Joe Kinnear says he went for broke on Tuesday night for the win, and that’s why he started Jose Enrique at left back, because he is a good attacking player.
Jose Enrique – attacking left back
Kinnear, a former right back himself, talked to the Evening Chronicle today about Jose:
“To be honest, I just decided to go for broke against West Brom on Tuesday night.” “Jose Enrique’s best attribute is getting forward. I don’t think he’s the best defender in the world, but we can work on that.”
“I’ve got to educate him on that, and put him in that frame of mind.” “He probably gives us better options in the final third of the pitch. He likes to get forward, and we’ve just got to brush up on his defending.”
“We’ll have to make sure we put that right, because his first priority should be to defend.”
Good words from Joe, because he praises Jose’s good points and says they will work on those areas he needs to improve on. And of course Joe is dead right about Jose, but we still see the lads becoming a much better player, if he listens to Joe.
Ashley Cole is also much better going forward than defending so Jose is not alone in that area.
It’s going to be important to defend well against Aston Villa, however, on Monday night, because Martin O’Neill has three great young wide men in Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and of course our former top youngster James Milner.
Villa will be a difficult game, and we’ll have top play a lot better than we did against WBA, but on the positive side, we know we can play better than we did in the second half on Tuesday, and if it’s one thing our players have shown under Joe, is that they’ll give any team a good game.
Hopefully we’ll also have Owen, Barton and Gutierrez all starting that game, so we’re fairly hopeful for Monday night.
Comments welcome.
21 comments so far
Mark-O
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Comment #1Good player for the future could do with a more experienced left back to develop his game.
james L
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Comment #2no doubts enrique was our week link in the defence agenst wba. no way shud we have enrique as our left back at the moment he should be replaced in jan by any safe reliable premiership proven left back. id have wayne bridge he is due a move from chelsea and should be quite cheap.
beye collocini taylor bridge=not bad
thebn we should have second thoughts about taylor. we need him to be waiting on the bench like enrique till he is redy. id nik one of these centre backs from west ham:
davenport 🙁
neil :-I
upson 🙂
by the way i can member this site stating toon were gunna get a BIG money signing in the summer. who was the signing ment to be and why didnt we get him.
james L
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:07 PM
Comment #3agree mark-o
Robby Bobson
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Comment #4I think he is alright, but theres no doubt Bassong is a much better defender, but as he is a centre back he offeres nothing going forward. Bassong vs Vila definately.
James L…well that big signing never came about. A few days after Keegan left a paper reported that he was told that we wold get Sweignsteiger and thats why he allowed Milner to move on…but after agreeing a fee, he turned us down. just specualtion of course.
james L
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Comment #5cheers bob
seetow
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Comment #6if james milner plays against us, i think kinnear can safely put jose there without any worry. the lad is a headless chicken!
Macas
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Comment #7Enrique is far better than Bassong at left back
CHUCK
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Comment #8Yep ! Agree with Joe, Enrique is decent coming forward but not a great defender, a bit slow and of course the guys rusty not having played a lot.
Think Bassong is just as good on the attack, much more pace and a better defender.
If we could get Bridge (which I doubt) would solve the LB problem and could sell Enrique as I dont think he will ever be a lot better than he is at present.
Also badly need backup for our best defender Beye, it was panic stations when he was red carded.
And who do we have to fill in for our CD`s answer no one, face it Cacapa and Geremi, though experienced and once great players,
are now past it with no legs.
We also could use a NAME midfielder, someone to boss the team, Joey or Guthrie though not bad players, just can`t fill that role.
I am thinking of a Moutinho or a Veloso, thats all we need in midfield.
Guess Owen is off soon if anyone wants to pick up his wages, which leaves us with one decent striker (Martins) need at least one decent striker.
What about the French guy we were looking at during the summer ? Sure there must be a good young striker out there that can fit the bill.
Any suggestions ?
Soh ! Two FB`s, One big name (see above) CM and an up and coming striker, oh forgot the two CD`s
Only six players, hey not a lot to ask considering the present squad size.
Could result in a top eight team, or better.
Daniel
Oct 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Comment #9Whilst Duff is playing at LM our left back will always look poor. Constantly got a full back and winger running at him, yet duff is nowhere to be seen. Strays too central at times or just too far forward.
bruTOOOON
Oct 30, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Comment #10he is still a young player, and i hope he will improve by time. i rather had jose or bassong rather than zoggy playing there….
bassong and jose – at least we got two developing left back (competition is good for the team)
Nathan
Oct 30, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Comment #11Jose actually impressed me defensively against WBA, made some good challenges, he’s going to be a great player for us if we can keep him here long term
CHUCK
Oct 30, 2008 at 5:25 PM
Comment #12Daniel
Dont know what game you were watching ?
Duff has played brilliantly both in attack and tracking back in defence.
This is not just my opinion, but most sportswriters and pundits, plus fans who understand the game.
Turkish magpie
Oct 30, 2008 at 5:47 PM
Comment #13James L
our big money signing would have been modric!
we offered 17m and spurs offered 15 or something
He chose them:(
Ben K
Oct 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Comment #14Put Bassong in at CB and Enrique at LB
CHUCK
Oct 30, 2008 at 6:03 PM
Comment #15Modric has been a flop as of now, waste of money.
Spurs had a decent team put to-gether by Jol,
as long as the owner wants to run the club Spurs will never be successfull, sold their best players to bigger clubs.
Lets see how long Arry lasts when he and the board disagree, big egos involved.
Daniel
Oct 30, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Comment #16Every time Enrique makes a mistake Duff is nowhere to be seen. Every time he’s out of position Duff just isn’t there. I agree Duggs excellent going forward, but we need a left back who can defend whilst he’s playing in my opinion, or it just won’t work.
You also saw Enrique overlapping many times and Duff just ignoring him which at times was frustrating.
About Enrique, he’s a decent player prone to a long ball which can either be excellent or just a total waste of possession.
Punk Skunk
Oct 30, 2008 at 7:16 PM
Comment #17Don’t understand the ‘obession’ with gettin’ defenders to attack all the time…Isn’t that what attackers are supposed to do?..While a bit of overlappin’ is good, surely defendin’ has to be their primary concern…After all there’s only four of ’em on the pitch at any one time, normally!..
…Can’t we just ask the midfield & ‘attackers’ really nicely if they wouldn’t mind doin’ it, maybe we could offer them an attackin’ bonus?..
Auschas
Oct 30, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Comment #18Beye has shown how a good defender can attack too. Jose is not strong enough on either front in my opinion.
Ever seen a mackem in Milan?
Oct 31, 2008 at 3:58 AM
Comment #19Aston Villa dont carry much threat down the right as they normally play Reo-Coker there. If they do decide to play Milner it will give them natural width but awful crossing 😉
Steven R
Oct 31, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Comment #20ED pls can we have a section on Coloccini’s performance vs. WBA. He was pathetic! Would rather play Bassong in his place after Colo’s performance on tues.
Sav
Nov 1, 2008 at 1:09 AM
Comment #21Enrique is not without promise but we paid far, far tto much for him and should have had a top LB for 6.5 million -= not a youngster who doesn’t have great pace, is ‘alright’ going forward and rather poor defensively. Frankly, I’d rather have Bassong and work on his going forward, than have Enrique and work at his defending, ffs.