount of times he dives in and sells himself short isn't good enough. Attacking wise he is very good and crosses the ball in well.

Right back is a priority in January, we must buy a good defender above all else, attacking skill should not be considered.

[john@staustell]

Funny I was just watching Dunne blunder his way through the Villa game on sat and thought the exact opposite. Some lovely crossfield passes well into touch!

MRM - Bridge was having a good game BUT you watch the Duff goal again. Bridge makes it to him, then sort of turns sideways into him. If he'd challenged with his right foot he would've blocked the tackle easily. Lescott standing just near couldn't believe it!

No matter how good his overall play he fails on some basic defending.

[mcfc1632]

Funny I was just watching Dunne blunder his way through the Villa game on sat and thought the exact opposite. Some lovely crossfield passes well into touch!

MRM - Bridge was having a good game BUT you watch the Duff goal again. Bridge makes it to him, then sort of turns sideways into him. If he'd challenged with his right foot he would've blocked the tackle easily. Lescott standing just near couldn't believe it!

No matter how good his overall play he fails on some basic defending.

Yes - me too - I do not want to slag him off - he gave great years of service - but the penalty incident 3 mins in says it all - he should have cleared an easy ball - makes a mistake and the attacker is in - has to physically stop him - it was a clear penalty for me - people will start to get rose tinted and forget how many times recently he had those 'cameos' for us

[colonel_muck]

i can't believe what i'm reading. lescott is absolutely class, and has been up until the last few games. i would take him over richard dunne every time. why he's shit at the moment i don't know, but i guarantee its just some kind of blip. all players have them.

[Florida Blue]

i can't believe what i'm reading. lescott is absolutely class, and has been up until the last few games. i would take him over richard dunne every time. why he's shit at the moment i don't know, but i guarantee its just some kind of blip. all players have them.

Colonel I am not sure if you need classes because you cannot believe what you are reading, because it is accurate or because you cannot see that Lescott has been lost since Arsenal beat Everton 6-0 in his last game there. He has been a major weakness in our defense. Where Bellers has had incredible form this season, Lescott has had no form. I have no doubt he is much better than he has been playing, but class is far from any word I would use to describe his current caliber of play.

[Mike J]

i like cahill. always thought villa were daft to sell him.

as for right back id like to see us go all out for maicon.

[ant london]

Lescott's not been amazing as yet but I'd have him over Richard Dunne every day of every year

[Mase]

Some people amaze me!
Lescott won every fuckin header on Sunday AND is calm on the ball.
Dunne was good when we were shite. Get over it!!

[MaineRoadMemories]

Some people amaze me!
Lescott won every fuckin header on Sunday AND is calm on the ball.
Dunne was good when we were shite. Get over it!!

Well thats just not true. And the man himself admits it. http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/20 ... the-blame#

[Original Dub]

I still don't see how getting rid of dunne has benefited us at all.

And folk who say he was good in a bad team.... then obviously he would have been better in a better team, no?

I wish we had kept him for this season and seen how he dealt with it. I'd be suprised if him an Toure hadn't formed a really top notch defence.

[razor400]

I still don't see how getting rid of dunne has benefited us at all.

And folk who say he was good in a bad team.... then obviously he would have been better in a better team, no?

I wish we had kept him for this season and seen how he dealt with it. I'd be suprised if him an Toure hadn't formed a really top notch defence.

A 50watt bulb in the darkness, shines like a beacon. But a 50watt bulb surrounded by halogen spots does fuck all. Dunnie will son revert to fucking up at villa.

[Original Dub]

I still don't see how getting rid of dunne has benefited us at all.

And folk who say he was good in a bad team.... then obviously he would have been better in a better team, no?

I wish we had kept him for this season and seen how he dealt with it. I'd be suprised if him an Toure hadn't formed a really top notch defence.

A 50watt bulb in the darkness, shines like a beacon. But a 50watt bulb surrounded by halogen spots does fuck all. Dunnie will son revert to fucking up at villa.

You're confident of him fucking up at Villa? More so than our defence has fucked up already this season? I don't think so.

At the moment Villa have the best defence in the whole league. Collins and Dunne. Fantastic partnership.