Zat Knight

Also, Wheater is much more comfortable with the ball, he doesn't feel the need to hoof it every time he gets hold of it.

My buddy is a Boro fan and watched Wheater since day one...often saying he was the best player on the team. From my few sightings he seems comfy with the ball.... must be something on the training ground that OC doesn't like. I'd give him a run against Utd......I see Nani going past Zat like he is standing still....then the tackle...and the penalty. So I agree...Wheater in.

Wheaters made a few mistakes but he is young and hasn't been on the prem for a while.

Boyota looks like a god prospect and I wouldn't be too disappointed with him being a stop gap for Cahill.

A bit off topic, but does anyone know what to do with a Sky+ box that ain't working?

Standby light just stays on...

Ta

All I did was unplug and plug in again when my box wasn't responding other day, not sure thats any help...

On topic from me. Zat Knight is not the best CB in the world by any means but I do think he comes in for unnecessary amounts of flak from some trotters fans. He's better than some of us seem to want to give him credit for.

That said Suarez absolutely skinned him yesterday and I have to agree that Hernandez or Nani might well do the same. To be fair to the lad though they do that to a lot of CB's and I honestly don't think Wheater will be or do any better.

My starting CB pair would have to be Boyata and Cahill (assuming we still have Gary of course) but my biggest fear isn't really the CB's at all.

Paul Robinson. No offence to a guy who works hard and plays his socks off but United will have a field day with him. I can really see wave after wave of stuff going down there right flank and to be honest I suspect Fergie's got PR marked out as the weakest link already.

We're in the unfortunate position of having to play the very top teams right at the start of the season while their at their freshest and after Utd's demolition of Arsenal today I really can't see us being able to cope. In fact I dount anyone in the top ten could, bear in mind they also dismantled spurs midweek.

This year the prem is between two teams, the manc reds and man blues. About the only comfort I am giving myself right now is that we'll have at least got both of them out of the way early on. Whomever wrote a fixture list like ours is obviously not a trotter fan. And yes i know it's done by computer now but I mean whichever nerd came up with the algorithm.

Anyway, as to Zat Knight. Dreadful? no. not in my opinion. But brilliant? no not that either. He's average but in this day and age average is probably not going to be enough in the prem. I think it's a shame because on his day he's actually very good but that's at his very best and he can't do it every week. But neither can Wheater and although he's a little better on the ball than ZK I suspect against Utd we won't be trying to play pretty from the back. The CB's will probably lump it as far away from Jussi as they can.

Sorry to sound so desperately negative but next week is probably going to be a damage limitation excercise. I hope I'm wrong but I can't see us getting anything from this one. I just hope we don't get a demoralising hiding.

Knight is incredibly average. Always has been and always will be. Next to Cahill he has looked ok but is regularly found out for being very slow in his decision making and losing focus during a game. Being skinned by far superior and faster players (like yesterday) is something I can't criticize him for - everyone comes up against players they just can't compete with.

If and when Cahill does go, we'll need to strengthen in that department because Wheater and Knight together will be run ragged by the majority of decent Premiership forwards. And, I don't see either of them capable of doing much more than lumping it long to Davies which obviously isn't going to suffice for much longer.
Onuoha signing on is great but I'm not convinced it completely fixes our problems at the back.

Anyhow, that,s all in my humble opinion, of course.

Why then, if most of us can see that Wheater is better, does OC continue to pick Zat? I don't get it and i am very frustrated. His performance yesterday was the final straw for me.

As I type the goals have just been on MOTD2. Guess who wasn't picking up his man for the Liverpool goal from the corner? It's basic stuff and there's no excuses. Get him out of the team now before any further embarrassment is caused.

Rusty IMO Zat is just a little better at tackling and heading. Wheater is a bit better overall (distribution is streets ahead) but with Cahill on the park perhaps Owen doesn't think he needs the other CB to do anything BUT tackle and head. I agree it can be perplexing sometimes and that's about the only reason I can think of for Zat to start ahead of David. Perhaps Owen thinks Zat has a better chemistry with Gary than David does or something. Whatever the reason I have faith in Owen and I;m sure he has a solid reason for doing it this way.

RustyMcHayes, you have never spoken truer words. I have never rated the man from day one. Liability. He gets nervous on the ball bringing it out of defence. A perfect example was when he was just in front of the dugouts at Anfield on Saturday and he just kicked it away, even though Suarez was 3 yards off him. I personally wouldn't let him play in the reserves never mind the first team. Let's hope Wheater can come in and produce the goods, because it is about time he got playing.

Top Article Rusty. 5/5.