Time to put sentiment aside, back-line needs an overhaul.

[NipHolmes]

Only two seasons ago we won the league with a back-line of Clichy, Lescott, Kompany and Richards.

Now Lescott and Richards do not justify their wages and Clichy is in worrying form. I personally believe we definitely need to part with our two English players but Clichy is nearing the chopping block. I know Lescott and Richards are big charcacters in the dressing room but both are weaknesses that teams exploit now, be it poor passing under pressure or being half way up the pitch watching your team-mates struggle to defend the space that's exposed. I couldn't care a toss what the papers write about us selling English players, if they are good enough then this wouldn't be an issue but right now. It is a testament to Mancini that he managed to make us solid but now with a more attacking philosophy we are being exposed time and again by players that should not be scoring against us. We have made Frazier Campbell look like Falcao and we have made Bardsley look like Jordi Alba when in reality both are bang average players.

Looking back you can see why Mancini wanted Thiago Silva, we should have paid whatever it took back then. A Kompany and Silva pairing is pretty much the very best combination in world football.

New GK, two CB's and LB needed imo. I think Jan and the summer should be used to sort these areas. Garcia has to go too but we knew that already. Our squad is a good one but the summer of 2012 is haunting us 12 months on and we do need a shake-up, and that starts at the back.

 

[George Hannah]

the overhaul needs to start with a good engineer

 

[NipHolmes]

the overhaul needs to start with a good engineer

It isn't his fault!

Looking back I believe Mancini may have set us up so defensively because of how vulnerable we are. He dropped bollocks buying Garcia, Kolarov and Savic and we are stuck with two of them. What is worrying that Kolarov actually looks in better form than Clichy right now.

Pellegrini will guide us into the title race, the season is young yet but we must make movements with our back-line. Quite frankly we have some big-time-Charlies who are pilfering from the club when the draw their wages. Richards and Lescott are on their way out and they know it, both are playing for new deals but fail to stake a claim, instead they make clear why they should be sold.

 

[onceabluealways]

the overhaul needs to start with a good engineer

It isn't his fault!

Looking back I believe Mancini may have set us up so defensively because of how vulnerable we are. He dropped bollocks buying Garcia, Kolarov and Savic and we are stuck with two of them. What is worrying that Kolarov actually looks in better form than Clichy right now.

Pellegrini will guide us into the title race, the season is young yet but we must make movements with our back-line. Quite frankly we have some big-time-Charlies who are pilfering from the club when the draw their wages. Richards and Lescott are on their way out and they know it, both are playing for new deals but fail to stake a claim, instead they make clear why they should be sold.

I like your optimism but if you watched Pelle on the bench yesterday he looked like a manager devoid of ideas and already beat. His whole demeener looked terrible

 

[kippaxblue76]

I've said it many times, we should have signed a world class CH after we won the league, it is obvious to anyone with football knowledge that Lescott/ Richards are not good enough technically and Kolarov is poor defensively, we have spent big money on all other areas of the team apart from the defence and it is now beginning to show. A CH in Jan is a must.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Only two seasons ago we won the league with a back-line of Clichy, Lescott, Kompany and Richards.

Now Lescott and Richards do not justify their wages and Clichy is in worrying form. I personally believe we definitely need to part with our two English players but Clichy is nearing the chopping block. I know Lescott and Richards are big charcacters in the dressing room but both are weaknesses that teams exploit now, be it poor passing under pressure or being half way up the pitch watching your team-mates struggle to defend the space that's exposed. I couldn't care a toss what the papers write about us selling English players, if they are good enough then this wouldn't be an issue but right now. It is a testament to Mancini that he managed to make us solid but now with a more attacking philosophy we are being exposed time and again by players that should not be scoring against us. We have made Frazier Campbell look like Falcao and we have made Bardsley look like Jordi Alba when in reality both are bang average players.

Looking back you can see why Mancini wanted Thiago Silva, we should have paid whatever it took back then. A Kompany and Silva pairing is pretty much the very best combination in world football.

New GK, two CB's and LB needed imo. I think Jan and the summer should be used to sort these areas. Garcia has to go too but we knew that already. Our squad is a good one but the summer of 2012 is haunting us 12 months on and we do need a shake-up, and that starts at the back.

Trouble is, how long before VK is back and then how long before he breaks down again ?
I think this is a very big worry for the club.

 

[Lucky Toma]

Nip, you're normally a very good poster but are you seriously suggesting we completely overhaul our defence midway through the season? When we'll still be in the title chase and with the Champs League k/o's on the horizon?

I'd personally like us to go in for Luke Shaw but is it realistic to think we can grab him from Soton in Jan PLUS loan out/sell Clichy?
Even then he'd be a young lad adapting to our style of play being thrown in to pressurised games without a pre-season bedding in period.

Lescott...a good solid fourth choice to see us through the season. Just need Vinnie and Nasty back and we've got three very decent CBs ahead of him (Demechelis has impressed in past couple of weeks)

Let's give Richards half a season to overcome his injury jetlag and adapt himself to Pellegrini's methods eh? The lad deserves that to say the least.
Yesterday saw him regularly make his trademark five yard sliding run across their back-line that produced so many chances in the past but this time without being used by team-mates. He needs a bit of time to click with Navas in particular and then we can get a fair impression on whether he's a fading force or not.

If that's indeed the case then yes we'll need a new right-back because additionally we cannot expect Zaba to play to his intensity season after season.

But in Jan? No signings for me.

What we need right now aren't new players but games. 7-0 spankings and frustrating 1-0 reverses. As long as each player learns from both we'll be stronger post-Xmas then we bring in a couple of additions next summer.

 

[NipHolmes]

the overhaul needs to start with a good engineer

It isn't his fault!

Looking back I believe Mancini may have set us up so defensively because of how vulnerable we are. He dropped bollocks buying Garcia, Kolarov and Savic and we are stuck with two of them. What is worrying that Kolarov actually looks in better form than Clichy right now.

Pellegrini will guide us into the title race, the season is young yet but we must make movements with our back-line. Quite frankly we have some big-time-Charlies who are pilfering from the club when the draw their wages. Richards and Lescott are on their way out and they know it, both are playing for new deals but fail to stake a claim, instead they make clear why they should be sold.

I like your optimism but if you watched Pelle on the bench yesterday he looked like a manager devoid of ideas and already beat. His whole demeener looked terrible

I think he looked at the team and wondered what the fuck he was seeing. He watched a full-back who has been in the press bemoaning playing time, and expressing an enthusiasm to stay as a no.1 player who helepd us win the title. Instead he saw a deluded player who's lost it since last season look to be a hollywood hero by playing up the field and neglecting to actually do his job. He left Milner out to dry v Bardsley, he was too far up the pitch over a dozen other times, he puts the ball out too often and he actually was trying to order Navas to do his own job when Navas was marking the correct man. The lad wants £100k pw apparently and yet he plays like this, fuck it, fuck him off. I have always liked Richards but his bulky muscle-mass, his heavy touch and his poor work ethic have been the main reason why we struggled on the right hand-side yesterday, we saw a nightmare of a performance from him and that was against the mighty Sunderland, nothing short of criminal what he showed on the pitch yesterday.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

Two weeks ago you were praising Richards and saying we miss him
You have always rated him

Now why the change?

 

[Lucky Toma]

Again got to pull you up on this mate. 'Criminal'? Really? He's back from a sustained injury lay-off and into a side with a different manager with different approaches to when he played last. Give him time.

The lad can be an immense and unique asset.

If that doesnt prove to be the case - and he needs game-time to prove either way - then you're right about sentimentality (aside from wishing him all the very best and always signing his name when he returns home)