Match against Shrewsbury highlights full-back problem
Leave a commentFebruary 20, 2012 by joshilan14
Since the shocking 6-3 defeat at home to Burton Albion at the end of Ocotber, Lawrie Sanchez has fixed the Barnet defence; this has resulted in the Bees conceding a measly 12 goals in the 19 games since the Burton match, and only a third of the goals that we conceded in the first ten games of the season. The match against Shrewsbury however highlighted the full-back problem we currently have, which could be the undoing of our good form.
The left-back against Shrewsbury was Jack Saville: He is playing in this position due to the club not having a recognised left-back in the team, which therefore means that he is being played out of position. He is good defensively but his positioning and passing of the ball lets him down and at times, can cause problems. Right-back was never an issue until the injury-prone but very consistent Danny Senda got ruled out for the season through injury. His replacement in this position was Michael Hector, the brilliant on-loan Reading centre-back, who performed extremely well in an unnatural position. He has been injured for the last few matches, which has seen the on-loan Arsenal right-back Sead Harijovic take his place, and he is a disaster waiting to happen. Against Shrewsbury, he was often out of position, struggled to clear the ball and was possibly the cause of both the goals we conceded.
Another problem was that both Saville and Harijovic had such poor positioning that you could mistake them for centre-backs. This meant that the centre-backs that were playing that day had to cover at the full-back berths, as well as their natural positions. In all fairness to Saville, he has done well in an unnatural position and when the influential Hector is playing, his mistakes usually go under the radar. Harijovic, however, had an awful match against Shrewsbury, which made many people wish that his loan deal at the club would end as soon as possible. The return of Hector should sort out the problem, but the match against Shrewsbury highlighted the problems, not only at full-back but that when Hector isn’t playing, the back four collapses.
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Also, can you sign this petition to help Barnet FC stay at Underhill for the foreseeable future as they will be without a stadium if the lease isn’t renewed for the stadium, which looks possible in the current state of things. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keeping-barnet-fc-at-underhill/
