That's actually a really good interview from Hector. Not letting the fact the penalty was outside the box take away from the fact the defending leading up to it wasn't good enough and not allowing ref blame to cloud it either. Hector is a good player. He's very comfortable for huge swathes of matches but then he does have moments where he swings at a clearance and misses or fails to do what he wants with the ball and invites problems right in front of his keeper. It's easier to cut out the mistakes than it is to learn how to run a backline so I'm hopeful he can reduce those errors and become a rock for us. It would help if we created fewer situations where a centre back error can totally undo our gameplan though. I'm not convinced by either of our RBs, one is young and one is fineish, and I'm yet to see anything really from Edun to suggest he's anything like as useful as he was at Lincoln. Our midfield is such a mess that changes in terms of shape and role every single week and the players who suffer most from that are the central defenders. Far too many teams find themselves running at our centre backs when a team with good shape and organisation will have CBs cleaning up the ball after a midfielder has pushed the attacker into an uncomfortable position. We have had this for the past few seasons as well, Inniss, Famewo, Pearce, Lavelle, we've made a lot of centre backs look like donkeys over the last few years because they've been asked to take on a huge amount of responsibility for stopping entire opposition attacks when their job really should be to clear headers, mop up mistakes and make blocks over being our entire form of defence. The reality is if you keep exposing your centre backs to wave after wave of opposition attacks with little cover before long they're going to make a mistake, just like a striker will miss some of the chances he's presented with, a winger will shank a cross into space and a midfielder will cock up a 5 yard pass. I do hope we get another centre back in January because we lack depth there and you can always improve but honestly I think you could the absolute best defender at this level and make him look pretty poor over the course of a season if we don't figure out our overall shape and patterns, and that will start with sorting the midfield out.
Can’t help being reminded of Ben Watson when I read his quote below. Understandable from his point of view but we want a squad desperate for promotion. I could be wrong but this reads like a player who’d rather stay in L1 if it means he’s local than take a Championship offer and move further away.
I wouldn’t be any rush to offer him a new deal, especially not if his wage suggests he’s a regular starter.
“I am enjoying my football here and I’d love to stay – my family are very local,” said Hector. “It is the right place for me and I’m helping the younger boys as well, which is a key role for me.
Spot on. I hope the recruitment team are thinking like this and we avoid a poor signing again.
I find it interesting how his form picked up towards the end of last season, took an age to agree a contract in the summer and now, right before the window, he’s found MOTM performances and has articles about “wanting to stay”.
My old Nan’s saying, “the clearest answers are from the questions you never ask” comes to mind.
I find it interesting how his form picked up towards the end of last season, took an age to agree a contract in the summer and now, right before the window, he’s found MOTM performances and has articles about “wanting to stay”.
My old Nan’s saying, “the clearest answers are from the questions you never ask” comes to mind.
he will have been put up for interview by the club
Can’t help being reminded of Ben Watson when I read his quote below. Understandable from his point of view but we want a squad desperate for promotion. I could be wrong but this reads like a player who’d rather stay in L1 if it means he’s local than take a Championship offer and move further away.
I wouldn’t be any rush to offer him a new deal, especially not if his wage suggests he’s a regular starter.
“I am enjoying my football here and I’d love to stay – my family are very local,” said Hector. “It is the right place for me and I’m helping the younger boys as well, which is a key role for me.
Bit unfair to compare him to Ben Watson, who had zero redeeming features, and gave out like he didn’t want to be here. Hec has just been MotM twice in a row (albeit versus poor opposition as Braz has pointed out) and I don’t remember Watson receiving any such vote of confidence. And Hec wanting to be here, for whatever reason, is a positive. 👍
Can’t help being reminded of Ben Watson when I read his quote below. Understandable from his point of view but we want a squad desperate for promotion. I could be wrong but this reads like a player who’d rather stay in L1 if it means he’s local than take a Championship offer and move further away.
I wouldn’t be any rush to offer him a new deal, especially not if his wage suggests he’s a regular starter.
“I am enjoying my football here and I’d love to stay – my family are very local,” said Hector. “It is the right place for me and I’m helping the younger boys as well, which is a key role for me.
Bit unfair to compare him to Ben Watson, who had zero redeeming features, and gave out like he didn’t want to be here. Hec has just been MotM twice in a row (albeit versus poor opposition as Braz has pointed out) and I don’t remember Watson receiving any such vote of confidence. And Hec wanting to be here, for whatever reason, is a positive. 👍
I agree he's been a better player for us than Watson but that's not what I'm comparing. His quote gives the impression he moved here more for convenience over footballing ambition.
We need players to be pushing themselves to be the best they can be, not those happy for a job close to home who might not put in that extra effort on (in how they play) or off the pitch (in how they look after themselves).
Can’t help being reminded of Ben Watson when I read his quote below. Understandable from his point of view but we want a squad desperate for promotion. I could be wrong but this reads like a player who’d rather stay in L1 if it means he’s local than take a Championship offer and move further away.
I wouldn’t be any rush to offer him a new deal, especially not if his wage suggests he’s a regular starter.
“I am enjoying my football here and I’d love to stay – my family are very local,” said Hector. “It is the right place for me and I’m helping the younger boys as well, which is a key role for me.
Bit unfair to compare him to Ben Watson, who had zero redeeming features, and gave out like he didn’t want to be here. Hec has just been MotM twice in a row (albeit versus poor opposition as Braz has pointed out) and I don’t remember Watson receiving any such vote of confidence. And Hec wanting to be here, for whatever reason, is a positive. 👍
I agree he's been a better player for us than Watson but that's not what I'm comparing. His quote gives the impression he moved here more for convenience over footballing ambition.
We need players to be pushing themselves to be the best they can be, not those happy for a job close to home who might not put in that extra effort on (in how they play) or off the pitch (in how they look after themselves).
Fine as 3rd or 4th choice. We need two better starters, with neither injury prone. Then we need Hector to accept wages of a L1 3rd or 4th choice CB.
I’m happy that we have a CB who gets two MotMs in a row. If we can bring in another couple of CBs who are better than him, then that’d be great, of course. But I doubt we’ll sign more than one, in reality.
Can’t help being reminded of Ben Watson when I read his quote below. Understandable from his point of view but we want a squad desperate for promotion. I could be wrong but this reads like a player who’d rather stay in L1 if it means he’s local than take a Championship offer and move further away.
I wouldn’t be any rush to offer him a new deal, especially not if his wage suggests he’s a regular starter.
“I am enjoying my football here and I’d love to stay – my family are very local,” said Hector. “It is the right place for me and I’m helping the younger boys as well, which is a key role for me.
Bit unfair to compare him to Ben Watson, who had zero redeeming features, and gave out like he didn’t want to be here. Hec has just been MotM twice in a row (albeit versus poor opposition as Braz has pointed out) and I don’t remember Watson receiving any such vote of confidence. And Hec wanting to be here, for whatever reason, is a positive. 👍
I agree he's been a better player for us than Watson but that's not what I'm comparing. His quote gives the impression he moved here more for convenience over footballing ambition.
We need players to be pushing themselves to be the best they can be, not those happy for a job close to home who might not put in that extra effort on (in how they play) or off the pitch (in how they look after themselves).
I wouldn’t read too much into an interview.
Yeah it's his performances that matter a lot more than the quote. I haven't been fully convinced by them which is why I wouldn't be in a rush to extend his contract. If he consistently plays well for the second half of the season then he'll deserve a new deal.
I dunno - I'd be delighted if he put in more performances like the ones that have been mentioned. But it makes me question so much. Where were these earlier in the season? Why do the errors creep in? Why can he not show more of this consistently? Maybe it's physical, maybe is mental - who knows. I don't think his fitness should have been that big a of a factor.
I judge my CBs as I do defenses by that GA stat. Hector could be playing well, but they are judged collectively as a unit of 5. The more I ruminate on it, the more I think responsibility could also equally be directed elsewhere to AMB and the other defenders, but he HAS to be to top guy. Someone (perhaps Tom) on the CL pod mentioned expectations earlier in the season about a solid spine in AMB/Hector/Dobbo/May - we've had half of that, realistically and the defensive unit has to be better.
I'm harsh on Hector, but only because I feel my expectation for him is that should be as good as those senior players every week. I remain cynical for now, just because a couple of decent games and a PR piece on SLP should not warrant a new deal, if that's how he is angling it. I may well be wrong, but I question his comfort at playing here at this level. It's nowhere near as bad as Ben Watson (god how I detested him) - but earlier in the season, I felt there was a bit of that sometimes.
That's actually a really good interview from Hector. Not letting the fact the penalty was outside the box take away from the fact the defending leading up to it wasn't good enough and not allowing ref blame to cloud it either. Hector is a good player. He's very comfortable for huge swathes of matches but then he does have moments where he swings at a clearance and misses or fails to do what he wants with the ball and invites problems right in front of his keeper. It's easier to cut out the mistakes than it is to learn how to run a backline so I'm hopeful he can reduce those errors and become a rock for us. It would help if we created fewer situations where a centre back error can totally undo our gameplan though. I'm not convinced by either of our RBs, one is young and one is fineish, and I'm yet to see anything really from Edun to suggest he's anything like as useful as he was at Lincoln. Our midfield is such a mess that changes in terms of shape and role every single week and the players who suffer most from that are the central defenders. Far too many teams find themselves running at our centre backs when a team with good shape and organisation will have CBs cleaning up the ball after a midfielder has pushed the attacker into an uncomfortable position. We have had this for the past few seasons as well, Inniss, Famewo, Pearce, Lavelle, we've made a lot of centre backs look like donkeys over the last few years because they've been asked to take on a huge amount of responsibility for stopping entire opposition attacks when their job really should be to clear headers, mop up mistakes and make blocks over being our entire form of defence. The reality is if you keep exposing your centre backs to wave after wave of opposition attacks with little cover before long they're going to make a mistake, just like a striker will miss some of the chances he's presented with, a winger will shank a cross into space and a midfielder will cock up a 5 yard pass. I do hope we get another centre back in January because we lack depth there and you can always improve but honestly I think you could the absolute best defender at this level and make him look pretty poor over the course of a season if we don't figure out our overall shape and patterns, and that will start with sorting the midfield out.
This is such a good post. I’ve said a couple of times that we don’t field enough defensively minded players sometimes, but you’ve explained the mechanics of defending as a team much better than I could @Garrymanilow 👍
[Thought I’d already replied to this, but maybe I didn’t hit the Post Comment button?]
I agree with much of your post @th0rryy, but I do think Hector just has that laid back style, which sometimes makes him look like he doesn’t care.
That's actually a really good interview from Hector. Not letting the fact the penalty was outside the box take away from the fact the defending leading up to it wasn't good enough and not allowing ref blame to cloud it either. Hector is a good player. He's very comfortable for huge swathes of matches but then he does have moments where he swings at a clearance and misses or fails to do what he wants with the ball and invites problems right in front of his keeper. It's easier to cut out the mistakes than it is to learn how to run a backline so I'm hopeful he can reduce those errors and become a rock for us. It would help if we created fewer situations where a centre back error can totally undo our gameplan though. I'm not convinced by either of our RBs, one is young and one is fineish, and I'm yet to see anything really from Edun to suggest he's anything like as useful as he was at Lincoln. Our midfield is such a mess that changes in terms of shape and role every single week and the players who suffer most from that are the central defenders. Far too many teams find themselves running at our centre backs when a team with good shape and organisation will have CBs cleaning up the ball after a midfielder has pushed the attacker into an uncomfortable position. We have had this for the past few seasons as well, Inniss, Famewo, Pearce, Lavelle, we've made a lot of centre backs look like donkeys over the last few years because they've been asked to take on a huge amount of responsibility for stopping entire opposition attacks when their job really should be to clear headers, mop up mistakes and make blocks over being our entire form of defence. The reality is if you keep exposing your centre backs to wave after wave of opposition attacks with little cover before long they're going to make a mistake, just like a striker will miss some of the chances he's presented with, a winger will shank a cross into space and a midfielder will cock up a 5 yard pass. I do hope we get another centre back in January because we lack depth there and you can always improve but honestly I think you could the absolute best defender at this level and make him look pretty poor over the course of a season if we don't figure out our overall shape and patterns, and that will start with sorting the midfield out.
This is such a good post. I’ve said a couple of times that we don’t field enough defensively minded players sometimes, but you’ve explained the mechanics of defending as a team much better than I could @Garrymanilow 👍
[Thought I’d already replied to this, but maybe I didn’t hit the Post Comment button?]
I agree with much of your post @th0rryy, but I do think Hector just has that laid back style, which sometimes makes him look like he doesn’t care.
That's actually a really good interview from Hector. Not letting the fact the penalty was outside the box take away from the fact the defending leading up to it wasn't good enough and not allowing ref blame to cloud it either. Hector is a good player. He's very comfortable for huge swathes of matches but then he does have moments where he swings at a clearance and misses or fails to do what he wants with the ball and invites problems right in front of his keeper. It's easier to cut out the mistakes than it is to learn how to run a backline so I'm hopeful he can reduce those errors and become a rock for us. It would help if we created fewer situations where a centre back error can totally undo our gameplan though. I'm not convinced by either of our RBs, one is young and one is fineish, and I'm yet to see anything really from Edun to suggest he's anything like as useful as he was at Lincoln. Our midfield is such a mess that changes in terms of shape and role every single week and the players who suffer most from that are the central defenders. Far too many teams find themselves running at our centre backs when a team with good shape and organisation will have CBs cleaning up the ball after a midfielder has pushed the attacker into an uncomfortable position. We have had this for the past few seasons as well, Inniss, Famewo, Pearce, Lavelle, we've made a lot of centre backs look like donkeys over the last few years because they've been asked to take on a huge amount of responsibility for stopping entire opposition attacks when their job really should be to clear headers, mop up mistakes and make blocks over being our entire form of defence. The reality is if you keep exposing your centre backs to wave after wave of opposition attacks with little cover before long they're going to make a mistake, just like a striker will miss some of the chances he's presented with, a winger will shank a cross into space and a midfielder will cock up a 5 yard pass. I do hope we get another centre back in January because we lack depth there and you can always improve but honestly I think you could the absolute best defender at this level and make him look pretty poor over the course of a season if we don't figure out our overall shape and patterns, and that will start with sorting the midfield out.
This is such a good post. I’ve said a couple of times that we don’t field enough defensively minded players sometimes, but you’ve explained the mechanics of defending as a team much better than I could @Garrymanilow 👍
[Thought I’d already replied to this, but maybe I didn’t hit the Post Comment button?]
I agree with much of your post @th0rryy, but I do think Hector just has that laid back style, which sometimes makes him look like he doesn’t care.
"Hec has been very consistent this year", yeah consistently costing us goals, just as his non-challenge cost us another goal yesterday. Even when he plays well, as he generally did yesterday, he is still prone to errors that lead to us conceding goals. Not good enough to deserve a new contract.
Oh we're actually blaming him are we? He was, as I say, the only one who came across to try and do something, he got unlucky as the guy hooked it through his legs as he was about to challenge.
He was clearly the best player on the field until then. I don't know what to say to you if you don't see a footballer who's head and shoulders above the vast majority of what we've seen for a few seasons. He could play in midfield and be better than most of our midfielders during that period. You want people in your side who can play football
Like, he's about the 5th closest to the ball of our players when their guy chests it down. He's the only one to recognise imminent danger and advance to meet him. Then someone else sticks a leg out of nowhere and puts it through his legs. It's unlucky as hell and to blame him for the goal is absurd
You blew the last game to an injury time penalty. Are you going to dive in with a load of people trying to get to the ball, or try and put in a solid block, as he tried?
As usual, he was outstanding against very poor opponents.
As usual, he faded after 75 minutes, made dangerous unforced errors and was running in treacle.
I have seen him do this several times. He just runs our of steam. I wonder if it is a health/fitness issue which if I remember was an issue when he signed for us?
I can't even figure out what he's tried to do there. I've just watched it over and over. He's in no danger of fouling the guy, all he needs to do is attempt to play the ball and he'll win it, and instead he pulls his foot out. It's yet another bizarre moment from this guy and again in a key moment of a game.
Comments
My old Nan’s saying, “the clearest answers are from the questions you never ask” comes to mind.
We need players to be pushing themselves to be the best they can be, not those happy for a job close to home who might not put in that extra effort on (in how they play) or off the pitch (in how they look after themselves).
I judge my CBs as I do defenses by that GA stat. Hector could be playing well, but they are judged collectively as a unit of 5. The more I ruminate on it, the more I think responsibility could also equally be directed elsewhere to AMB and the other defenders, but he HAS to be to top guy. Someone (perhaps Tom) on the CL pod mentioned expectations earlier in the season about a solid spine in AMB/Hector/Dobbo/May - we've had half of that, realistically and the defensive unit has to be better.
I'm harsh on Hector, but only because I feel my expectation for him is that should be as good as those senior players every week. I remain cynical for now, just because a couple of decent games and a PR piece on SLP should not warrant a new deal, if that's how he is angling it. I may well be wrong, but I question his comfort at playing here at this level. It's nowhere near as bad as Ben Watson (god how I detested him) - but earlier in the season, I felt there was a bit of that sometimes.
I agree with much of your post @th0rryy, but I do think Hector just has that laid back style, which sometimes makes him look like he doesn’t care.
Even when he plays well, as he generally did yesterday, he is still prone to errors that lead to us conceding goals.
Not good enough to deserve a new contract.
He was clearly the best player on the field until then. I don't know what to say to you if you don't see a footballer who's head and shoulders above the vast majority of what we've seen for a few seasons. He could play in midfield and be better than most of our midfielders during that period. You want people in your side who can play football
hes still better than 95% of the shit in our squad
As usual, he was outstanding against very poor opponents.
As usual, he faded after 75 minutes, made dangerous unforced errors and was running in treacle.
I have seen him do this several times. He just runs our of steam. I wonder if it is a health/fitness issue which if I remember was an issue when he signed for us?
'But look at his range of passing!' as we fail to get another clean sheet.