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Ciaran Clark


TheSufferingVilla

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Could be the final nail in the coffin for him unfortunately. Today was nowhere near good enough. 

 

I agree. He's a talented footballer, but if you're a central defender you need to know where the attacking players are in the box, and not let them run around without following them. Basic stuff which he's had long enough to learn. Does anyone who's watched the second goal again disagree?

 

Just watched it again i agree with that , from the angle of the holte it looked different

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there is no point in making him into a scape goat, only defender who was any good today for us was Hutton

All the defenders, including Sissokho, were fine, except the one who seemed to say "on you go Danny, you run along over there and I'll just stand here with my back to you".

Aly cannot score own goals like that, and be fine. It was a big mistake, I'd argue bigger than Clark's. A player of Aly's level should have been able to deflect it wide of the goal. Anywhere but where he put it. But the second goal was more detrimental to our morale.

I wish to add that I like Aly, and hope he overcomes this mistake and calls it bad luck himself. Other than that mistake he was fine.

Edited by AVTuco
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there is no point in making him into a scape goat, only defender who was any good today for us was Hutton

All the defenders, including Sissokho, were fine, except the one who seemed to say "on you go Danny, you run along over there and I'll just stand here with my back to you".

Aly cannot score own goals like that, and be fine. It was a big mistake, I'd argue bigger than Clark's. A player of Aly's level should have been able to deflect it wide of the goal. Anywhere but where he put it. But the second goal was more detrimental to our morale.

I wish to add that I like Aly, and hope he overcomes this mistake and calls it bad luck himself. Other than that mistake he was fine.

 

 

Apart from that as you say he (Sisshoko)  was fine. I haven't seen it on TV - but the odds on on the ball ending in the back of the net seemed slim ...rotten luck that it just squirmed into the net. Still think he has done far more good things, than bad since his arrival here though.

 

Clark just hasn't progressed IMO - he doesn't seem to excel in area of his game - not great in the tackle, average heading ability, distribution ok  - the odd howler, which look all the worse because you can't yes but he did other stuff to redeem himself...

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Once again we've seen today that Clark just isn't good enough and doesn't learn from his mistakes, we've seen very similar mistakes from him previously. 

 

He didn't cost the game but he cost us a goal and the key goal in my view.

 

HIs movement into marking space rather than the only player in the box was simply terrible defending, terrible.

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I just can't understand what he was doing for the second goal? It really is amateur defending and such poor positioning.

 

I wish I could put my finger on the game but I know I've seen an identical piece of defending from him before.

He seemingly thinks that the LB should be picking up that man and that he can move to the middle of the goal occupying the space but that is the wrong call in my view.

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I just can't understand what he was doing for the second goal? It really is amateur defending and such poor positioning.

 

I wish I could put my finger on the game but I know I've seen an identical piece of defending from him before.

He seemingly thinks that the LB should be picking up that man and that he can move to the middle of the goal occupying the space but that is the wrong call in my view.

 

 

You can understand why he would do that but he shouldn't be doing it if a) he knows that the full back isn't capable of marking the player in the box because he too far up the pitch or B) he has been told to bloody mark the striker himself.

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I just can't understand what he was doing for the second goal? It really is amateur defending and such poor positioning.

I wish I could put my finger on the game but I know I've seen an identical piece of defending from him before.

He seemingly thinks that the LB should be picking up that man and that he can move to the middle of the goal occupying the space but that is the wrong call in my view.

The reason you can't think of the specific moment is because he has done the exact same thing in a number of games.

As you said previously not learning from his mistakes.

Also as someone else said I don't think it a coincidence that in all our recent collapses he has been playing CB

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I just can't understand what he was doing for the second goal? It really is amateur defending and such poor positioning.

 

I wish I could put my finger on the game but I know I've seen an identical piece of defending from him before.

He seemingly thinks that the LB should be picking up that man and that he can move to the middle of the goal occupying the space but that is the wrong call in my view.

 

 

He's basically got caught ball watching there with his back turned to the player when he should probably be touch tight to him and track the run.

It's a bad mistake as it's cost us a goal. I don't think he should be thrown on the scrapheap just yet though, look how Baker played the other day when he'd been roundly written off for similar reasons. I know that's not the popular view but still it's mine :P

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I just can't understand what he was doing for the second goal? It really is amateur defending and such poor positioning.

 

I wish I could put my finger on the game but I know I've seen an identical piece of defending from him before.

He seemingly thinks that the LB should be picking up that man and that he can move to the middle of the goal occupying the space but that is the wrong call in my view.

 

 

He's basically got caught ball watching there with his back turned to the player when he should probably be touch tight to him and track the run.

It's a bad mistake as it's cost us a goal. I don't think he should be thrown on the scrapheap just yet though, look how Baker played the other day when he'd been roundly written off for similar reasons. I know that's not the popular view but still it's mine :P

 

 

My pal (an Arsenal fan) said the same. Why was he not tight to his man. 

 

That said, remember the 3-3 against Everton a couple of seasons back. Clark had a horrendous time looking after Anichebe, he couldn't help getting in tight to him and being bullied by a distinctly average player. He doesn't know whether he's coming or going.

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Baker is a no nonsense defender and at times can look good. He's strong and good in the air and games like liverpool, where we manage to restrict them, allow baker to defend to his strengths.

I'm not sure what Clark offers as a defender? He hasn't developed, he hasn't improved and if I'm honest he's just getting worse and worse. I'm hoping okore isn't far off because Clark is a liability.

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He's basically got caught ball watching there with his back turned to the player when he should probably be touch tight to him and track the run.

It's a bad mistake as it's cost us a goal. I don't think he should be thrown on the scrapheap just yet though, look how Baker played the other day when he'd been roundly written off for similar reasons. I know that's not the popular view but still it's mine :P

 

 

It was such a basic error though and one he has made before and sadly he doesn't seem to learn from these mistakes. He is 25 this week, he has almost 100 appearance there comes a time when you have to say he has had enough chances, he isn't improving, he isn't learning and so he isn't good enough.

 

Its not a knee-jerk reaction, he has fallen short over a prolonged period and shown no signs of improvement that I can see. So much so that he is now behind Baker.

 

Obviously you're welcome to your opinion and I'm not trying to change it just clarifying that my view on him wasn't simply a reaction to a costly error.

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