Jack Cork

[ashleyb5443]

Yeah I feel really sorry him. Probably earning around 25k a week, he must be feeling hard done by.

[Turkish]

Which games did this happen in?

 

I think to summarise his post what he's saying is that on occasions last season some of the best strikers in Europe made runs at our defence and on the odd occasion the opposition scored with shots from just outside the box.

[S-Clarke]

I think to summarise his post what he's saying is that on occasions last season some of the best strikers in Europe made runs at our defence and on the odd occasion the opposition scored with shots from just outside the box.

 

Cheers for the debate.

Edited 18 October, 2013 by S-Clarke

[Turkish]

Is that not what you said then?

[hans gruber]

MP has strengthened the spine of the team and Wanyama is a key reason for the Goals against reduction.. very little gets to the back four whilst he is blocking off all avenues of attack..

 

As much as I am not a huge fan of how Wanyama is a bit ponderous on the ball sometimes and his offensive passing (if you could call it that) is very good. this statement about him is absolutely correct.

 

What would be better if we could somehow get a hybrid of the best bits of Cork and the best bits of Wnayama.... Now that would be a brilliant footballer. Victor Cork or Jack Wanayama? hmm

[Wes Tender]

It's a lot to do with Wanyama in my eyes. Last season we were too easy to play through, if you shrugged off Cork or Morgan (And they're good players, but can be quite weak) then players were through and running at the back 4. So players like Jos and Fonte were made to look a hell of a lot worse than they are, because they had players like Rooney and Van Persie running directly at them!

 

You also had situations whereby the balls would break on the edge of the box and the opposition would try all sorts of long shots, which did sometimes go in, and it didn't exactly make the GK look great.

 

Wanyama shields the back 4 a hell of a lot better. He's hard to get the ball off (when he doesn't give it away that is!!!) and he's a very powerful shield who will stop a player in their tracks. If you also notice teams don't really have an opportunity to hit shots from outside the area either, as Wanyama is hot on the hills to break it up and clear it.

 

I think, if anything, Wanyama's addition has been underestimated by some. He may not look pretty, but he's doing a very commendable job. He gives a platform to players like Boruc, Lovren, Fonte etc to do their jobs a hell of a lot better. He gives us the defensive foundation to build from.

 

It's easy to make points about players last season when the situation in the team has altered quite substantially since then. Jos has been replaced by Lovren and his partnership with Fonte has developed so that they are a much better unit than Jos and Fonte ever would be. Boruc has also proven to be a very good keeper, and the understanding forged between him and his two CBs is largely responsible for the improvement in our defensive record. Add in that Shaw and Clyne when they both play, are also more solid and add an attacking dimension out wide and these are all factors that go towards making our defence so solid.

 

I dispute your opinion that Cork and Schneiderlin are easy to shrug off the ball and both players are very good at gaining possession by their tackling ability. So which is worse, losing the ball when other players from your team are often close by to tackle back, or to give the ball away by a wayward pass to an opposition player who is often in acres of space?

 

I am yet to agree that the Wanyama/Scneiderlin partnership is better than the Cork/Schneidelin one. It might become that, but I don't think it is there yet. The defence is tighter, but the number of goals scored has also declined, probably due to us being slower to get the ball forward. In my opinion, Cork was better at that than Wanyama.

[Restark19]

Morgan said himself in that interview in French that his partnership with Wanyama needs time to develop to get to the level of understanding that he has with Cork which is understandable