Our Defence

[northstandfan]

our defenders have been terrible this seaseon. Ryan Esson has played good but our defenders keep making mistakes and allowing the other team to score. in our last 3 home games we have let in 9 goals (3 each game) and bulvitis cannot direct a pass

[ICTBTTH]

neither can munro tbh. The whole scottish game is all about boot it up the park if it is anywhere near our box instead of playing it out.

[DornochJAGGIE]

As i said on another thread - It baffles me as to how bad our defence is, when TB and MM both played at quite a high level when they were players.

[northstandfan]

tb and mm were good and they prefer players that have height not talent. our back 4 are really tall players until butcher realised he should have had hastings not lionel but hastings has gone now. he plays golabek now.

[DornochJAGGIE]

I would like to see Tokely and Munro as the two centre-backs, and Shinnie and Proctor on either side. This would at least give us abit strenght through the middle. We would miss tokelys runs forward, and his supporting of the RM. But Shinnie and Proctor as capible of going forward.

[Georgeios]

I just cant see whats gone wrong to be honest, we had a good run of clean sheets and the back line wasnt a bother, Bull has gone right off the boil and LDZ was dropped, I dont want to see Ross in CB hes a RB and a good right back. I beleve the problem lies in the Center Mid / Bull being off the boil, all our goals seem to leak from center runs.. I think leaving the back line as it is and having a stronger mid may help slow down the runs from the middle, I do agree that we need someone in the center back roll thats on fire just now but where... hummmmm

[Harry Chibber]

On paper we have the strongest defence in the division IMO... Munro, Tokely & Esson would walk into any other team but all it takes is one bad egg and the rest are pulled out of position. I think we have 2... Bulvitis & Proctor have both been poor.... as I've mentioned previously I would have preferred McGuire!!

[Georgeios]

On paper we have the strongest defence in the division IMO... Munro, Tokely & Esson would walk into any other team but all it takes is one bad egg and the rest are pulled out of position. I think we have 2... Bulvitis & Proctor have both been poor.... as I've mentioned previously I would have preferred McGuire!!

[DornochJAGGIE]

I just cant see whats gone wrong to be honest, we had a good run of clean sheets and the back line wasnt a bother, Bull has gone right off the boil and LDZ was dropped, I dont want to see Ross in CB hes a RB and a good right back. I beleve the problem lies in the Center Mid / Bull being off the boil, all our goals seem to leak from center runs.. I think leaving the back line as it is and having a stronger mid may help slow down the runs from the middle, I do agree that we need someone in the center back roll thats on fire just now but where... hummmmm

I was against TB playing Rosscoe at CB, but he is our only option, because Duff is injured and LDZ would be even more of a bombscare at CB. Bulvitis is Terrible, it was a bad move getting rid of Mihadjuks.

As for the midfield i agree with you, Ian Black held so well, and we definately miss him. Cox is good but no where near as good as black was. Stratford and Duncan have to pull the finger out, stratford looked decent at the start of the season.

[RiG]

One day some fans on this forum will recognise we never "got rid" of Mihadjuks.

[DornochJAGGIE]

One day some fans on this forum will recognise we never "got rid" of Mihadjuks.

We released him, didn't we?

[Alex MacLeod]

No...............we only had him on loan.

[Jay_7]

We had him on loan - the loan expired at the end of the season. Simple as that.

[DornochJAGGIE]

No...............we only had him on loan.

Oh yeah, so we did.

[dead_ball_specialist]

Get Djebi Zadi back in there. He was scapegoated to high heaven for our defensive woes by some, but since he's been dropped things have gone from bad to worse. With Lionel at left back and Tokely at right back both supporting the wingers, we'll tear most teams in this division to shreds. And even if I'm wrong, so what? We're already conceding 3 goals a game. At least we'll get some entertainment, and perhaps some goals of our own in the process.

Edited October 12, 2009 by dead_ball_specialist

[Libero]

Get Djebi Zadi back in there. He was scapegoated to high heaven for our defensive woes by some, but since he's been dropped things have gone from bad to worse. With Lionel at left back and Tokely at right back both supporting the wingers, we'll tear most teams in this division to shreds.

and tear the majority of the home fans hair out!!

LDZ going forward is not the problem, its his defensive qualities or lack of which are the problem. Too many times the opposing team recognized this as a weak link and exploited the left wing for goals.

I'm sorry but the Ross County game will live long in the memory as one of the worst performances ive witnessed in the flesh in a long, long time.

Back four for me would read:

Stratford/Proctor Tokely Munro Golly

[Hearach]

Agree with that - bring back Lionel. I know he could be unpredictable but he could also be brilliant at times. We need to confuse the opposition - not ourselves. He has been dropped - we are now playing sh*te. What have we got to lose? More games?

[Iain]

We had him on loan - the loan expired at the end of the season. Simple as that.

Although wasn't he keen to stay with us?

[AJS]

We had him on loan - the loan expired at the end of the season. Simple as that.

Although wasn't he keen to stay with us?

Yes but it would have required a fee to bring him in permanently and after relegation we had no money to spend on players.

[absent friend]

Get Djebi Zadi back in there. He was scapegoated to high heaven for our defensive woes by some, but since he's been dropped things have gone from bad to worse. With Lionel at left back and Tokely at right back both supporting the wingers, we'll tear most teams in this division to shreds. And even if I'm wrong, so what? We're already conceding 3 goals a game. At least we'll get some entertainment, and perhaps some goals of our own in the process.

If we turn the clock back a few weeks, the reason for ANY defensive problem, as per this forum, was Grantie covering Zadi's shortcomings and pulling the formation to one side.

Now it is a fact that Zadi did, on occasions, take a wander inside but usually chasing after a ball that he had given away. He is not the finished article but he does supply fire power to the left side that appears to be lacking - not Gollies fault - blame old father time. However forget Zadi, the fans don't want him they prefer what they now have, (well they don't boo gollie anyway), so I assume they are now happier than they were.

For me, I think we have a super piece of raw(ish) material in Zadi, who had all his confidence knocked out of him by silly laddies, that would have given us a stronger back four than we have right now.

I would suggest that the Zadi in training and the Zadi on the park at a home fixture would be two different players, due to 'fan' pressure.

However back to my main point, the defence are suspect with or without Zadi and therefore the use of him as a scapegoat was just that!!

[TheKnowledge]

For me, I think we have a super piece of raw(ish) material in Zadi, who had all his confidence knocked out of him by silly laddies, that would have given us a stronger back four than we have right now.

Well said.

[Kylef]

Considering we had such a low conceded goals per game tally, its all went tits up now that partick, county and queens have scored 3 into us each. How is that, on your own pitch? Dreadful

Granty for me this season though has become a better player than last year. Some of his last minute tackles covering for other people is immense.

Tokely was as slow as ive ever seen him saturday, he didnt care to try and get back. I was surprised at Bully since ive seen him. Guy sitting next to me was at his first game this year, and he said 'that number 3 is a bit shaky' i said it was probably just a quick blip....was it hell, he was dire all game!! Golly...well, he has a good performance then a shaky one, so still undecided about him. Think he could be quite good, but Lionels amazing runs once he gets going are missed.

Terry certainly has his work cut out, but i just wished he could have found a formation that works by now.

[+Tree]

Tokely was as slow as ive ever seen him saturday, he didnt care to try and get back.

Tokely was clearly not fit enough to play the full game. After an hour he should have been taken off and replaced with Proctor.

It was clear that he was tightening up and on a number of occasions was trying to stretch the back of his legs. It appeared obvious to everyone sitting near me that this was the case and was physically unable to get back, however for whatever reason he was left to struggle on.

[Scarlet Pimple]

I suffer from achilles tendons paining me under my heels. In the morning almost can't walk fer heaven's sake.So I found that by stretching the calf muscles I was able to eliminated the pain. I stand with both sets of toes balanced on the edge of a stair thread and let the weight of my body do the rest.

Now to more important matters.

TB has nothing to lose by bringing Zadi back in with orders to stay out of our defensive area, get the ball and rampage upstream to unsettle the opposition.He should be accompanied by a general stream of bodies following him en masse all chanting Zebi, Zebi.

The big fellow would go mental......

At least you would have some entertainment and , let's face it .......T. B. has nothing to lose, so it seems .

:angry:

[Harry Chibber]

Zadi's out the equation now. I'd like to see him back but several fans have taken issue with him now and they wont be happy until he fails or makes a mistake again!! This is our support in a nut shell, they'd rather be proved right than see the team succeed.