Our glaring weakness at LB, will it be fixed?

[Uptop]

Clichy just needs to get his act together again. He has played brilliantly for us in the past but has been poor for a while now. I don't think its due to his age I think he just needs to push himself harder.

Kolarov is not good enough against the top teams. He can't defend well and is not very mobile, poor on the ball and one dimensional going forward. He is useful when he can whip in crosses and for his freekick ability but a LB needs to be capable of defending and he is just not up to our standard.

I haven't seen Sandro or Kurwaza or any of the LB's we have been linked with but getting a middling aged one in this summer aged 24-26 would be ideal to either compete with Clichy or replace him if he cannot find his form. Then we possibly have Angelino coming back into the squad in a year or two as competition once Clichy moves on.

 

[Da_Blu_Moona]

Kolarov has an attitude which STINKS. clichy grafts but I think is very prone to complacency. He would be first choice for me and bring in a young player as understudy next season, if that be Angelino then that's great if not then we have to look elsewhere. Crucial position

 

[abellwillring]

Not been a huge Clichy fan for a few years now since he f'ed up and gave RVP the FK he won the game with against us. He's fast but his defending itself is very unreliable. I love Aleks' left foot.. it's fun to watch him send balls into the box -- anyone we replaced him with would be a step backward in that regard, but he's often a liability and is very temperamental as someone mentioned. I've wanted us to focus on this position for a few seasons now and think it's needed now more than ever before given their ages.

 

[Danamy]

Cut out the personal insults and stick on topic otherwise thread bans will have to come in to play

Cheers

 

[Pokes28]

Last year when Clichy was getting all the starts, I thought he did pretty well. Sure he isn't great, but it is difficult to be great at every position on the pitch. Sometimes good is good enough. Then once Clichy went down, we started having a lot more issues defensively, but I felt we did a bit better on the attack. I'm far from at tactictal expert, but if you are going to have a weakness on the pitch, LB is probably the easiest to mask.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Both were patchy last season although Kolorov finished the season ok.

If I had a choice I would sell Kolorov and bring in a better left back than clichy. He can be back up.

We seem to be overlooking our problem areas last season again in the transfer market. Chelsea won the league for a reason, their defence was excellent.

 

[Credo]

It appears not to be glaring to the manager.

 

[badmash]

LB should really be a bigger priority.

I hope Txiki is working on this or we will be really vulnerable at the back this season.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

It appears not to be glaring to the manager.

it should be?

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

it should be?

And up front i think if dzeko goes with jovetic we are woefully short and take in the possibility of unforeseen injuries we would be in trouble.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

And up front i think if dzeko goes with jovetic we are woefully short and take in the possibility of unforeseen injuries we would be in trouble.

We might be seriously short of quality man power for what could be a pivitol game against Chelsea and dare I say WBA away which won't be easy.

 

[Credo]

The Chelsea game is soon upon us, RM are already playing their best team.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

The Chelsea game is soon upon us, RM are already playing their best team.

Hopefully the club have everything in hand and there won't be an issue, we've still 17 days until the start of the season. The landscape could change very quickly indeed, and in a positive way.

However with the South American quartet unlikely to feature so early due to their involvement in the Copa America.

The injury to Delph, the illness to Bony, Mangala, and the imminent departure of Dzeko and Jovetic, early season games might prove extremely tricky until it all settles down.

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Kolarov finished last season fairly strongly but looks like he's reverted to his early season form. He constantly leaves the left centre back exposed and we're look very exposed when he plays. Wouldn't be upset to see him leave if we could get a high quality replacement.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

Kolarov finished last season fairly strongly but looks like he's reverted to his early season form. He constantly leaves the left centre back exposed and we're look very exposed when he plays. Wouldn't be upset to see him leave if we could get a high quality replacement.

Have to agree he is bobbins.

 

[@BluePhil8]

Kolarov finished last season fairly strongly but looks like he's reverted to his early season form. He constantly leaves the left centre back exposed and we're look very exposed when he plays. Wouldn't be upset to see him leave if we could get a high quality replacement.

It was inexcusable today. The centre backs were 20 and 16 ffs. They needed some strong leadership and support, not to be left high and dry against Bale and Ronaldo.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Both were patchy last season although Kolorov finished the season ok.

If I had a choice I would sell Kolorov and bring in a better left back than clichy. He can be back up.

We seem to be overlooking our problem areas last season again in the transfer market. Chelsea won the league for a reason, their defence was excellent.

I seem to recall ours was fairly good, as well.

 

[PC Percy pinkerton]

Juan Bernat would be a great signing

 

[ChicagoBlue]

You know who else recently signed a new deal? Dzeko.

And, where is he going? I hear all kinds of things, but I still see him in a City shirt!

As for Kolarov, I think it would take a decent offer to get a City to part with him, because we would need an immediate first team level signing to replace him. There isn't an Academy player suitable to step up yet, although I'm not sure I agree with the managers reluctance to keep them in and around the first team squad and blood them in fits and starts.

 

[citymad]

To be honest the whole defence needs an overhaul but this will take time and a lot of money. I think we'll continue to leak goals from set pieces. Hopefully the Keegan approach may keep us round the top 3 but long term we need to have better quality and protection in front of Joe. Kolarov is a poor footballer and frustrating to watch while Clichy offers nothing going forward. It's been a weakness for years but somehow we managed to get by.