The Original Special One wrote:I only caught a bit of it as I'm watching the NFL game but Andy Gray was rubbishing our defending for Burnley's goals, - certainly the last two.
Did anybody watch the entire programme?
I believe Alan Hansen was similarly scathing last night
Do any of Hughes coaching staff know anything about defending?
Spurge wrote:The Original Special One wrote:I only caught a bit of it as I'm watching the NFL game but Andy Gray was rubbishing our defending for Burnley's goals, - certainly the last two.
Did anybody watch the entire programme?
I believe Alan Hansen was similarly scathing last night
Do any of Hughes coaching staff know anything about defending?
I don't know - what do you think?
Spurge wrote:The Original Special One wrote:I only caught a bit of it as I'm watching the NFL game but Andy Gray was rubbishing our defending for Burnley's goals, - certainly the last two.
Did anybody watch the entire programme?
I believe Alan Hansen was similarly scathing last night
Do any of Hughes coaching staff know anything about defending?
I don't know - what do you think?
The Original Special One wrote:Spurge wrote:The Original Special One wrote:I only caught a bit of it as I'm watching the NFL game but Andy Gray was rubbishing our defending for Burnley's goals, - certainly the last two.
Did anybody watch the entire programme?
I believe Alan Hansen was similarly scathing last night
Do any of Hughes coaching staff know anything about defending?
I don't know - what do you think?
I think they haven't worked out yet how to integrate two attacking full backs, two centre backs, and their two central midfielders into a fluid, but cohesive unit
Manx Blue wrote:I'm offering my services as a defensive coach.
As you can see from my overview in the bridge thread, I can't tell my left from my right, but I know my onions from looking at the sky +.
mancitymark wrote:Did they use words like .... "shit" .. "waste of money" ..... "Bridge is wank[/i[i]"Lescott is a fucking joke " ... "sack that fucking welsh red twat"
If they did, then they know their stuff.
The Original Special One wrote:
I believe Alan Hansen was similarly scathing last night
MaineRoadMemories wrote:I watched both programmes and both were well worth a watch.
On the first goal they highlighted Burnley's right back who managed to run past everyone in our half without anyone picking him up. This looked especially bad on Bellamy who just let him go. Barry reacted but was far too slow to keep up with the player. Bridge was nowhere to be seen and Lescott ran out with his arms waving like a bird.
Poor play from Bellamy, Bridge, Barry and Lescott.
As you might expect Andy Gray (forward) and Alan Hansen (defender) had differing opinions on Burnley's second goal.
Hansen blamed Bridge for been out of position, Gray said Bridge had every right to run forward as there were 6 players behind him and that Barry was at fault for the pass. He explained Arsenal scored a goal against Wolves exactly the same way difference is Arsenal don't give it away and can pass it nicely! All our players were too busy trying to push on for the counter attack that the ones still in a defensive position forgot all their responsibility.
He then said that Lescott did his job by coming out to meet the player but Toure and Zabaleta let themselves down badly as they both went to mark the player on the edge of the box and not the danger man running free into the 6 yard box.
Poor play from Barry, Toure and Zabaleta and too much attack minded ambitions from Bellamy, SWP, Ireland, Adebayor who all just raced up field without a second's thought
On the third Burnley goal Gray did lay blame at Bridge for punting the ball up to Bellamy and giving Burnley another chance to attack. He said top teams will just pass the ball to death in the final 5 mins and not go looking for a goal. He then went on to say that our formation was far too stretched for the 87th minute.
Bridge made the error by not heading the ball out but it was still an easily avoidable goal. When they freeze framed it and then pushed on you see Burnley midfielders racing past both Ireland and Barry who just were just jogging back. Zabaleta was wayyyyyyyy up field and out of position with the rest of the back four and could not get back in time to pressure the forward.
When the ball was delivered into the box the path was perfect to take out Toure so he could not do anything. The header was very good coming back across the goal mouth but one of the midfielders which had ran past Ireland - had now also ran past Lescott who was standing still - and had an easy finish over Given.
Poor play from Barry, Ireland, Bridge, Zabaleta and Lescott.
The conclusion is clear from the excellent analysis provided by both Sky and BBC. These are not individual errors that are costing us goals. Half the team are contributing to them through a mixture of the midfield being too attack minded and the defence not picking up on the players they need to mark.
When you freeze frame the game from a wide angle and look at our positioning over the pitch it is worrying to see the gaping holes through the middle of the park.
I believe that the players are getting confused with the changes of formations. We are playing a 4-3-3 mentality in a 4-4-2 system.
We attack as a team but defend as 4 players on their own. It's not fair on our back four but they do not help themselves with glaring errors.
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