Now I may be picking on dabs but I don't really care but.....Is it just me or have a lot of the goals that have been going in against the toon been down to dabs not defending that great. Off the top of my head there are....villa (crouch), arsenal x 4(campbell x2, bergkamp(may let him off with that) and edu) and probably numerous others. Everyone makes mistakes but I am starting to believe he is going to be another Barton. I feel that if the toons defense is to get better than dabs needs to be sold!! AM

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Answers

With you one this one AM, I was having difficulty being too critical of him after scoring against the makems, however enough is enough. He was also responsible for one of the everton goals. If you see the picture of dabs when crouch makes contact with the ball he is at least 2 or 3 feet away, which is unacceptable. Like Barton he gives 110% but when the quality is not there, what is the justification of keeping him in the side??

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Dabz has been consistently awful recently, but imo was not responsible for Everton's 2nd goal - that was down to Distin, with an assist from Given whose feet were apparently glued to the turf.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Dabs isn't the world's greatest but we really miss him when he's not there, despite bad errors like the Crouch goal. Remember our inability to keep any sort of clean sheet last season 'til he came back from injury? He's more than a 100%er, he's our only leader in defence. Some of those goals we've let in recently have been as much to do with Distin failing to get tight on the man crossing the ball in as it is Dabizas's fault. If we sold him we'd need someone else who can shout and lead but personally I'd say keep him.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I still feel that Distin should replace someone in the centre and be replaced with a full back. Distin does not want to play at full back and obviously doesn't feel right there. I just cannot blame Distin for letting people cross when he's out of position. Distin's mistakes are technically Bobby's for sticking him where he isn't comfortable playing.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Interesting point Martin. Perhaps Dabs makes more mistakes because he doesn't hide and pretend it was somebody else's job?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Defence is a team game and it is v. difficult to blame individuals.
individual errors in defence are far more critical than the same in attack ... so forwards have it easy.

If Shay had let in another 20 goals this season then he should not be criticised as there were other culpable parties.

I always find it amusing when the nearest defender to a goalscorer is blamed even though the others were nowhere.

Defend as a TEAM. Dabs is part of that, not the whole unit

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I've always felt that Dabz would be a better player alongside a big commanding centre half. I'd like to see him play a few games alongside Distin in the middle.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

For me, Dabs is a maddening player. Love his heart and commitment, but his inconsistency drives me mad. He seems to have a pattern of playing a few blinders right after coming back from injury or suspension, then loses his head and starts thinking he's (as Softie put it so well) Super Geordie, allowing the opposition through. The fact that so many consider him one of our best defenders says alot about why we still struggle to win games. We're still desperately in need of a solid rock in middle. Dabs isn't it. Though Shay should be thanking him profusely for allowing him the practice to reach the top his own game this season. ;-)

For spirit alone, I'd like Dabs to stay with us, but not be an automatic first choice. Then we may see more of his best.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Yes, Dabs is one of those players, like Barton, I love to see do well because his heart is in the right place, but sadly, sometimes his foot or his head hasn't been in recent games. I certainly think he should be at least "rested" in light of a number of errors recently, where YBR was, surprisingly, openly critical.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Dabz should have been tighter on Crouch the other night but what about the two blokes f@rting about on the touchline and failing, between, them to stop the cross by providing a great big gap for it to go through? Any defender is going to struggle against a lamp post like Crouch so it's up to the rest to cut out the supply as well.

Rumour suggests Dabz is on his way the summer anyway. Be sorry to see him go really but I know he has his faults.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Arsenal - everytime Distin went forward it meant bloody Acuna had hold back. When D lost the ball, Acuna was always back there defending before he was. I mean, who else was going to? But, not really a big chap, is he? Hence need for nippy and skillful left- back. Totally agree with above comments on Distin's natural position.

Yeah, defend as a team. Until we get a defender who can launch the ball 40 yards with pin-point accuracy, we're always going to leave some form of staff shortage at the back. Annoying while it costs us games, but bloody unfair to blame individuals I think. Meanwhile, the self-same strategy has been working while we've been winning games.

We'll all be on O'Brien's back after the Fulham game.....I expect.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

dabizas has been getting stick recently, while he does look a bit tired, o'brien has been caught out of position or ball watching a few times (edu's goal for arsenal) yet he has avoided criticism.

you have to be there to make the error, o'brien has frequently not been in the right place.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

It may be a team game, but if we expect BR to improve the team he has to replace individuals with better individuals. Everyone seems to love Distin, Hughes, and O'Brien so who in our underperforming back four should be replaced?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

If we are to do anything other than get hammered in the CL (assuming we get there) we will need a SQUAD of players, not just a decent first 11. Dabs is good enough for a mid-table PL side but IMO should be replaced by someone better if we qualify for Europe. He should, however be kept at the club as a reasonably good squad player. He has shown the ability to keep his fitness up when out of the side and always gives 100%. Perfect.

I also would prefer to see O'Brien and Distin in the centre and a quality LB brought to the club. We'll have to see how well O'Brien does in Europe mind...

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

It's the bandaged hand waving in the air whilst stood stock still as Arsenal storm past that gets my goat. That and defending set pieces by falling over appealing for free kicks. No point in jumping early, you end up sat on your arse watching the ball go past Given.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

The comments about Dabizas on this thread are reminding me of a certain floppy haired man with a centre parting.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Anyone think Given could have part of the blame?

He's a fantastic shot stopper and his kicking is much improved, but he still doesn't command his box anywhere near as good as Schmeichel used to.

Neville Southall was on Goals on Sunday on Sky (that was on Sunday by the way :) ) and he was saying the keeper can see the whole pitch and should be the main one who organises the defence.

I would also say Distin hasn't been too impressive recently. He is quick to blame others when he can see they make errors but is far too cool and calm about his own mistakes. Remember if he had stopped Wiltord's cross, Edu's goal would never have happened and then Dabizas would have one less goal to take the blame for.

I don't think he should be sold, he is a canny backup for us, but he'd need to understand that. We definitely need a new commanding centre back.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

We,ve need a commanding centre back for years! One day we might get one.

As for Southall, I was shocked at this arrogance. Called our 6 - 2 victory over Everton a 'freak result'. Nothing positive to say about our devasting attacking football.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Oh I know, that "freak result" comment was a bit arse-ish of him.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

....actually, the biased dickhead was quite right - without their two "freak" goals, it should have been 6-0!

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002