Anderson has done his ankle in training

[70sPimlico]

The Whites are staying up

[AJW48361]

Cheers Felix I knew something good would come from him.

[General]

By my calculations Kongolo was only expected to be out for two or three weeks after signing and had already done light training with Huddersfield and one team training session at least?

By that measure he and Andersen could be back in the lineup in the next couple of games?

[WestSussexWhite]

Kongolo started training this week. However, he will have literally no match fitness. So I'd imagine after the next international break is probably realistic for him and Tete

[Somerset Fulham]

It's probably not a popular opinion but from what I have seen, it is only Ream that has stepped up to the challenge of these new guys so far, and he has done well.

This  news plus Kongolo gives us so many potentially good (for us!) options at the back that we there can be no more excuses.  Poor old Dennis, Maxime and Hector (unless they sort themselves out hugely) aren't getting close to a start at centre half.

[WestSussexWhite]

To be honest, I see the long term plan being 3 x CB's so having good depth at CB will be invaluable. Kongolo has been out for the best part of 10 months so will take him probably a month to get up to speed anyway

[bencher]

I'm all for having good CBs but I do worry that our main weakness when conceding goals is failing to track runs from midfield properly and that will not be solved by having 2 or 3 excellent CBs. Having said that, if Parker can't solve defensive midfield issues then it's not clear what he can solve.

[WestSussexWhite]

Mind you with Reed now back, that may help the tracking runners issue

[Slaphead in Qatar]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

[bencher]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

This is true, but it's also about instincts. If you're naturally an attack minded midfielder, when the ball is being played in your defensive third, your instinct is to be in space available to receive a pass when the defenders win the ball back. If you are a natural defensive midfielder, you are instinctively thinking about tracking the runners. Players like Cairney, no matter what position on the pitch you play him, will always have an attacking instinct first, and therefore never effective at tracking runners. I think this is largely true of Anguissa too, and why they need a natural defensive midfielder with them. I haven't seen enough of Lemina to know his instinctive game.

[MayoDomo]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

This is true, but it's also about instincts. If you're naturally an attack minded midfielder, when the ball is being played in your defensive third, your instinct is to be in space available to receive a pass when the defenders win the ball back. If you are a natural defensive midfielder, you are instinctively thinking about tracking the runners. Players like Cairney, no matter what position on the pitch you play him, will always have an attacking instinct first, and therefore never effective at tracking runners. I think this is largely true of Anguissa too, and why they need a natural defensive midfielder with them. I haven't seen enough of Lemina to know his instinctive game.

I really don't think it's this binary.

[Skatzoffc]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

This is true, but it's also about instincts. If you're naturally an attack minded midfielder, when the ball is being played in your defensive third, your instinct is to be in space available to receive a pass when the defenders win the ball back. If you are a natural defensive midfielder, you are instinctively thinking about tracking the runners. Players like Cairney, no matter what position on the pitch you play him, will always have an attacking instinct first, and therefore never effective at tracking runners. I think this is largely true of Anguissa too, and why they need a natural defensive midfielder with them. I haven't seen enough of Lemina to know his instinctive game.

I really don't think it's this binary.

I think it is.
Cairney failed to track the runner in both of Palace's goals against us.
He is not defensive mid minded.

We desperately need Reed back asap.
Against stronger teams I would suggest both Reed and Lemina defensive mids to try to hold off the opposition.
with possibly just Lookman for an out ball boosted by the wingbacks

[filham]

The good news is that Anderson could return next week  and with Ream and Adariabioya looking quite good against Palace I think our centre back problems are in the past. Parker now needs to get the right two full backe in place with a regular defensive midfielder and develop a good understanding among the five of them.

[Twig]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

This is true, but it's also about instincts. If you're naturally an attack minded midfielder, when the ball is being played in your defensive third, your instinct is to be in space available to receive a pass when the defenders win the ball back. If you are a natural defensive midfielder, you are instinctively thinking about tracking the runners. Players like Cairney, no matter what position on the pitch you play him, will always have an attacking instinct first, and therefore never effective at tracking runners. I think this is largely true of Anguissa too, and why they need a natural defensive midfielder with them. I haven't seen enough of Lemina to know his instinctive game.

I really don't think it's this binary.

I think it is.
Cairney failed to track the runner in both of Palace's goals against us.
He is not defensive mid minded.

We desperately need Reed back asap.
Against stronger teams I would suggest both Reed and Lemina defensive mids to try to hold off the opposition.
with possibly just Lookman for an out ball boosted by the wingbacks

I think people ignore that we play a highly zonal system. As such a midfielder like TC will, at an appropriate point,  "hand over" responsibility for a runner rather than track back. W3 saw him clearly indicating that he was doing exactly that in the Palace match. Like it or not that is our system.

[rebel]

Andersen just put this on his Instagram. Fingers crossed this is positive!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Blimey 'Bigfoot'!!

[JoelH5]

It's not difficult to track runners - you just need to be alert and not ball watching

This is true, but it's also about instincts. If you're naturally an attack minded midfielder, when the ball is being played in your defensive third, your instinct is to be in space available to receive a pass when the defenders win the ball back. If you are a natural defensive midfielder, you are instinctively thinking about tracking the runners. Players like Cairney, no matter what position on the pitch you play him, will always have an attacking instinct first, and therefore never effective at tracking runners. I think this is largely true of Anguissa too, and why they need a natural defensive midfielder with them. I haven't seen enough of Lemina to know his instinctive game.

I really don't think it's this binary.

I think it is.
Cairney failed to track the runner in both of Palace's goals against us.
He is not defensive mid minded.

We desperately need Reed back asap.
Against stronger teams I would suggest both Reed and Lemina defensive mids to try to hold off the opposition.
with possibly just Lookman for an out ball boosted by the wingbacks

I think people ignore that we play a highly zonal system. As such a midfielder like TC will, at an appropriate point,  "hand over" responsibility for a runner rather than track back. W3 saw him clearly indicating that he was doing exactly that in the Palace match. Like it or not that is our system.

I didn't see this. Out of interest, who did he hand the runner over to?

[colinwhite]

Twig , zonal defense stops at a certain place outside your own box depending on how high the line is. To let a man go on a run into your own box is just very poor defending from Tc. He did it twice against Palace.