the defender thread

[__wowza]

OH SHIT - A POLL

given the depth of the team this year (speaking of which, did i mention how happy i am with the depth of the team this year?), we have nearly a full squad. we've filled 30 out of the possible 32 available roster spots with 11 of those spots being filled with defenders (not including the number of times we've had mid players cover fullback positions).

you could do a poll on any of our positions and who should take starting 11 spots, but seeing as how defense has really been an issue for us that we're trying to solve this year, let's put this to the test:


who would you like to see in our starting back four & why?

[Yeoman]

omphroy should be up there with what i saw of him in the reserve game
he had a decent first touch and ball crossing ability unlike, well gargan in the same position

[dupont]

Didn't Borman do that awful giveaway that led to an easy goal for DC United? That was just terrible.
I voted Williams, Eckersley, Cann, Attakora. I really hope Attakora comes out of his slump though.

[__wowza]

personally i LOVED what i saw from dicoy, if williams maintains his current form (he only had one balls-up on saturday) i can see him replacing attakora permanently and killing any sort of planned comeback. he looked way too comfortable with cann for his first game.

[ManUtd4ever]

Based on the performances of all the defenders thus far (albeit in limited minutes in some cases), I have been most impressed with Eckersley, Williams, Cann, and Yourassowsky. That being said, Attakora and Borman should also be rotated as part of the starting back line over the course of the season.

[Nuvinho]

Do you mean Defendor? Woody Harrelson?

[Bars92]

Support Ginger baps, Eckersley is yer man!!

[MartinUtd]

personally i LOVED what i saw from dicoy, if williams maintains his current form (he only had one balls-up on saturday) i can see him replacing attakora permanently and killing any sort of planned comeback. he looked way too comfortable with cann for his first game.


It was hard not to vote for Dicoy but I still want to see more of him before I decide to put him ahead of Attakora. Either way I like what I see not just from him but from the fact that Winter and Co plucked this guy out of relative obscurity along with several of the other stand outs this season.

[__wowza]

It was hard not to vote for Dicoy but I still want to see more of him before I decide to put him ahead of Attakora. Either way I like what I see not just from him but from the fact that Winter and Co plucked this guy out of relative obscurity along with several of the other stand outs this season.

whatever way you slice it, it can only make attakora up his game. he's 22, and has the very possibility in front of him that he'll be benched for the remainder of the season if he's outperformed.

also curious that outt've 35 people, 34 have put eckersly as a starter.
a testimony of his performance echoing his overall ability?
or a case of "at least he can start instead of dan gargan" syndrome?

[TFCtoMUFC]

Eckersley - Cann - Williams - Attakora

[ManUtd4ever]

The roster depth on the backline (relatively speaking) should motivate Winter and Mariner to deal some excess baggage in order to accomodate the acquisitions of an attacking midfielder and a striker.

At this point, Harden and Gargan should be dealt to open up 2 valuable rosters spots, even if they are domestic slots.

[__wowza]

At this point, Harden and Gargan should be dealt to open up 2 valuable rosters spots, even if they are domestic slots.


harden i really wanted to believe in, i really did. last season he had a solid block of games before his leg got gashed. he came back and then sucked since then. it wasn't the injury. gargan used to be a goodwill ambassador for the club, people loved him but the love was eventually phased out when his lack of composure and skill started flaring up. "release the gargan" is going to have a new meaning come july.

as for a striker, i think we have a good target man in terms of gordon. plata is fast as fuck and martina shows flashes of greatness every now and again. columbus couldn't solve him for 60 minutes. i think we'd need a midfielder first and foremost, we need someone who can put a play together and get the ball forward, but that's for a different time. i'd love to see an offensive thread started up. *wink wink nudge nudge*

[Jack]

Based on the performances of all the defenders thus far (albeit in limited minutes in some cases), I have been most impressed with Eckersley, Williams, Cann, and Yourassowsky. That being said, Attakora and Borman should also be rotated as part of the starting back line over the course of the season.

This is what I was going to post.

[trane]

^ I agree with that as well, those six are a solid rotaion. Keep it at that, unless there is injury. I would start Cann, Attakora, Williams, Eckerlsley. Attakora can play as a full back. But I would be happy with those 6 game in, game out..

[GhostKiller]

Adrian Serioux.
What was the question?

[Dreadlocks]

This is what I was going to post.

Ditto

[Yohan]

I really like Danleigh Borman, even though his crossing is erratic and his defending is questionable sometimes. last game he really stretched Columbus defence during 1st half with well time runs on the left flank

[flamehawk]

Adrian Serioux.
What was the question?

Man, I would've loved having him back. He's not even that old at 31.

Bit of a mystery to me as to why he hasn't been able to find a new club.

[Wull]

Youra-Cann-Attakora-Eckersley. I thought Nana was back to his old self against DC otherwise I have no issues with Williams being in there

[bigtfcfan]

just no gargan or harden and i'll be content

[spark]

personally i LOVED what i saw from dicoy, if williams maintains his current form (he only had one balls-up on saturday) i can see him replacing attakora permanently and killing any sort of planned comeback. he looked way too comfortable with cann for his first game.

Ehhhh I don't know if I'd go that far. He would have been 100% responsible had Rogers finished his chance, from where I was sitting gave away a near PK or Free Kick at the top of the box to start the second half (ref missed that one, maybe trying to keep things even!) and his distribution was not good. He might put in some good games but that would come down to the opposition and overall looks like a ticking timebomb.

I would not hype up a Cann/Williams partnership on this outing - they were both extremely lucky Columbus were s.hite at finishing.

[DichioTFC]

Eckersley---Dicoy---Cann---Yourass

Only gripe I have with Winter at this point is that this backfield hasn't been implemented yet.

[DichioTFC]

^ I agree with that as well, those six are a solid rotaion. Keep it at that, unless there is injury. I would start Cann, Attakora, Williams, Eckerlsley. Attakora can play as a full back. But I would be happy with those 6 game in, game out..

I was thinking about that too, but I don't think Nana can play fullback in this system. Winter demands the fullbacks to attack deep in enemy territory and track back to defend streaky wingers. I don't think Nana has the pace / stamina necessary to do that. It's the reason why Gargan's been out of position so much, he's been trying to get upfield at the wrong times.

[__wowza]

I was thinking about that too, but I don't think Nana can play fullback in this system. Winter demands the fullbacks to attack deep in enemy territory

same reason why i enjoyed watching yourassowsky, he makes solid runs for a fullback. now if only he could keep his head.

[Mr. Bigby]

Man, I would've loved having him back. He's not even that old at 31.

Bit of a mystery to me as to why he hasn't been able to find a new club.


Retired. Now a (short haired) comentator on GOL TV.

[lobo]

same reason why i enjoyed watching yourassowsky, he makes solid runs for a fullback. now if only he could keep his head.

keep his head? why are some people thinking yourass is a problem? can't see that he's done anything yet to earn that.

[Maltese Falcon]

same reason why i enjoyed watching yourassowsky, he makes solid runs for a fullback. now if only he could keep his head.
He plays well on the left side with borman but christ he has to put the ball into the box earlier

[Island Man]

Attakora---Williams---Cann---Yourassowsky

[druid]

keep his head? why are some people thinking yourass is a problem? can't see that he's done anything yet to earn that.

Sent off twice by our second game, including preseason. Not a great record.

I was watching Eckerlsley closely for the brief time he played. Hard to say how his defending is but he looks to have a vertical leap of about two inches. I don't think he won as single header against their fullback. That could be a real weakness.

[cochrdoc]

Ekerlsey has more votes then any of our fullbacks and he hasn`t even played there yet.If we can get this and our center backs sorted out and gordon healthy we might start winning some games

[UltraSuperMegaMo]

Wow, we got a lot defenders.

[ecospice]

Man, I would've loved having him back. He's not even that old at 31.

Bit of a mystery to me as to why he hasn't been able to find a new club.

I have heard rumours that he was a cancer in the locker room and that his knee is shot.

[ACSertL]

I voted:

Borman--Attakora--Williams--Eckersley

[Dreadlocks]

also curious that outt've 35 people, 34 have put eckersly as a starter.
a testimony of his performance echoing his overall ability?
or a case of "at least he can start instead of dan gargan" syndrome?


I think it's anything but Gargan.

Eckersley represents the only right back that we have on the team - aside from Gargan, who in all fairness is a holding mid/utility type player.

So Eckersley it is!

[prizby]

i voted for all of them but Harden...frankly it can't get much worse if you have any combination of the 4

[JJSFC]

I thought that Eckersley looked superb coming off the bench the other day. Solid!

[hodgkiss]

beast:


-------------------gordon------------------
stevanovic-------------------------martina
--------tchani----------------santos-------
-----------------deguzman-----------------
borman--------------------------eckersley
-------------cann---attakora--------------
--------------------frei---------------------