[Weird Fishes]

Mistakes like that were always going to happen, and happens to defenders far more experienced than Blackett.

Second half saw the entire team drop in performance, unfair to single him out. Blackett had a great first half, including an enormous tackle (on Vardy?). As surprising as his emergence into the first team has been, he's been decent. Adapted well and provided cover while others have been out injured. Physically, the boy is a tank. Be patient because there will probably be more of this in the future. It's the price of trusting youngsters. Here's hoping he'll learn fast because I've really taken a liking to him

 

[DevilRed]

Would have been so much better off playing next to Vidic. Sadly, his debut season coincides with what is our worse defence in the history of the club. Obviously lots of injuries have derailed any semblance of continuity and chemistry, but this lot are just very young and very naïve.

 

[charleysurf]

I chose to leave it for the time being and was going to mention it after the match. The second half was about to start and I couldn't be arsed to sit on the Caf while the game was on. I don't think commenting in these threads while a game is on is all that productive either.

I'm leaving this one, going nowhere . But you said you did not post your thoughts on how awful Blacket is because you didn't want to face the replies. You said that.
If you had faith in your opinions about how bad a player is then you'd post them even when the player is doing well.

 

[Sammyjunn]

He's playing wonderful stuff but he will be targeted by bigger teams in bigger games and he just is not ready for this level yet. Smalling I don't think will ever be good enough.

Smalling has had a lot of good matches (when he had a run on CB), but its his first match from injury, cant expect too much.

 

[Kag]

I'm leaving this one, going nowhere . But you said you did not post your thoughts on how awful Blacket is because you didn't want to face the replies. You said that.
If you had faith in your opinions about how bad a player is then you'd post them even when the player is doing well.

I didn't think the player was doing well, I said as much in the match day thread before the first half even finished.

Look, just do one. The fact you mentioned Kagawa in your second comment, and feck knows why considering I discuss him no more than any other, shows you've got an axe to grind me with for whatever reason. So either put me on ignore or piss off and you'll be a lot happier.

 

[Will Singh]

Had a good game but is still inexperienced so will take him a season or 2 to get to his potential. I am more excited about how he turns out then any other youth player coming through including Januzaj...

 

[Raven Blade]

He's had a tough lesson today. The pace and power of the Premier League has finally hit him. But we shouldn't forget how good he's been at the start of the season. He was deservedly in our team on merit and didn't look out of place. That naivety with some of his defending will be coached out of his game in time but unfortunately that red card means he's isn't likely to get back in the team for a while. Shaw being available means we must surely shuffle our pack again. He's got to be given the LB spot while Rojo goes inside. The lack of experience at the back is hurting us. We don't have a partnership like Rio-Vidic yet that you would build your defence from. Everyone we play there just seems to be filling in until they get injured and replaced.

Blackett has shown enough potential to make me think he'll stick around. For now he needs to get stronger and smarter with his positioning.

 

[SambaBoy]

His positioning is quite poor, even in the first half he was getting pulled into areas he shouldn't of been meaning Blind was sometimes the last defender with Evans.
I cannot comprehend what he was doing for their 4th goal, it was schoolboy defending and the penalty as well showed his lack of experience.

Hopefully he can learn from this but I have my doubts of whether he will make it here and it's not just based on this game. If he improves and learn from his mistakes then he can become a good back-up player.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

His positioning for the 4th goal was laughably bad.

 

[Man of Leisure]

Said it a week ago, but Blackett makes me nervous. Then again, most of our center backs seem error-prone bar Smalling. Blackett should be on the bench with Rojo sliding over to his best position. How long will it take for Shaw to get fit??

 

[FromTheBench]

His reading off the game and positioning isn't great.

That's been his problem when left exposed and still is.

 

[FromTheBench]

As I pointed out last night hes a centre half who only wants to be involved in the game when we have the ball. Refuses to mark men tightly and tries to tell others to mark the man instead of doing it himself, is timid in the air and gets caught out of position at least a couple of times a game. He wants to play as a spare man all the time which you can get away with to a degree in a 5 man defence but cant afford to do in a 4 man defence.

This is spot on.

 

[bosnian_red]

I didn't want to really judge him based on the first few games as we controlled those games and our defence wasn't put under much pressure. Today you can also say its harsh to judge him as we just collapsed collectively, but I'm not convinced by him. He's decent on the ball but defensively I'm not convinced he's any good actually or even ready for premier league football.

 

[limerickcitykid]

As I pointed out last night hes a centre half who only wants to be involved in the game when we have the ball. Refuses to mark men tightly and tries to tell others to mark the man instead of doing it himself, is timid in the air and gets caught out of position at least a couple of times a game. He wants to play as a spare man all the time which you can get away with to a degree in a 5 man defence but cant afford to do in a 4 man defence.

Aye, he can be as composed on the ball as he wants but as a CB that isn't going to get you that far. Off the ball he lacks the awareness to track runners, where to position himself and as you say shies away from marking a man. I've said before and I'll say again that I'd have Thorpe or Keane over him anyday and both will have better careers than Blackett.

Looking through the thread you can see that almost all of the praise he gets is for his composure on the ball but hardly anything for his actual defensive work which for a CB has to be the main part of the job.

 

[Timdbro]

He'll be out of the team due to suspension anyway, but if not I wouldn't have called for him to be dropped. He capitulated after the penalty, like the rest of the team did, but until then I thought he was doing a good job covering for Rojo's completely inexistent defending. When players were waltzing past the latter, Blackett read the play and cut out the danger quite a few times. Even the fourth and fifth goals, the decision making from Tyler was very bad but you can see he was completely abandoned by his full back.

 

[iBoss]

Yeah he started well but he was always going to make some big errors as the game went on.

 

[jb8521]

Aye, he can be as composed on the ball as he wants but as a CB that isn't going to get you that far. Off the ball he lacks the awareness to track runners, where to position himself and as you say shies away from marking a man. I've said before and I'll say again that I'd have Thorpe or Keane over him anyday and both will have better careers than Blackett.

Looking through the thread you can see that almost all of the praise he gets is for his composure on the ball but hardly anything for his actual defensive work which for a CB has to be the main part of the job.

Yeah as someone who has played a lot at centre half myself and has done a lot of defensive coaching with teams I want My defenders to be defensively solid, aware and brave first and foremost and then things like composure on the ball are obviously plus points and things which can be improved upon but if a player doesn't have those natural defensive instincts and alertness to danger they are very difficult things to teach.

 

[Parma Dewol]

It's not saying a lot, but Tyler Blackett has probably been one of our better defenders this season. Still, credit where it's due, that still takes some doing for a youngster who has only just broken into the side.

Thought the red card today was harsh, a yellow would have sufficed in those circumstances but Clattenburg had lost the plot by that point. Shame Blackett will now miss a few games, as he really needs the experience. You can see his youth and inexperience working against him at times, his decision making needs work, but there are definitely positives here. Hope he grows into a big, strong centre back for us.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Just that inexperience again and no disputing that pen. However, still put in a great performance.

He is growing, but for a big lad he seems weak in the air. Seems very comfortable when the ball is on the ground, but seems to want to let the ball drop to often when it is in the air. He also doesn't win that many headers.

 

[Jimble]

He looks a prospect, but he got caught under the ball too many times. Looks fast and strong, and will learn by his mistakes.

 

[footballgirl07]

He is growing, but for a big lad he seems weak in the air. Seems very comfortable when the ball is on the ground, but seems to want to let the ball drop to often when it is in the air. He also doesn't win that many headers.

Something that will come with time I feel. Still very inexperienced at senior football, let alone PL. He has the ability and talent to be very good and with our defenders and their injury troubles, he will get many more opportunities.

 

[100]

His positioning for the 4th goal was laughably bad.

Yup, if he doesn't go slightly to the ball then he could track their forward and Blind could cover, no idea what he was doing for the fourth.

 

[Brophs]

I feel sorry for him. He's a young lad, possibly even younger than his age in terms of his experience at a high level and, for all his promise, it's unfair to expect him to thrive in a poor defence thst changes every week. He'll come out the far side of this stronger but right now he's taking the brunt of a lot of shite being caused by more senior players.

 

[Sam]

Had a great first half, mainly covering for that pathetic excuse of a defender Evans. Then just collapsed in the second.

All in all, from what we've seen, I don't see anything that suggests he's anywhere near the level we need, or ever will be.

 

[DOTA]

Doesn't look very good. Not that any of his defensive partners look better, mind.

 

[Nanotron]

Had a great first half, mainly covering for that pathetic excuse of a defender Evans. Then just collapsed in the second.

All in all, from what we've seen, I don't see anything that suggests he's anywhere near the level we need, or ever will be.

How is Evans pathetic? The only pathetic part about him is his proneness to injuries. He had a great first half because he had feck all to do really. He was standard and had an ok game up to a point. He was at fault for two goals.

 

[Sam]

How is Evans pathetic? The only pathetic part about him is his proneness to injuries. He had a great first half because he had feck all to do really. He was standard and had an ok game up to a point. He was at fault for two goals.

Evans was terrible today. At fault for the first goal, and constantly bailed out by Blackett.

 

[Nanotron]

Evans was terrible today. At fault for the first goal, and constantly bailed out by Blackett.

Rafa has to take some responsibility for that goal. He should have gotten in a challenge there.

 

[Sam]

Rafa has to take some responsibility for that goal. He should have gotten in a challenge there.

Absolutely, but the centre back should have taken charge of that situation. Not just stood there and watch the ball fly over his head, straight to the big lump of a striker that he is supposed to be marking.

 

[Irrational.]

Blackett has done better this season than glass Evans and Jones, and has been our only constant at the back. Yes he showed naivety and impetuousness in getting sent off but the same can also be said of Rafael and Rojo, who were also both rubbish.

It seems like if we'd signed Blackett from a European team, his performance would've been excused.

He'll learn from this and LVG obviously sees something in him to select him ahead of Evans, and playing him ahead of Rojo at CB.

 

[Nanotron]

Absolutely, but the centre back should have taken charge of that situation. Not just stood there and watch the ball fly over his head, straight to the big lump of a striker that he is supposed to be marking.

No I think Evans is cleared of any responsibility in that situation. Rafa is tracking Ulloa so it is his man. Evans takes up his position and the ball was hit with such venom it would be hard for any man to make any ground to get his head on it.

 

[Sam]

No I think Evans is cleared of any responsibility in that situation. Rafa is tracking Ulloa so it is his man. Evans takes up his position and the ball was hit with such venom it would be hard for any man to make any ground to get his head on it.

It was poor positioning from Evans. He shouldnt leave their only striker on his own to be marked by our relatively small, and weak in the air, right back. It was a mismatch that was obviously going to cost us.

 

[Verminator]

Rojo left all the defending to Blackett, and he coped for a long time. It all went to shit when the rest of the team did.

 

[saivet]

I'm going to watch the game now but I caught their 4th goal. His defending was amateurish, I couldn't believe he got attracted to the ball. I don't think you can even put that down to inexperience. If I was playing centre back and did that when I was playing Sunday league football the manager and all my players would have slaughtered me. If that was a defender for any other team, I'd be laughing.

 

[Skills]

So is he actually a centre back then? At no point watching him in pre-season or this season have I thought -

'This guy is potentially a class CB because he is/has...

a) great in the air
b) a great tackler
c) a great man marker
d) great defensive positioning
e) a great reader/organizer'

Apart from maybe the first 45 minutes today where he put in a few pretty good challenges.

It's more like, he's class because he's tall, fairly quick and doesn't shit himself when he gets the ball at his feet. A bit like a midfielder playing in defence.

 

[Minimalist]

He's supposed to be learning and being guided by the likes of Smalling/Evans/Jones, not having to literally lead the defence. How anyone can single him out for criticism is beyond me.

 

[Escobar]

He is a bit overrated and it caught up today. He is a solid talent but lets see how far he will go

 

[Feed Me]

Blackett's over promoted - should be nowhere near the side, but it's a reflection of how poor our defensive options are. He's going to be another Welbeck- held up as better than he actually is, just because he's a local lad.

 

[NoLogo]

He's supposed to be learning and being guided by the likes of Smalling/Evans/Jones, not having to literally lead the defence. How anyone can single him out for criticism is beyond me.

My thoughts exactly. The poor lad should be eased into the squad given the occasional game but not having to carry our central defense despite showing promise he isn't there yet. A young lad like him is always going to have some difficulties at the highest level every now and then that's part of the development process.

 

[gooDevil]

Blackett's over promoted - should be nowhere near the side, but it's a reflection of how poor our defensive options are. He's going to be another Welbeck- held up as better than he actually is, just because he's a local lad.

Um, look Inter, we know we technically sold Vidic to you but we'd really like to just borrow him back, just for a week, maybe two, tops.