Can someone who knows defending, (not you G4), please tell me what CARVALHO was doing for goal no 1 and goal no 3 ?

Watch them again people.

He is paid to be a centre-half.

if you knew defending, why would you need to ask?

I expected more of a defense.

Both from G4 and Carvalho.

Think you're being harsh on Carvo Just. I really don't think he was any worse than any of the others today and a lot better than Cole & Essien.

Don't like to have a go at Essien 'cos I know he is playing out of position, but he was poor although not as bad as Cole who was playing in his favoured position and was dreadful.

As for the third goal, that started when Robben was once again shrugged off the ball and then sat on the ground moaning whilst Spurs broke away and went 3-1 up. I think all three goals were bad today and the blame needs to be spread collectively - not just one person.

look, you think he's a liability, and you never seem to praise him when he plays well (the vast majority of the time). when he makes an error or has a bad game IMO you can't wait to pounce. what can I or anyone else do to convince you otherwise? nothing.

look, you think he's a liability, and you never seem to praise him when he plays well (the vast majority of the time). when he makes an error or has a bad game IMO you can't wait to pounce. what can I or anyone else do to convince you otherwise? nothing.

No doubt. He is a liability.

And in the big games he costs us.

Like today.

Goal 1. Goal 3. Take your time folks. Watch it at your leisure.

big games? like the cup final?

big games? like the cup final?

Goal 1. Goal 3.

And here's a nice big close up of goal 3 with Carvy, (yes, that's our centre-half), running back.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=P8Pyfi1qEQ8

My biggest gripe with Riccky is his bad habit of grabbing anything in the box, which will cost us dearly one day. I did not see the game, and will refuse to see replays for obvious reasons of not wanting to get mad. If Just says that Riccky played bad, then I believe it, but I also believe our entire defence played like SHI*E.

My biggest gripe with Riccky is his bad habit of grabbing anything in the box, which will cost us dearly one day. I did not see the game, and will refuse to see replays for obvious reasons of not wanting to get mad. If Just says that Riccky played bad, then I believe it, but I also believe our entire defence played like SHI*E.

The same goes for Boulahrouz. Imagine my fright when we played Riccy/Boulah in the centre today

If anything I would say that clip actually reduces the blame on Carvalho rather than points the finger of blame at him.

As a centre half you expect a degree of protection from your midfield - today they offered none whatsoever - SPurs were allowed acres of space to run straight at the defence, and were allowed to do so in numbers.

Just - I still accept that Carvalho did not have a great game but the more I watch these clips the more I disagree with your daming assessment of Carvalho as being the main liability. For me goals 1 and 3 were about 70% Diarra's fault and about 30% Carvalho and Essien's

Yes he can expect protection from his midfield, but it doesn't mean he has to go and play there himself !

If you watch the first goal, the ball gets funelled in from the right, (and yes Diarra should have done alot better), and Carvalho goes off chasing the ball outside our area like a school boy. Tottenham play the ball around him and Berbatov slips into the gapping hole Carvalho has left behind him.

I think the commentary from Hansen on this clip is spot on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE2v3QPe ... ed&search=

In essence we are making the same point Just. We both agree that the fault for the goals lies with a number of people, we just disagree a little on how much it falls with one party and how much it falls with another.

Clearly the goals were down to a series of individual errors however I also feel that the concession of goals was an inevitable result of the amount of possession we were conceding on the middle of the park and the amount of space we were allowing the Spurs team to run at us.

I have criticised Diarra already but I have also said I felt sorry for him and I realise that sounds a bit of a contradiction. I think Lamps and Ballack let him down badly in the first half. When there is such an inexperienced head in sucha pivotal role I would be looking for the mroe experienced men to offer him a little more support than Diarra was afforded in that first 45.

Diarra

If you want to have a go at anyone that's where the main problem lay.

Not saying Ricky didn't bear some responsibility but you have to remember that we were playing with a makeshift centre half whose positioning and decision making are nowhere near perfect and that makes his job much harder.

You must also acknowledge that on the whole he has been excellent for us this season.

But Diarra was chasing the ball like a headless chicken and showed that he is nowhere near ready to take on the Maka role.

bit ridiculous this. hes been awesome with jt missing. hes basically walked essien through every game. if he hadnt stepped up when jt got injured, wed be nowhere near mayoo.

Sure he had a sh*t game, but who didn't?

I think the presence of Diarra and Essien made him think he was a midfielder. Honestly though, he was out of position because of many others on the team being out of position. Carvs follows his player out to the left wing, and no midfielder really drops in to cover the area he has left. Thus, he stops, is totally exposed, and we pay dearly for it....the quality is poor, but do Essien and Diarrra pretty much run into each other, and then realise the gap they have left?

Scott

This is the same Ricky Carvallo that has been our best defender this year yeah?

Look, I don't think Carvalho is a liability by any stretch of the imagination.

But, he does need to iron out the one gaping flaw in his game - the fact he feels the need, usually at least once or twice a match, to charge out like headless chicken to try and win the ball in midfield with a spectucular tackle.

He does it every match. Sometimes it comes off and looks great. Sometimes it doesn't but the opposition don't make him pay. Once in about every 5 or 6 matches it costs us a goal.

Just stop doing it, Carvy!

That is the way that Carvalho plays - he anticipates and makes a decision to "nip things in the bud". Of course, he does miss from time to time and they tend to be pretty glaring errors (when it works he looks good, when it doesn't...well, you know). Alongside an experienced centerback like JT, Carvalho is pretty well covered. Alongside a midfield-come-centerback like Essien, I think Carvalho does need to change his tactics a little. Essien is definitely not a disciplined centerback, nor do I expect him to be.

Cheers,

Butch

Look, I don't think Carvalho is a liability by any stretch of the imagination.

But, he does need to iron out the one gaping flaw in his game - the fact he feels the need, usually at least once or twice a match, to charge out like headless chicken to try and win the ball in midfield with a spectucular tackle.

He does it every match. Sometimes it comes off and looks great. Sometimes it doesn't but the opposition don't make him pay. Once in about every 5 or 6 matches it costs us a goal.

Just stop doing it, Carvy!

He can't, and he won't.

I wrote this in another thread.

"I can't get away from the fact that, if you watch him closely, Carvalho still makes these sort of rash errors on a fairly regular basis. The fact is, fortunately, we don't always suffer the consequences. This is mostly down to the quality of players he has around him. And in particular to having the world's best keeper behind him. See the Villa home game for two superb examples of this.

Yes, all players make some mistakes, but world class defenders, the really top boys, like Maldini, like Gallas, like Nesta, like JT have superior positional awareness, don't commit themselves early and, generally, just read the situations better. Therefore, they don't make these mistakes anywhere near as regularly, and are much more solid, conventional centre-halves.

I'll just have to face the harsh truth I'm a bit old fashioned. When I look at the centre of our defence I get a warm feeling of re-assuarance and comfort when I see my centre-half is there. Where he should be. Hopefully, marking an opponent. Not half-way up the pitch standing next to my left winger".

He's a Portuguese Lebouef with silly hair. He's not a proper centre half at all.

Just's asessment of him is spot-on.

Nobody had a good game so I would not single anyone out, on a usual day though I think Rikky is as good as almost anyone in the Prem and this season he has been better than ever, ok he is prone to some rash challenges and does lunge in sometimes but these are parts of his game that appear less and less and I believe he will be even better next season.

he's really had to fight this season, and has been excellent. for me I think him and vidic are the 2 center backs of the season...

look at what happened to boulahrouz without terry... and look at how essien played without ricky at anfield... at times the guy has been our entire defence, what with ferreira not favoured and with zero confidence we've had to play midfielders at rightback, essien central and usually cashley at leftback, who for the best leftback in the world hasn't been great, let's say... now it says something about ricky that not only has his form been better than ever, but our defensive record has been about level with last season's and equal to a first choice united defence of evra, rio, vidic and neville.