Aufc Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 I’d say centre of defence. Obviously most teams will want a striker but you can score goals via other positions if not available. If you stop conceding goals then you will be up there. I’m pretty sure if you looked back at previous champions of various leagues then the team thag won the league would be the one who had conceded the least 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dons_1988 Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 20 minutes ago, Aufc said: I’d say centre of defence. Obviously most teams will want a striker but you can score goals via other positions if not available. If you stop conceding goals then you will be up there. I’m pretty sure if you looked back at previous champions of various leagues then the team thag won the league would be the one who had conceded the least My challenge to that would be that I’d say champions are built on a strong defensive unit, as opposed to solely a strong central defence. If you have good centre halves but Diddy fullbacks, keeper and a midfield that offers no protection then the unit crumbles. I think an individual can make an attacking unit far more potent just through individual quality than an individual can make a defensive unit solid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunfermline Don Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Everyone on the pitch could make a mistake and in a lot of instances another player can cover for it except the Keeper. I remember my sons team had two keepers and one of them was hopeless but due to the rules had to have game time. I recall one game when he came on with 20 minutes to go when the team was winning and you could see the defences heads drop knowing that they didn’t have the back up behind them again any more. I am sure they lost the game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 (edited) In the SPFL, a sound keeper will keep you in the division. A midfield to attack playmaker full of dinks and through passes will unlock defenses and give you a chance at silverwear (not for the championship unless its Turnbull or guessing it's Arfield in that role across town?). Keepers lie thick on the ground though, the playmakers are rare animals. Edited August 19, 2022 by Kapowzer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 The further down the league you go, the more important a good keeper becomes. Celtic and Rangers will get by without worrying too much over their goalies but as you get further down, someone competent between the sticks is vital. Striker is obviously important but think we overstate the importance. The lack of 12-15 goal a season centre forwards throughout the league over the last several seasons is proof of this. As long as you're creating, you'll score goals. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 (edited) It's a good question, but I think (as others have touched on) it has two answers. Weakness to avoid and strength to have. The most important area not to have a major weakness is in goals. Hearts 19/20 are the perfect example. Even with a goalkeeper who was merely rubbish, we'd have stayed up, and probably fairly comfortably. But that absolute imposter basically relegated us by himself. We became so easy to beat and dropped points in games we should have won out the park because teams knew they basically just had to get to within shooting range and have a pop. It damages the rest of the team because you need to do so much to protect him and it saps the confidence of the other players as their good work is so easily undone in the most damaging way. However, I think the best area to have a clear strength is in central defence. As well as the obvious benefits of protecting your keeper and keeping clean sheets, it frees up your midfield to be more adventurous and takes the heat off how many goals your strikers need to contribute for the team to be successful. Edited August 19, 2022 by VincentGuerin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 St Johnstone finished sixth then fifth and won two cups with Zander Clark in pure clownshoes mode. They only survived via a play-off with him in the form of his life. So certainly don't think the answer can definitively be goalkeeper, or certainly not if the rest of your team is shit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big al Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 All you need is Willie Miller to be honest. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch Stanton Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 In the old days of 2-3-5 the only specialised positions were goalkeeper and left winger. All of the other 9 could play in any position. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Missionary. Ah, you meant FOOTBALL positions.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genuine Hibs Fan Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 35 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: It's a good question, but I think (as others have touched on) it has two answers. Weakness to avoid and strength to have. The most important area not to have a major weakness is in goals. Hearts 19/20 are the perfect example. Even with a goalkeeper who was merely rubbish, we'd have stayed up, and probably fairly comfortably. But that absolute imposter basically relegated us by himself. We became so easy to beat and dropped points in games we should have won out the park because teams knew they basically just had to get to within shooting range and have a pop. It damages the rest of the team because you need to do so much to protect him and it saps the confidence of the other players as their good work is so easily undone in the most damaging way. However, I think the best area to have a clear strength is in central defence. As well as the obvious benefits of protecting your keeper and keeping clean sheets, it frees up your midfield to be more adventurous and takes the heat off how many goals your strikers need to contribute for the team to be successful. I think your first line articulates what I was thinking when I first saw this, assuming all the rest of your team is good enough it depends on whether you mean what is catastrophic to have a shit one of and what is the biggest value add to have a great one of. Definitely agree on the goalie being the one to avoid, as others have said there were a series of Hibs teams in the 00's who could probably have been more successful had we ever got that position right. I think for the great to have it could be anywhere down the spine really. Agree on CBs but equally having a top class for their level, all round central or defensive midfielder makes a huge difference, as does a great playmaker (Killie with Eremenko immediately comes to mind) and there's teams with weak outfields all over who have massively overperformed due to having a good CF. Think Griffiths at Hibs 12/13, or Boyd at Killie the following year when the two Edinburgh teams went down. Think it just comes down to personal preference or what you value most really. All that being said I think then if you have to narrow it down to one position goalkeeper would be the one everyone can agree on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sortmeout Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 When we were relegated it was mostly down to having a dreadful goalkeeper, especially in the second half of the season when Lafferty was scoring goals up the other end. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 I'd suggest goalkeeper. I'd say Siegrist was the difference between United finishing in Europe last season and slugging it out with the likes of St Johnstone or ourselves. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they certainly wouldn't have got into Europe. Similarly, if we didn't have an injured Adam Legzdins, one of the worst keepers we've ever had in Ian Lawlor and a completely untried youth keeper, I reckon we'd have had a good few extra points on the board (probably still relegated due to the two clownshoe managers we had though). A truly great keeper can make a bombscare defence, semi-competent IMO. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Other Foot Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 5 hours ago, Richey Edwards said: Missionary. Ah, you meant FOOTBALL positions.... Richey, we’re hardly going to be talking about the best positions in the evangelic christian church on a football forum 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estragon Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 16 hours ago, invergowrie arab said: As a keeper myself the wages they command for a specialised position show they clearly aren't the most important player. They are akin to kickers in the NFL. You could force Rangers and Celtic to field Elgin and Forfars keepers all year and they would still finish top 2. Not sure this really supports your argument. They could start with an outfield player with a similar pedigree in any position and do the same. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estragon Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 40 minutes ago, Sortmeout said: When we were relegated it was mostly down to having a dreadful goalkeeper, especially in the second half of the season when Lafferty was scoring goals up the other end. ONE dreadful goalkeeper?... You're certainly half right. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Teams pay big money for match-winning strikers. Its the position that is hardest to find genuine game changers in. There are plenty of average/good/great goalies with not much between them. The difference between an average striker and a great one is enormous. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Tennis Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Striker. The ability to score consistently is prized above others for a reason. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HK Hibee Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Central defence. Get that wrong and you will struggle thinking about this a different way I have recently been thinking about which player I would pick first, from any era, if I was trying to pick my best ever team. Wanted it to be maradona but have decided it would be Keane - not sure if this is a positional thing or that he is just a guy who would do anything to win. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Keeper,the last shit one we had got us demoted.The one we have now got us in to Europe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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