Full Backs that can defend

Good luck with that.

Most these days are more like wingers who try and defend a bit.

Andre wisdom on loan would do for me

To be honest I never thought Figueroa or Baines to be good defenders.

How many pictures exist of our early years in the Premier League of a goal being scored with Bainsey on the near post looking baffled, arm outstretched.

Anyone remember Chimbonda at Charlton that first season being absolutely lost as their wingers ran at him?

I have no problems with backs going forward, overlapping down the wing, or whatever. But their primary role is to keep that ball away from the goal – launching it into the proverbial row Z (I’m OK i’m in row T) if necessary.

Completely agree about Figueroa (Didnt he mostly play as a LM for Honduras before he joined us?) and Chimbonda who was always better going forward but I think Baines stats speak in volumes over the past 3 seasons and I am of the opinion he is one of the only players ever to leave us in the PL and actually take his game to another level.

Putting aside he has had the biggest fantasy football points haul out of all premier league defenders for the third season in a row , he created 116 goal scoring opportunities over the course of last season (more than any other player in the top 5 leagues in Europe) and created 8 chances in the Aston Villa game alone (last seasons PL record) He also made 92 succesful tackles last season with only 5 players in the whole of the Premier league completing more tackles.

That last statistic speaks volumes in comparison to all the CB’s, FB’s and hard tackling midfielders in the Premier League but if you look over all his defensive stats he is up there with the best despite his attacking endeavors.

Completely agree about Figueroa (Didnt he mostly play as a LM for Honduras before he joined us?) and Chimbonda who was always better going forward but I think Baines stats speak in volumes over the past 3 seasons and I am of the opinion he is one of the only players ever to leave us in the PL and actually take his game to another level.

Putting aside he has had the biggest fantasy football points haul out of all premier league defenders for the third season in a row , he created 116 goal scoring opportunities over the course of last season (more than any other player in the top 5 leagues in Europe) and created 8 chances in the Aston Villa game alone (last seasons PL record) He also made 92 succesful tackles last season with only 5 players in the whole of the Premier league completing more tackles.

That last statistic speaks volumes in comparison to all the CB’s, FB’s and hard tackling midfielders in the Premier League but if you look over all his defensive stats he is up there with the best despite his attacking endeavors.[/quote]
Sorry Salford, I’m with Garswood on this.

I always much preferred Steve McMillan to a young Baines.

I’m sure Baines is very much improved these days, but he always looked a bit suspect when defending in my opinion.

For me, Melchiot is the most reliable out and out full back we’ve had in the Premier League.[/quote]

Thats because Steve Mcmillan was class ! :woohoo:

Shame he had such a terrible time of injuries with us.

He wasnt as good defending for us as he has been for Everton, like I said I think he has gone to another level since he played for us and I just think his defensive ability is sometimes washed over due to his attacking proficiency.

I often hear “Yeah Baines is better going forward but Ashley Cole is a better defender” which is simply not true when you look at the stats between them for the past 3 years Baines comes out on top when you could consider Chelsea’s defending pedigree to be an advantage to Cole.

All in all it should be an exciting time for us from a defensive point of view as if we are being honest it is something Martinez struggled with in his time here.

I am fairly sure Martinez always wanted to play with a back four but quickly realised the players at his disposal were always up against it without the extra man in the center of defense.

He probably wanted a similar back four style to Barcelona but if you compare the likes of Alves to Boyce and Caldwell to Pique you can see where they not only struggled with a lack of mobility compare to Alves and Pique but also struggled to cope with the fact that apart from one deep midfielder they would spend the majority of the game with the rest of the team pushed too high up the pitch to have any defensive impact.

We were very suspect when teams played the counter attacking game against us take Townsend for example running faster with the ball than he would for a winning bet but if you look at all the space he had in front of him all he had to do is run in Figeuroa’s direction and say I fancy my chances against this guy.

The same player with the same pace would have took one look at Puyol or Pique and hesitated.

I think if Coyle can get a solid back four with the type of Full back’s that Garswood mentioned i.e. can go forward but are defensively responsible after their own forward runs then there is enough creativity with the likes of Mcmanaman, Gomez, Maloney, Beausajor to create a very good balance.