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Author Topic: Would Birchall make a good defender ?  (Read 8375 times)

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Offline dwolfman

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #30 on: June 08, 2009, 10:12:27 AM »
While he has the fight and the brains to do the job I think outside of his tackling what else has he got to offer? Maybe during a game you might slot him back there as some sort of temporary thing, but to start and effectively select him as a defender I think will create more problems than it solves.

He is strongest for us right where he is at the moment. If we're so badly off for a right back Carlos Edwards would be a better fit.

Offline Peter

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #31 on: June 08, 2009, 10:23:05 AM »
I know all alyuh blind and biased peeps on here will jump on me for this, but Birchall is as much a liability as he is an asset. He can tackle and win the ball and hit good long crosses, but he loses the ball way too often and easily when he's put under pressure from the opposition because he cannot create any space, can't link up in attacking interplay well, and hits a good few misplaced passes on his day. He's an enigma- has his positive and negative impacts on the team, and in being respectful of the quality of other midfielders we have like Trent Noel and Silvio Spann, I can understand fully why Latapy left him out, and if he leaves him out in the future. A good example of his shortcomings is in the Costa Rica game, Carlos threw in the ball to him, he just had to hit a simple return pass to Carlos, but hit is much too soft and a Costa Rican came in and took the ball- chance gone and pressure now on the our very suspect defense.

I don't EVER see anyone on here talking about Birchall's weakness, but instead you all talk about him like he's Steven Gerrard and leaving him on the bench is treason, Birchall can do no wrong in the eyes of all the supporter- people seem to be blinded to and do not mention his errant passes and soft losing of the ball under little pressure in matches.

Right, so now that I've personally dispelled all the very annoying and biased talk about Birchall that every spouts, I still believe he should be on the field because we need a lively midfielder to protect the defense and who can tackle well, just that unlike everyone else, I acknowledge the weaknesses in his play that can cost us, and believe that he should play a very rigid and disciplined defensive midfield role, taking as LITTLE RISKS AS POSSIBLE, keep it simple, and leave as much of the advancing as possible to the other midfielders. I hear people talking about his shooting ability, but we have other players like spann who can also shoot from distance, and can create space when crowded out higher up the field, and since Birchall can't do the latter, again he should stay deep and leave the advancing to the other midfielders, because in attack his liabilities outweigh his assets.

We don't have many players who are solid and complete players, most have some skills but lack others, so need to have 2 players doing what one should be able to do, but the thing is there's only 10 outfield spots available, so when you sacrifice one player, you sacrifice one aspect of the game that is required to win matches, and enhance another, so it's always a trade off, so whether Latapy takes off a midfielder like Trent Noel to play Birchall, we may be more defensively sound when the opponents have the ball, but at the same time we probably won't be as creative and fluid in attack and build up play to create chances- and goals win matches.

So like I said, with the incomplete nature of most of our players, it's always a trade off and sacrifice, there's only 11 spots on the team, so what ever route Latapy goes, I'm sure he(with his experience and football knowledge, unlike us armchair coaches) more than us will know according to the players we have, what trade off has the better chance of yielding results and have us winning football matches. I see disadvantages and advantages of having Birchall on like many other players, I trust Latapy more than us will be able to filter it down and come up with the definitive and best solution.

The only sure starter on this team is certainly Carlos Edwards, he's been our best player by a good amount for years on running.

On the post, I feel that Birchall could possibly work as defender(but definitely not wingback), he's faster than any we've got now, and he's very lively and has aggression.

On a side note, with how Kenwyne playing in attack for Trinidad, I feeling Latapy should put him back to play defense, he might be of much better use to us there. Even saying that, I still feel he can display his quality in attack for us, if we were creating as many chances in the past 7 months as we did against Costa Rica, I'm sure Kenwyne and Scotland would have scored a good few.

You all played very honourably against Costa Rica fellas, keep your heads up. Of course we have many things to improve on, but from this showing, I'm very confident that Latapy will get them right!!!!!

BTW...-
WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.

Offline RasIred

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #32 on: June 08, 2009, 01:36:14 PM »
Nah Birchall is best used as a defensive Mid - who can win balls in mid, which we need !! So he should remain in the mid to help out the defense

Offline Fyzoman

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #33 on: June 08, 2009, 02:14:54 PM »
personally i feel latas doh like Birchall (for whatever reason)
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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #34 on: June 08, 2009, 02:15:50 PM »
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Offline sHOTTA)

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #35 on: June 08, 2009, 02:32:12 PM »
Well we all have our favorites. Here is my starting 11

         Ince
Hislop, Jack , Thomas, Avery
Tinto, Spann, Yorke, Samuel, Keon
         Jones


Note: Lawrence and Dog must be on the bench, esp Dennie, he looks far from been the defender we need.
Sometimes I wished we had defenders like Jamaica.

 
« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 02:36:33 PM by sHOTTA) »

Offline Arimaman

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #36 on: June 08, 2009, 03:06:32 PM »
Well we all have our favorites. Here is my starting 11

         Ince
Hislop, Jack , Thomas, Avery
Tinto, Spann, Yorke, Samuel, Keon
         Jones


Note: Lawrence and Dog must be on the bench, esp Dennie, he looks far from been the defender we need.
Sometimes I wished we had defenders like Jamaica.

 
Makan Hislop is not a right back....evidence.....look at the the US game tape....
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Offline Small Change

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #37 on: June 08, 2009, 03:09:31 PM »
We weak at the right back postion, hence the reason Carlos is there. Currently, we don't have a proper right back to play that position at that level. Carlos does alright. But he is not a defender!!!

Offline noize

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #38 on: June 08, 2009, 03:16:45 PM »
Well we all have our favorites. Here is my starting 11

         Ince
Hislop, Jack , Thomas, Avery
Tinto, Spann, Yorke, Samuel, Keon
         Jones


Note: Lawrence and Dog must be on the bench, esp Dennie, he looks far from been the defender we need.
Sometimes I wished we had defenders like Jamaica.

 
Makan Hislop is not a right back....evidence.....look at the the US game tape....



Wow... Carlos not even on the field???...Keon?? Hislop on the right and Jack?..No more drinking and posting ;D

Offline Peter

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #39 on: June 08, 2009, 04:34:41 PM »
Well we all have our favorites. Here is my starting 11

         Ince
Hislop, Jack , Thomas, Avery
Tinto, Spann, Yorke, Samuel, Keon
         Jones


Note: Lawrence and Dog must be on the bench, esp Dennie, he looks far from been the defender we need.
Sometimes I wished we had defenders like Jamaica.

 
Makan Hislop is not a right back....evidence.....look at the the US game tape....



Wow... Carlos not even on the field???...Keon?? Hislop on the right and Jack?..No more drinking and posting ;D

lol, i agree. Carlos is the ONLY automatic starter on our team.

Offline richpy

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #40 on: June 08, 2009, 05:24:28 PM »
I know all alyuh blind and biased peeps on here will jump on me for this, but Birchall is as much a liability as he is an asset. He can tackle and win the ball and hit good long crosses, but he loses the ball way too often and easily when he's put under pressure from the opposition because he cannot create any space, can't link up in attacking interplay well, and hits a good few misplaced passes on his day. He's an enigma- has his positive and negative impacts on the team, and in being respectful of the quality of other midfielders we have like Trent Noel and Silvio Spann, I can understand fully why Latapy left him out, and if he leaves him out in the future. A good example of his shortcomings is in the Costa Rica game, Carlos threw in the ball to him, he just had to hit a simple return pass to Carlos, but hit is much too soft and a Costa Rican came in and took the ball- chance gone and pressure now on the our very suspect defense.

I don't EVER see anyone on here talking about Birchall's weakness, but instead you all talk about him like he's Steven Gerrard and leaving him on the bench is treason, Birchall can do no wrong in the eyes of all the supporter- people seem to be blinded to and do not mention his errant passes and soft losing of the ball under little pressure in matches.

Right, so now that I've personally dispelled all the very annoying and biased talk about Birchall that every spouts, I still believe he should be on the field because we need a lively midfielder to protect the defense and who can tackle well, just that unlike everyone else, I acknowledge the weaknesses in his play that can cost us, and believe that he should play a very rigid and disciplined defensive midfield role, taking as LITTLE RISKS AS POSSIBLE, keep it simple, and leave as much of the advancing as possible to the other midfielders. I hear people talking about his shooting ability, but we have other players like spann who can also shoot from distance, and can create space when crowded out higher up the field, and since Birchall can't do the latter, again he should stay deep and leave the advancing to the other midfielders, because in attack his liabilities outweigh his assets.

We don't have many players who are solid and complete players, most have some skills but lack others, so need to have 2 players doing what one should be able to do, but the thing is there's only 10 outfield spots available, so when you sacrifice one player, you sacrifice one aspect of the game that is required to win matches, and enhance another, so it's always a trade off, so whether Latapy takes off a midfielder like Trent Noel to play Birchall, we may be more defensively sound when the opponents have the ball, but at the same time we probably won't be as creative and fluid in attack and build up play to create chances- and goals win matches.

So like I said, with the incomplete nature of most of our players, it's always a trade off and sacrifice, there's only 11 spots on the team, so what ever route Latapy goes, I'm sure he(with his experience and football knowledge, unlike us armchair coaches) more than us will know according to the players we have, what trade off has the better chance of yielding results and have us winning football matches. I see disadvantages and advantages of having Birchall on like many other players, I trust Latapy more than us will be able to filter it down and come up with the definitive and best solution.

The only sure starter on this team is certainly Carlos Edwards, he's been our best player by a good amount for years on running.

On the post, I feel that Birchall could possibly work as defender(but definitely not wingback), he's faster than any we've got now, and he's very lively and has aggression.

On a side note, with how Kenwyne playing in attack for Trinidad, I feeling Latapy should put him back to play defense, he might be of much better use to us there. Even saying that, I still feel he can display his quality in attack for us, if we were creating as many chances in the past 7 months as we did against Costa Rica, I'm sure Kenwyne and Scotland would have scored a good few.

You all played very honourably against Costa Rica fellas, keep your heads up. Of course we have many things to improve on, but from this showing, I'm very confident that Latapy will get them right!!!!!

BTW...-
WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.WE BEATING MEXICO IN AZTECA.


Thais sense.

Birchall's best play is when he has no offensive resposibility, ala. Makalele, Toure etc.
All we want is a man to shield the defence and bring it. 
Probably him and Yorke need to share pick, because we need a pivot man in front of the defence, and Yorke was roast after 1st half.
Ah ent want to blight Spanner, but for the longest, I see men crying down the man.
In truth, he has always been a central midfielder. Even on his best play at wingback, I was like, 'This man is wasted as a defender'. The man finally get his chance, and the man look good. I wouldn't have taken him off, but then Latas is the coach.
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Offline Cocorite

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #41 on: June 08, 2009, 06:17:18 PM »
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Offline Peter

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #42 on: June 08, 2009, 06:22:58 PM »
Thanks for backing me up on that richpy!! ;D People have to stop sipping their Birchall koolaid and start looking at him objectively and honestly, like they do for all the rest of our players. I have no idea why people in T&T do that with Birchall in particular, maybe you all can think of some reason he's held up higher than everyone else, like he's untouchable, what's so different about him that would make everyone treat him different from all the rest of our players, putting him on a pedestal despite his numerous shortcomings that sometimes costs the team as much as he helps it??? **hint hint**

That being said, like you backed me up with richpy, I believe Birchall will be a great asset for us in a strict and rigid defensive midfield role, and avoiding driving too far forward, but staying deep. If you all want to know why, read my big post above. I have a good feeling that's what Bruce Arena saw in him, and will have him play that for the La Galaxy.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 06:39:54 PM by Peter »

Offline grskywalker

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #43 on: June 08, 2009, 06:45:57 PM »
the man is a natural midfielder, leave him where he is, plus he could real fire shot!

Offline Quags

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #44 on: June 08, 2009, 07:34:12 PM »
Would Sam make a good TnT Ambassador  to Jamaica ?

Offline Deeks

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #45 on: June 08, 2009, 07:59:53 PM »
I don't think Birchall is being put on a pedestal by anyone here. He not a great dribbler nor a great passer of the ball, but his defensive play in mid-field is commendable. Lot's of times it appears that he is doing the bulk of the defensive work in the middle.

What made it worse Whitley's injury has ruled him out and Denzil has been utterly disappointing. He has all the physical asset to be a great mid-fielder but somehow he appears to be stuck in the 06 WC gear. He needed to step up big time. He has not.

 The lack of quality defensive and offensive mid-fielders has been a huge problem. Other teams  does run thru our middle like a basket holding water. Most people just like his work ethic. Last Saturday the team did that for the 1st half at least.

Offline King Deese

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #46 on: June 08, 2009, 08:43:02 PM »


i think birchall would make an excellent goal keeper.
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Offline WestCoast

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #47 on: June 08, 2009, 08:50:05 PM »
i think birchall would make an excellent goal keeper.
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Offline Fyzoman

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #48 on: June 08, 2009, 08:59:20 PM »
ah just ha to shake meh head.....so hear nah, Birchall get rel sh*tty or we team get rel good, because de last time i check de man who take we to de WC, kinda see a lil something in Chris enough to have him on de field all de friggin time....is one set ah analysis and team selection.....Sam no disrepect eh, but if Leo was here you wouldna be asking dat question, it woulda be ah non-issue.

P.S my bad if it have men on here wid better resume/WC experience than Leo eh, if so, well allyuh know best.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 09:01:32 PM by Fyzoman »
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Offline Peter

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #49 on: June 09, 2009, 03:28:01 AM »
I don't think Birchall is being put on a pedestal by anyone here. He not a great dribbler nor a great passer of the ball, but his defensive play in mid-field is commendable. Lot's of times it appears that he is doing the bulk of the defensive work in the middle.

What made it worse Whitley's injury has ruled him out and Denzil has been utterly disappointing. He has all the physical asset to be a great mid-fielder but somehow he appears to be stuck in the 06 WC gear. He needed to step up big time. He has not.

 The lack of quality defensive and offensive mid-fielders has been a huge problem. Other teams  does run thru our middle like a basket holding water. Most people just like his work ethic. Last Saturday the team did that for the 1st half at least.

Cool. I agree he should be in defensive mid, but unlike the majority of people who thinks he's the best thing since slice bread, I think is poor passing and tendencies to lose the ball makes him a liability higher up the field. Like I said before, he needs to play rigidly a deep defensive midfield role, that's where he'll be best for us, and his strong points will be maximized and his weaknesses not affect the team as much.

I hear somebody talking about how Beenhackker always picked him- the difference is that back then, though he was never as good as some of our other midfielders in attacking link up play, he wasn't losing the ball as easily or frequently as he is now, so he wasn't a liability to us driving forward, but an advantage. I think his lack of playing time at his clubs have made him regress, but like I said before, everybody seems blinded and unable to speak honestly about him. Also, other midfielders like Trent Noel hadn't stepped up back then like they have now. That said, I also like him because of his fight and tough midfield play looks to be a cool feller, but how some people eyes does glaze over when they mention his name, I feel they like him for other reasons.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 03:42:48 AM by Peter »

Offline Fyzoman

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #50 on: June 09, 2009, 06:19:11 AM »
i feel some people (including Latas) doh like Birchall because he white, yuh know like how some people doh like de US team, but nothing wrong wid dat yuh know, for dat matter dey could drop Birchall for all i care, as long as we win. there, dat should end de talk.
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Offline Dinner Mints

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Re: Would Birchall make a good defender ?
« Reply #51 on: June 09, 2009, 07:32:14 AM »
I don't think Birchall is being put on a pedestal by anyone here. He not a great dribbler nor a great passer of the ball, but his defensive play in mid-field is commendable. Lot's of times it appears that he is doing the bulk of the defensive work in the middle.

What made it worse Whitley's injury has ruled him out and Denzil has been utterly disappointing. He has all the physical asset to be a great mid-fielder but somehow he appears to be stuck in the 06 WC gear. He needed to step up big time. He has not.

 The lack of quality defensive and offensive mid-fielders has been a huge problem. Other teams  does run thru our middle like a basket holding water. Most people just like his work ethic. Last Saturday the team did that for the 1st half at least.

Cool. I agree he should be in defensive mid, but unlike the majority of people who thinks he's the best thing since slice bread, I think is poor passing and tendencies to lose the ball makes him a liability higher up the field. Like I said before, he needs to play rigidly a deep defensive midfield role, that's where he'll be best for us, and his strong points will be maximized and his weaknesses not affect the team as much.

I hear somebody talking about how Beenhackker always picked him- the difference is that back then, though he was never as good as some of our other midfielders in attacking link up play, he wasn't losing the ball as easily or frequently as he is now, so he wasn't a liability to us driving forward, but an advantage. I think his lack of playing time at his clubs have made him regress, but like I said before, everybody seems blinded and unable to speak honestly about him. Also, other midfielders like Trent Noel hadn't stepped up back then like they have now. That said, I also like him because of his fight and tough midfield play looks to be a cool feller, but how some people eyes does glaze over when they mention his name, I feel they like him for other reasons.
You would have a point if people here were praising him for his passing or skill or offensive enterprise. Then you could argue about glazed over eyes or whatever. But everybody that praises Birchall here does so based on the same thing you do. His work rate, his aggression and his importance defensively. And quite honestly, RIGHT NOW, he's the best in that role, which is why so many people advocate for him as a starter. Not because he have no tan.

 

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