I miss Richard Dunne

[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!!

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

I think every player who is worth their salt is always going to come off the field thinking they could have done certain things better. From where I was sat yesterday every ball that was thrown at him went back the other way.

We defend as a team. How many balls from the midfield players (especially Barry) were given away so cheap it put us straight on the back foot?

[Mase]

I still can't believe we got rid of Joey Barton!

[sky_blue_stew]

It is looking at the moment like Lescott is no improvement on Dunne, but we need to establish whether this is a part of his character or just an uncomfortable transition to a bigger club. In terms of ability, they both have strong attributes, it just seems concentration is a factor. Dunne has confused me for a long time, he knows he's going to get skinned for pace but can win virtually anything in the air, yet still let's long balls over the top bounce. Why?

Lescott, meanwhile, has been making equally basic mistakes, just not tight enough marking, and sluggish to those second balls when a half competed clearance is bobbling about. He shouldn't be slow to these, he's certainly a reasonably strong athlete. So have to put it down to form. He has the ability to play for us and be class. But I'm thinking he hasn't got too much longer to show it, or come January his chance will be gone.

[Dubaimancityfan]

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.

Nedum when fit can also play at RB and solve that problems for us. That is of course if Lescott improves, otherwise I'd put Ned in alongside Toure.

[Hazy]

I give Lescott the benefit of the doubt, And no way will I slate him,however the back 4 look average to me, No leader when we come under pressure. It is one thing stopping crosses it is dealing with them when they do come in, the Prem is one place if you have a weakness teams will be in like flint, I dread to think how we will cope at Stoke, Dunne, was better in the air than both C/Backs, he also was prepared to deal with all types of danger, yes he fucked up, but how much of that was last man left on his own with Ball being ripped to bits and Micah out of position, Dunney signed by Martin O'Neil, he must have something.
Final point who was picking up Bobby misfrom2yards.

[Gloryhunter123]

Our defence is just shit end of story, the rest of our team is great.

I’m sick of hearing Richards will be world class in a few years time he is just shit lets just face the facts by looking at his recent form.

Lescott is just shit every time somebody runs at him he just gets turned over.

Toure is ok not much better than Dunne because he seems to have his moments where he falls asleep and it seems to cost us.

Bridge has been world class going up this year and he is getting better defending to but still needs some more work.

So I hope in Jan Mark flogs off all this shit and buys some proper defenders. (Alves , Maicon , Puyol ) etc .

[Twobob]

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.

Thing that really annoyed me about Duff's goal isn't the defending in the box when he received the ball back and scored (although it was woefull) but when Duff was just outside the box, trying to see who to lay the ball onto or run into the box we had two players on him, NEITHER of them even tried to put a challenge in on him (and this was outside the box so no risk of a pen) and this gave Duff the time to pick out a pass, run into the box and receive the ball back and then score ...

Basics ...

As for Dunne - I loved Dunne and still have a soft spot for him, but he's now a Villa player so end of story, he was solid a lot of the time but made a bucket full of errors (and to repeat what anouther poster mentioned) he gave away what should have been a Pen for Wolves - I lost count the amount of times I felt I had to make excuses up for those kinds of errors.

Lescott had a bad game, in fact he's been had the odd moment in matches were he seems to have lost concentration - He's recognised that and says on the OS that he knows were he's gone wrong ...

Our issue isnt with Lescott or Toure and I do think Bridge is improving a lot - But Richards is still showing signs of a lack of awareness and lazyness to get back when he's been caught out - one thing he could do with learning is how to own up and recognise your own failures like Lescott has done instead of berrating and blaming your team members for your mistake ...

Zabba is better defnesivly and takes responsibility - but as has been mentioned before - he's a red card waiting to happen sometimes ...

[marvin]

I watched Wolves v Villa n an Internet feed, and Dunnie had a poor game. He blcoked a goal-bound effort with his back-side, and was very lucky not to have given a way a penalty to Wolves

Thought City's defence were exposed on Sunday through Hughes very amitious attacking system that did not work out at all

The 2 man midfield could not cover the defence, and at the same time they could not keep the ball so it just went long from the defence to the forwards.

If you look at the goals conceded we have one of the best records in the Premiership despite playing a very attacking style so that suggests that the defence is a lot better than they are given credit for. I think it will only improve with time as both central defenders are new to the club. Communication is very important in central defence

[smurfsdabomb]

I think what Cooke did to Dunne at the start of the season was one of the greatest cock ups of the decade. Citys defensive form collapsed when Dunne left and Villa suddenly started winning games when he arrived. City lost their leadership, their composure and eventually their manager while Villa fans are now chanting for Dunne to be their captain as he leads the strongest defensive line in the premiership, best defender of the season in the league by a mile.

Absolute insanity to sell your talisman, leader and best defender for that chump lescott and lose a massive wad of cash as well in the process when dunney wanted to stay and fight for his place. Had to be the single most frustrating moment as a city fan.
What next, show Shay Given the door so they can sign Paul Robinson for 22m? Crazy but highly comparable to what was done.

[Dunne's Half-Time Pint]

I think what Cooke did to Dunne at the start of the season was one of the greatest cock ups of the decade. Citys defensive form collapsed when Dunne left and Villa suddenly started winning games when he arrived. City lost their leadership, their composure and eventually their manager while Villa fans are now chanting for Dunne to be their captain as he leads the strongest defensive line in the premiership, best defender of the season in the league by a mile.

Absolute insanity to sell your talisman, leader and best defender for that chump lescott and lose a massive wad of cash as well in the process when dunney wanted to stay and fight for his place. Had to be the single most frustrating moment as a city fan.
What next, show Shay Given the door so they can sign Paul Robinson for 22m? Crazy but highly comparable to what was done.

I agree - Hughes' biggest mistake and the one that ultimately cost him.

[Alex Sapphire]

I think what Cooke did to Dunne at the start of the season was one of the greatest cock ups of the decade. Citys defensive form collapsed when Dunne left and Villa suddenly started winning games when he arrived. City lost their leadership, their composure and eventually their manager while Villa fans are now chanting for Dunne to be their captain as he leads the strongest defensive line in the premiership, best defender of the season in the league by a mile.

Absolute insanity to sell your talisman, leader and best defender for that chump lescott and lose a massive wad of cash as well in the process when dunney wanted to stay and fight for his place. Had to be the single most frustrating moment as a city fan.
What next, show Shay Given the door so they can sign Paul Robinson for 22m? Crazy but highly comparable to what was done.

I agree - Hughes' biggest mistake and the one that ultimately cost him.

I really don't think that was Hughes call

[Dunne's Half-Time Pint]

I think what Cooke did to Dunne at the start of the season was one of the greatest cock ups of the decade. Citys defensive form collapsed when Dunne left and Villa suddenly started winning games when he arrived. City lost their leadership, their composure and eventually their manager while Villa fans are now chanting for Dunne to be their captain as he leads the strongest defensive line in the premiership, best defender of the season in the league by a mile.

Absolute insanity to sell your talisman, leader and best defender for that chump lescott and lose a massive wad of cash as well in the process when dunney wanted to stay and fight for his place. Had to be the single most frustrating moment as a city fan.
What next, show Shay Given the door so they can sign Paul Robinson for 22m? Crazy but highly comparable to what was done.

I agree - Hughes' biggest mistake and the one that ultimately cost him.

I really don't think that was Hughes call

He must at least have identified Lescott as a target - which is rubbish - Cook's "shirts in Beijing" comment shows what an utter cock he is.

[smurfsdabomb]

Was all Cooke I think, wasn't he the one who tried to sell Ireland off to Sunderland for pennies at the start of last season too before Hughes veto'd it?

[The Man In Blue]

Was all Cooke I think, wasn't he the one who tried to sell Ireland off to Sunderland for pennies at the start of last season too before Hughes veto'd it?

nah mate, that was the Thais.

[Original Dub]

I think what Cooke did to Dunne at the start of the season was one of the greatest cock ups of the decade. Citys defensive form collapsed when Dunne left and Villa suddenly started winning games when he arrived. City lost their leadership, their composure and eventually their manager while Villa fans are now chanting for Dunne to be their captain as he leads the strongest defensive line in the premiership, best defender of the season in the league by a mile.

Absolute insanity to sell your talisman, leader and best defender for that chump lescott and lose a massive wad of cash as well in the process when dunney wanted to stay and fight for his place. Had to be the single most frustrating moment as a city fan.
What next, show Shay Given the door so they can sign Paul Robinson for 22m? Crazy but highly comparable to what was done.

I agree - Hughes' biggest mistake and the one that ultimately cost him.

I think you're dead right there mate.

I said it back in october in this thread and its still true - Dunne and Co have one of the best defences in the league this season. I wish we hadn't sold him. I knew it was a mistake at the time and I still do. Dunne and Toure would have been quality. Or Dunne and Lescott.

Fuck it, he's gone now, but it still has to be pointed out that he is doing very well. Hopefully he doesn't today!!

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Can you imagine if he scores the winning goal against us in the LC final? : (

I find it hard to believe that a manger has no say in who he does and doesn't want.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Can you imagine if he scores the winning goal against us in the LC final? : (

I find it hard to believe that a manger has no say in who he does and doesn't want.

I do think it was Hughes' decision to sell him and I also think it was right one. As City legend, Dunne deserved nice ending to his career and he will be getting that in Villa. He had been awful for us for year and a half and mentally I felt there was no way back for him. I hated the fact that it was starting to turn sour between him and the Club. This way is best for everyone concerned and we can have this topics where we think what could've been (positively) instead of slagging him off. This way he will never have to buy himself a pint in Manchester either.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I THINK TOO MANY FANS ARE COMPARING DUNNE WITH HIS REPLACEMENT WHICH IS UNDERSTANDABLE GIVEN THE WAY OUR DEFENSE HAS PERFORMED THIS SEASON.
IF DUNNE HAD BEEN REPLACED BY A TOP NOTCH DEFENDER THEN WE WOULDNT BE BRINGING UP THE DUNNE TOPIC AT ALL.

[Alex Sapphire]

I THINK TOO MANY FANS ARE COPARING DUNNE WITH HIS REPLACEMENT WHICH IS UNDERSTANDABLE GIVEN THE WAY OUR DEFENSE HAS PERFORMED THIS SEASON.
IF DUNNE HAD BEEN REPLACED BY A TOP NOTCH DEFENDER THEN WE WOULDNT BE BRINGING UP THE DUNNE TOPIC AT ALL.

But Terry turned us down Carl, so they are the best we could get

[Grob]

If Dunne was still here he would be back in the team and our defence woud be more solid on the whole.

In my opinion.