Nath182 Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Is that a hunch or is that confirmed though? Obviously he isn't going to solve all of our issues but he will help massively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Get the feeling we have held him back over christmas so he stays fit for the second half of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2013 I think he'll go a long way towards steadying the ship to be honest. He will bring leadership and experience to the back AND it removes Herd from centreback. Two birds, one stone. The team lacks leadership at the moment, meaning they fall to pieces all too quickly if they go behind. They're fragile. Boys doing a man's job. He should help massively with that IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 He will be back for the Southampton game. I hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Agreed. We do need to sign one other CB though as I dont want Herd playing CB for us again! I am also keen to see what Baker can do alongside Vlaar. I think alongside Weimann, Baker can be a real gem for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I think he'll go a long way towards steadying the ship to be honest. He will bring leadership and experience to the back AND it removes Herd from centreback. Two birds, one stone. The team lacks leadership at the moment, meaning they fall to pieces all too quickly if they go behind. They're fragile. Boys doing a man's job. He should help massively with that IMHO. Mind you, he did play in some of our worst defeats before he got injured (Everton 1-3, Soton 1-4, Man C 0-5); and was absent for our run, starting with Reading, of 1-0, 1-1, 0-0, 4-1, 3-1 So it's not a straightforward proposition that we will get better once he returns - even thought it will obviously be good to see him back in the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 2, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2013 It's more the intangibles that we miss at the moment. Plus I think it is that straightforward given that it removes Herd. We can't know if we'd have done better with him during the run or whether we'd have fared better against Chelsea or Spurs but if you watch us defensively in those matches (and Swansea) and how utterly clueless we were at times, you've got to assume that an older head would have kept it more in check. Whether or not anyone believes Clark is the best thing since sliced bread, he doesn't have the experience to steady such a young ship or organise a defence that is struggling. Plus, don't confuse correlation with causality. Just because Vlaar was missing for our good run doesn't in any way suggest he's the reason we went on it, nor does it mean he's the reason we weren't on it while he was here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Whilst I want him back ASAP. How many clean sheets has the Vlaar\Clark pairing kept ?. I don't rate clark that highly. If we don't buy anyone I would prefer Baker as a CB over Clark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Why are our injured players so difficult to find news for? Does no-one have any idea when he is back? The club is awful at communicating simple messages across.. even the OS can be very outdated at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) The defending at times against Swansea was horrendous. The first time routledge went clean through all 4 of our defenders were on the same side of the pitch! How on earth does that happen? Vlaar will help with the organisation of the back 4 which quite frankly has been shambolic recently. As BOF said it also removes herd from defence where he is just a complete liability. I'd like to see a Vlaar/Baker partnership. Or even better Vlaar with a new signing. Edited January 2, 2013 by Big_John_10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I think Vlaar would be relieved with an experienced partner in January even Dunne would probably up his game as before his injury we was Clark babysitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalfTimePost Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I still think Clark will be the best of him and Baker in all honesty. Baker has looked better this season, i'll give him that but I think Clark has struggled to lead the defensive line as captain, I think next season he'll be one of our better defensive performers but shouldn't be relied upon as Captain. That said, i'd like to see a good CB coming in and having Clark/Baker rotate through. Still like the idea of Alderweireld who can play on the right too. In a defensive three Alderweireld-Vlaar-Baker till the end of the season is definitely an improvement upon Herd-Clark-Baker. That Kjaer bloke too, it's been a while since we've had a Scandinavian CB Hero. That said, with a CB pairing of Naldo and Kjaer, anyone know why Wolfsberg have conceded almost 30 goals already? Would have thought that would be a good pairing. Only scored 17 too despite having Diego playing behind Bas Dost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Kjaer has went off the boil since leaving Palermo. was poor in games i saw at Roma last season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I know he isn't a full back, but when Vlaar and Baker are fit I would have Clark at LB. The back line would be alot more solid with a back-line of: Lowton - Baker - Vlaar - Clark. I am in no way suggesting this should be a long term plan, but to give us more solidity at the back I think with the players we have this is the best we could manage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swerbs Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 No way, he was woeful at left back last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Our whole defence has been woeful this season and think defensively Baker, Vlaar and Clark if all fit need to be accommodated as it would hopefully tighten things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 its hardly the defence fault. They defend well but when they have zero protection from midfield.. it causes panic.. they get overrun and outnumbered. Our midfield is the problem. Our defence and attack is decent enough.. problem is the link between them. I still think another CB and left back couldnt go astray though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Vlaar-Clark record W 2 D 3 L 6 Clark-Baker record (Baker as CB) W 2 D 2 L 2 Herd as CB W1 D 3 L 3 As far as I know there are two kinds of centreback template. Playmaking centreback - Rio Ferdinand - and stay-at-home rough-tough centreback - the Nemanja Vidic. Clark is the playmaking centreback and Vlaar/Baker are in the defense-first mold, though Vlaar has a bit more playmaking than Baker. Clark's is not at CB simply for his defensive skill (though I recognise that seems an odd statement) but for defense + ball skills, which helps when passing the ball around. He has best pass accuracy of our CBs at 82%. His better ball skills are shown by the fact he has not been tackled in possession yet this season. His defending style is to anticipate play and intercept balls because he rarely makes a tackle. Vlaar and Baker tackle at higher rate. Clark has only 19 all season. He has got 5 clean sheets though so who is to say that is a bad approach. His major weakness is heading winning 60% headers compared to 72% for Baker and Vlaar, and 70% for Herd (who is 5'8" ! Legend!). Earlier this season Vlaar was just settling into the Premiership from the slower Dutch Eredivise. Could not have been at his peak performance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I still think Clark will be the best of him and Baker in all honesty. Baker has looked better this season, i'll give him that but I think Clark has struggled to lead the defensive line as captain, I think next season he'll be one of our better defensive performers but shouldn't be relied upon as Captain. That said, i'd like to see a good CB coming in and having Clark/Baker rotate through. Still like the idea of Alderweireld who can play on the right too. In a defensive three Alderweireld-Vlaar-Baker till the end of the season is definitely an improvement upon Herd-Clark-Baker. That Kjaer bloke too, it's been a while since we've had a Scandinavian CB Hero. That said, with a CB pairing of Naldo and Kjaer, anyone know why Wolfsberg have conceded almost 30 goals already? Would have thought that would be a good pairing. Only scored 17 too despite having Diego playing behind Bas Dost Naldo's inconsistent as ****, and Pogatetz - who was preferred to Kjær at the start of the season - has been terrible. Kjær's pretty much been wank ever since he first left Italy, but was brought back into the side after Magath got sacked and is at least looking like he's starting to approach the sort of form he showed way back when (and in the Euros). At the very least, his return coincided with an upturn in results. Doesn't help that their wing-backs have been shite as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Baker and Vlaar our best partnership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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