Is our defence good enough to win this league.

I have faith in MacGregor, Tav, Goldson and Borna. Katic isn't good enough in my opinion. Helander and Edmundson it feels too soon to judge.

So for me it depends how well Helander and Edmundson turn out.

I know some criticise Tav and Goldson. They might get caught out occasionally, but the modern game involves centre halves passing out from the back and full backs attacking. They both do that superbly 90% of the time, and the times they do it well more than compensate for their odd mistake in my opinion. I don't think we are likely to get better than either of them. There are defenders that play out from the back and attack and get it right 99% of the time, but they are playing for clubs like Barcelona & Liverpool.
 
Yeah I think it is. It’s about as good as we can afford. I can’t see it getting a whole lot better without ploughing serious money into it. We’ll be vulnerable at LB if Barasic goes down, but otherwise we have two good players for every position.
 
Our defence is more than good enough to win the league.

We conceded the exact same amount of goals in the league as the mentally challengeds.
 
Feels like deja vu here with my thoughts as I've been moaning about this since Gerrard came in.

We need a centre half who is comfortable taking the ball into midfield or we will continue to struggle to break teams down who park the bus.

Edmundson isn't ready yet, Helander is capable but too slow to do it, Goldson is guilty of losing possession when doing it & the less said about Katic with the ball at his feet the better
 
Its been the keystone cops at the back this season in about 10 games.
How many times have we known the other team would score,quite a few such ad 2-2 aberdeen.

For me that sense of dread has been nothing to do with our defence, but the fact that forwards and midfielders couldn't hit a barn door on the night, let along the target. It also comes from watching useless possession football that offers no penetration and leaves you one pass away from putting the defence under unnecessary pressure. Defending starts from the front backwards.
 
Lack of creativity and goals from midfield cost us big time. I’d be focusing on improving that end of the pitch first.
 
We need goalscoring midfielders to chip in 10+ a season. That’s the main difference between us and the scum.

we can’t play with three defensive minded midfielders unless it’s v the wcum

we need more goals from wide players and number ten

Kent doesn’t score enough

Maribor could provide the spark from the midfield three
 
In 2020 alone (in the space of 10 domestic games)

Kamara at Tynecastle in the league
Long ball over the top v Hamilton in the cup
Long ball down the middle v Killie
Katic at St Johnstone
Tav at Tynecastle in the cup
Goldson v Hamilton at home

Lowest in the league or not, It's happening far too regularly.
Compared to what? The best defences in world football? Our Xg against and goals conceded is as good as any recent title winning side. Pointing out some particular goals doesn't change that.
 
Goldson is not consistent enough to win the Championship. Anyone who thinks he’s good needs to watch his individual errors in the Celtic, Aberdeen & Hamilton games again.

He’s my biggest worry as he seems to be Gerrard’s favourite player. I hope some Championship Club bids for him...I’d take the 3 million & run.
Take a look at my last post.

And 3 million? FFS that would be a shafting.
 
The defence only looked iffy last year when the forwards stopped scoring

it happens at every level. If you don’t score it puts added pressure on the defence and mistakes are more likely.

can always improve ok every area of the team, but if we’d been clinical up the other end I doubt anyone would be criticising the defence
 
Take a look at my last post.

And 3 million? FFS that would be a shafting.
Do you honestly believe Goldson has improved? He’s played every week so it’s been very beneficial for him individually but I don’t see a better player than his first 6 weeks with us. That’s why I’m worried about our coaching team.

Going by this thread we are are still well off a winning team, some reckon we need to improve defenders, others say midfielders & most are saying we need to create & score more. It’s worrying Bears.
 
Our defense is in general fine better back up for rb/lb required but it's not or issue.

We have a midfield that can control games but not creative enough or score enough.

We have a tremendous dous player up front in Alfie who when on fire is unplayable but he needs help. He can at s create his own goals with sheer presence.
 
mo
Just because our defence have the same goals against that mob that does not mean we can have a better defence.

As stated the yahoos don’t lose as many match defining goals as we do .
Re

That's because they score more goals and have a winning mentality.
How many games have they won in the last 5 minutes or injury time.
There were quite a few last season.

Their midfield and wide men score 10 to 15 a season that's what cost us the league we just don't score enough goals
Just look at Kents numbers or aribo etc no where near the filth.
We need morelos to produce or we struggled
His goals dryed up and we had no answers
 
mo
Re

That's because they score more goals and have a winning mentality.
How many games have they won in the last 5 minutes or injury time.
There were quite a few last season.

Their midfield and wide men score 10 to 15 a season that's what cost us the league we just don't score enough goals
Just look at Kents numbers or aribo etc no where near the filth.
We need morelos to produce or we struggled
His goals dryed up and we had no answers

Not that surprising when you’re playing your best winger and your best number ten in the wrong positions.

Also need to factor in the midfield three in every game, all very similar players and all being asked to do similar jobs.

A lot of our problems come from Gerrard’s tactical naivety.
 
No, we are weak from the right and left . But you replace those wingbacks and you lose threat going forward

The midfield And AM stats are an absolute disgrace compared to across the city. We are lucky to hit 10 between them all season. That lot are scoring well north of that each.
 
Yes of course it is. Every team has a few dodgy games, that’s fine. Our issue is we really only had 1 proper goal threat. We need the midfield to step up and contribute. The amount of games we just lacked any cuting edge Was scary.
 
Same goals against as the team who were top of the table when the league was ended. 14 clean sheets for McGregor out of 29 games we played, would say it’s the strongest part of our team
 
centre defence is a difficult one. A lot want 'an old fashioned CB that sticks his head in'.
Know what they boys cant do... pass the ball on.
You focus on a CB who can play from the back then likelihood is he will get bullied in the SPL (for me Cardoso fell into this category) You get someone who is physical and can play.. he wont be in our price bracket.
 
I'm not a great fan of goldson but he's not a bad defender makes the odd bad choice or has a lapse of concentration unfortunately it usually ends up costing a goal. Tav offers so much going forward but makes really basic defensive mistakes. I would like to see us try a back 3 against the weaker more defensive teams.
Id agree, there is games i would like to see us sacrifice a defensive player, for an attacking penalty box striker, and go two up front. If we have someone who occupies 1 of the other teams CB (or even both) then it would free up so much space. I also think it would ease the rotation on Tav & Borna, as the drop in quality when we play the same system without them is huge.
We also seem to throw a lot of crosses into the box under gerrard, would be good if we had an extra body in and around the penalty spot to get on the end of it. So many games last year the number of wasted crosses was ridiculous
 
I think our defence is the strongest part of our team and doesn't need upgraded unless we sell. It's the other end not putting teams away
 
Anyone saying our defence isn’t an issue, knows little about the defensive side of the game. Oh and stats don’t always paint the correct picture, in fact it can throw you off the scent in certain circumstances.
 
No.
But it is vitally important we get a goals return from our offensive players rather than relying on a main striker all the time.
 
I think the 6 regulars are up to it, could do with cover for full backs though.

key is finding a way to protect tav a bit More and scoring more from midfield.
 
McGregor needs to come for more cross ball from corner / free kicks to help the central defenders / he’s glued to his effin line most of the time
 
We should be scoring that many goals that the defence should be sufficient most games but a slightly better defence needed for the closer games.

Last season, we had too many games where we didn't create a big enough gap that our defence starts to shit it and make stupid mistakes.
 
Simply no. Look at when we have won throughout our history. By not conceding. Tavernier cannot defend well, hence he is not a defender. He is incidentally also an arrogant person without the ability. I have met hundreds of our players in the past 40 years and the only one who matches his ability v attitude was Stuart fecking Munro

Aye. Right.
 
Defence is not our problem it is strength in depth. By the time it got to December Gerrard did not/ could not make many changes even between a European game and Domestic.

That was our problem the wee teams found out that if the narrowed the pitch it made it difficult for us to play. If we could sign Kamberi he looked as if he could open up the game and provide the team with an extra dimension. IMHO he showed enough potential and desire that we could develop hopefully into a really good player.
 
Do you honestly believe Goldson has improved? He’s played every week so it’s been very beneficial for him individually but I don’t see a better player than his first 6 weeks with us. That’s why I’m worried about our coaching team.

Going by this thread we are are still well off a winning team, some reckon we need to improve defenders, others say midfielders & most are saying we need to create & score more. It’s worrying Bears.
I don't know if he's improved, but that's beside the point entirely.
 
McGregor needs to come for more cross ball from corner / free kicks to help the central defenders / he’s glued to his effin line most of the time

To be fair mate at 38 years of age hes probably not going to change the way he has played his whole career:))
 
Goldson, Helander need a good chunk of time together to judge.

Doubt we can get much better.

Hate doing this and hate when others do it, but would u rather have any of their Centre Half's? Or McKenna, Souttar or Halkett?

I wouldn't. If we sell one then we'll likely replace with the same quality and in a year's time be having the same diacussion.
 
We need goalscoring midfielders to chip in 10+ a season. That’s the main difference between us and the scum.
Hard to argue with that point

Someone in the middle willing to drive with the ball and pull the trigger

Hopefully Joe Aribo can turn into that man but needs to find another gear this season I've no doubt there's more in there if he would just come out of his shell
 
We lose horrific goals, consistently.

Aberdeen away, 2 up - defensive collapse, 2 points thrown away
Kilmarnock away, 1 up, 2 awful second half goals, 3 points thrown away
Hearts away, 1 up, defensive collapse, 3 points thrown away.

That’s just off the top of my head, but the fact is that’s why we are losing leagues. We cannot defend leads, ergo, our defence is not good enough.
That alone tells you there IS a problem.
 
European games aside. The silly defensive mistakes that cost us at times last season, could have easily been prevented if we took our chances when we were dominant. We create loads of goal scoring opportunities but the burden for sticking the bulk of them away, falls on Defoe and Morelos. We don't get enough goals from our inverted wingers or our midfield. You need that. I get that a strikers role is to score goals but when you have a guy like Morelos; who occupies defenders and you continually squander the space he creates. By either refusing to shoot from range or not have players make deep runs into the box then you are on a hiding to nothing. The opposition sets out to nullify Morelos because they know if they do that, then they greatly decrease our chances to score. That's why we need 3 or 4 guys to occupy the opposition.

Defensive lapses can cost you points but when your attackers waste countless chances, then the issue is much broader. We aren't playing for a point or a draw. Often when we get a goal ahead, especially away from home, our attacking output drops and our midfield drops deep. Which is fine but when you have a plethora of attacking options then that's just wasteful. A fine line between preserving a lead and surrendering the match to gift your opponent the attacking onus. Which we do, repeatedly. We are an inherently attacking side but more often than not we allow opposition sides to pin us back, especially when the margins for winning are at their slimmest.
 
Time for them to step up and take the bull by the horns. If you said barasic would become one of our best players at the start of last season a lot of people would have thought you were crazy so dont see why someone else cant step up
 
For those of you who state that we don't have cover at Left Back. Although he would be better utilised in other areas, Aribo proved he can cut it there on the evidence of his two appearances earlier in the Season. He even scored his wonder goal against Braga from that position.
 
Statistically they are good enough... the problem is that most of the choices across the back line have demonstrated an ability to make ridiculous decisions at important times that result in lost goals/points/matches.

Technically our team is just about there - the attitude and the belief in themselves and the team around them needs a lot of work.
 
We have to have a starting 4 one which we know is our best. I think 3 of them will be goldson helander and barisic if we can upgrade on tavernier then that's all the better. We need someone on the bench who can play across the back 4 maybe someone in defoes category who is in the twilight of their career but can come in under pressure and not be bullied
 
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