Many consider the problem position at the club to be left back, thats harsh but perhaps the answer is already in the squad.

Danny Fox has got a lot of stick in some quarters in the opening games, some of it is warranted, but then again his fellow defenders have made as many mistakes, but as i have been saying till Im blue in the face, the problem isnt and never was 100% Fox, its always been that he is exposed by the lack of cover in front of him.

Nathan Clyne's second half performance at left back against Aston Villa, made many think that it was Fox wo was the weak link, but Villa were a beaten side in that second half and rarely tested Clyne and indeed he had plenty of room to maraud down the left wing, at Everton though it was a different matter, time and time again he was exposed down the left flank (as was Richardson down the right as well) his display was no better than any of the shifts Danny Fox had put in, but it proved my point, its not the left back who is the problem but the midfielder covering him.

However in the 81st minute at Goodison I saw some light at the end of the tunnell, on came Ben Reeves for Clyne and although the problems were still there, Reeves looked better able to equip with them that either Fox or Clyne, who being right footed is better off at right back.

Reeves is essentially a defender although most of his games tend to be cameo's in midfield, but in general he is a left back, he played most of his time in the youth team in that position, on Saturday at Goodison he came on and although it was only for ten minutes he looked comfortable in the spot, he could run he could tackle and the had a tenacious look about him that said he wanted to play football and wanted the ball.

Put bluntly with Fox injured I would play Reeves against Fulham next week, I know some will shout out for Shaw to be thrown into the side and i had to laugh at Goodison as a fair chunk of those behind me thought that it was actually Shaw who had come on and were delighted, but of course hadnt seen him play so had a red face when the tannoy system gave Reeves name, Shaw isnt ready quite yet, especially in a defence so chaotic as ours, but Shaw is, at 20 (21 next month)Reeves has a little more experience and strength than Shaw and he is of an age when he knows he has to start playing games or perhaps never push on, he has a hunger to play thats good to see.

Playing Reeves wont magically end our problems, nor will playing haw there for that matter, our problems run far deeper than just putting in a quality player at left back, we could play Ashley Cole there and still he would get exposed, no we need to address the wide man issue on both sides of midfield, but I do feel Reeves would offer something that we are lacking at the moment and although its not the solution it would be a step in the right direction.

Nigel Adkins has to be bold and identify problems and solve them, unfortunately in the case of another central defender and the wide men, it wont happen till January, but between now and then he can do things that will improve the side and our results.     

Photo: Action Images

ItchenNorth added 10:00 - Oct 1 No need to change yet in my view. We need to give those selected a continued run in the team as every week they will (hopefully !) be adapting to the riggers and demands of the Premier League. In your previous article you are calling for (a little panicky i might add !) the need for more protection in front of the full backs; and you are right as any lose means something was not right ! But again these issues should be worked on in training rather the drastic changes in personnel in my view.

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SaintNick added 10:13 - Oct 1 i didnt call for drastic changes just subtle ones, secondly after conceding 18 goals in six games and to be blunt lucky not to have conceded a lot more than that, why is it a little panicky to question our lack of cover for the full backs, I have watched us get torn to shreds in three away games plus another two home defeats
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tiptop added 10:20 - Oct 1 But who will play infront of Reeves then? By that rationale same problem. Good point though about the player. I agree Nic, he looks hungry, fearless, competent and passes the ball forward aswell as sideways (was it away to Millawall last season he played great a 60yrd ball down the left channel to perfection from which we scored following the cross). He just needs a chance. As you say do the same thing and you get the same results. We have conceded 3 more goals and we must shore the defence up asap. That though means changing the midfield cover by your reckoning or the system. Which could mean Lallana off and maybe Reeves on.

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darkangelv2 added 10:22 - Oct 1 I agree Shaw isn't ready (although your paragraph above gets all the names a bit muddled up as to who is and isn't ready!). I still haven't brought myself to watch any of the footage from Goodison. Also, I still haven't heard anything from the club that says Fox is injured. What is wrong with him? The last i heard direct from the club was that he is fine and just not picked.

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SaintNick added 10:33 - Oct 1 Who knows who is injured and who is not, I certainly dont
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tiptop added 10:46 - Oct 1 Fox had an injection in his groin before the Man U match i think. He looked like he was struggling in the Villa game so I'd say he's not right especially if NA didn't put him on the bench.
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VeloSaint added 11:24 - Oct 1 perhaps better of changing the shape or the players in front of the full backs would be the best place to start. I like Reeves though, albeit he is tiny, but he is another with an attacking mindset rather then a defensive instinct.
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SaintNick added 11:35 - Oct 1 Changing the players in front would be the best place, but we havent got the personel to do it, I thought we signed Ramirez as a winger, play him out there and put Lallana in the centre that would be a start
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mgprobert added 11:43 - Oct 1 It's also to do with how we play. Our positive, attacking style has been fine on lesser teams over the last two years. Spending so much time on the offensive has meant less time defending! Now we are up against some better teams. It means we are spending more time defending and when we do go forwards we still haven't quite got the offensive/defensive balance quite right, and can be caught on the break. Lastly, lesser teams might waste their occasional chance, the Man Utds are more likely to score with the chances they get. Having said all that I quite like the Reeves idea - could at least try it at home.

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ItchenNorth added 11:52 - Oct 1 Hi Nick; I am merely picking up on the tone of this and your previous article today (the Everton Verdict) and disagreeing that changes need to be made to the extent your are alluring too after Saturdays performance. Everton are a quality team, but from where I was sat apart from a 15/20min spell they didn't tear us apart. We can do that to teams at St Marys we our attaching treat. Panicky; it did sound that way to me in the ‘Verdict’ article and I quote ‘All in all another shambles’ or ‘Nigel Adkins doesn't seem to have a clue who he should play’. Now granted it’s easy to pick out quotes but the tone is there to warrant the use of my work panicky !! We do have Fulham and West Ham up next and not another run of top four teams such as Everton so, let’s see what we do here first before seemingly writing us off as a defensive unit ! I think all of the concerns you raise can be worked on in training for now rather than changing to yet more inexperience players at this level. I used the word drastic, as to me this summed up the vibe of this morning’s two articles in relation to you mentioning dropping Lallana, shifting Ramirez out wide, bringing in Reeves, or not starting with Puncheon. I really believe that we have to keep playing attacking football in this division as for now this is our strength. We can work on our defensive tactics as the weeks got by and the new players (Yoshida and Boruc) begin to have more influence.

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StSaint added 11:59 - Oct 1 Your are not making sense. If it is a problem of formation and not the player then why would switching the player make a difference?!
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ItchenNorth added 11:59 - Oct 1 That's 'attacking threat' not attaching treat lol. I'm getting a case of the typo 'Nicks' !!!!!
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SaintNick added 12:50 - Oct 1 Hi Itchen its good to read what others thought of the game, Im not so arrogant as to think mine is the right view or the only one that matters, thats whats good about football, ask ten different people they will give you ten different views. Your right for 20 minutes Everton ripped us apart and scored three times, they could have got at least one more possibly two before the break. After the break they seemed to take their foot off the gas but still looked like they would score most of the time they attacked, only a bit of last ditch stuff and good saves from Gazzaniga kept us in it, and on a plus point we could easily have then nicked a goal back and made it uncomfortable in the last ten or so. Im not sure that working on the concerns in training will solve the problems, what have they been doing for the last six weeks since the season started, the same things are happening week in week out im afraid, however hard we work we have to face the fact that in this division you have to combat pace down the flanks and we cant do that . I didnt actually say we should drop Lallana, merely that perhaps it would be better to play Ramirez out on the left and lallana in the centre, it puzzles me why we spend all summer chasing wingers and then when we apparently sign one we play him in the centre.

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VeloSaint added 13:19 - Oct 1 thing is Nick, I don't think Ramirez has much of a history playing out wide, seems to have played most of his games in central roles. So regardless of why he was signed, I can't see the point of moving him out wide, though defensively he probably couldn't be worse then Lallana.
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RonManager added 13:38 - Oct 1 I like your idea of playing Ashley Cole very much indeed.
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SaintNick added 13:42 - Oct 1 Velo like most people i knew very little of Ramirez until he was suddenly touted as the nxt big thing, he is undoubtably a great talent, but when we were trying to buy him he was always desrcibed as a winger
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legod7 added 15:09 - Oct 1 The only way we can combat the opposing full backs playing as wingers is to go back to playing 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1 ) with 2 wide midfielders
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VeloSaint added 15:35 - Oct 1 Nick, I think we were all so desperate for one of the key gaps in the side to be filled we assumed he was a winger. I'm sure Adkins was hoping he would get at least one winger in, appears we have an attacking central midfielder in Ramirez and in Mayuka effectively a pacy forward. What we really needed was a Matt Phillips or equivalent.
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BlackRod added 23:21 - Oct 1 We criticise NA for not being flexible enough in the formation he uses. When he comes up with something different we moan like hell. We say the problem isn't with the defenders, then we suggest that playing someone else at left back will help solve the problem. We bang away at needing better central defenders, then all of a sudden it's wingers we need, not defenders. I think I trust NA's judgement better - he's playing for real, not in a fantasy league.

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wazzosan added 11:16 - Oct 2 I spent some time in Italy last month and have a few friends from the Bologna/Modena area. I asked them what they thought of Gaston Ramirez and they described him as "a typical No.10, like Totti but not as good". I asked if he scored, many goals and they said no. Here's to Ramirez proving all of them wrong! I though he has been quality so far.
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Whatsforpud added 13:12 - Oct 2 Has Ben Reeves played any first team match at left back yet? I have seen him come on twice, in a friendly and in a cup match, and both times he was in midfield. Quite a confident player, though.
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ExiledSupporter added 19:28 - Oct 2 Nick, I don't think you were justified in assuming that GR was coming in as a left winger (although I agree some elements of the national press described him as such) nothing that I heard from Adkins suggested that he thought of Ramires as anything but a No.10 (which I think translates as an advanced central midfielder). Quite a few fans thought in an ideal world that we should have recruited one of these over the summer, but not as a priority over wide midfielders and centrebacks, and now we have him I think his greatest value to us will be in the centre and not out on the left covering the full backs and exhausting himself tracking up and down - no reason to think he is any better than AL or JR at tackling! I think that the truth that may be dawning on everyone is that in the interests of tightening up our defence we may have to sacrifice some of our most talented attacking players and Lallana and Rodrigues because they, thru no fault of their own, are perhaps the least well qualified to fill the roles ie. the wide midfielders that we most need to fulfil. This is, of course, a reflection on the incomprehensible transfer frenzy of the summer which has brought talented individuals to overpopulate roles that were not the most urgent to strengthen. I cannot agree with you that the players bear much responsibility for this potentially fatal situation it has to be either the Manager and/or the Chairman, and my gut feeling is that it is more likely to be the result of the latter's intrusive activities into on field issues.

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