I do worry about Porro 1 on 1 with decent wingers. Mitoma got on top of him for a while and he struggled to stop crosses.

With Udogie, its just silly mistakes, either giving away possession/caught on the ball or errors like Brighton where he failed to clear the cross.

But to me they are modern fullbacks. very few have the complete game and many are more attack minded.

I remember Walker at Spurs being slated by fans for his brain farts most games, leading to chances and goals, and he's one of the best and most decorated Eng RBs of all time.

If you look at good defensive full backs, they are really either re-purposed CBs (White, Ake, Gvadiol, Akanji) or they are just a bit old school defenders who aint that good going forward - Davies is a very solid FB and no one wants him starting.

If we are picking on FBs defensive qualities then it has to be weighed against the offensive contribution and both are our very good offensively.

Somethings missing this season with Udogie he has looked unfit. Stats are poor but who else do we put there? Spence who is right footed?

Porro has been great this season anybody will have a hard time against Mitoma most defenders will.

I personally think Udogie is a lot worse a defender than Porro. Porro can get beaten by a really top class/gifted winger but so can most fullbacks.

Udogie struggles with fundamental basics when defending in our own third, its very concerning. His pressing is exceptional but if we asked him to have a more defensive role like we would under Jose/Dyche etc he would be catastrophic.

Attack the best form of defence.

Attack attack attack

comment by look like modric (U7431)
posted 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
Somethings missing this season with Udogie he has looked unfit. Stats are poor but who else do we put there? Spence who is right footed?

Porro has been great this season anybody will have a hard time against Mitoma most defenders will.
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Udogie is not fully fit, from his injury not the player he was last season

Porro been excellent this season ( tbf ever since he joined )

Credit to Porro, he has improved his defensive skills alot since he first arrived.

He's no Corluka, that's for sure

comment by Bãleș left boot (U22081)
posted 26 minutes ago
He's no Corluka, that's for sure
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Corluka 😘

Such a silky right back

comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 11 hours, 7 minutes ago
Porro been excellent this season ( tbf ever since he joined )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes he has been excellent. At going forwards. That’s not what his article is about though.

We have a very good back four...
Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie.
Injuries etc aside, this is as good a back four as any in the league.
But the problem lies with how they are expected to play by their manager.
If they are told "all out attack" and leave Romero & VDV to defend... then Porro & Udogie can be caught upfield by the long ball over the top played to very good wingers like Mitoma. Actually Porro did quite well against him, but it was not always successful. I would call it a draw between the two.

I remember thinking during the Brighton match that we could do with Mitoma!

Our midfield let us down in the second half, again due to the "attack at all times" management directive.
At 0-2 up it was time to play more defensively and depend on counter attack.
Yes, we could have had more goals in first half, but at half-time you change tactics to suit what you've got....a good game position and let the opposition take the risks.

comment by Automatic For The People (U21889)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 11 hours, 7 minutes ago
Porro been excellent this season ( tbf ever since he joined )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes he has been excellent. At going forwards. That’s not what his article is about though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He’s fine defensively.

There aren’t many better right backs in the league

Mitoma gets into every team in the prem pretty much, so I won’t judge him Sunday but he was still okay

I was at the game and sat at the end where the goals were scored and what stood out for me other than everyone said in here which exposure of spaces behind the wingbacks and leaving the cbs fully isolated but also our players ineptitude to defend crosses.
We get easily beaten by crosses?

Poor showing from Romero, Benta and Madders on the crosses


Think this team is still relatively new so we are seeing same issues we had under Poch in his first 2 seasons.


Time will tell

comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Automatic For The People (U21889)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 11 hours, 7 minutes ago
Porro been excellent this season ( tbf ever since he joined )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes he has been excellent. At going forwards. That’s not what his article is about though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He’s fine defensively.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And yet teams are scoring against us for fun.

How perplexing.

comment by Automatic For The People (U21889)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Automatic For The People (U21889)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 11 hours, 7 minutes ago
Porro been excellent this season ( tbf ever since he joined )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes he has been excellent. At going forwards. That’s not what his article is about though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He’s fine defensively.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And yet teams are scoring against us for fun.

How perplexing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not really. Only 4 teams have conceded less so far this season

Funny how our players like Porro & Romero aren’t good enough yet clubs like Madrid would love them.

Perplexing

comment by Hengy (U9129)
posted 2 minutes ago
Funny how our players like Porro & Romero aren’t good enough yet clubs like Madrid would love them.

Perplexing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A few more second half collapses like that and they might not be so keen.

Also wasn’t Micky VDV world class last week? It’s all so terribly confusing.

It’s amazing how some fans on here defend the indefensible far better than our defenders actually defend!

comment by Automatic For The People (U21889)
posted 1 hour, 22 minutes ago
It’s amazing how some fans on here defend the indefensible far better than our defenders actually defend!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
made me crack up - 🤣
so true 👍

comment by JustCallMeTed (U21528)
posted 3 hours, 56 minutes ago
We have a very good back four...
Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie.
Injuries etc aside, this is as good a back four as any in the league.
But the problem lies with how they are expected to play by their manager.
If they are told "all out attack" and leave Romero & VDV to defend... then Porro & Udogie can be caught upfield by the long ball over the top played to very good wingers like Mitoma. Actually Porro did quite well against him, but it was not always successful. I would call it a draw between the two.

I remember thinking during the Brighton match that we could do with Mitoma!

Our midfield let us down in the second half, again due to the "attack at all times" management directive.
At 0-2 up it was time to play more defensively and depend on counter attack.
Yes, we could have had more goals in first half, but at half-time you change tactics to suit what you've got....a good game position and let the opposition take the risks.


----------------------------------------------------------------------


SO this attack at all times directive you talk about.

When Wellbeck scores their third, whoever crossed it in got to the byeline and it was Benatncur, a midfielder, also on the byeline who failed to stop the cross.

If you rewatch the game, look at the moment that the crosser beats Udogie and drives for the byeline. We have all 11 players in or on the edge of the box.. No one more than 20 yards from our goal. Bentacur, deep in our box, comes over to cover the cross but makes a really weak attempt. This summed up that second half for me, BHA really wanted it, their player drove forward and full stretch got a great cross in, meanwhile Bentancur almost jumped out of teh challenge and Wellbeck, marked by 2 easily lost a sleeping Romero to score.

So this "all out attack directive" clearly wasnt being followed by the players for their 3rd goal.

1st goal - Mitoma gets the ball down our right and has Porro for company and Romero as back up. 2 defenders in the middle, with 2 attackers. Udogie takes up a good position to stop their back post attacker....but then totally fluffs his clearance.

So again, how is this "all out attack directive" impacting our defending here. If Udogie puts his laces through the ball then it stays 2-0.

Their equaliser is pretty good play from BHA and in this instance comes from a poor press from us, standing off them in possession, letting them play out from the back under no pressure. Deki stands off, BJ lets their FB go free. These are the sorts of details that need to trigger action. If Deki is not in teh face of the ball carrier, then BJ has to drop with their FB. For me that's not a function of any sort of "all out attack" approach, its a result of switching off. We weren't caught with all our players up field, we were caught with all our players marking space and not pressing. BJ is usually very diligent at tracking his runner so this isnt an ongoing issues that he hangs around up front and doesnt work hard enough.

The narrative that we are losing games or conceding goals because we are an aggressive attacking team who only know how to all out attack is totally baseless. Lazy, ill-informed labelling of our issues that totally fails to understand what is actually happening on the pitch.

Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie.
Injuries etc aside, this is as good a back four as any in the league.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry, but they so are not 'as good a back four as any in the league', there's no indication that that's true...apart from the fact that you support them. They're all 'decent' players but they can all also definitely be improved upon or they have to improve.

comment by AFCISMYTEAM (U14931)
posted 6 minutes ago
Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie.
Injuries etc aside, this is as good a back four as any in the league.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry, but they so are not 'as good a back four as any in the league', there's no indication that that's true...apart from the fact that you support them. They're all 'decent' players but they can all also definitely be improved upon or they have to improve.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Defences work as a unit so although man for man (on paper) Spurs have a very good back 4 in reality they don't particularly perform that well together.

Whether that is down to tactics, lack of support from midfield leaving them exposed or just that their skillsets not being compatible, lack of leadership, poor comms who knows.

Spurs back 4 are all really good footballers but but does feel the defensive balance and systematic issues are constantly there for them to blow up

Romero and Maddison clearly not leaders

Son is but not in the way you need to really get the troops going when the going gets tough on the pitch

Obviously he has been out a few games now but not sure that stops us crumbling 2nd half at the weekend