Have we signed a centre half yet ?

Or doesn't it matter this year ?

 

S.M said on friday "today or monday"???

 

Yes, well.........</p>

Looks like we pinned everything on Lucketti and now he doesn't want to come we're floundering. </p>

 

Davey has addressed, or has nearly addressed everyones concerns and openly states everyone knows where strengthening is required...

I am sure that he is out to get a centre half

but there are many stumbling blocks which scupper some moves

I am sure it will not be for the want of trying, especially with some of the signings we have made so far...


Now we can look at lucketti, he did state we have had discussions, now we haven't got as much financial clout as sheff utd, so he probably stayed there because of that... Nyatanga is the other one, yes it would be nice, but from the rumours flying around, we have some competition for him with bigger teams and even foreign teams....

I believe he is looking, but there is more to it than just getting a cente half for the sake of it

 

Season starts 11th August.

We haven't got a centre half. Full backs a plenty and we seem obsessed with wingers. We've had plenty of time to get a quality centre half in. Not some non de plume from basement leagues on the continent or some bairn from someone else's reserves but a Championship quality experienced strong central defender.</p>

We'll be the rubbing rags again this year with our defence as it is currently.</p>

 

don't worry-we've signed this one-announced later today

 

As I've said before ...

... it's pretty obvious that Paul Reid has a photograph of Davey being dry loved by Gord.
I can think of no other reason why he was given a two year contract & we continue to ignore the most obvious place we needed to strengthen.

Just to summarise:
In my opinion - a blend of central defenders is generally quite a good thing.
All the best defensive partnerships have usually had a ball winning strong lad & a quick bloke who can read the game a bit & pass the ball.
It's also quite traditional for one of these guys to organise the team from the back & become the captain.

So, in my opinion, a centre half should have some of the following attributes:
Good in the air
Pace
Strength
Positional awareness
Passing ability
Organisational skills
Leadership

I honestly think Paul Reid struggles in every area.
The fact that this guy is club captain amazes me.
He's useless in the air, he's slow, he gets battered by big centre forwards, he's positionally inept, he can't pass the ball 10 yards, he's quiet as a mouse on the pitch & he has the leadership qualities of a drunken, blind, retarded stoat.

He'd be the best centre half at Frickley.

 

if you want an experienced champ defender

you have to pay experienced champ defenders wages.....

and with the financial clout of some teams, we cannot compete....

therefore inevitabally, some higher calibre of players you will probably like to see here are more realistically out of reach and will join the teams likely to be challenging for playoffs or promotion....


Does that make it any clearer.

 

RE: Season starts 11th August.

"obsessed with wingers"? we have devaney and ricketts, our only wingers. Hardly an obsession

 

he does that thing where he does a dummy and fools the centre forward. that thing that antony kay tried to do...very badly.

 

'Does that make it any clearer' ?

Fck me ragged.</p>

The clearest thing is that we haven't signed a quality central defender. Excuses notwithstanding.</p>

 

Our best central defensive pairings last year

Reid and Kay.</p>

Nyatanga and Kay.</p>

However, it doesn't seem to matter, because Davey 'knows' where our deficiencies lie. Nobody else does then.....</p>

 

or...

Hassell and Kay.

With 2 new right backs on the books it looks like Bobby is our 'new' centre half. To be fair I didn't think it would work and certainly not for any period of time, but Hasell was simply outstanding when he played centre half last season, and if he wants a shot at playing there regularly for me he has earned it.

Doesn't mean we don't need another one, I agree, but we also need a goalie capable of organising them otherwise it won't matter who we bring in at the back.

 

Aye.

He quite clearly thinks he's Pele.

I can't get rid of the picture in my mind of him trying to turn & chase numerous centre forwards last season.
He's as sprightly as a Sherman Tank loaded with dark matter.

Apart from that - I really rate him.

 

Hassell's a quality defender

And does a cracking job at centre half where his reading of the game makes up for lack of height. But if we're putting him up against tall strikers week in week out he'll get beat in the air more times than is comfortable.

 

Good point.

But that makes the requirement for a ball winning centre half even stronger.
If we play Reid & Hassell together - then we might as well give up now, as we'll leak 100 goals.
We need a version of Matt Carbon that doesn't break every ten minutes & is actually interested in playing Association Football.

 

.

.

 

RE: Hassell's a quality defender

I agree to an extent, though that was my main concern when he went to CB last season and it didn't really show - I lost count of the number of times I commented how he'd consistently beaten bigger blokes.

I would however have been happy to start with Lucketti and Hassell, and I would also be happy with Nyatanga and Hassell. so we're not too far off hopefully. The pressure would then arise when Bobby gets sent off first match of the season and we have to choose between Reid and Atkinson.

Still, a commanding new goalie would improve all of them!

 

Summed up brilliantly TFP!

If only you could someway find that picture of Davey being dry-loved by Gordy.

 

I too wondered about that comment. We still need another imo.