Defence

[Prando]

Dreadful last night. Urgently need the return of Clarke to provide some positional direction. AJ was the best of a poor bunch.
Time to rethink and replace Bartley by Clarke. Townsend has looked poor at LB and is clearly better in the more forward role enjoyed earlier in the season.
Would Bartley manage at LB ? Can’t fault Kyle’s commitment and undoubted heading prowess, but as a result of his positional weakness and pace he is now clearly targeted.
Not sure whether any of the new boys could fill that LB role

[Leicesterbaggie]

As I've stated in another post, we really have missed O'Shea and Clarke. Sadly, we will be without O'Shea but Clarke will be back after the break. I agree with you Prando that Bartley hasn't been as solid this season and Townsend is much better as a wing back. Hopefully Clarke will stabilise the back three and might help out Bartley. I don't know enough about our young central defenders to know whether they could come in and be an improvement in what we've already got. I don't think that Bartley would be the answer at left back.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

Clarke back on the left of the back 3 is a gimme. Then it's Townsend or Reach at LWB. Ajayi does a lot of good stuff but every match there seems to be a big mistake waiting to happen Can Bryan play right?

Not even Pulis would have Bartley at FB. They have to be able to turn quickly to match up with wingers, overlap and cross. None of which he can do.

[mickd1961]

The simple fact is that you cannot play three at the back in every game.

Inflexible managers make my p I s s boil.

[Leicesterbaggie]

The simple fact is that you cannot play three at the back in every game.

Inflexible managers make my p I s s boil.

That was a point I made in another post. At half time we should have changed to a back four as we looked like conceding every time Stoke came forward.

[saltnshake]

To be fair up until last night the defence hasn't been an issue recently, I do agree Clarke coming back in will help as Townsend is a better wing back than Reach, Bartley's lack of pace was exposed last night but that wasn't helped by the fact the 3 centre halves seemed to be playing miles apart from each other meaning there was a lot of space for the Stoke forwards to run into. I am more worried about other parts of the team than the defence.

[TipperaryBaggie]

A back three only works if the players have pace and the ability to read the game. I'm afraid our back three have neither. Bartley should only be considered if we resort to a back four.

[Barrera]

To be fair up until last night the defence hasn't been an issue recently, I do agree Clarke coming back in will help as Townsend is a better wing back than Reach, Bartley's lack of pace was exposed last night but that wasn't helped by the fact the 3 centre halves seemed to be playing miles apart from each other meaning there was a lot of space for the Stoke forwards to run into. I am more worried about other parts of the team than the defence.

Yes me too - creativity for example. Not replacing Pereira with that type of player ..... and lack of a quality CF .... our biggest two weaknesses IMO .... Val is doing a decent job on a shoestring .... but we won’t roll teams over every week playing the way we do.

[kettering_baggie]

A back three only works if the players have pace and the ability to read the game. I'm afraid our back three have neither. Bartley should only be considered if we resort to a back four.

Yes, agree, our back three just don’t have enough pace to play this system consistently and I hate this practice of using the goalie as a sweeper; we will concede to many goals with this system for us to finish top two. O’Shea is a massive loss.