tomlynnherrington

Closer to saving it than if he’d dived to his right.

Correct.Meaning what?

I’m 100% with you.

Without trying to be too technical,Pope never seems to be,let’s say elegant,when kicking.His left foot seems to be a tad short of where it should be when connecting with the ball.I wouldn’t say he’s poor when kicking,just not top notch.As for Prickford’s kicking,more often than not his long kicks end up as punts up to the centre forward or Everton’s wide left attacker.BDB would relish such balls coming in his direction.Very few goals are classed as goalkeeper assists.Too much nonsense is spoken about keepers and their ball skills being an integral part of football today.

Errors that lead to goals no.Errors such as not commanding his box or pushing shots back into dangerous areas then yes.These weaknesses in Prickford’s game are only mentioned when they lead to a goal being conceded.

Yep,that’s what my most recent research says.

I had a quick check and it said Geordies were working in Hanwell when they formed Ebbsfleet.

Ebbsfleet United are now detested by the mackems.They’ve just found out,as I have to be honest,that they’re known as The Geordies because they were formed in 1920 by Geordies who were working in the area.By this time tomorrow,mackems will have formed them.

Schar has never been the answer to our defensive problems.For some reason people don’t want Burn in the team based on very little evidence to back up their views.If opposition keepers are forced to play the ball long,a tactic we should use as often as possible,I know who I would want to win the long ball.He’s as comfortable on the ball as anyone we have.

Coloccini was right footed.Bassong yes.

When the player who put the cross in receives the ball,he would have been no more than 10 yards in front of our line of defenders,leaving it too tight to play offside.Schar went walkabout.If there was time to play offside,the shout should have come from Targett,but there wasn’t.

The reason it’s been largely overlooked is probably because Schar left Billing to go walkabout,the way Lascelles has done since arriving,leaving Burn the option of either staying with his own man or attempting to get to the eventual goalscorer.

He certainly was.?

Domi was a left back.Distain was a left footed central defender though.

We’ve rarely had a left footer and a right footer in central defence.I can think of Albert as a left sided player.Any others? Vidic and Ferdinand were both right footed.Hansen and Laurenson.Cabbage Heed and Pallister.Terry and Carvaliho.Keown/Campbell and Adams.Woodgate and Howie.Peacock and Howie.Moncur and Burton/McNamee.

We currently don’t have any central defenders with the attributes you require from a central defender,in my honest opinion. Being honest with you,I had to checkout the three defenders you named.Elvedi seems to have the defensive qualities of Lascelles.Slow and prown to playing out and putting team mates under pressure. Badiashile seems like a good player,in French football,so possibly a good shout from you..Zagadou has been a free agent since early May.Any idea why? I know stats don’t tell you everything but here goes Badiashile 128 games 6 goals Elvedi 204 games 10 goals Zagadou 67 games 4 goals. Neither player would greatly assist our problem of goals coming from our central defenders at corners,set pieces etc.

I cannot disagree.

Can you name three central defenders with those qualities that we should look to sign in January? van Dijk looks settled at Liverpool and Daniel Passarella the Argentinian World Cup winning captain in 1978 is coming up to 70 years old.As Cabbage Heed used to say ‘We are where we are’. We have far bigger problems in midfield than replacing Burn in central defence. So your three choices would be…

Hard to attack the ball when the oppositions best defender (s) are dragging you back.You’d think the other central defender playing alongside him would have notched a goal or two from set pieces,as they’re clearly better in the air than Burn at corners.

Against Liverpool.I would have been in attendance.

Burn gets most of the attention from opposition defenders at corners.I’d like to see him attack the ball from well past the far post,or put the odd corner to him to head back into the danger area.

Burn and Botman in central defence for me.

100% correct.

In an earlier post I addressed our Plan A at corners.( drill the ball at pace into the box) It’s not working so let’s vary them by near post flicks or high to beyond the back post or penalty spot.We certainly have the hight to make things happen from corners.

I didn’t say Botman wasn’t an incredibly good passer but Burn passes the ball quicker,which in your reply,you didn’t disagree with.