24 Jan 2019 11:19:37
I love all this talk about strikers but here is my angle on it. if we sign a new striker, we will almost certainly still concede as many goals from set pieces and from mistakes by our defenders and goalkeeper. We will therefore still lose many games with scorelines such as 3-2 or even 4-3. We still won't win many games 1-nil. We will therefore still be in a similar position in the table as where we are now. Th priority must be to shore up our defence and get the keeper making the right decsions or replace him. Otherwise even with another 10 goals a season for. we will still have 33 goals against in 23 games! Liverpool have 13 against just to rub it in! . and that hurts!
24 Jan 2019 12:46:06
As if that's not bad enough Degsyp they're also 30 points ahead of us! That's double our total! So yes the defenders have to do better and yes Jordan doesn't do himself any favours at times with his positional play and his rushes of blood to his head. I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed.
24 Jan 2019 13:00:26
Just as an aside Degsyp/ anyone, is his height an issue? Only ask because he doesn't appear very commanding in his area.
24 Jan 2019 13:29:04
I think a change of tactic. I'd go 3 centre backs and 2 wing backs. I'd also try to snatch Victor moses from Chelsea before he goes to Turkey, to play the right wing back roll. He would be our best bet for that position. Gomes can do the job Siggy is doing from centre midfield so no need for a No. 10. Two strikers up top, either Tosun and Richarlison or DLC and Tosun. Imo Cenk needs a run of games. You don't become a bad player over night.
24 Jan 2019 13:44:50
Our defenders are no mugs, it does not matter who we bring in to shore our defence, until we get rid of the zonal marking, no defender will improve us.
Simple basics, let defenders defend against players and not space.
24 Jan 2019 13:48:36
Moses is only going on loan isn't he? so we couldn't get him even if we wanted as we have already Zouma - unless of course we buy one of them.
24 Jan 2019 13:53:00
BigH I don't think Pickford's height is the issue, with his hand in the air he will still have enough reach to be able be taller than the tallest player we will play against. So if he improves his standing leap he should be able to out jump any player if he can't already. So that leaves positional sense hand to eye co-ordination bottle and physical presence which all could be improved.
24 Jan 2019 16:27:45
BigH I actually said after about 4 games that Pickford was too small to be a keeper in today's Premiership. Then when we signed Mina we had a couple of clean sheets. I put that down to Mina's height and command in the box. But Silva then started leaving him out? But yes zonal marking is also a big part of the problem. Lots of the goals were at set pieces. I look at it like this. with Zonal you can put a dfender in every place that you think is in danger. but if a player is running into a space and jumps. he is going to outjump the static player every time because he has momentum! You don't see many high jumpers doing it from a standing jump do you? Anyway, my post was about defending and not attacking and I stand by it. Whilst we all talk about forwards, our defence is leaking goals at almost 2 a game. whoever we sign as a center forward is going to have to be some player to score 3 every game! That was my point.
24 Jan 2019 16:48:57
Pickford is the same height as Neville Southall, that is where similarities end.
Pickford would do well studying a collection of Neville Southall greatest saves, what he will pick upon is Neville Southall either caught the ball, tipped it over the bar or around the post, very rarely did he palm the ball back out into the dander zone.
He also commanded his area and defenders knew not to get in his way.
Pickford is a fantastic shop stopper, but he needs to work on dominating his area and catching a cross, be more dominant, a player cannot even jump alongside a goalkeeper these Days without the goal keeper getting a foul.
There is a great goal keeper in Pickford, a month with Neville Southall coaching him would be a master stroke, but because Southall is not a yes man, no chance anytime soon Everton giving him a coaching job.
24 Jan 2019 19:15:22
Great thread this. Pickford is still young for a keeper and boy it shows sometimes. But he also pulls off some insane saves that look certain goals. But going back to degsys point about shoring up the defence. It’s very very difficult to win games 1-0 in this league and to be fair our neighbors are often a few goals up at half time and very rarely have to defend a slim lead. They got the attacking side sorted first then worked on the back. We have very good defenders but the philosophy isn’t being embraced. We also have a few good strikers that I would like to see having a run in the second half of the season, as I think there’s definitely goals in them.
25 Jan 2019 11:19:41
Its his timing and dare I say not much up top. Brilliant shot stopper and reaction keeper, however, I refuse to believe the coaches are not telling him over and over again to come off his line at times.
25 Jan 2019 14:48:38
We do concede a few from set pieces but a lot of our goals come from our midfield losing the ball in dangerous positions. Sort the striker out first and then work our way back.
We need a midfield that will boss a game, both home and away. Give our back 3/ 4 some breathing space and confidence.
25 Jan 2019 16:55:20
Well I still say start at the back. I do accept that some goals have come from midfield losing the ball, but the majority have been set pieces, defender mistakes and keeper mistakes. If we can sort just half of them, we won't be needing to talk about strikers. I honestly think that Harry Kane is one of the best strikers around. but he would struggle in our team! I would be looking for strengthening the midfield, defence and possibly goalkeeping position. We can go on and on making excuses and plans for Pickford's coaching, but we need clean sheets. We need a dominating center half. Why is the manager playing Zouma (a loan player) ahead of Mina an Everton player?
25 Jan 2019 18:15:48
Definitely need back up/ competition for Pickford.
Our spending is restricted due to FPP so blowing a load more on another defender is ludicrous. We have Mina, Keane, jags and Zouma until the summer when holgate will be back.
We need a striker and a RW before a defender.
The defence just needs to get used to zonal marking for the set pieces.
25 Jan 2019 18:50:19
I would go for Tom Heaton at Burnley for cover. I actually think at present he is a better keeper and could pass on his experience to Pickford.
{Ed025's Note - good shout that nick..
