22 Aug 2026 22:48:17
Ipswich up next and Enciso will be licking his lips about playing against Shaw.
23 Aug 2026 00:11:26
Were we more vulnerable down the lb as opposed to the rb side? Both goals came from the rb side, and Lammens made two excellent saves from chances created on the right.
I'm not advocating particularly for Shaw, but there were plenty of players who played a lot worse than he did.
He was not the reason we lost. This negativity around him seems to me to be totally out of proportion, especially since he actually had a pretty good season last year.
23 Aug 2026 01:09:05
I agree, it wasn't down Shaw's side that we had the problem. Mazraoui was up against two and didn't get help to close down the cross, and Maguire was caught in no man's land several times. Maguire did well in an attacking sense, but he just doesn't do the parts of the job he's supposed to do well enough.
It's great that de Ligt and Martinez are both in full training now. We need both back on the pitch asap.
23 Aug 2026 01:36:34
It was slabhead. People advocated for him to stay for his 'experience'. If that is him passing on his experience, I fear for the future players that are learning from him. I've said a million times. We needed to be ruthless and literally churn at least 14 players out of this squad this summer. We failed. End of story.
23 Aug 2026 08:10:34
Neither full back prevented crosses. Said it on live chat; they didn't stop crosses. A lack of fitness to get out to them, or tactics. It happened so often that the full back stood off, it looked tactical.
Almost looked like: let them put the cross in, we will win it back and break down the middle.
What was shocking is that nothing was changed by Carrick at any point; it just carried on all game.
23 Aug 2026 08:17:32
We lost to two crosses that our centre-backs failed dismally to clear. We lost because, as a team, we were miles off it.
My point about Shaw is that he doesn't have the legs anymore, and Enciso does. If given space to run into, Enciso will run past Shaw easily.
23 Aug 2026 09:13:03
Salford
Yet Wilcox and Berrada have still not got a lb in, something obvious for months.
23 Aug 2026 09:31:48
Years, Red Man, not months. ?
23 Aug 2026 09:53:40
JBR
Agreed, and we have known it, but instead of buying quality they have scrimped. Buttner, Malacia, Dorgu and others, then sold one for peanuts to Benfica, who they then got £50m for, and now we are beyond desperation point. Other clubs know it as well, with days left.
23 Aug 2026 12:23:13
Wilcox and Berrada have been here years? Who knew?
23 Aug 2026 12:22:25
Its about fixing our squad in stages.
You can either spend three summers signing a mixture of defenders, midfielders and forwards each summer and try and implement them with the existing players as you go. Or you can dedicate each summer to fixing one area of the team at a time. Both ways have their merits and their challenges.
We seem to have gone for the latter, addressing forward areas last summer, midfield this summer, and defence next summer.
Which means two things for this season.
Firstly, the early part of the season the new midfield will be finding their feet, learning how to play together, finding the right balance and midfield identity. But once they click we should start to dominate/control games much better. Personally I think midfield is the hardest part of the team to rebuild, as it's key to the teams identity and how it functions. Until we get it sorted we won't be as good in attack, and potentially be more exposed in defence. Certainly we will be less consistent at both ends of the pitch.
Secondly, if we aren't going to be making significant changes to defence this summer then our defensive frailties will remain. We know we need fresh blood in both fullback positions. Shaw is our only proven LB, and his injury record is horrific. While Dalot is a solid squad option, and Mazraoui was more of a short term patch. We also know that in the heart of defence we don't have consistency. MdL and Martinez are actually a great duo who complement eachother and offer us a great platform to build from. But both suffer with injuries and miss a lot of football. Beyond them we have Maguire, who is a solid squad option, but has clear weaknesses to his game, and two very young CB's in Yoro and Heaven. Who due to their age will be inconsistent. Some games they will look great, while in others they will look a liability, sometimes they might even look like both in the same game.
Our problem in defence is that two things underpin a good defence, experience and consistency. You can attack as individuals and score in football, but you have to defend as a unit to make sure you don't concede. That is why consistency is important, the same players playing week in, week out, so they know each others game. They know their strengths and weaknesses and how to cover for eachother. While that experience, means that when mistakes happen, which they will, they know how to deal with it.
With out CB options it is highly unlikely that we will have enough experience and consistency to build a strong defence. The best we can realistically hope for is that the game time afforded to Heaven and Yoro this season will help speed up their development, and get them closer to reaching their potential.