14 Dec 2017 02:32:26
Old Sam's apparently wondering why there's been a sudden upturn in our defensive fortunes. Well big man, it's a one word, two syllable answer - Holgate! ;-)

He gives us that necessary bit of gas in the backline, which then frees up Ashley to play to his strengths. (Us supporters have given AW some justified criticisms for his performances this season, but I'm starting to wonder if these have come from him trying to do too much in those games)

It's also worth considering that our improvement where conceding goals is concerned has also coincided with an improvement in the selection/ balance of our attacking players. Rooney has matured into playing a disciplined midfield role compared to earlier in the season. Sigurdsson is belatedly showing us why we paid £45m for him now that he's our defacto "10". Aaron, whilst not quite the impish winger of his youth, has been the assured veteran on our right, shielding Jonjoe one minute, then bringing him into the game on the overlap the next. And let's not forget Oumar, who I'd argue sparked the improvement in our frontline, with the examples he has set with his sheer determination, and enthusiasm for making the opposition defence work and sweat far more than they would like!

In fact, the only half of football that we've conceded in since Sam took over was the first half of the derby when we didn't really try to attack at all.

1.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 07:12:23
That is a good call Tooting. Doesn't explain why an otherwise class act like Schneiderlin is still playing as if it were his first season out of the academy though. Gueye for me plays a heck of a lot better when Scheiderlin is out of the way because his personality (Schneiderlin) seems to take Gueyes authority away.

2.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 12:04:30
It is also down to players playing in a settled team regularly. Koeman and Unsworth both changed the team every game. Kenny needed a bit of time and Holgate has been magnificent. But the basic team got one result and has had only minor changes since. Now we have a basis for future improvement.

3.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 13:23:24
Correct about Holgate Tooting. I posted the same a few days ago. He has been great and I hope we see him with Keane shortly. Williams is getting better but is still too slow for the good teams and don't get me started about Martina.