richardsfoxes Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 What has happend to him, im 20, ive been a season ticket holder at leciester for 12 years now, people will proberly disagree with me on this, id say he was one of the most naturally gifted defenders ive seen here last season. A mate of mine is a liverpool supporter and said when we got him on loan, he was going to achieve big things. I watched him play in league 1 and thought wow, i was skeptical because it was league 1, so when we got promoted and we signed him on a permanent i was suprised yet extremely excited about him, my mate was raging "Rafa this rafa that", last season towards the end, he was immense, when we didnt go up, i presumed instantly he'd go, to someone like Everton, a good premiership team pushing on, if i remember rightly didnt erm Stuart Pearce speak publicly and say he thought hobbs was an amazing talent and was considering him for a england u21 spot?. This season he's just looked so out of sorts, i dont know if it was Pearson going, sousa coming in, maybe he's like Fryatt where he needs someone to really believe in him and put his arm around him, i dont know all i know is he's an amazing talent and i just hope sven realises this and gives him more time in the team to prove himself.
cairnsy Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 Old school big strong defender with poor ball controls, not good as Sousa bummed passing 24/7. Hobbs didn't play well meaning his confidence went down. Starting to play better with Sven but was best with Pearson as his mentality with defenders are if u get the ball kick it as far as u can away from our goal
Kitchandro Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 As I've said in other threads, it's not helped that the defence has been changed almost non-stop all season. He's been in and out of the side, and when he's been in it, he's played next to Bamba, Vitor, Moreno, Morrison and Davies. This chopping and changing would make it difficult for any young player to find form. IMO he's the best defender we've got and he didn't win player of the season last year for no reason. He's hardly been completely useless in any case, he's been good half the time and poor the other half of the time. The defence has been poor as a unit all season because it hasn't been settled (well at first it was because we didn't replace Brown and had no organisation whatsoever). Sven needs to show faith in him because he's got bags of potential.
cc_star Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 1) First qtr of the season was the most defensively tactically inept manager we've ever had 2) Sven has dropped him whenever ANYone else has been available 3) When he has played he's played with more partners than most defenders do in a whole season 4) For all Wellens possession & Abe's harrying of the opposition our midfield often leaves our defence open as we focus as a team on exciting attacking play rather than Pearson's 'defend as a unit' approach Combine them all together & what have you got? The perfect recipe for a drop in form
orangecity23 Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 I rate Hobbs highly, but for most of this seaon he's been playing on the left hand side of central defence, which doesn't seem to suit him so well. He's fine when making clearances, but when he gets forced into the channel and on to his weaker left foot, it makes life harder for him, especially with his passing. If he was playing on the right hand side, he'd be more comfortable on the ball and slot better into our system of passing the ball out from the back. This would mean Bamba moving to the left side of the pairing, and since his ball skills seem a little better than Hobbs, he might get on alright on that side. Also, with the faster Bamba next to Berner, and Hobbs next to the speedy Naughton, the whole defence might be a little more balanced, and not have a 'weaker' side, as the left has become in recent weeks.
Kitchandro Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 I rate Hobbs highly, but for most of this seaon he's been playing on the left hand side of central defence, which doesn't seem to suit him so well. He's fine when making clearances, but when he gets forced into the channel and on to his weaker left foot, it makes life harder for him, especially with his passing. If he was playing on the right hand side, he'd be more comfortable on the ball and slot better into our system of passing the ball out from the back. This would mean Bamba moving to the left side of the pairing, and since his ball skills seem a little better than Hobbs, he might get on alright on that side. Also, with the faster Bamba next to Berner, and Hobbs next to the speedy Naughton, the whole defence might be a little more balanced, and not have a 'weaker' side, as the left has become in recent weeks. Interesting point The crux of it for me is that Hobbs and Bamba would be a good centre back partnership in the Prem if they were performing to their best (against manchester City they were both immense) Sven should give them a chance, maybe swapping sides would be the answer, but in any case, he needs to give them more than 4 games together to develop an understanding.
marbelladave Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 The debate rumbles on, but I remain somewhat bemused by some of the comments. Hobbs was a decent stopper last year, his confidence was high and he was rarely asked to do anything complex, like pass the ball or bring it out of defence. This was the way our whole defence played, gave away few goals but gave our forward players very little to work with in the way of decent possession, the hoof was very much the order of the day so we made few chances and scored fewer goals. Pearson produced results that were actually significantly better than our performances probably deserved and is to be commended for the determination and fighting spirit he brought to a pretty limited team. Throughout this season we have been developing a more attacking, passing game, and the defence has to contribute in an entirely different manner, by playing a higher line, passing the ball out of defence and in the case of our fullbacks playing in a much more attacking style. This has affected Hobbs more than anything else, suddenly he is being asked to play far more 'technically' than was ever the case under Pearson, difficult enough on its own but when you add in the fact that he is playing mostly on the left, which he clearly does not like and seemingly having a different partner every other week, it is hardly surprising that he has struggled. Personally I think he has done well at times, less well others and given that there is much less cover for him than was the case last season, many of his errors have let players in on goal, sometimes with disastrous results. The fact that Bamba was slotted straight in on the right, no attempt to try him on the left, strongly suggests that Sven sees Hobbs as a backup player at this time, the arrival of two players, Mee and Norales, to contest the left center back spot is further proof of that. At this time I would go with Sven on this, we need a decent settled back 4 and with Bamba a shoo in I do not think Hobbs is, as yet, up to the job on the left so for the time being I see him as Bamba's understudy.
shailen Posted 24 January 2011 Posted 24 January 2011 Form is temporary, class is permanent He will be back
Ross 'LCFC' Turner Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 too many changes in the back four, last season he had a solid partnership with wayne brown and the season before michael morrison so they knew how each other worked this season hes had to partner vitor and moreno who both speak portugese so the language barrier is always gunna cause problems. he had a winning mentality, playing for a successful liverpool youth team, then coming to leicester winning most games in leauge 1 and then continueing that good form into the championship, this season the defence has been leaking goals left right and center, so playing in a back line loosing every week and conceding atleast 2 every game will knock your confidence. i also believe him playing left center back is another reason why he hasnt been the same player, obviously brown played there last season and tunchev played there in leauge 1, hes a right footed defender so will find it uncomfortable using his left foot for a majority of the game. i think pearson is a big factor too, being a former defender himself you can tell pearson spent alot of time working with the defence as to why we didnt concede many, pearson was a motivator and a good man manager who had a lot of time for the players, pearson found hobbs and developed him so i can imagine pearson had alot of time for hobbs who was probably the first name on the team sheet last season, hence why he captained the side a few times. i cant see sven being the man manager type, so i think hobbs is playing with alot of insecurity knowing one mistake and hes out the side without any reasurance or the backing from the manager
The Year Of The Fox Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Anyone thing his confidence has been nocked severely after the playoff semi? (though he did nothing wrong I know)
gibwarrior1988 Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Anyone thing his confidence has been nocked severely after the playoff semi? (though he did nothing wrong I know) No. I honestly believe it is the fact that he hasnt had a chance to bed with whatever centre back he has been paired with, I hope Sven tries Bamba on the left, but at least gives them a good run together. Hobbs is a class act and his confidence will return as soon as they get a good run of games, then we will all be commenting on a future England player again. :-)
bluebeau Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 too many changes in the back four, last season he had a solid partnership with wayne brown and the season before michael morrison so they knew how each other worked [/b] Exactly so! We should remember that Jack is still learning his trade, he's a young guy & has a promising future. IMO he works best with a 'Wayne Brown' type partenering him, Brown was a talker & probably was a big help to Jack. I think he can form a good partnership with Bamba, 'cos he is also a talker, but he does need a bit more time to form this partnership . I agree that maybe Jack is playing on his weaker side. However, I'm in no way criticising Sven, he knows what he's doing so I trust his judgement. We will certainly need to improve the defence if we do manage to get into The Premiership.
Bob Weasel Fox Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Hobbs will be back to his best soon im sure of that
marbelladave Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 As I said earler, I remain somewhat bemused by the 'love in' for last seasons defensive unit. Firstly it was clear, quite early on last season, that the Morrison/Hobbs partnership was going to have trouble in the Championship, primarily due to Hobbs having to play on the left, pretty much as now. The Hobbs/Brown partnership was formed with Morrison moving to full back and this became our prefered option even though there was a quite obvious downside in footballing terms. Our back 4 invariably played deep and was usually covered by a 4 or 5 man midfield all given strict defensive duties. Effective to a degree, a lot of our defending had a 'last ditch' quality about it, more importantly the urgent 'clear your lines' policy instilled by Pearson gave our forward players little to work with. The long ball to Howard and Fryatt was our primary weapon, but when that stopped being effective, around December 2009, we started to falter. Pearson tried to adjust in various ways including a brief attempt at 4-3-3 but settled on a pretty negative 4-5-1. Our form faltered quite badly but the massive spirit instilled by Pearson won us points that our performances really did not deserve and we managed the play off spot. Given the quality of the squad at his disposal and the lack of resources this was a monumental achievement by Pearson but whether he could improve on that and get us promotion this season was never put too the test, an interesting debate in it's own right. The requirements of this seasons attacking, passing style have placed much greater 'technical' demands on our defenders and Neilson, Morrison, Kennedy and to a large degree Berner have all been deemed inadequate, Hobbs being the only player from last season to feature quite regularly. The lack of a decent pre season and the upheaval under Sousa left Hobbs in particular trying to adapt his game to the 'new football' but the requirement to play on his less favoured side, to play a higher line without much help from midfield, to play a more thoughtful passing game all within the confines of an ever changing and often makeshift back 4 would stretch anybody. I still think Hobbs to be an acomplished defender, but to really progress he needs to improve his footballing skills and regain the confidence that made him an outstanding defender last season. I do not think that playing in an unsettled and still evolving back 4 is the way to do this, for me he needs to drop to the bench where he can cover the right sided positions while we stabilise, I am sure that he will be able to step up when needed once we have a settled system that is confident and playing well.
Edmund Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Awaits Davie G's right footed defender playing a left CB role rant
ibbosuk Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Form is temporary, class is permanent He will be back But not with Leicester City..........
Corky Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 One game Hobbs can look unbeatable, the next all over the place. I like him, he's a no-nonsense player but his distribution isn't the best (not that he's alone). He had a tough start to the season and Sven wants to bring his own players in and see how they perform. I don't think he wants Hobbs to go or doesn't rate him at all, just that managers tend to favour their own signings over players from previous regimes. I think he's got a future here.
cc_star Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 One game Hobbs can look unbeatable, the next all over the place. I like him, he's a no-nonsense player but his distribution isn't the best (not that he's alone). He had a tough start to the season and Sven wants to bring his own players in and see how they perform. I don't think he wants Hobbs to go or doesn't rate him at all, just that managers tend to favour their own signings over players from previous regimes. I think he's got a future here. Says a lot for the club & our coaches if he hasn't
Roy Cropper Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 He does himself no favours. His performance in the man city replay was embarrassing.
fosseman Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Now Davies has returned it looks like the end for Jack at LCFC.
davieG Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Awaits Davie G's right footed defender playing a left CB role rant When someone answers it or I see someone in the team who actually looks comfortably and competent at left CB I'll stop asking the question and since when has asking a question in polite and considered manner become a rant. So which of Bamba and Davis will do that for us because I can't envisage either of them being happy to be the others deputy. Pot and Kettle coming from a could'n't let it lie DJ fan
Les-TA-Jon Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 If i were Hobbs - i'd have been pretty gutted watching that Millwall games and seeing the replacement was Ben Mee....... Poor touch, poor postioning, slow reactions, awful in the air at times. One good tackle on Morison.
Fox1651 Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 errm up the Hobbsy - he is quality and that will shine through again soon im sure ( either that or he will be sold)
Bob Weasel Fox Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Its strange why Hobbs hasnt been as consistent this season but im sure he will come good again in the future
gibwarrior1988 Posted 25 January 2011 Posted 25 January 2011 Its strange why Hobbs hasnt been as consistent this season but im sure he will come good again in the future it's not stange at all. He hasn't had a run of games with a consistant defence. that's it.
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