Not Another One Captain

[Manofpride]

Keogh is the best of the centre backs and that's what worries me!

[ramspride]

[quote="swaledale"]The poor form calls are a bit harsh, he's the best of all our CBs by a long way.

He may have made a misplaced pass last night, but the Chelsea player still had to get his shot though 3 bodies plus grant. Anyone other than a top 4 Prem team and there wouldn't have been a goal, it was a quality finish.

The tactic of him bringing the ball out makes a massive difference to our play, and without it we are too predicatable. It's something he's obviously been told to do, and is generally very succesful at it, because he picks a simple pass at the end of it. So he is never out pof position when doing this. The only time he is out of position is when he's covering for one of our other defenders.

I also disagree that he should hoof it out of defence everytime there is a bit of pressure, it just invites pressure back. The only person that should be doing that is Grant or if the defender is back-tr

[swaledale]

I don't agree that everytime he brings the ball forward it often has disastrous results, the players surely play to the tactics that the coaches set out? If Keog goes forward then other players cover?

The problems generally start when we don't do that and start dwelling on the ball or passing it sideways on the edge of the box, then we get closed down quickly, Keogh or anyother defender running out with the ball puts the opposing team on the back foot.

On Tuesday he was not udner pressure at the side of the area and hit a poor clearance, if he'd brought the ball forward he might have avoided that, but these things happen.

We have at this level a good set of centre backs, as is evidenced by the fact we have the third best defensive record in the division, sure we could get better ones, but would they be available and could we afford them?

[wristslasher_909]

We need some stats here (Ella?)!

Keogh is being unfairly criticised.

How many times during a season has Keogh lost the ball in the way described above and the opposition have scored?

I don't think it's anywhere near as many as some people are suggesting.

Every goal in every game of football is down to an error of some kind. Every team concedes goals, so therefore there are going to be errors.

During the course of a match there must be hundreds of errors, mis-placed passes, incorrect movement, poor decision making, etc., etc.

Your average fan only sees the error made by the centre back, goalkeeper, or the striker because they are the players in the pressure positions, and if they make a mistake a goal is scored or a chance is missed.

Keogh is being singled out in this thread unfairly. He is a very good defender.