Rebuilding Notts County's Defence

[Lullapie]

We need to start by bringing in a tough, experienced centre half who will lead on the pitch and then build the defence around him
Someone like Flint at Mansfield or Mcfadzean who joined Coventry when they were in L1 or L2 and helped them up through the leagues

The problem is that the system that has been adopted at Notts, doesn't allow for defenders who's sole attribute is tough tackling. Even our goalkeepers have to be footballers.

If you bring in someone like Flint (and god knows where you'd find someone like him available), he would fail in our current system.

It's not about winning the ball currently, it's about holding onto it.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

The problem is that the system that has been adopted at Notts, doesn't allow for defenders who's sole attribute is tough tackling. Even our goalkeepers have to be footballers.

If you bring in someone like Flint (and god knows where you'd find someone like him available), he would fail in our current system.

It's not about winning the ball currently, it's about holding onto it.

You have hit the nail on the head LullaPie and the solution to the problem is to go out there and get better that fits the style we are looking to play. One / Two Who defends better and distributes the ball better. I'm sure they are out there its just a case of finding them and coaching them. It's a shame that Baldwin could not learn to leave the brain farts out of his game. There still time for Cameron though as he has time on his contract to improve his frailties. I like Cameron and hope he rises to the challenge ahead !

[OchPie]

The problem is that the system that has been adopted at Notts, doesn't allow for defenders who's sole attribute is tough tackling. Even our goalkeepers have to be footballers.

If you bring in someone like Flint (and god knows where you'd find someone like him available), he would fail in our current system.

It's not about winning the ball currently, it's about holding onto it.

I really hope, and I don't think, that last sentence is right.

Our system is about controlling possession. We're at our best when we take risks in attack and, if we lose the ball, move heaven and earth to get it back again. The alternative is the "play the ball around the back 40 times" approach which is what the players sometimes default to but which is, I believe, absolutely not the system we're supposed to be playing.

Some of our system is about harrying the ball carriers up the field (and inevitably leaving space), but some of it is about winning the ball back in defence too. And frankly we're a lot better at the first than the second, especially when a team comes at us - overwhelmingly we block and we try to pinch, but we don't really tackle. Most of our defenders stand off until a shot goes off, the ball is intercepted, or a goal is so likely they give away a penalty trying to stop it.

I haven't watched enough of Flint to know specifically but I have definitely seen defenders who can do the above better than ours, playing for L2 teams. They may not be as good at ball distribution, but we can still have players in our back line who are good at that too. The good hard tacklers know how to thread a simple pass to someone else.