Salutory Lesson | Page 2 | Vital Football

Salutory Lesson

Snats said:
Bostwick and Shackell were our CBs for the majority of last season and we had the second best defensive record in League Two. Maybe that will change this season in a more difficult division, but two away games against tough opposition is not a fair sample size on which to make that call.
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Rotherham were tough opposition against whom City had to defend much more (than either MKD or Doncaster) and did so without conceding. Also, it had changed as City hadn't conceded a goal with Bolger playing.

We've now let four in in two games. No, that doesn't prove anything but it does give one food for thought about dropping a player at the top of his form.

My feeling is that if you have a defender (or any player for that matter) in top form you don't drop him - especially with zero goals conceded. Not only does it engender good confidence but it doesn't p**s him off when he feels he has done nothing wrong.
 
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redimpsfan100 said:
Rotherham were tough opposition against whom City had to defend much more (than either MKD or Doncaster) and did so without conceding. Also, it had changed as City hadn't conceded a goal with Bolger playing.

We've now let four in in two games. No, that doesn't prove anything but it does give one food for thought about dropping a player at the top of his form.

My feeling is that if you have a defender (or any player for that matter) in top form you don't drop him - especially with zero goals conceded. Not only does it engender good confidence but it doesn't p**s him off when he feels he has done nothing wrong.
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Plus Bossie probably aint fully fit.
 
And Bolger wasn’t dropped to bring in shackell... as they both played in the Southend game, with boz in midfield.
Bolger was dropped when o’connor came back in as a starter at mk.

Still think Bolger is very unlucky not to be in the 11. Unfortunately Cb is possibly the area where we are strongest atm?
Boz/Bolger
Shackell/Bolger
Shackell/boz
Three very good pairings
 
Fair enough for us to comment on who we want in the team. And yes Bolger in the team - zero goals conceded, Bolger not in the team - 4 goals let in and 2 defeats.
But there may or may not be a slight injury with Bolger, we don't know.
Or all the detailed assessment that goes on indicated that Bossie and Shackell would be the better option in last two games. We can never know if Bolger had played that we may have conceded more than four.

All we can be certain of is that Danny and Nicky make the right call far far more often than the wrong one. And when the wrong one is sometimes made that they learn from it very quickly and ably.

Plus this is yet another new squad they are assembling and the knowledge as to the best first XI is still being acquired.
 
Reminds me of the 1975/76 season when we had three players competing for two places in the team - John Ward, Percy Freeman and Peter Graham. Everybody had their own views on which pairing was better until unfortunately Graham solved the conundrum by getting injured and missing the second half of the season.

I think the best thing is that now, as then, we have a certain degree of strength in depth, and that goes for the situation regarding Andrade and Akinde as well.
 
redimpsfan100 said:
I know we didn't concede a goal with Bolger in the team and had four wins. I also know we have now lost two games and conceded four with Bolger dropped.

What do you know Sincilbanks?
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I know knee jerk reactions to losing 2 games on the trot and blaming a single individual for all the goals we conceded in those 2 games is not sound reasoning
 
redimpsfan100 said:
I know we didn't concede a goal with Bolger in the team and had four wins. I also know we have now lost two games and conceded four with Bolger dropped.

What do you know Sincilbanks?
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I know that may be a little simplistic.

Let’s take a cricket example.

Jason Roy scored 9 in England’s first innings at Headingley.
Ben Stokes scored 8.
I now know Jason Roy is the better test batsman.
 
Sincilbanks said:
You're not blaming Jason Shackell?
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Not at all.

I was merely questioning the wisdom of dropping Cian Bolger after four clean sheets particularly as he was playing so well.

Of course we'll never know if retaining Bolger in the team would have resulted in avoiding defeat or continued clean sheets.
 
redimpsfan100 said:
Not at all.

I was merely questioning the wisdom of dropping Cian Bolger after four clean sheets particularly as he was playing so well.

Of course we'll never know if retaining Bolger in the team would have resulted in avoiding defeat or continued clean sheets.
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On that basis, what was the point in starting the thread?

Bolger in the side - might concede goals, might not.
Bolger out the side - might concede goals, might not.
 
redimpsfan100 said:
Not at all.

I was merely questioning the wisdom of dropping Cian Bolger after four clean sheets particularly as he was playing so well.

Of course we'll never know if retaining Bolger in the team would have resulted in avoiding defeat or continued clean sheets.
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Surely the logic follows
1) Dropping one player is the cause of our 2 defeats
2) The player coming in to replace him is the reason we got beat
 
Nobody is blaming anyone. However it was a perfectly fair question to ask whether it was the right thing to do to change the make up of the back 4 after it had started the season with 4 clean sheets and playing very well. And of the course, DC's answer is yes, it was the right thing to do (that's what he's paid to do) ..... but in my humble opinion I don't think it should have been changed.

That's the beauty of football - it's a game full of opinions, none of which are more or less valuable than another and are what prompts the discussions that keep us all interested and entertained on here.
 
Sincilbanks said:
Surely the logic follows
1) Dropping one player is the cause of our 2 defeats
2) The player coming in to replace him is the reason we got beat
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Sorry to complicate your logic, but. As mentioned upthread, shackell didn’t initially come in to replace Bolger. They played side-by-side in the Southend game, which we won.
 
Sincilbanks said:
Good point, well made...
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Let me re-iterate. I am not apportioning any "blame" on a particular player. I happen to think Shackell and Bostwick are excellent players.

I was merely posing the question: Was it a risky idea to drop Cian Bolger? Particularly after four wins and four clean sheets.

A reasonable question in view of what has happened since he was dropped.
 
RedImp73 said:
Nobody is blaming anyone. However it was a perfectly fair question to ask whether it was the right thing to do to change the make up of the back 4 after it had started the season with 4 clean sheets and playing very well. And of the course, DC's answer is yes, it was the right thing to do (that's what he's paid to do) ..... but in my humble opinion I don't think it should have been changed.

That's the beauty of football - it's a game full of opinions, none of which are more or less valuable than another and are what prompts the discussions that keep us all interested and entertained on here.
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Thank you! Someone with comprehension skills!
 
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