Tuesday 6 January 2009

The other way round?

There is a line in Ian Herbert's piece on City today that is worth thinking about:
But with Richard Dunne's disintegration now seemingly affecting the form of Micah Richards, the centre of defence is where Hughes is in most urgent need of reinforcements.
This is interesting. The argument that Dunne's poor form has caused Richards' is quite simple: as the captain and senior player, Dunne has to offer leadership and guidance to Richards in all sorts of different ways. As his form has declined (and it certainly has), he has been unable to provide Richards with the leadership he requires. And that has led to Richards' poor form.

But this means that Richards' poor form is simply a function of Dunne's. Really? I thought that the decline of Richards has been worse than that of Dunne in 2008. It certainly predates Dunne's - Richards hasn't looked the same since his knee operation.

And so it could be that the causation flows the other way. Since Richards has lost his bearings and, seemingly, a little bit of pace, Dunne has had to cover for him because of his role as captain. Which has impacted his form.

I don't really have a particular opinion either way: it needs someone who really understands defending, and who gets to gets to more games than I do. This is just another way of looking at it. Let me know what you think.

5 comments:

newsoftheblues said...

my seat is on the left handside of the goal...i see dunne as generally poor, he isnt left footed , cant covr for ball...and puts pressure on others with poor distribution.

Richards hasnt been as cumbersome, but has looked switched off and low!

I dont know who is to blame, but they have been as bad as each other.

newsoftheblues said...

richards hasnt been as cumbersome, but has looked switched off and low on morale. his error vs wba was dreadful, i hear he wants to move to right back while swp is out and zabaleta play right mid like he has done before.

Loki said...

I think they get exposed more these days because the midfield is often pushed up field. We have seen some sublime attacking moments this season, but we have been sussed by some teams, West Brom especially. A quick ball over the top of a midfield on the front foot, and our defenders are struggling to contain the counter attack.

BlueAnorak said...

I guess your one of the folks who voted for Dunne as player of the year last season when it WAS Petrov who WAS really the City player of last season.

Sorry to rain on your parade but Dunne has been absolutely pants this season. His mistakes have resulted in twice as many goals against as Richards mistakes have. Not that Richards has been great - far from it - but hey lets get the story straight. Then there is Dunne's total inability to boss the team as a captain should.

Dunne should have been dropped months ago to find his form and he should DEFINATELY lose the captain's armband.

Sory Dunnie mate but I speak as I find and you have been somewhere else for a lot of this season. Time to get a grip.

Unknown said...

Dunney is exposed thanks to the weakness of our left back position. I feel for him, until last Saturday that is when I saw him in The Bubble Room in Bramhall drinking and smoking! Captain Marlborous?
Richards is a confidence player low on form and doesn't look like he wants the ball anywhere near him. Thankfully he has Zab alongside him! If Charlie was still with us I'm not sure I could watch away games.