magiovinium_bee wrote:Is there any merit in shoe-horning David Tutonda into right back when Eliot returns? I looked at the goal closely and ok Che showed him inside, but most tellingly he made absolutely no attempt to block the shot when the guy was obviously pulling the trigger. I agree with Si1970 that stinks of a lack of commitment. Contrast that with James Dunne who, sensing danger, dashed back and made a full length lunge to try and block the shot despite not being as well placed as Che to do so.
For me Che lacks commitment, lacks pace and appears more often than not uncomfortable in possession. Down the track how good would it be to see Mauro at Right Back?
Not good at all. When Mauro played there he was caught out repeatedly and had a tendency to dive in injudiciously (recall a penalty conceded at Newport, in the middle of a run of games when his lack of defensive instinct was costing us).
I agree with others that the jury’s out on Alexander, but I thought he had a good game yesterday! He made a minor mistake for the goal, yes, but in mitigation he was drawn in when a Taylor tried to nick the ball in midfield and misjudged it. He then had to sprint back to get goalside, and overcompensated and couldn’t adjust and shift his weight when Bolldewign burst inside. Yes it was an error, but one that would've been and gone in an instant if Boldewign hadn’t pulled off a one-in-fifty screamer into the top corner.
You might also wonder if with two Centre halves marking one forward and with two holding midfielders someone might have managed to see the danger sooner and get a block in. You might also recall Boldewign outstripping our left back (Johnson?) emphatically and scoring at the Hive for Crawley a couple of years back; no shame in being caught out by a player too good for the Conference.
You might also note Reynolds saying in post-match comments that they weren’t told in the pre-match analysis that Boldewign had ever scored a goal like that, so it obviously wasn't a particular threat the players were told to guard against (although regardless of that, as a right-footer Alexander was at fault for showing him inside).
But more importantly than that, Alexander to my eye put in a committed performance for the remaining 81 minutes of the game, and as at Sutton was using the ball bravely and going forward with real purpose. Shortly before the second goal he made a brilliant burst up the right and clipped in a perfect pass to J Taylor who, unusually, wasted the chance with a poor finish (but then redeemed himself with a killer pass for the goal of course).
All that said, I certainly wouldn’t be averse to us signing another right back if there’s better available, but I do question whether the narrative on Alexander is a little too firmly fixed.
EDIT: Because I’ve got a thousand more important things to do, I went and found that Boldewign goal at the Hive. From about 1 min 20s, here he is making Johnson look like a chump. Johnson’s not a chump; he just made an incorrect split-second decision and Boldewign punished him, just as he did Alexander yesterday. Doesn’t excuse Alexander’s error, but worth noting that he’s not the first Barnet full back caught out by a player who’s of a standard we will not face every week in this division!
https://youtu.be/4bQfHpux958