Just back

Quoted from Bigdog

Who is this Cropper that everyone's talking about? Can't be the one we played last season. That one is ok defensively, not as quick as Efete, not as good in the air as Efete, can't beat a man, is not a good passer or crosser of the ball but has a long throw. Solid enough, but we certainly haven't got a Trent waiting in the wings. Efete's ceiling of ability is far higher than Cropper's but his confidence is low. For what it's worth, he wasn't even our worst full back on Tuesday, and with Smith's performance he was pushing Waterfall for being our best defender, although that was a low bar. He did check out a couple of times but we had no one in the box or just Taylor with four or five Swindon back. In the first half we were struggling for any possession, so instead of going on a fanciful run and eventually giving the ball away with a cross to no one, he probably did the right thing by settling the game down for us. He definitely looked better second half with JMD down his side, whereas Kiernan is a workhorse who flatters to deceive. And it was Efete that put in two extremely good crosses near the end, one that we nearly got an equaliser from. If you think long throw ins are the answer then great, but if you think a confident Michee Efete is far better than Cropper could ever be, then be a little fairer in your analysis. Reading this thread it seems to me that he's being singled out when over the past couple of games there have been several in a Town shirt that have given far worse performances than him, midfield and advanced wide areas especially. Green, Maher and Khan are going to play larger roles in our starting eleven going forward as are McAtee and Morris and that's going to help one or two others that are under par at the moment as our starting eleven becomes stronger and more like PH envisioned it as he put the squad together..

Quoted from ginnywings

I think Kiernan spends too much time occupying the same space as Efete. He's so keen to run back and do his defensive duties that they end up too close together; a problem that doesn't arise with JMD, who I think works better with Efete.

Of course, JMD won't track back as much as Kiernan, which is presumably why Kiernan gets the nod, but for me it's a failed experiment and needs changing, especially at home. I feel Efete is athletic enough to make up for the defensive shortcomings of JMD, a player who just makes things happen.

We may be a bit more vulnerable with JMD in the side, but we will be more threatening also. If Kiernan was producing, then no argument for having him in the side, but he isn't scoring or making goals. His end product just isn't there, whereas on Saturday, despite JMD not getting into the game much, he stretched their defence 2 or 3 times, brought a full length save out of the keeper and did one of those shoulder drops and changes of direction that completely threw their defenders.

I think PH sounded like he had lost a bit of patience judging by his post match interview and I expect there will be a shake up. I hope so anyway.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Might have misheard it or even dreamt it, but I thought I heard Hurst say Cropper was back in training and close to a return?

Quoted from diehardmariner

Is that Clifton and Glennon as wingbacks with Khan operating slightly ahead of Hunt and Green?

If so, I like the idea of that especially in the midfield.  My only worry would be how effective Khan can be in that central role when we've only seen two halves of him in wide positions.  Even last week I said I couldn't see a deviation from a back four because of how effective it has been.  Part of that, was the ability of our fullbacks to influence the game from deep.  That hasn't happened for a bit which arguably negates the need for a back four.

Quoted from Bigdog

Who is this Cropper that everyone's talking about? Can't be the one we played last season. That one is ok defensively, not as quick as Efete, not as good in the air as Efete, can't beat a man, is not a good passer or crosser of the ball but has a long throw. Solid enough, but we certainly haven't got a Trent waiting in the wings. Efete's ceiling of ability is far higher than Cropper's but his confidence is low. For what it's worth, he wasn't even our worst full back on Tuesday, and with Smith's performance he was pushing Waterfall for being our best defender, although that was a low bar. He did check out a couple of times but we had no one in the box or just Taylor with four or five Swindon back. In the first half we were struggling for any possession, so instead of going on a fanciful run and eventually giving the ball away with a cross to no one, he probably did the right thing by settling the game down for us. He definitely looked better second half with JMD down his side, whereas Kiernan is a workhorse who flatters to deceive. And it was Efete that put in two extremely good crosses near the end, one that we nearly got an equaliser from. If you think long throw ins are the answer then great, but if you think a confident Michee Efete is far better than Cropper could ever be, then be a little fairer in your analysis. Reading this thread it seems to me that he's being singled out when over the past couple of games there have been several in a Town shirt that have given far worse performances than him, midfield and advanced wide areas especially. Green, Maher and Khan are going to play larger roles in our starting eleven going forward as are McAtee and Morris and that's going to help one or two others that are under par at the moment as our starting eleven becomes stronger and more like PH envisioned it as he put the squad together..

Quoted from pontoonlew

It’s the same Cropper who played a massive part in our successful play off campaign (and quite a few games before that too).

One of his throws is worth 90 mins of Efetes current threat going forward and it’s not like he’s miles behind him defensively.