OK, I'll start.......

What's with his Dunne "breathing problem" thing?

Every defender is open to the odd error I know (occupational hazard I guess), but he has seemed distracted this season...like his mind isn't on the game.

If he's got breathing problems he shouldn't be playing.

But then again who's going to tell that man he isn't?

mat wrote:If he's got breathing problems he shouldn't be playing.

But then again who's going to tell that man he isn't?

Surely at Dunne's age he shouldn't be developing breathing problems though?

Some have referred to it but what is their source?

try breeding problem, hasnt his missus just given birth or is about to? The guy has been great for many years, if we werent short on points we wouldnt be questioning him, and anyways TBH has been far worse.

shinpads wrote:try breeding problem, hasnt his missus just given birth or is about to? The guy has been great for many years, if we werent short on points we wouldnt be questioning him, and anyways TBH has been far worse.

I don't think anyones questioning him, just concerned.

You know i'm a dunney lover who IMO has played both CB positions for most of this season whilst 50pence goes a wanderin'.

shinpads wrote:try breeding problem, hasnt his missus just given birth or is about to? The guy has been great for many years, if we werent short on points we wouldnt be questioning him, and anyways TBH has been far worse.

There have been references to breathing problems though. What is it all about?

Saw a thread on BM about it, could have been bullshit.

If it was that serious surely he wouldn't be playing, especially with his wife in labour. I could understand why that would put you off your stride a little but i still believe Dunne's increase in mistakes is due to his extra work load now he has absolutely no cover from midfield.

same reason for Micah's loss of form

GStar wrote:Saw a thread on BM about it, could have been bullshit.

If it was that serious surely he wouldn't be playing, especially with his wife in labour. I could understand why that would put you off your stride a little but i still believe Dunne's increase in mistakes is due to his extra work load now he has absolutely no cover from midfield.

same reason for Micah's loss of form

Many weeks ago (at the start of the season) I put a post on here that said I wasn't happy with our defence. This isn't something that has happened overnight, it's more an inbalance that has been left over from last season.

This partnership had cracks in it before the start of this season. Not sure why, but Micah's loss of form started with that injury he got.

mackenzie wrote:Many weeks ago (at the start of the season) I put a post on here that said I wasn't happy with our defence. This isn't something that has happened overnight, it's more an inbalance that has been left over from last season.

This partnership had cracks in it before the start of this season. Not sure why, but Micah's loss of form started with that injury he got.

We've had poor defensive cover from the midfield all season, plus Hughes plays Zonal marking, you can see our defenders wondering what to do when theres no one in thier zone and three on Micah.

Those two factors together are the main reasons why were leaking so many goals imo.

GStar wrote:

mackenzie wrote:Many weeks ago (at the start of the season) I put a post on here that said I wasn't happy with our defence. This isn't something that has happened overnight, it's more an inbalance that has been left over from last season.

This partnership had cracks in it before the start of this season. Not sure why, but Micah's loss of form started with that injury he got.

We've had poor defensive cover from the midfield all season, plus Hughes plays Zonal marking, you can see our defenders wondering what to do when theres no one in thier zone and three on Micah.

Those two factors together are the main reasons why were leaking so many goals imo.

But why is our defence so poor when, if anything, Hughes' credentials at Blackburn were the opposite? Many thought that when Hughes was appointed it would mean defensive stability but negative football?

Is it because (and I hate to say this, but I will anyway) as my rag mate said when Hughes was appointed "The one thing you have to fear is that Hughes can do it with half decent hard working players, but has never had quality players before."

It's all arse uppards imho. Defence and stability were what Hughes was about. But now we have the opposite problem. Why do you think that is? Serious here as I value your opinion.

mackenzie wrote:

shinpads wrote:try breeding problem, hasnt his missus just given birth or is about to? The guy has been great for many years, if we werent short on points we wouldnt be questioning him, and anyways TBH has been far worse.

There have been references to breathing problems though. What is it all about?

Hughes directly mentioned it in one of his interviews on the big screen. It was before the Twente game I think.

mackenzie wrote:

GStar wrote:

mackenzie wrote:Many weeks ago (at the start of the season) I put a post on here that said I wasn't happy with our defence. This isn't something that has happened overnight, it's more an inbalance that has been left over from last season.

This partnership had cracks in it before the start of this season. Not sure why, but Micah's loss of form started with that injury he got.

We've had poor defensive cover from the midfield all season, plus Hughes plays Zonal marking, you can see our defenders wondering what to do when theres no one in thier zone and three on Micah.

Those two factors together are the main reasons why were leaking so many goals imo.

But why is our defence so poor when, if anything, Hughes' credentials at Blackburn were the opposite? Many thought that when Hughes was appointed it would mean defensive stability but negative football?

Is it because (and I hate to say this, but I will anyway) as my rag mate said when Hughes was appointed "The one thing you have to fear is that Hughes can do it with half decent hard working players, but has never had quality players before."

It's all arse uppards imho. Defence and stability were what Hughes was about. But now we have the opposite problem. Why do you think that is? Serious here as I value your opinion.

Yes but at Blackburn he hardly had great attacking players. Santa Cruz
and Bentley were the only 2. Now he has too many. Elano isn't even in
the team and when petrov comes back someone will need to be dropped. I
think getting in a defensive left back as zaba is very attacking and a
decent defensive mid then we will look good.

You cant play 5 attacking players and expect the defence to stay strong.

It looks like my formation on FM at the mo and that works but then again that isnt real life.

When we lose the ball it is upto Kompany to halt a cavalry charge and he hasnt looked overly clever since the pompey game either, overworked like Dunne to breaking point.

Micah has just been a shadow of the player he was last year

mackenzie wrote:But why is our defence so poor when, if anything, Hughes' credentials at Blackburn were the opposite? Many thought that when Hughes was appointed it would mean defensive stability but negative football?

Is it because (and I hate to say this, but I will anyway) as my rag mate said when Hughes was appointed "The one thing you have to fear is that Hughes can do it with half decent hard working players, but has never had quality players before."

It's all arse uppards imho. Defence and stability were what Hughes was about. But now we have the opposite problem. Why do you think that is? Serious here as I value your opinion.

Dunne has been around the first team through... at least four managers now. The last 18 months of Keegan, the entire reign of Pearce and the entire reign of Sven, we were set up to be a hard to beat team; to try not to concede and hopefully nick something on the break.

Now, the perception and image of our club has changed, the quality of players we have has changed and the attitude on the pitch has changed.

We've gone out and bought luxury players; we're an old club with new money; SWP/Robinho/Jo/Zabaleta are all attack minded players and with the old addage "Goals win games" its no suprise that attacking players are in bigger demand and cost more. However fans think "Money= Overall Quality" thats not always the case.

Anyway, i drifted off, Dunne has only ever played a man marking system, he's now palying ZOnal marking and it just doesn't work. Dunne has noone to mark in his "Zone" Micah has 3, what does he do? Stay and see if any attackers run into his zone or go join Micah and leave a gap someone could exploit? You can see at set pieces the confusion we've got at the back with this Zonal Marking rubbish.

The other major cause is our midfield.

Keegan Had Bosvelt deep in midfield and ensured our wide players helped out in defence; i remember us playing Wing Backs for a spell.

Pearce i don;t need to cover, we had no attacking flair, even Beasley, who loves to run his 4 stone frame at defenders was asked to play in defence!

Sven; Hamann/Gelson and occasionally both. With the exception of Petrov, Ireland or Vassell were asked to track back and only Elano/Petrov and the striker was allowed to stay up front.

Now, its a free for all! There's been no stability on the pitch, we can't build up any consistency, theres no cover from midfield what so ever when our attacks break down, a lack of a real natural leader on the pitch, and i don't see a game plan other than "We'll score one more than you".

I think we could sort a lot of the problems out if Hughes was to reign the team in a lot, bar Robinho we don't have the class on the pitch to allow players to free role nor the palyers to allow players to free role so they can back up.

It could be that Mark Hughes has a job he can't handle, but everyne in the industry beleived he'd be able to do the Chelsea job so you've got to wonder there.

-Zonal Marking
-Lack of protection in Midfield
-Lack of shape/discipline on the pitch
-Lack of consistency in the starting 11

Those, for me are the main reasons we're poor defensively, after that i'd look at the manager's ability, but, TBF, that already comes into question when looking at the above points.




PHEW! Hope that makes sense!?

GStar wrote:

mackenzie wrote:But why is our defence so poor when, if anything, Hughes' credentials at Blackburn were the opposite? Many thought that when Hughes was appointed it would mean defensive stability but negative football?

Is it because (and I hate to say this, but I will anyway) as my rag mate said when Hughes was appointed "The one thing you have to fear is that Hughes can do it with half decent hard working players, but has never had quality players before."

It's all arse uppards imho. Defence and stability were what Hughes was about. But now we have the opposite problem. Why do you think that is? Serious here as I value your opinion.

Dunne has been around the first team through... at least four managers now. The last 18 months of Keegan, the entire reign of Pearce and the entire reign of Sven, we were set up to be a hard to beat team; to try not to concede and hopefully nick something on the break.

Now, the perception and image of our club has changed, the quality of players we have has changed and the attitude on the pitch has changed.

We've gone out and bought luxury players; we're an old club with new money; SWP/Robinho/Jo/Zabaleta are all attack minded players and with the old addage "Goals win games" its no suprise that attacking players are in bigger demand and cost more. However fans think "Money= Overall Quality" thats not always the case.

Anyway, i drifted off, Dunne has only ever played a man marking system, he's now palying ZOnal marking and it just doesn't work. Dunne has noone to mark in his "Zone" Micah has 3, what does he do? Stay and see if any attackers run into his zone or go join Micah and leave a gap someone could exploit? You can see at set pieces the confusion we've got at the back with this Zonal Marking rubbish.

The other major cause is our midfield.

Keegan Had Bosvelt deep in midfield and ensured our wide players helped out in defence; i remember us playing Wing Backs for a spell.

Pearce i don;t need to cover, we had no attacking flair, even Beasley, who loves to run his 4 stone frame at defenders was asked to play in defence!

Sven; Hamann/Gelson and occasionally both. With the exception of Petrov, Ireland or Vassell were asked to track back and only Elano/Petrov and the striker was allowed to stay up front.

Now, its a free for all! There's been no stability on the pitch, we can't build up any consistency, theres no cover from midfield what so ever when our attacks break down, a lack of a real natural leader on the pitch, and i don't see a game plan other than "We'll score one more than you".

I think we could sort a lot of the problems out if Hughes was to reign the team in a lot, bar Robinho we don't have the class on the pitch to allow players to free role nor the palyers to allow players to free role so they can back up.

It could be that Mark Hughes has a job he can't handle, but everyne in the industry beleived he'd be able to do the Chelsea job so you've got to wonder there.

-Zonal Marking
-Lack of protection in Midfield
-Lack of shape/discipline on the pitch
-Lack of consistency in the starting 11

Those, for me are the main reasons we're poor defensively, after that i'd look at the manager's ability, but, TBF, that already comes into question when looking at the above points.




PHEW! Hope that makes sense!?

good post Gstar.

If dunneys not allowed to mark shrek next week were in for a tonking.

mat wrote:
good post Gstar.

If dunneys not allowed to mark shrek next week were in for a tonking.

Cheers. Hopefully he'll get a yellow card this weekend and a ban!