Saturday 21 March 2009

The Lucas Neill Debate

Full marks to the Mirror for their headline, "Zola says Lucas Neill is worth every penny of his fat contract" because that captures perfectly the oxymoron that is our skipless Skippy. In recent weeks, Lucas has looked like a defender reborn, maintaining excellent positional discipline and treating the ball with respect when we are in possession. Clarke has clearly been working on him, demanding that he cut out the stupid stuff - including diving in on the half way line and passing across his own box to an opposition forward. But one big problem remains, Lucas is slow, too slow in my opinion to be a right back.

Look at the West Brom game, what did we offer going forward on the right? From memory, we got the ball into the box on the right hand side just once in the whole game. Why? Because Noble kept drifting inside and Neill did not dare overlap because he knows that he lacks to pace to recover his defensive position. And this lack of pace has been a real problem to us as an offensive unit all season. Parker and Behrami have been superb all season but both have done 70% of their work as part of a defensive six. Parker anchors in front of the back four and Behrami played as an auxillary right back, pushing forward when he could but always aware that his main job was to protect Neill from being exposed one on one with anybody with pace. The result is that we are very tight defensively but we offer very little going forward, despite all the delicious passing.

Reflect on the Wigan game. Without the shield of Beharami, Neill was forced to give away two free kicks on the edge of our box and "reverted to type" with that leg break tackle on Cattermole just inside our half. Never mind the argument that he could have seen straight red for the Cattermole tackle, had Attwell flashed yellow for either of the shirt tugs that gave away the free kicks (and they were professional fouls and so merited a booking more than Cole's high foot), then Neill would certainly have gone for a second yellow for that wincer of a challenge. Against West Brom, Neill was our best player defensively but what did he have do? Very little, yet he still could have conceded a penalty for what was, indisputably, a shirt pull in the box.

The brutal truth is that, for all his leadership qualities, Neill lacks pace and does make stupid decisions when a forward looks like getting the better of him. If I was a referee, I would watch him very closely at corners and free kicks and would feel within my rights to give a penalty at every set piece. Lucas seems to think that holding an opponent is a legitimate defensive ploy. It isn't and, sooner or later, the referee will spot what the TV camera exposes virtually every game.

So is he worth his fat contract? No. He is getting older and will get slower. He may well have a couple of years in those legs as a centre back but his days as a right back are almost over - unless we accept that we need a defensive six in every game to cover for Lucas's frailties. The contract is up for renewal and I would slash his salary by at least 33% to reflect his reduced effectiveness. The fact is, with Collins, Upson, Tomkins and Gabbidon (if ever fit), we do not need another centre back so why pay top dollar for Neill? On the other hand, to push on to the next level, we need a Herita Ilunga at right back, a good defender with the ability and pace to get forward. Only then will we start scoring more goals.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made many of the same points in the following post, carefull how you read it though; Nixon of Dock Green realised there was a deep subliminal message which if read twice turns you into a Spurs fan, so he locked it, be warned!
"With his puppy-dog enthusiasm and his Trojan work rate, Valon Behrami has endeared himself to the fans, and will be sorely missed for the rest of the campaign. But it is not his midfield contribution, worthy though that has been, that may be our biggest loss. Apart from his day job on the right of midfield he has also been doing a bit of moonlighting and doing half of Lucas Neill’s work at right back. It is mainly due to Behrami that Neill has looked less vulnerable this season, but with him now missing, the place in the Europa cup which is there for the taking, may now be under threat. Probably the player most suited to covering for Neill whilst still making a midfield contribution is Parker, but he has been such a revelation since attaining full fitness that surely switching him would disrupt the momentum we currently have. If we don’t finish seventh this year, my bet is that we will be able to look back and pinpoint the right back position, our weakest by a country mile, as the reason for coming up short.

Hammersfan said...

Great minds and all that but the Klan would put that down to me replying to myself!

Anonymous said...

I too posted my comments on our captain at the beginning of the season and have seen little this year to change my mind, he is far better at centre back, but we're well endowed in that department.
"Last year they found succour attacking down our right flank, this year they’ve attacked down the right and found the sucker there. The man gets hung out to dry every week, can someone please tell me what he is good at? I know he produces a damp gusset in some of our contributors, but I think most of us just wet our pants whenever he’s put under pressure. It’s time to bring the washing in; it’s time to find a new captain."

Anonymous said...

The trouble with those hoods is that you end up with tunnel vision (if you didn't have it in the first place). The second half of your saying applies at the Klan temple "fools seldom differ"

Anonymous said...

When it comes to Lucas, there's only one debate that comes to mind. Bye for now xx

Anonymous said...

Lucas has improved in recent months but he is still the defensive liability in my opinion. His 'man-marking' at corners is lethal at times and how he's never been pulled up for it regularly I'll never know. What his actions are like off the field as team captain we cannot comment on so maybe that has a large deal to play with the thinkig of offering him another big money deal but one things for sure he will always cost us goals on a fairly regular basis and if you ever want to get on anywhere you cannot have a player in your team who you can make that comment on!!!

Anonymous said...

lucas too slow and you rekon Ilunga has pace? Do you actually got to these games.

Hammersfan said...

Anonymous, not a fan of Ilunga? Most would agree that he is in the running for Hammer of the Year. I know who my money would be on in a 20 yard dash between Herita and Lucas. Ladbrokes would not open a book for fear of being turned into Sketchley overnight!