The Right-Back Situation

[StanSP]

Pereira is out long-term still. May not be back until September/October? Let's hope he's back as the same player as before and has no long-lasting damage to his knee

 

Justin has done well considering his inexperience. Has adapted well in trying circumstances. 

 

My concern is how long can he play 90 mins back to back and what if he was to get injured? 

 

What's our plan B? Albrighton to slot in? Switch to a 3 5 2 which is, for the most part with this squad, totally untried and untested. When is Amartey due back. He's not the best RB to have but it would be an option from a player that's played there before. 

[Stadt]

Choudhury played there in one of the warm up games didn’t he?

[Beechey]

8 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Choudhury played there in one of the warm up games didn’t he?

Jesus I still have nightmares about Kane turning him inside out

[Countryfox]

One less right back ...   and very very promising apparently ...   

 

 

[Guest]

Justin can play the few games we have left this season.  8 games!

 

Next season will start towards the end of September. Ricardo should be fine then, if not the club are forewarned and can pick up cover in July/August.

 

edit: It seems weird that we have the money to give Jakupovic another extension but won't go high enough to sign Gymafi. Clearly we don't rate him highly enough, I haven't seen enough of him to make a judgement.

Edited 30 June 2020 by Guest

[CosbehFox]

23 minutes ago, FIF said:

Justin can play the few games we have left this season.  8 games!

7 games in 26 days. Ouch

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

7 games in 26 days. Ouch

He's 22 years old. He'll revel in it. If they have to drop him, then there isn't a player in the team who'll be able to play in more than 5 of those.

 

How many games do you expect us to drop Jonny Evans and Vardy (if he starts scoring) between now and the end of the season? 

[Aus Fox]

Which it why I find our choice of personnel on the bench a bit strange, we have 9 subs, would this young lad be moving on if he had made the bench over Bennett in the last couple of games?

The Bennett signing for me is a really odd one and appears to be preventing a young lad getting a run on the bench.

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, Countryfox said:

One less right back ...   and very very promising apparently ...   

 

 

A loss? played 2 U23 games if thats 9 of the 11 for U18s & doesn't want to stay & learn here.
Fair play to him if he expecting to drop down a few leagues or go abroad to try & catch that chance of 1st team football but if the youngman thinks he walking into a Premier lge 1st team because a few papers have mentioned Arsenal & a few others sniffing around, then he sounds a right billy big bolloxs & i'd say see ya lets see how that goes for you.

[dmayne7]

3 hours ago, StanSP said:

Pereira is out long-term still. May not be back until September/October? Let's hope he's back as the same player as before and has no long-lasting damage to his knee

 

Justin has done well considering his inexperience. Has adapted well in trying circumstances. 

 

My concern is how long can he play 90 mins back to back and what if he was to get injured? 

 

What's our plan B? Albrighton to slot in? Switch to a 3 5 2 which is, for the most part with this squad, totally untried and untested. When is Amartey due back. He's not the best RB to have but it would be an option from a player that's played there before. 

If we're being brutally honest, he's been pretty poor. Couple of really good interventions but some suspect positioning and touch at times. If he Chilwell had played like that, I'd hate to see the response on here.

 

Having said that, it's a pretty impossible position for JJ. Ricardo is one of the best full backs and all-round players in the world so we're desperately missing him. He's clearly worried about making a mistake so not offering any attacking threat which you'd imagine is one of his strengths. I think stepping in for Chilwell was ok for him as he wasn't expected to get forward as much and clearly Ricardo is more important to our style of play.

 

Justin is very raw and whilst they're have been some pretty mediocre performances, there's also been some great ones which suggests that there's some serious potential there. This run will be great for his development regardless.

[rachhere]

5 minutes ago, dmayne7 said:

If we're being brutally honest, he's been pretty poor. Couple of really good interventions but some suspect positioning and touch at times. If he Chilwell had played like that, I'd hate to see the response on here.

 

Having said that, it's a pretty impossible position for JJ. Ricardo is one of the best full backs and all-round players in the world so we're desperately missing him. He's clearly worried about making a mistake so not offering any attacking threat which you'd imagine is one of his strengths. I think stepping in for Chilwell was ok for him as he wasn't expected to get forward as much and clearly Ricardo is more important to our style of play.

 

Justin is very raw and whilst they're have been some pretty mediocre performances, there's also been some great ones which suggests that there's some serious potential there. This run will be great for his development regardless.

He seemed more comfortable playing as a wing back. I know we go round in circles a bit re. the 3-5-2 debate, but can't help thinking it would suit us well at the moment - a bit less pressure defensively on JJ, and it would enable us to play Vards and Nacho together. 

[Captain...]

I think Mendy played against Brighton to protect our full backs.

 

532 would give better protection and allow them to attack more, but we are not used to playing that way. If JJ gets injured then Albrighton can slot in as a wing back.

 

Do we stick to what we know, which isn't working at the moment, or risk changing it up and getting even more out of shape. The problem is we have no time between games to work on anything new, especially as we are probably focussing on conditioning to get us to the end of the season.

[inckley fox]

2 hours ago, Captain... said:

I think Mendy played against Brighton to protect our full backs.

 

532 would give better protection and allow them to attack more, but we are not used to playing that way. If JJ gets injured then Albrighton can slot in as a wing back.

 

Do we stick to what we know, which isn't working at the moment, or risk changing it up and getting even more out of shape. The problem is we have no time between games to work on anything new, especially as we are probably focussing on conditioning to get us to the end of the season.

I'm not sure the exact formation or combination of players is our problem. Obviously - as you say - it doesn't help to play unfamiliar formations, or have combinations which haven't previously been successful like a Mendy-Ndidi midfield, or Barnes-Chilwell on the left, but we're dealing with a wider issue. Based on what I've seen the issues are a highly predictable build-up, poor set piece training both offensively and defensively, a lack of movement, and a lack of effort in the press. We could play 2-3-5. 5-3-2, 4-5-1 or whatever, we'd still be struggling.

 

However, regarding shape, you have a point with 5-3-2. It allows us not to play those attacking midfield options (Perez, Barnes, Gray, Albrighton, Maddison) who have let us down higher up the pitch, it makes Vardy less isolated, and it protects the two wing-backs. It also gives you the option of Albrighton as cover for both WB positions. So there are a lot of pluses, even if it means sacrificing one attacking player for a CB (Morgan / Bennett / Fuchs, you'd guess) who, in terms of level, should be some way off the starting XI. If we go for a change, though, I'd like to see us persist with it rather than panic if it goes wrong after one outing.

 

As for further full back cover, is Amartey now well and truly out of the picture? While I wouldn't like to see him anywhere near the midfield, he might be an emergency cover option at RB, rather than signing a stop-gap for the start of the next campaign (if Ricardo is likely to take a month or two to get up to speed).

[Guest]

I assume Vontae Daley-Campbell is several light years away from being drafted in as cover?

[Bert]

They see Justin as Ricardo’s long term replacement. JJ is 21/22. After playing a handful of games all season I’d be worried if he couldn’t managed to finish the season. 

[Fox92]

36 minutes ago, shanetko said:

I assume Vontae Daley-Campbell is several light years away from being drafted in as cover?

Thought there was a couple half decent full backs in the development team?

 

We can't bring in another right back with Ricardo out for a couple months into the new season or else they'll both want to play when he's back.

[Dr The Singh]

Big Wes to the rescue

[Manwell Pablo]

Hamza can sort of play right back can’t he if we really, really need to cover/rotate. I’m sure sharkey could probably do a job as well.
 

JJ not going to be anywhere near as good as Ricardo Is (although looking at the gushing on here after 32 minutes of playing left back in the league cup on here you’d of never guess that that’s the case) but it is what it is, cant exactly go out and spend 8 figures on a replacement now can we. It’ll be good experience for him long term as well.

[Fightforever]

He looked decent inverted in the left but on the right he's an average full back imo. Then again hes still young so we will see

Edited 30 June 2020 by Fightforever

[jayfox26]

Think I'd rather play Fuchs at rb than Hamza or Albrighton. I know it's his weaker side but I reckon hes experienced enough to be able to play there. I think hed be fine from the defensive side but could struggle going forward as he isnt quick enough to shift the ball onto his left foot to cross. I think Justin will play every game though. 

[Chrysalis]

9 hours ago, Manwell Pablo said:

Hamza can sort of play right back can’t he if we really, really need to cover/rotate. I’m sure sharkey could probably do a job as well.
 

JJ not going to be anywhere near as good as Ricardo Is (although looking at the gushing on here after 32 minutes of playing left back in the league cup on here you’d of never guess that that’s the case) but it is what it is, cant exactly go out and spend 8 figures on a replacement now can we. It’ll be good experience for him long term as well.

People seem to be assuming he is here for RB, but his LB performances are light years ahead of the RB performances.

[NewEnglandFox]

I just google'd who Bennet is because I remembered some talk about him on the bench in the FA cup. He's a 30 year old who's made 45 prem appearances for Wolves in the last 2 seasons. WTF.

 

edit: also 3 prem seasons with Norwich.

 

edit2: also WTF

Edited 1 July 2020 by NewEnglandFox

[Manwell Pablo]

5 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

People seem to be assuming he is here for RB, but his LB performances are light years ahead of the RB performances.

 

Not really here nor there at this point in time is it. We need him to play right back at the moment.

[weller54]

5 hours ago, NewEnglandFox said:

I just google'd who Bennet is because I remembered some talk about him on the bench in the FA cup. He's a 30 year old who's made 45 prem appearances for Wolves in the last 2 seasons. WTF.

 

edit: also 3 prem seasons with Norwich.

 

edit2: also WTF

Gordon Bennett!!!

[FoxFossil]

17 hours ago, Dr The Singh said:

Big Wes to the rescue

Power, pace, attacking flair.....

Worth a go I think.