| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? 17:33 - Aug 27 with 3263 views | WeWereZombies |
I know he is not seen as a first choice team member and that he has made a blunder or two of late (probably as a result of sustaining an injury just before one of them though) but would have his experience and maturity stopped a goal of two happening for Leeds ? |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 17:36 - Aug 27 with 3222 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
I don't think he'd have been any better than Clarke, and probably worse. The defence were up against very good players, possibly the best they've faced. I think it's just as simple as that. |  |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:15 - Aug 27 with 3144 views | ghostofescobar |
I thought Clarke was a bit off the pace, which is completely understandable considering how little football he’s played in months. He looked out on his feet before he was subbed. Having said that I’ve thought JD has looked a little bit suspect defensively this season. Nothing major, but players have got in behind him. But we were up against multi million pound players who looked very, very good in attack. |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:28 - Aug 27 with 3098 views | jayessess |
Don't think there's any conceivable right back we could have fielded yesterday who would have had a comfortable time being left one-on-one with Sinisterra over and over again. |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:42 - Aug 27 with 3048 views | Churchman |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 17:36 - Aug 27 by The_Flashing_Smile |
I don't think he'd have been any better than Clarke, and probably worse. The defence were up against very good players, possibly the best they've faced. I think it's just as simple as that. |
I think he’d have done better than Clarke defensively, but I don’t think it’d have made any difference to the outcome. |  | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:57 - Aug 27 with 2982 views | PioneerBlue |
He is injured and wasn’t available for selection |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 20:48 - Aug 27 with 2825 views | WeWereZombies |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:57 - Aug 27 by PioneerBlue |
He is injured and wasn’t available for selection |
Yes, thanks, I do realise that. It was just some hypothetical conjecture..and maybe a stimulus to debate about the hope for a new centre back being someone who has plenty of experience.
Next hypothetical - would we have done better if we had signed Simms and had a ready made replacement for Hirst ? And, yes, I have checked and note that he is yet to score for Coventry (see also Nisbet at Millwall - who we were never in for anyway...as far as we know...) | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 21:11 - Aug 27 with 2783 views | GlasgowBlue |
I've been a great admirer of Janoi since his return to the team, but I think the first three games showed his limitations in the championship.
I don't believe he would have coped with Leeds forwards any better than the playter we had out there yesterday. |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 11:06 - Aug 28 with 2413 views | Darth_Koont |
Possibly/probably.
Changes the dynamic of what we want to do in possession but he’s our best one-on-one defender so should have helped blunt the Leeds attack. He’s also played more as part of the defensive unit alongside Woolfenden and Burgess whereas Clarke and certainly Williams are newer and less bedded-in.
I think part of the adjustment McKenna talks about is understanding how we need to play against teams like Leeds and the quality in attack they had. We faced nothing like that last year so could always focus on what we wanted to do and put the opposition on the back foot. But perhaps we need to be stronger without the ball in certain games. Which also might extend to seeing a player like Harness coming in to shore up the midfield when it gets tight and competitive.
To a large extent we’re in new territory defensively and certainly in terms of finding the right balance against much better opposition. But an exciting and necessary challenge I have every confidence that McKenna and the squad can address. |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 11:55 - Aug 28 with 2320 views | Leaky |
He's injured. Spoke to him at A14 services he was obviously at the game, as he had an Town top on. A lot of Leeds fans there didn't realise he was one of our player's thought he was a fan. |  | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 12:00 - Aug 28 with 2303 views | WeWereZombies |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 11:55 - Aug 28 by Leaky |
He's injured. Spoke to him at A14 services he was obviously at the game, as he had an Town top on. A lot of Leeds fans there didn't realise he was one of our player's thought he was a fan. |
Se my reply to PioneerBlue, I do realise he was unavailable, the nub of the question is whether the lack of a very experienced defender allowed Leeds to run riot for a quarter of an hour. | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 12:16 - Aug 28 with 2270 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 11:06 - Aug 28 by Darth_Koont |
Possibly/probably.
Changes the dynamic of what we want to do in possession but he’s our best one-on-one defender so should have helped blunt the Leeds attack. He’s also played more as part of the defensive unit alongside Woolfenden and Burgess whereas Clarke and certainly Williams are newer and less bedded-in.
I think part of the adjustment McKenna talks about is understanding how we need to play against teams like Leeds and the quality in attack they had. We faced nothing like that last year so could always focus on what we wanted to do and put the opposition on the back foot. But perhaps we need to be stronger without the ball in certain games. Which also might extend to seeing a player like Harness coming in to shore up the midfield when it gets tight and competitive.
To a large extent we’re in new territory defensively and certainly in terms of finding the right balance against much better opposition. But an exciting and necessary challenge I have every confidence that McKenna and the squad can address. |
Clarke played in the majority of our unbeaten finish to the season. So he is definitely "bedded in". | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 13:58 - Aug 28 with 2195 views | Darth_Koont |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 12:16 - Aug 28 by GlasgowBlue |
Clarke played in the majority of our unbeaten finish to the season. So he is definitely "bedded in". |
Debatable if that’s as true defensively. We were on the front foot in all games when Hirst and Broadhead started to make us click as an attacking unit.
In any case, Clarke isn’t as good defensively. Better going forward certainly. | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:32 - Aug 28 with 2142 views | BondiBlue |
Nope. Love JD but the QPR game showed that he might be a player that we have to move beyond to progress. Hence the move for brandon williams maybe. | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:34 - Aug 28 with 2136 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 13:58 - Aug 28 by Darth_Koont |
Debatable if that’s as true defensively. We were on the front foot in all games when Hirst and Broadhead started to make us click as an attacking unit.
In any case, Clarke isn’t as good defensively. Better going forward certainly. |
Fair enough. I get that.
That's why I find it strange that some people believe Clarke would work in a back three. He said himself that he was more used to playing higher up the pitch like Wes Burns. | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:46 - Aug 28 with 2117 views | burnbudgiesburn |
Both our full backs are better at attacking than defensively. 1 on 1 defending is an area with coaching they can both improve.
I don't think Janoi would have coped any better tbh, Williams - a Prem player got done like a kipper by an excellent player. I think JD is worth keeping in the squad though.
Infact it was probably our style of play which gifted 4 goals on Saturday. I have a feeling plenty of teams will sit in with a block against Leeds, much like Birmingham and their 40% possession. That's just not how McKenna wants his teams to play. | | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:50 - Aug 28 with 2107 views | Darth_Koont |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:34 - Aug 28 by GlasgowBlue |
Fair enough. I get that.
That's why I find it strange that some people believe Clarke would work in a back three. He said himself that he was more used to playing higher up the pitch like Wes Burns. |
Yeah, not sure about that at all. He’s a player that looks at his best galloping forward, not so much holding position in a defensive line.
But I trust both Donacien and Clarke as individuals and McKenna to use them in the best way for the team.
And by the sounds of it, Williams *could* be a more well-rounded upgrade on both. | |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 16:23 - Aug 28 with 2021 views | Wickets |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 14:32 - Aug 28 by BondiBlue |
Nope. Love JD but the QPR game showed that he might be a player that we have to move beyond to progress. Hence the move for brandon williams maybe. |
There was talk of Celtic interest in Davis but I'm not sure if they got told to get lost or otherwise! |  | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 17:43 - Aug 28 with 1975 views | Stewart27 |
I think the question even being raised means that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. | | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 17:56 - Aug 28 with 1942 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 18:28 - Aug 27 by jayessess |
Don't think there's any conceivable right back we could have fielded yesterday who would have had a comfortable time being left one-on-one with Sinisterra over and over again. |
I bow to KM’s knowledge (obviously!), but I thought we were a bit naive in going one on one with them. He calls it brave of course, and I suppose it is when it works. They didn’t give us that luxury - they hunted in 2s and 3s.
But then we’ll do well more often than we do badly playing the way we do. And there’s very few teams who’ll have that pace and quality running at us, as you say.
I think we put Saturday down as a learning opportunity. We’ll need to be a bit smarter in similar situations. And I’m sure we will be looking to learn and improve from it. |  |
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| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 23:00 - Aug 28 with 1829 views | Facefacts |
Goal 3 was the guy waltzing past Clarke alarmingly - who is also carrying an injury - as if he wasn't there. Goal 4 was Williams - who hasn't played for a long time - done up like a kipper, almost tangled up in his own feet. So I can see why you ask the question, hypothetical as it is.
Our full backs clearly get no training against players of this quality so they have to just learn on the job. Shame jD had to miss this one. He would not have been as bad as the others. But good enough to stop them, probably not.
I do think the defence is weaker without jD so there is a general point to be made, too, that as we lose key players to injury, we will find it very difficult to maintain our place in the top half of this league.
This is going to be a season of finding our feet at this level, and seeing if we can identify some realistic targets in the next couple of transfer windows.
I'd be amazed if we managed to bring in another striker and central defender at or above our current level, in the next week. Odds are stacked against it, huge cost of quality, FFP, remote Ipswich, all coming into play now. Would like to be proved wrong but I think we will have to be patient. |  | | |
| Was Donacien a notable absence yesterday ? on 08:24 - Aug 29 with 1685 views | CityBlue |
You could argue that Clarke would have prevented the fourth goal but to be fair to Williams, he had literally only just stepped onto the pitch. |  |
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