Not only does Bobby Hassell shore up our defence

I don't go for that at all. Wiseman was playing crap and he got criticised. He's recently been playing well and has got nothing but praise. Vast majority on this board say it how they see it. They've no axes to grind. If a player is doing well they say so, when he's not doing so good they say so too.

But there's a couple of people who have a go at Bobby no matter how well he plays.

 

Agree with you Jay. I like to think I don't overly criticise our players but I have to say that my honestly held view of Wiseman was that he is just not a natural defender. Yes, he is blessed with pace, and it gets him and us out of trouble on occasion, but his positional sense, tendency to get bullied too easily, and the number of goals being conceded where he appeared to be at fault, led me to the obvious conclusion. However, I'm now wondering whether it was simply a lack of confidence, brought about through being repeatedly (and stubbornly) played out of position in a team that was struggling. For example, his performance at home to Peterborough, playing as a central defender, would be difficult for anyone to defend, but the last few times I've seen him play, at right back, I've been impressed. Let's hope he keeps it up because I, and I suspect most sensible supporters, don't mind being proved wrong.

One final point - if Flitcroft could drop his last remaining Hill-isms ("the team reflects me as a person"; "I'd like to get the people who criticised Scott Wiseman in a room with me" etc) he could end up achieving hero-status as far as I'm concerned. Having said that, I guess I can endure the odd cringe-inducing moment if the team keeps on like this!

 

Buy a big can and we can share it!!

 

I think generally it's harsh to critisize players for attributes out of their control. Wiseman isn't big and strong so it's unfair to say he's a poor defender when put up against big powerful centre forwards. Similarly it's unfair to critisize Bobby for getting beaten in the full back position by a pacey winger since he isn't the fastest. Finally Flicker has them in their best positions and it's paying dividends. We're conceding a lot less goals and they're both putting in good performances. Hopefully the Wiseman vs Bobby debate will die down since as players, they aren't the most comparable.

Let's hope they both keep it up.