saintant

Assume he's not fully fit. We'll struggle without him.

Oh dear, what a howler - almost gets away with the first one but then proceeds to compound it. Glad we aren't the only ones letting in ridiculous goals 🙂

No he didn't. He gave nothing away although the player did mention they have some sickness within the squad.

Let's hope the majority end up in Cov's net.

I don't dispute the fact that we have a shit defence and have advocated elsewhere that we need to get rid of them all bar THB and that includes the goalkeepers.

For Norwich's second goal the cross is in the air for around 3 seconds so no reason for Bazunu to be rooted to his line rather than coming out to catch or punch it. I'm pretty sure in those 3 seconds he could have taken the few steps and jump but no, he'd rather stay glued to his line.

I see in the presser for Coventry Alfie House tried to question Tonda about the goalkeeping position but he wouldn't be drawn. He more or less said he is happy with the squad including his goalkeepers. Ringing alarm bells that unless he's just keeping his powder dry and towing the party line because the world and his wife knows we have among the weakest (if not the weakest) keepers in the league.

The slightly frustrating thing from my point of view is that, having taken commanding leads in a number of games, I would then expect the oppo to leave gaps as they throw men forward to try to get back into the game. We do not seem able to set up in a way to exploit these gaps and I get we make substitutions but for me the set up is the problem rather than who is on the pitch.

He won't be.

We didn't.

Their fans are very confident which isn't surprising. One of them reckons Lampard has said that Bazunu is having a torrid season 🙂 Prepare for lots of low shots from the edge of the box.

He'd need to play like prime Lionel Messi to trump his total lack of ability as a goalkeeper.

The point here is that we need a plan B and the quicker that is developed on the training ground the better. Right now Tonda is a one trick pony and, if the opposition decide to block us in with a high aggressive press we don't have an answer. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching our games. Isn't doing the same thing and expecting a different result the sign of insanity?

Maybe 5 wins in 7 could have been 7 wins in 7. Ever think of that?

It's a forum where people discuss the good and the not so good. Not that difficult to comprehend. When we play well and win you will see praise. When we play badly and lose you will see criticism. That's how it works. Same on forums at every other club.

Coventry will be a big test for Tonda because teams are starting to expose our weaknesses. Think they'll press us high and hard from the start and try to pin us back and wait for the inevitable errors. It's pretty evident we don't have a plan B so if the THB quick ball into midfield to get us attacking is sniffed out we'll struggle. Time to ditch playing with 3 centre backs in my book and try something different.

He'll have worked his way through a number of goalkeeping coaches who will have tried and failed to teach him the basics. Another reason to call time on his tenure and bring in an actual goalkeeper.

Thought it would be less than that.

Glad it's that because it's certainly working a treat isn't it 🙂

You and I must watch different games 🙂

Well I think it is a kind of Russball. We try to play out from the back and get THB (mainly) to hit a pass to AA or Fellows who have dropped to receive it and get on the turn to move us up the pitch. When we are allowed to do it it looks great. The problem is when teams decide to stop us doing it by committing more players into an aggressive high press so we end up pinned in with no out ball other than a long punt towards a diminutive forward. West Brom did it for the whole second half and more and more teams will be doing it.

Coventry have some big forwards who are scoring goals for fun. Can't see our defenders stopping them and then there is our weakness in goal.

Yeah, they worked out that if you kick him all over the pitch and the referee doesn't get his cards out you nullify him.

If we are serious about building a good side we simply must be ruthless and sort out our defensive frailties. That means replacing pretty much all of them bar for THB as we concede far too many goals from mistakes. It's major surgery but must be tackled because the likes of Stephens, Wood, Edwards, Manning, Wellington, Mads and our goalkeepers are simply not good enough (jury is still out on Quarshie). We can't do it all at once so the obvious place to start is by bringing in a competent goalkeeper. Just by doing that I'm convinced it will improve the performances of the defence because it must be hard playing in front of Bazunu. Let's get a centre half to partner THB, two good full backs and start playing with a back four. Easier said than done I know but it needs a rebuild.

The simple shot he let's slip from his grasp is a real shocker and it's something he seems to do on a regular basis.