£100 million spent, but have we improved defensively ?

[Steven Ageroad]

We can only improve, we will beat them at Selhurst Park.

[Lyle from Hangeland]

Looking at our back 4 today compared to last season, have we improved ?
For me it's a yes and a no,
Firstly, I was very impressed with Chambers and Le Marchand,  both looked very assured on the ball, and incredible to think that they've only had a few days together, with Mawson and Ream to add to the central pack we have undoubtedly strengthened in the middle,
Now the bad news, in my opinion, (and it is only my opinion) Bryan and Christie aren't a patch on Fredericks and Targett (and I'm not even a fan of Targett)
Bryan was very reluctant to try and get behind the full back today and his ball retention was piss poor, how many times did his passes go astray ?
When Palace upped the tempo out wide today they went past our full backs as though they weren't there,
As far as other options are concerned we've only got Fosuh Mensa to come , and if you believe the Palace fans, we shouldn't hold our breath as far as he is concerned,
The two full backs were pivotal for us last season, I hope we haven't taken a step back this season,

Bryan played well, I thought. And he did so not having been at the club for half-week.  I do think Bryan and R. Sess may have been instructed not to attack full on today. Maybe that will come in time, after some training sessions together.

[Tabby]

Bryan had a pretty good debut. A couple of wild balls, but he hasn't had time to adapt to how the team plays yet. Thought Christie did pretty well also.

It was a back line that had never played together, and there are no players like Zaha in the championship.

[Litrecola_]

I thought the back 4 was fine as they have never played as a unit before. Fabri had an awful game. Sess will get pushed around as he is so slight. Now is not he time to start sitting him as we are watching him develop as well. Too many overreactions today. Am I angry? Yes. We are in the Prem again, it is far better than pounding Brentford again and again.

[bornafulhamfan]

I think Seri was immense defensively.

[General]

Bryan came in on loan two days ago. Give him a break. Christie had positive moments but let the blood rush to his head and bit and lost it when he needed to keep calm and play better balls into the area. Still there was enough service and opportunities created to think there's room for growth.

[Bassey the warrior]

As I said in the Anguissa thread, the biggest element of improving defensively is having someone who will be consistently capable of stopping the opposition from being able to transition onto the front foot. McDonald isn't that guy, got bypassed multiple times.

Agreed. He wasn't at the races defensively today. We have to hope Anguissa is ready to get thrown in the deep end. McDonald will still have a role to play.

[Mullers OG]

Having calmed down a little after this afternoon a few opinions on our team performance.

For a first game with a team made up of many new faces I didn't think it was too bad even if we were in the end well beaten.  Positives in respect of the new players were Bryan, Chambers, Seri and LM.  Seri just looked a class apart, the other three look good players who will fit in well.   

On the negative side Christie never got past his man going forward and never tried to take him on the outside.  As a result all his crosses were from 20 yards out and much easier to deal with than Fred last year.  The keeper had a shocker.  Not just the goals but nothing seemed to stick.  Over the years we've been blessed with great keepers, as far back as Macedo and Peyton and more recently Taylor, EVDS and Schwarzer.  If the manager doesn't rate Betts (although I'm hard pushed to see why not) then we'd have been far better to spend the money on Hennessey who showed the difference a proper keeper makes to a team.  It was the same last year against Birmingham when Stockdale showed up Button.

I am more concerned about our attack.  Mitrovic could have had a goal or two and Sess is always a threat.  But where else are our goals going to come from?  Seri is clearly an upgrade on SJ in many ways but SJ is a goal threat from midfield.  Our paucity of attacking talent was emphasised by Kamara being our first substitution.  He has always to my mind been fairly useless; this year he seems to have added being overweight to being useless. 

What on earth has Kebano done to be behind Kamara in the pecking order?  Let's hope Ayite can get fit quickly.   

[Facts Not Fiction]

Today showed that we need a bit more than McDonald. He played well, but in some games, we need more than a player who role is just to sit back. Anguissa will hopefully provide that.

[Bassey the warrior]

Having calmed down a little after this afternoon a few opinions on our team performance.

For a first game with a team made up of many new faces I didn't think it was too bad even if we were in the end well beaten.  Positives in respect of the new players were Bryan, Chambers, Seri and LM.  Seri just looked a class apart, the other three look good players who will fit in well.   

On the negative side Christie never got past his man going forward and never tried to take him on the outside.  As a result all his crosses were from 20 yards out and much easier to deal with than Fred last year.  The keeper had a shocker.  Not just the goals but nothing seemed to stick.  Over the years we've been blessed with great keepers, as far back as Macedo and Peyton and more recently Taylor, EVDS and Schwarzer.  If the manager doesn't rate Betts (although I'm hard pushed to see why not) then we'd have been far better to spend the money on Hennessey who showed the difference a proper keeper makes to a team.  It was the same last year against Birmingham when Stockdale showed up Button.

I am more concerned about our attack.  Mitrovic could have had a goal or two and Sess is always a threat.  But where else are our goals going to come from?  Seri is clearly an upgrade on SJ in many ways but SJ is a goal threat from midfield.  Our paucity of attacking talent was emphasised by Kamara being our first substitution.  He has always to my mind been fairly useless; this year he seems to have added being overweight to being useless. 

What on earth has Kebano done to be behind Kamara in the pecking order?  Let's hope Ayite can get fit quickly.   

Incredibly harsh about Kamara. He doesn't always make the right choices and still a bit raw but he's quick and strong and works hard. Hopefully he can develop the mental side to really use that raw talent.
I'd like to see more of Kebano, really rate him. Vietto had a decent cameo.

[Bassey the warrior]

Today showed that we need a bit more than McDonald. He played well, but in some games, we need more than a player who role is just to sit back. Anguissa will hopefully provide that.

I think the main thing is someone a bit quicker.

[Rodshig]

My assessment of some players;

AK47 is a loose cannon. Poor ball control. Below average finishing.  Won't cut out in the premiership.

R Sess : couple of good touches and runs here and there. My opinion he may be more effective coming off the bench this season. No way he will be given the room n space against top class premiership defenders.

Schurlle : no pace. Was trying to recall was he ever quick in the past? An upgrade from piazon

Seri : bossed the first half. Ran out of steam in the 2nd, Several passes gone astray.  Remind me abit of micheal Essien

Le Marchand: Surprising good. Composed. Best performer in the back 5.  Did our scouting department see something in him? Relatively low transfer fee if he keep up his performance.

Fabri: Just drop him. Nothing more to add.

Christie. Did not come across to be quick. Our RB and LB position maybe our weakness this year

[Woolly Mammoth]

It's just one game, against attacking players of the calibre of Zaha and Townsend, whom both are very good at counter attacking with pace.
We knew it would not be easy, but they also knew that they had been in a game.
As each week goes by, we can only improve, more so when we get organised, and more prepared which will not happen overnight.
We have Spurs next Saturday, another challenge in the wide open spaces of Wembley.
Under the current circumstances we need to make sure that Mitrovic receives better support, he could do with it.
If we go head to head with Spurs, we could come unstuck. Plenty of defensive drills in training, need to make ourselves hard to beat, it won't be easy, but at least the players will have all week to prepare a game plan.
We cannot afford to give away sloppy goals.
It's tough at the top, but we are here to stay, and play without fear.

[Matt10]

Having calmed down a little after this afternoon a few opinions on our team performance.

For a first game with a team made up of many new faces I didn't think it was too bad even if we were in the end well beaten.  Positives in respect of the new players were Bryan, Chambers, Seri and LM.  Seri just looked a class apart, the other three look good players who will fit in well.   

On the negative side Christie never got past his man going forward and never tried to take him on the outside.  As a result all his crosses were from 20 yards out and much easier to deal with than Fred last year.  The keeper had a shocker.  Not just the goals but nothing seemed to stick.  Over the years we've been blessed with great keepers, as far back as Macedo and Peyton and more recently Taylor, EVDS and Schwarzer.  If the manager doesn't rate Betts (although I'm hard pushed to see why not) then we'd have been far better to spend the money on Hennessey who showed the difference a proper keeper makes to a team.  It was the same last year against Birmingham when Stockdale showed up Button.

I am more concerned about our attack.  Mitrovic could have had a goal or two and Sess is always a threat.  But where else are our goals going to come from?  Seri is clearly an upgrade on SJ in many ways but SJ is a goal threat from midfield.  Our paucity of attacking talent was emphasised by Kamara being our first substitution.  He has always to my mind been fairly useless; this year he seems to have added being overweight to being useless. 

What on earth has Kebano done to be behind Kamara in the pecking order?  Let's hope Ayite can get fit quickly.

Christie never got past his man? Did you see Sess' header at the end? Yeah...caused by Christie beating Van Aanholt. Also, his crosses were sublime, 3 of which we had noone on the backpost.

With all that said, I am also concerned about our attack. Cairney is being forced to be the playmaker, while Seri is distributing the ball and recovering. I like Seri, but he's not Johansen where Johansen takes risks to create chances. That's not to say one is better than the other, it's just more so their type of play. Personally hope that we can find a way to put StefJo in the lineup more. He led the team in assists last year, that has to mean something, goodness.

[New Kid on the Block]

I was happy with our performance today, especially considering that it was our first competitive match.

I think we have plenty of good things to look forward to, as the season progresses, and on this showing, the recruitment team have done exceptionally well. I think Le Marchand may well keep Ream out of the side, based on yesterday's performance.

It's early days, but I'm happy. COYW.

[HV71]

Agree with Matt 10 about Christtie. Some of his crosses were very good but our forwards didn't gamble enough and were a bit flat footed. Having put several to the back post in the first half he actually pointed and put one in at the near post but again no one read it . Very frustrating and it was his shot that almost caught Hennessy out.

As others have already pointed out Too many people on here looking for scapegoats - also many have got too used to winning - wake up - it's notgoing to be like tat in this league!

[Statto]

Agree with Matt 10 about Christtie. Some of his crosses were very good but our forwards didn't gamble enough and were a bit flat footed. Having put several to the back post in the first half he actually pointed and put one in at the near post but again no one read it . Very frustrating and it was his shot that almost caught Hennessy out.

MullersOG has get this part spot on IMO: "all his crosses were from 20 yards out and much easier to deal with than Fred last season"

How many goals off high crosses in live play do we score?
I'm struggling to think of any from last season.
Kamara versus Boro is the only one I can think of.
Christie was actually playing for Boro that day so maybe he thought that was normal for us.
In reality we were only lobbing balls into the box like that because it was the dying moments of the game, generally that's not our style.

[filham]

Bryan came in on loan two days ago. Give him a break. Christie had positive moments but let the blood rush to his head and bit and lost it when he needed to keep calm and play better balls into the area. Still there was enough service and opportunities created to think there's room for growth.
[/quote

Bryan came in on loan two days ago. Give him a break. Christie had positive moments but let the blood rush to his head and bit and lost it when he needed to keep calm and play better balls into the area. Still there was enough service and opportunities created to think there's room for growth.

Christie and Bryan were looking good in the first half hour when we were on top although niether of them got behind the defence to the byline and their crosses were not too good. They were not as good as Targett and Fredericks were last season.Possible that our back four will develop into-


Christie      Mawson   Ream    Le Merchand 

                        Anquisa

[Holders]

"The first game came two weeks too soon" - but if the window were still open for another few weeks we could well be worse off as many of the new players may not even have arrived.

It's a game we could have won but we weren't disgraced and I saw many plus points.

[Deeping_white]

Bryan came in on loan two days ago. Give him a break. Christie had positive moments but let the blood rush to his head and bit and lost it when he needed to keep calm and play better balls into the area. Still there was enough service and opportunities created to think there's room for growth.
[/quote

Bryan came in on loan two days ago. Give him a break. Christie had positive moments but let the blood rush to his head and bit and lost it when he needed to keep calm and play better balls into the area. Still there was enough service and opportunities created to think there's room for growth.

Christie and Bryan were looking good in the first half hour when we were on top although niether of them got behind the defence to the byline and their crosses were not too good. They were not as good as Targett and Fredericks were last season.Possible that our back four will develop into-


Christie      Mawson   Ream    Le Merchand 

                        Anquisa

Filham, Bryan had one training session with the team and you think that he's worse than Targett after one game? I'm sorry but you're talking out of your arse, you're just making stuff up to push an oddly negative agenda. I saw nothing yesterday to suggest that Targett is better than Bryan at anything. Chambers or Le Marchand will start at centre half over Ream