Everton and Blackburn

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PoolBorn

Well-known member
Having seen bits but not all of the three friendlies my concern is the defence. None of the teams so far has had anyone who has posed a real threat in attack. All of our backs look okay knocking it around when they are not under pressure so I hope that both the next sets of opposition contain people who can provide a proper test. Only then will we have a good handle on the strength or otherwise of this squad.
 
Judging by his post-match reaction Critchley knows how expensive those mistakes could be as well. Be interesting to see if he can address them because all these players have experience and should know the basics of being in a back four and so are they just not good enough and have a few mistakes in them, can he train them to improve their game or does he need to buy better?
 
NAPMer said:
Judging by his post-match reaction Critchley knows how expensive those mistakes could be as well. Be interesting to see if he can address them because all these players have experience and should know the basics of being in a back four and so are they just not good enough and have a few mistakes in them, can he train them to improve their game or does he need to buy better?
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Buy better
 
Right full back appears to be the teams weakest defensive position, central defence looks alright with the Nottingham Thornley partnership,at left back NC is spoilt for choice.
 
Ekpiteta is quality, he has had a fantastic season, I would pick notts, thorniley too, but we have 3 good centre backs!! Plus players who can cover centre if needed, if it's TRUE about the fulham lad, we do still need a cdm who will hold but more creative than Spearing
 
AndrewDuncanSmith said:
Right full back appears to be the teams weakest defensive position.
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There were a couple of times in the game against Barrow where the ball had been passed to Expiteta and he was immediately pressured by opposing players. He needed help from his RB Teddy Howe. Where was he? Sprinting down the touchline like the Clappers into the opposing half!

The full backs have clearly been told to go forward when we have possession, but we have to ensure we really have it before they race off. It's obvious Howe prefers attack to defence, but if he keeps neglecting his defensive duties he won't have a place in the team. If I can see this then I'm sure Critch can too.
 
CoachCook said:
Ekpiteta is quality, he has had a fantastic season, I would pick notts, thorniley too, but we have 3 good centre backs!! Plus players who can cover centre if needed, if it's TRUE about the fulham lad, we do still need a cdm who will hold but more creative than Spearing
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Thought Antwi and Robson were both CDM players and both look very good. Don't think that's a problem at all now.
 
20togo said:
Thought Antwi and Robson were both CDM players and both look very good. Don't think that's a problem at all now.
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I am actually very happy to be struggling to pick a full 11 on what we have at the moment, Shaw, Antwi, both have impressed me, I will pick an 11 once I've seen the Everton, blackburn games. Great situation, at the the moment I cant decide, Antwi has a lot of flair, Shaw most composed young player I've seen with bags of awareness !!
 
We're going to have to live with defensive errors.

Our philosophy is clearly 'start an attack' from all parts of the pitch.

No matter who we get, at our level, we're going to see at least some mistakes when playing that way.

I'm not saying we don't need more at the back, because we clearly do but short of buying the actual VVD we're going to see mistakes.

We will concede goals we didn't need to. We will also score goals we wouldn't have done with a more conservative philosophy.

I want Critch to go all out and go for it. It'll mean we lose some games we might have drawn. I'd take that over drawing games we might have won any day.

Put it this way. It'll be the opposite of Bolton away. I'd rather we'd have attacked for 90 mins then put through our own goal and lost than the pointlessly conservative and cautious way we played that night.

Death or Glory!!
 
Everton are restricting video coverage to ST holders and members. Don't think BFC has said what access it is going to give to our fans?
 
voyeur said:
Everton are restricting video coverage to ST holders and members. Don't think BFC has said what access it is going to give to our fans?
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Doubt we will do that. Think plenty of Everton fans will just tune into our stream if not season ticket holders.
 
Why would they do that, seems poor form. Fans have been massively impacted because of lockdown, allowing a meaningless friendly to be stream free for all their fans should be a no brainer.
 
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