HH the reply of 7 from 27 was not aimed at your good self i wrote a reply underneath that saying you raised good points.
I don't think for one minute Coyle is trying to do any harm to Bolton not for one second, But i do feel he has run out of ideas and is now struggling to motivate the current crop of players he has here.
It is quite simular to what happened to Bryan Robson at Boro years ago he lead them into the top flight took them to both cup finals in one season but he lost his way and struggled to get anything from a much better crop of players than we have at present so Boro brought in El Tel to work with him and help him out as it was obvious he was still a good manager but needed some guidance.
Maybe something like this would help Coyle out, Or as many others have said maybe a change of backroom staff hire a few new bodies with some tatic ideas for the team and a defence coach to help shore up a dodgy backline.
Look what Pardew has done up at Newcastle people were knocking them for 4-5 goals a game and now they have one of the tightest defenses around what did he do spend time and lots of it working with them they have not added to that area this summer infact they lost one of their best defenders in Enrique to Liverpool.
And saying that if United lost their 2 best players is not very good is it really? They lose Rooney they bring in Hernandez or Berbatov or Owen we lose Holden we can bring in who?
We don't have the same funding as them i know that hence why our second string is a lot poorer than theirs but Coyle did put faith in the players he signed this summer so he must stand by the choice he made in signing Pratley and NRC to cover for Holden and Lee.
I think the poor defence is down to poor players though, more often or not the conceding of a goal has been down to an individual mistake, Jussi, knight, Steinsson and Robbo have been main culprits at times. Look at last night, defending solidly all game, but concede two goals due to poor play from Steinsson and Knight.
If we had more funds and money to work with we will have a stronger defence. That's our weakest area, but the midfield and frontline were weaker than the defence prior to the summer.
If we were in this position with CYL and Mears and Ricketts and Holden available, then I would be pointing a finger at OC, and say ing he needs to turn it around, but because they are missing, then more leniency from myself, I think he can turn it around and he will.
I must leve now because my girlfriend is annoyed I've spent last hour talking to you and not her hahaha
Anyway... Give him time to buy new defenders n we will be ok, we In transition as Meggo bought players who were all 28/29, they too old and past prime now n need to go, no1 stupid enough to buy them though... Oh except Megson haha
We need to get a set defence first then get someone in to work with them like Pardew did with Newcastle then we might be able to shore things up at the back.
I'll settle right now for this in the next 4 games;
4 where we up our performance to an acceptable level
3 where we don't lose
2 where we get a deserved win
1 where we either match or outplay the opposition, but lose to a blinder of a ' faultless ' goal
So, 7 points from the next 4 games, givin' us 13 from 13 ...not over-ambitious (but the makems are 14th with 9 from 9, so should see us out the bottom 3 nicely) but the performances will be as important as the points IMHO
Holden 28/29 Cahill Lee mavies??
Holden 28/29 Cahill Lee mavies??
--
The main body of the defence, Robbo, Knight, Steinsson are all late 20s, early 30s.
We have an ageing defence.
Excuse the cut and paste but I made the following point on another thread with rebel yesterday.
=================================================
Rebel here's how I see it and I posted a similar thought on another thread. If Owen has one major flaw it's his loyalty. Normally a superb trait in a manager or player Owen is showing too much of it both in certain players and in some of his back room staff. He's making the same mistake Alex Ferguson made in his first three years as Man Utd manager.
The days when one man can do it all with a top flight team are gone. We need, right now, a specialist defensive coach, midfield coach AND forwards coach all with good Premiership experience. Owen's staff from Burnley just aren't able to cut it at this level. Fred Barber showed what a boon specialist coaches can be.
Players, well, Owen says he wants to ring the changes and I hope he does it but for my money certain players are simply not cutting it and haven't been for too long yet Owen has stuck with them well past the point of reason. I'm sure they love him for it and think he's a wonderful guy but the time comes when the bullet must be bitten and a manager has to say 'Sorry but you're not doing enough for the shirt' and hand it to someone else. Owen needs to be more ruthless, mentally tougher.
I don't mean change for the sake of it or a knee jerk to a single bad performance. I mean change out players who have consistently underperformed. I won't name the names again as we all know who they are.
Remember too that when Big Sam was here we had an enormous back room staff and Sam used them all wisely. Owen doesn't have anything like the infra-structure Sam had and it's up to the board to realise that you can't have a successful on field team without a solid and competent back room team. Owen needs the extra help and the board has to find the money to give it to him. We have enough players still available to get out of this but they need to be more organised and with the right sort of back room help they will be. Sam didn't do it all by himself and frankly I doubt there;s anyone out there who CAN now successfully manage in this League alone. Let him worry about tactics and team selection based on the recommendations of specialist coaches who can report from their own experience as to who's kistening, who's on form and fit and who isn't.
It worked for Sam. It allowed him to maximise on the abilities of the players he had and we consistently showed that in results and league position. It should work for Owen.
===============================================
I think with the squad we currently have we need to match the seven points. I doubt we're actually capable of more than that at the moment but if we could get 8 or 9 I would be a happy bunny.
Peter, not wishing to sound pedantic, but do you know the coaches at Euxton or is your post based on the performances on the pitch?
I will openly admit that I have watched the games JAH and seen the way the defence looks awfully weak and disorganised, I don't personally know any of the coaches or Owen himself for that matter. I'm just a fan like everyone else offering what I see as a potential cause of our problems and a possible solution to them.
I'm sure that some of our back room staff are excellent but the results on the pitch tell us that something is very wrong and it has been for a while. Now as you know I am a big time Coyle fan, I will be all the way to the end of his tenure. But I am also the first to admit his inexperience and naivety at times cost us. I don't point the finger at any one player or coach but surely, surely in this day and age the lack of a defensive coach is simply ludicrous? As I put on the other thread Big Sam was a defender himself and so probably never felt the need for a coach in that role. Owen was a striker and has a naturally attacking mindset so maybe he needs that foil, someone who can organise that back line and take care of it for him.
If you intend to criticise (I know you don't normally do it without reason by the way) because I don't personally know the staff etc and I'm not privy to the actual training sessions then fair enough but what would YOU do?
Hang on we're having convos across 2 threads ignor my response on the other one - just reading yours now
Fair points Peter and I am pretty much in agreement with you. I'd not really given the fact that OC had not been a defender that much thought, but (and I'm playing devils advocate here and not being deliberately awkward ), what about Villas Boas? He wasn't even a player. He did the same coaching course that OC did up in Scotland. In fact I believe they were on the same course at the same time. I don't know the workings of Chelsea backroom staff, but I would be interested to know if Villas Boas has a specialist defence coach at Cobham.
No, I wasn't criticising you Peter as always like your posts and just wanted to understand the angle where your thoughts were coming from. Our defence is pants at the moment and Zat who has played the majority of our games has been off the planet and taken Gretski with him. (Notice Petrover & bwfcforever that our defence (except Boyata) is Megson bought!) It can't be age catching up with them, so I was wondering if it could be a change of tactic or strategies on the training pitch or if Zat's dummy has been out of the pram since we didn't spend the extra cash on his BFF.
JAH
Yes the defence may have been Megson bought but at that time
Steinsson Cahill Knight Robinson
was good enough for Owen for over 12 months before he added Wheater in January and then bought Mears this summer until this point Coyle has not addressed the defence at all.
Everyone bangs on about how bad Robinson is but Coyle has had 4 transfer windows to replace him in and bought just Alonso a kid with little experience in any first team situation to solve that area, If he had thought this through better he would have surly bought a trusted experienced Left Back with Prem experience?
Also over the age question both Knight and Robbo are now over 30 and Steinsson is 30 soon so yes i think a lot could be age catching up with them.
But i agree with Peter Owen does not seem to go in for tatics or individual area training so i really think he needs to take a leaf out of Pardews book and spend some serious time on the defence side of things and work out some positional plays for this defence and quick as we will keep leaking goals with the way we play now.
But we have issues further forward as well like the midfield not tracking back or even sticking a tackle in and allowing the opposition to come at the defence time and time again they can only keep lumping it forward so many times until teams find a way through.
was good enough for Owen for over 12 months before he added Wheater in January and then bought Mears this summer until this point Coyle has not addressed the defence at all.
Everyone bangs on about how bad Robinson is but Coyle has had 4 transfer windows to replace him in and bought just Alonso a kid with little experience in any first team situation to solve that area, If he had thought this through better he would have surly bought a trusted experienced Left Back with Prem experience?
--
Coyle has not had 4 transfer windows, I don't count his first window as a full one as he was only brought in half way through.
You mention an experienced left back, what do you think the going rate for one of those is? Coyle has very few resources and has tried to maximise these by buying a young player. He is currently injured so we'll have to wait before making judgement.
First up Moses was the questioned aimed at you?
Secondly he had a t least 3 weeks of the window when he was appointed so that is 4 in my eyes BUT even if you want to count it as 3 he still never used any of those windows to replace Robinson he stuck by him so must have thought he was good enough at the time.
An experienced left back was going for a song in January Warnock was touted around for just 2m after Houllier made it clear he would not play for him again.
Alonso is young yes and is injured as well but it still does not alter from the fact he used 2.2m to buy a young foreign inexperienced left back to replace Robinson with when that same fee 6 months after he spent it would have bought Warnock.
Alonso may go on to be a fantastic buy and be our first choice left back for a long time or he could turn out to be a massive flop we do not know yet because he is injured now and did not feature enough last season as Coyle wanted to bed him in slowly.
This still does not alter the fact Coyle believed that Robinson was good enough to be first choice left back as he even allowed Samuel to leave this summer rather than offer him as a pay as you play deal or reduced terms like Gardner was given as he must have believed that Robinson was still up to the test.
First up Moses was the questioned aimed at you?
--
Why does this matter?
--
Alonso cost £1.6m, your alternative is based on a transfer rumour right?
Samuel was shocking at Cardiff, the fact that he hasn't found a club speaks volumes about his current ability/ Performance.
Moses one thing i have found about you you always have to create a mountain out of a mole hill and make everyone take your opinion as gospel.
I find it rather annoying to be fair and as this is a debating site and i have never managed to have one of those with yourself as all you do is talk down to people with a rather condescending tone i am just going to ignore your opinion from now on as it always seems to be your opinion or no opinion.
Everyone else can take on board comments and do something with them to move along the debate but you pick up on anything you can and use it to try and make yourself better than anyone else.
For example in your last post how do you know Alonso cost 1.6m and not 2.2m? I had the same problem with you over the Elmander fee you cannot provide any proof of a fee so why is it YOUR opinion is always gospel?
And for the record the Warnock rumour came direct from his agent who shops in the clothing shop i used to work in and he used to give us inside tips into transfers and Warnock happened to be on his books thank you very much.
JAH Villas Boas has GOT specialist coaches for GK, defence, mids, attack as well as fitness and conditioning coaches, nutritionists and even a staff psychologist. Now I know we're not chelsea and don't have their resources but surely we should have at least one specialist coach for the defenders, one for mids, one for attackers. Owen was a striker so could possibly do the attack coaching himself and thus spend a bit less money.
BWFC Forever don't forget that when Owen came in we still had Elmander on staff whose wage was reportedly 60K+ per week. That changed when he left and I don't think it's coincidence that Owen IMMEDIATELY moved to bring in more defenders. Unfortunately Mears was injured and as a result Boyata is now playing out of his favoured role of CB and my guess ( Yes it is a guess) is that Owen left Steinsson in place at first because he thought Boyata COULDN'T play at Full Back. With Alonso out injured as well we were initially stuck with Robinson.
Obviously this means the flanks are weak and we've seen Owen move to play Boyata at RB and in my humble opinion he's better than Steinsson there but we won't see the best of our defenders until Mears and Alonso are back.
Assuming we don't lose Gary Cahill in January I think the defence come March or April may well read
Alonso = Cahill = Boyata = Mears
Wheater, Knight, Robinson, Steinsson and Reilly (forgive me if I spell that wrong) will be back ups. Knight, Wheater and Reilly are all useful squad players IMO but come summer we should off load Robbo and Steinsson. They work hard, give their all and I respect them for that but the harsh reality is they aren't good enough for this level.
I know Boyata is only here on loan but in my opinion he's a very good player and if possible I'd like to see us keep him permanently. However, it won't matter how good the defenders are until and unless someone comes in to organise them properly. That's not any sign of incompetence on Owen's part by the way. It's simply that in this day and age a specialist unit coach for all four main areas of play is a necessity in this league. The manager's job is to then co-ordinate everything and pick the right team and tactics for the match.
I know I do keep banging this drum but let's face it here. Owen is a great man manager and a superb motivator but sometimes he keeps the faith in certain individuals long after everyone else can see that he isn't going to have his faith rewarded. He gave everyone a clean slate when he joined us and rightly so but now it's time for him to say 'Sorry but we have to change and you don't quite fit in with my plans' to certain individuals.
At least that's how I see it.
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4 Massive Games For BWFC
Page 2 of 2
posted on 26/10/11
HH the reply of 7 from 27 was not aimed at your good self i wrote a reply underneath that saying you raised good points.
I don't think for one minute Coyle is trying to do any harm to Bolton not for one second, But i do feel he has run out of ideas and is now struggling to motivate the current crop of players he has here.
It is quite simular to what happened to Bryan Robson at Boro years ago he lead them into the top flight took them to both cup finals in one season but he lost his way and struggled to get anything from a much better crop of players than we have at present so Boro brought in El Tel to work with him and help him out as it was obvious he was still a good manager but needed some guidance.
Maybe something like this would help Coyle out, Or as many others have said maybe a change of backroom staff hire a few new bodies with some tatic ideas for the team and a defence coach to help shore up a dodgy backline.
Look what Pardew has done up at Newcastle people were knocking them for 4-5 goals a game and now they have one of the tightest defenses around what did he do spend time and lots of it working with them they have not added to that area this summer infact they lost one of their best defenders in Enrique to Liverpool.
And saying that if United lost their 2 best players is not very good is it really? They lose Rooney they bring in Hernandez or Berbatov or Owen we lose Holden we can bring in who?
We don't have the same funding as them i know that hence why our second string is a lot poorer than theirs but Coyle did put faith in the players he signed this summer so he must stand by the choice he made in signing Pratley and NRC to cover for Holden and Lee.
posted on 26/10/11
I think the poor defence is down to poor players though, more often or not the conceding of a goal has been down to an individual mistake, Jussi, knight, Steinsson and Robbo have been main culprits at times. Look at last night, defending solidly all game, but concede two goals due to poor play from Steinsson and Knight.
If we had more funds and money to work with we will have a stronger defence. That's our weakest area, but the midfield and frontline were weaker than the defence prior to the summer.
If we were in this position with CYL and Mears and Ricketts and Holden available, then I would be pointing a finger at OC, and say ing he needs to turn it around, but because they are missing, then more leniency from myself, I think he can turn it around and he will.
I must leve now because my girlfriend is annoyed I've spent last hour talking to you and not her hahaha
posted on 26/10/11
Fair play
posted on 26/10/11
Anyway... Give him time to buy new defenders n we will be ok, we In transition as Meggo bought players who were all 28/29, they too old and past prime now n need to go, no1 stupid enough to buy them though... Oh except Megson haha
posted on 26/10/11
We need to get a set defence first then get someone in to work with them like Pardew did with Newcastle then we might be able to shore things up at the back.
posted on 26/10/11
I'll settle right now for this in the next 4 games;
4 where we up our performance to an acceptable level
3 where we don't lose
2 where we get a deserved win
1 where we either match or outplay the opposition, but lose to a blinder of a ' faultless ' goal
So, 7 points from the next 4 games, givin' us 13 from 13 ...not over-ambitious (but the makems are 14th with 9 from 9, so should see us out the bottom 3 nicely) but the performances will be as important as the points IMHO
posted on 26/10/11
Holden 28/29 Cahill Lee mavies??
posted on 26/10/11
And muamba
posted on 26/10/11
Holden 28/29 Cahill Lee mavies??
--
The main body of the defence, Robbo, Knight, Steinsson are all late 20s, early 30s.
We have an ageing defence.
posted on 27/10/11
Excuse the cut and paste but I made the following point on another thread with rebel yesterday.
=================================================
Rebel here's how I see it and I posted a similar thought on another thread. If Owen has one major flaw it's his loyalty. Normally a superb trait in a manager or player Owen is showing too much of it both in certain players and in some of his back room staff. He's making the same mistake Alex Ferguson made in his first three years as Man Utd manager.
The days when one man can do it all with a top flight team are gone. We need, right now, a specialist defensive coach, midfield coach AND forwards coach all with good Premiership experience. Owen's staff from Burnley just aren't able to cut it at this level. Fred Barber showed what a boon specialist coaches can be.
Players, well, Owen says he wants to ring the changes and I hope he does it but for my money certain players are simply not cutting it and haven't been for too long yet Owen has stuck with them well past the point of reason. I'm sure they love him for it and think he's a wonderful guy but the time comes when the bullet must be bitten and a manager has to say 'Sorry but you're not doing enough for the shirt' and hand it to someone else. Owen needs to be more ruthless, mentally tougher.
I don't mean change for the sake of it or a knee jerk to a single bad performance. I mean change out players who have consistently underperformed. I won't name the names again as we all know who they are.
Remember too that when Big Sam was here we had an enormous back room staff and Sam used them all wisely. Owen doesn't have anything like the infra-structure Sam had and it's up to the board to realise that you can't have a successful on field team without a solid and competent back room team. Owen needs the extra help and the board has to find the money to give it to him. We have enough players still available to get out of this but they need to be more organised and with the right sort of back room help they will be. Sam didn't do it all by himself and frankly I doubt there;s anyone out there who CAN now successfully manage in this League alone. Let him worry about tactics and team selection based on the recommendations of specialist coaches who can report from their own experience as to who's kistening, who's on form and fit and who isn't.
It worked for Sam. It allowed him to maximise on the abilities of the players he had and we consistently showed that in results and league position. It should work for Owen.
===============================================
I think with the squad we currently have we need to match the seven points. I doubt we're actually capable of more than that at the moment but if we could get 8 or 9 I would be a happy bunny.
posted on 27/10/11
Peter, not wishing to sound pedantic, but do you know the coaches at Euxton or is your post based on the performances on the pitch?
posted on 27/10/11
I will openly admit that I have watched the games JAH and seen the way the defence looks awfully weak and disorganised, I don't personally know any of the coaches or Owen himself for that matter. I'm just a fan like everyone else offering what I see as a potential cause of our problems and a possible solution to them.
I'm sure that some of our back room staff are excellent but the results on the pitch tell us that something is very wrong and it has been for a while. Now as you know I am a big time Coyle fan, I will be all the way to the end of his tenure. But I am also the first to admit his inexperience and naivety at times cost us. I don't point the finger at any one player or coach but surely, surely in this day and age the lack of a defensive coach is simply ludicrous? As I put on the other thread Big Sam was a defender himself and so probably never felt the need for a coach in that role. Owen was a striker and has a naturally attacking mindset so maybe he needs that foil, someone who can organise that back line and take care of it for him.
If you intend to criticise (I know you don't normally do it without reason by the way) because I don't personally know the staff etc and I'm not privy to the actual training sessions then fair enough but what would YOU do?
posted on 27/10/11
Hang on we're having convos across 2 threads ignor my response on the other one - just reading yours now
posted on 27/10/11
Fair points Peter and I am pretty much in agreement with you. I'd not really given the fact that OC had not been a defender that much thought, but (and I'm playing devils advocate here and not being deliberately awkward ), what about Villas Boas? He wasn't even a player. He did the same coaching course that OC did up in Scotland. In fact I believe they were on the same course at the same time. I don't know the workings of Chelsea backroom staff, but I would be interested to know if Villas Boas has a specialist defence coach at Cobham.
No, I wasn't criticising you Peter as always like your posts and just wanted to understand the angle where your thoughts were coming from. Our defence is pants at the moment and Zat who has played the majority of our games has been off the planet and taken Gretski with him. (Notice Petrover & bwfcforever that our defence (except Boyata) is Megson bought!) It can't be age catching up with them, so I was wondering if it could be a change of tactic or strategies on the training pitch or if Zat's dummy has been out of the pram since we didn't spend the extra cash on his BFF.
posted on 27/10/11
JAH
Yes the defence may have been Megson bought but at that time
Steinsson Cahill Knight Robinson
was good enough for Owen for over 12 months before he added Wheater in January and then bought Mears this summer until this point Coyle has not addressed the defence at all.
Everyone bangs on about how bad Robinson is but Coyle has had 4 transfer windows to replace him in and bought just Alonso a kid with little experience in any first team situation to solve that area, If he had thought this through better he would have surly bought a trusted experienced Left Back with Prem experience?
Also over the age question both Knight and Robbo are now over 30 and Steinsson is 30 soon so yes i think a lot could be age catching up with them.
But i agree with Peter Owen does not seem to go in for tatics or individual area training so i really think he needs to take a leaf out of Pardews book and spend some serious time on the defence side of things and work out some positional plays for this defence and quick as we will keep leaking goals with the way we play now.
But we have issues further forward as well like the midfield not tracking back or even sticking a tackle in and allowing the opposition to come at the defence time and time again they can only keep lumping it forward so many times until teams find a way through.
posted on 27/10/11
was good enough for Owen for over 12 months before he added Wheater in January and then bought Mears this summer until this point Coyle has not addressed the defence at all.
Everyone bangs on about how bad Robinson is but Coyle has had 4 transfer windows to replace him in and bought just Alonso a kid with little experience in any first team situation to solve that area, If he had thought this through better he would have surly bought a trusted experienced Left Back with Prem experience?
--
Coyle has not had 4 transfer windows, I don't count his first window as a full one as he was only brought in half way through.
You mention an experienced left back, what do you think the going rate for one of those is? Coyle has very few resources and has tried to maximise these by buying a young player. He is currently injured so we'll have to wait before making judgement.
posted on 27/10/11
First up Moses was the questioned aimed at you?
Secondly he had a t least 3 weeks of the window when he was appointed so that is 4 in my eyes BUT even if you want to count it as 3 he still never used any of those windows to replace Robinson he stuck by him so must have thought he was good enough at the time.
An experienced left back was going for a song in January Warnock was touted around for just 2m after Houllier made it clear he would not play for him again.
Alonso is young yes and is injured as well but it still does not alter from the fact he used 2.2m to buy a young foreign inexperienced left back to replace Robinson with when that same fee 6 months after he spent it would have bought Warnock.
Alonso may go on to be a fantastic buy and be our first choice left back for a long time or he could turn out to be a massive flop we do not know yet because he is injured now and did not feature enough last season as Coyle wanted to bed him in slowly.
This still does not alter the fact Coyle believed that Robinson was good enough to be first choice left back as he even allowed Samuel to leave this summer rather than offer him as a pay as you play deal or reduced terms like Gardner was given as he must have believed that Robinson was still up to the test.
posted on 27/10/11
First up Moses was the questioned aimed at you?
--
Why does this matter?
--
Alonso cost £1.6m, your alternative is based on a transfer rumour right?
Samuel was shocking at Cardiff, the fact that he hasn't found a club speaks volumes about his current ability/ Performance.
posted on 27/10/11
Moses one thing i have found about you you always have to create a mountain out of a mole hill and make everyone take your opinion as gospel.
I find it rather annoying to be fair and as this is a debating site and i have never managed to have one of those with yourself as all you do is talk down to people with a rather condescending tone i am just going to ignore your opinion from now on as it always seems to be your opinion or no opinion.
Everyone else can take on board comments and do something with them to move along the debate but you pick up on anything you can and use it to try and make yourself better than anyone else.
For example in your last post how do you know Alonso cost 1.6m and not 2.2m? I had the same problem with you over the Elmander fee you cannot provide any proof of a fee so why is it YOUR opinion is always gospel?
And for the record the Warnock rumour came direct from his agent who shops in the clothing shop i used to work in and he used to give us inside tips into transfers and Warnock happened to be on his books thank you very much.
posted on 28/10/11
JAH Villas Boas has GOT specialist coaches for GK, defence, mids, attack as well as fitness and conditioning coaches, nutritionists and even a staff psychologist. Now I know we're not chelsea and don't have their resources but surely we should have at least one specialist coach for the defenders, one for mids, one for attackers. Owen was a striker so could possibly do the attack coaching himself and thus spend a bit less money.
BWFC Forever don't forget that when Owen came in we still had Elmander on staff whose wage was reportedly 60K+ per week. That changed when he left and I don't think it's coincidence that Owen IMMEDIATELY moved to bring in more defenders. Unfortunately Mears was injured and as a result Boyata is now playing out of his favoured role of CB and my guess ( Yes it is a guess) is that Owen left Steinsson in place at first because he thought Boyata COULDN'T play at Full Back. With Alonso out injured as well we were initially stuck with Robinson.
Obviously this means the flanks are weak and we've seen Owen move to play Boyata at RB and in my humble opinion he's better than Steinsson there but we won't see the best of our defenders until Mears and Alonso are back.
Assuming we don't lose Gary Cahill in January I think the defence come March or April may well read
Alonso = Cahill = Boyata = Mears
Wheater, Knight, Robinson, Steinsson and Reilly (forgive me if I spell that wrong) will be back ups. Knight, Wheater and Reilly are all useful squad players IMO but come summer we should off load Robbo and Steinsson. They work hard, give their all and I respect them for that but the harsh reality is they aren't good enough for this level.
I know Boyata is only here on loan but in my opinion he's a very good player and if possible I'd like to see us keep him permanently. However, it won't matter how good the defenders are until and unless someone comes in to organise them properly. That's not any sign of incompetence on Owen's part by the way. It's simply that in this day and age a specialist unit coach for all four main areas of play is a necessity in this league. The manager's job is to then co-ordinate everything and pick the right team and tactics for the match.
I know I do keep banging this drum but let's face it here. Owen is a great man manager and a superb motivator but sometimes he keeps the faith in certain individuals long after everyone else can see that he isn't going to have his faith rewarded. He gave everyone a clean slate when he joined us and rightly so but now it's time for him to say 'Sorry but we have to change and you don't quite fit in with my plans' to certain individuals.
At least that's how I see it.
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