• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Lost art of the defender. Imagine for a moment Big Dunc surging forward, ball at feet, a latter-day Big Seb

6th November 2015 By Edward Couzens-Lake 5 Comments

Please share

Defenders. Remember them?

As in, ‘defender’, noun. Plural noun, ‘defenders’. (In sport) a player whose task it is to protect their own sides’ goal.

If you cast you mind back far enough, you may recall when that is exactly what they did. They were the original proponents of doing exactly what was written on the tin, or, in their case, the number on the back of their shirts.

Admittedly, these were simpler times. The players lined up in shirts numbered from 1 to 11 and you knew who a player was by the number rather than his name. You also knew the position he played on the pitch from that number.

Take shirt numbers 2 and 3 for example. Simple. They’re the full backs. Number 2 plays on the wide right of defence whilst number 3 plays on the wide left. That part of the pitch was their territory, their manor, one which they guarded as fiercely as a red-necked hillbilly with a several pigs and a grudge protected his smallholding.

Their brief was simple, the manager’s pre-match team talk to them short and to the point. Stop the opposing wingers. That’s all he said, all he ever needed to say. He didn’t need to of course. They knew. And they carried out their mission objectives to the letter. Or, rather, by the numbers. In this case, 7 or 11.

It’s no wonder Celtic’s Jimmy Johnston was such a good player, one of the best exponents of wing-play the game has ever seen, according to some. But he had to be, he had to beat his man. It was either that or running the risk of having one, or even both of your legs broken into two, three, even four or more places. What better incentive was there for him, for any hugger of the white line, to beat his man other than knowing that, if you didn’t, you would probably end up in hospital.

Old Etonian Lord Kinnaird was a prototype of the old fashioned defender we all know and love so well; a direct ancestor of the latter day hard men of the game. His objective in life and football was simple. He just wanted to win and wasn’t particularly bothered how either he or his team went about doing so. Indeed, such was reputation for ferocity within the game that his wife was once alleged to have commented that she feared he would “…come home one day with a broken leg”, only for a family friend to reassure her by saying that, “You must not worry. If he does, it will not be his own.”

A man’s man as they say.

So there is motivation. And there’s running at a six foot four inches and sixteen stone of raging fury whose mission objective in life is to maim you. Although Kinnaird would at least send you flowers in hospital, what with his being a gentleman and all.

Numbers 5 and 6, the twin centre-halves had the same brief, albeit with reference to opposing centre forwards rather than the likes of Johnston and his jinky peers. For them, a player with the number 9 on the back of his shirt may as well have been wearing a roundel. Yet their lives were not quite so straightforward as those led by their defensive colleagues.

This was because the old-fashioned centre-forward often tended to be a bit of a hard bastard himself. Think John Fashanu, Peter Withe and Duncan Ferguson.

And, in our very own John Polston’s case, the one and only Mick Harford.

John told me about his encounter with Mick in a game he played in for Norwich against Chelsea back in 1992 as part of an interview I did with him for my book Fantasy Football.

“I broke my nose in that game. I was on the halfway line, standing alongside Mick Harford. The ball came in and I just tried to nick in front of him and head it away, but, as it bounces up, he’s tried to pivot round and get his boot on it – but I still got there first, so he absolutely smashes me with his right foot! I was out cold. Stretchered off and out of it, I remember waking up at half time in the dressing room; a few of the lads were looking across at me, I think Colin Woodthorpe was one? Anyway, the looks on all their faces when they saw me, it was like, ‘ooooh, look at his face!’ I’d bust my nose, my teeth, I was in a right old state – when I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t open my eyes, they were just two slits.  My mum came up for that game…

“…I had trouble with my teeth for a while afterwards, but I soon got back playing again, in fact, my first game was the return fixture at Chelsea, they had Flecky and Mick up front. Anyway, I’m stood on the halfway line again, first goal kick of the game, Mick just looks across at me and goes, ‘You alright then?’. So I said, ‘Oh yeah, cheers Mick, thanks very much.’ He then says, ‘how’ve you been?’ I said ‘alright’…and that was it, we got on with the game. Bit of a weird situation, but Mick, he was as good as gold.”

Mick Harford. A footballing hardman. But, it seems, he did at least try to be  a gentleman with it, something which may not have been quite the case with some of the more, shall we say, ‘traditional’ centre backs who plied their physical trade in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

We’re talking Dave Mackay, Claudio Gentile, Ron Harris and Andoni Goikoetxea, aka The Butcher.

Gentile’s favoured position in the Italian side was described as terzino destro. Right back. But in truth, he was just an all-round defender, someone who rode shotgun in and around his own penalty area. He made 71 appearances for the Italian national side, winning the World Cup with them in 1982, a tournament during which, after he had come up against (and severely damaged in the process) Diego Maradona, he made the unforgettable quote that, “football is not for ballerinas”.

Neither, it would seem, as far as he was concerned, was it for footballers either.

The Italian national side’s reputation for, ahem, ‘defensive’ play gained its origins following their quite literal clash with Chile during the 1962 World Cup. If you haven’t seen the BBC highlights of the game which David Coleman christened the ‘Battle of Santiago’ then you really should.

That game is, of course, an extreme example of the darker side of defensive play. Yet it typifies, albeit in a rather more rambunctious manner than might have been considered reasonable, what the game was all about at the time and how much more simple it was.

Defenders defended. And attackers attacked. With midfielders, neither one nor the other cast into the purgatory inbetween them.

Football’s lines weren’t so much defined as hewn into granite, forged in an unearthly fire for all to see. I’ll say it again: defenders were there to defend and attackers were there to attack.

It was a simple game. And that was one of the core reasons why.

Not anymore.

Defenders are expected to support the attack, to overlap their midfield counterparts if necessary in order to make inroads into opposition territory and get their crosses in. Much like a winger.

We’ve seen it at Norwich when Russell Martin bombs forward leaving whoever is operating on the right side of midfield to drop deep in order to offer defensive options and cover. Ditto with Martin Olsson or, more recently, the excellent Robbie Brady.

Except that Brady is more offensively inclined wide midfielder cum winger who has been asked to drop further back in order to be an even more offensively inclined left-back. Whilst, on the opposite side of the pitch, we’ve seen conventional right-backs, in form of the aforementioned Martin and Stephen Whittaker, getting forward whilst a player with the pace and attacking instinct of Nathan Redmond is sometimes expected to drop back to offer offensive cover.

I’m glad Gareth Bale has long since left Tottenham, the thought of watching him running at Nathan Redmond as Spurs counterattack at pace whilst Whitts manfully runs back up the pitch from somewhere near the now attacking teams goal-line is a worrying one.

To make matters more complicated of course, Russ – a right-back by trade – is now operating as a central defender, albeit one with a similar licence to roam forward whilst his defensive partner, Seb Bassong, is rather keen himself on imperiously striding forward out of defence, ball at his feet – like a latter day Franco Baresi. Except, with the greatest of respect to Seb, Baresi he ain’t.

So whenever he turns from number five into wannabee playmaker I get a little bit worried. In fact, the levels of consternation in the River End have been known to increase so much whenever Seb sets off on one of his expeditions upfield, you can hear the Werthers Originals that were placed in everyone’s mouths at exactly 3pm all being crunched in harmonious concern.

Where have all the defenders gone?

But that’s not all. Because as defenders become attackers, so too, do attackers become defenders.

Take Elliott Bennett.

We bought him from Brighton in order to provide width, pace and crosses from the right hand side. A proper ‘old school’ winger.

Except he’s now being championed as a possible right-back of the future, a Russell Martin in waiting. He’s even playing in that position at Bristol City, signed by the Robins as defensive cover following Ryan Frederick’s move to Fulham.

Attacking players moving into defensive roles, defenders moving into attacking ones. The modern game is a fluid one and no mistake.

Mind you, defensive players with a penchant for attacking is hardly a new phenomena.

Back in 1976, aware of the need to add some defensive options to a team that had conceded 58 goals during the previous campaign, John Bond signed right back John Ryan from Luton Town. Ryan duly made his Norwich debut on the opening day of the 1976/77 season at Liverpool, wearing the number two shirt in a Norwich back four that included David Jones, Dave Stringer and Duncan Forbes.

All of whom were unequivocally defenders.

You didn’t, for example, see big Duncan, ball at feet, making an imperious 40 yard run into the opposition’s half whilst Ted MacDougall or Phil Boyer dropped back to provide defensive cover. Ted couldn’t have done anyway; he didn’t even know there were two halves of the pitch. He just saw an opposing penalty area.

Ryan, however, was a decent player. More than that, he was quality. He had pace, could place a pass and had a decent shot. Bond soon decided that he wasn’t going to utilise Ryan in a defensive role when he had more to his game than that. So he pushed him, much in the same way that Tottenham did to Bale, further up the pitch and starting line-up, drafting in his son, Kevin into the defence in his place. And Ryan prospered, ending the 1977/78 season as the clubs top scorer with 16 goals as well as winning the Player of the Season award.

In sharp contradiction to that, the Norwich squad that season included six players who occupied defensive positions in the starting line up throughout the campaign, one that was a conventional 4-4-2. They were Kevin Bond, Greg Downs, Duncan Forbes, David Jones, Tony Powell and Colin Sullivan. Perm any four from those six.

They played 152 league games between them, contributing just four goals.

Russell Martin is just one behind that total for this season alone after just eleven games. It took Colin Sullivan five years and 182 games to score that many goals for the club whilst Ian Culverhouse, one of, if not, the best right-back that has ever played for Norwich, made 369 appearances for us scoring just two goals in that time.

Defending from the front has become attacking from the back. And let’s face it, it adds to the entertainment value of the game. And that’s no bad thing.

The bollocking a 1970s Russ would have got from Big Dunc every time he went near the halfway line would have been entertaining as well. Not that Duncan wasn’t averse to going forward himself at set pieces. He would and he was a menace whenever he did. But it was the exception rather than the norm.

Who, I wonder, would have adapted, would have been able to change their game the most effectively should they had played in a Norwich team from another era?

Russ lining up alongside Duncan in a 1970s Canary line up under Ron Saunders?

Or Duncan taking his place next to Russ in the Norwich team for our game against Swansea on Saturday?

Different eras, different priorities, a different game. Especially for defenders.

Who’d have adapted the best?


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Ed Couzens-Lake

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stewart Lewis says

    6th November 2015 at 11:16 am

    Nicely described as usual, Ed.

    Actually, some seeds of change were sown well before the John Bond era. Bobby Moore didn’t venture far upfield, but he could certainly play and saw defending as a question of brain rather than brawn. And ‘Kaiser Franz’ Beckenbauer didn’t mind which parts of the pitch he ended up in.

    Of course, the style of defending exemplified by Dave Mackay or Steve Bould would be buried in an avalanche of red cards these days. It’s interesting, therefore, to see how some of the successors to those defenders have adapted their game to the new rules. I say this between gritted teeth, but the best defender in the Premier League last year wasn’t a modern fancy footballer, but John Terry.

    Reply
  2. MGW says

    6th November 2015 at 1:33 pm

    Interesting article but as Stewart (1) suggests different eras and worlds. Surely though the left and right centre-backs would have been 4 and 5 (not 5 and 6) ?

    Reply
  3. Ed CL says

    6th November 2015 at 4:18 pm

    MGW (2) -think it varied to be honest. The “classic” 4-4-2 I always refer to is Leeds United in the 1970’s, Billy Bremner was No.4 and played in midfield; Norman Hunter who played alongside Jack Charlton (5) was no.6.

    Whereas Dave Stringer and Duncan were 4 and 5 for us with Max Briggs/Trevor Hockey at No.6 in 72/73.We then had five different No.6’s in the 73/74 season!

    Reply
  4. Rossoneri says

    6th November 2015 at 4:19 pm

    Mark Bowen was probably our finest example of a defender who got forward and scored goals (every season) back in the day. Maybe ahead of his time?

    Glad you mentioned Baresi. Without a shadow, the most complete club defence there’s ever been was the AC Milan ‘Immortals’ one of the early 90s – Baresi, Maldini, Tassotti and Costacurta..just the 2000+ appearances between them! Never be one better than that.

    Reply
  5. Andy W says

    7th November 2015 at 10:04 am

    I watched Duncan Forbes’ last seven or eight years with the club. He was one of the most brutal defenders I have ever seen. He would have been sent off every other game in the modern era. His tackles were often ‘mistimed’ and I doubt anyone enjoyed playing against him. However Ed, you are wrong in one aspect; occasionally he would receive the ball on the half way line and some space would open up in front of him. As he moved forward, the crowd would start to cheer and encourage him to shoot. About thirty yards from goal he would let fly. This never ended well, most of the time the ball screwed off his boot towards the corner flag. This did not appear to discourage him much and he would try again a month or so later. He will always remain a true legend of the club and I wish him and his family well.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

peekyncfc Peeky🔰 @peekyncfc ·
24m

#ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1623602880379863040 Retweet on Twitter 1623602880379863040 Like on Twitter 1623602880379863040 Twitter 1623602880379863040
millercharlie68 Charlie Miller 🔰 @millercharlie68 ·
31m

Fuck it , I’m @alextettey86 🔰🚀
#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1623601249307267074 Retweet on Twitter 1623601249307267074 Like on Twitter 1623601249307267074 Twitter 1623601249307267074
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
35m

York City sack another manager as fan unrest grows ever stronger - https://fanbanter.co.uk/york-city-sack-another-manager-as-fan-unrest-grows-stronger/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #nationalleague

Reply on Twitter 1623600087195881472 Retweet on Twitter 1623600087195881472 1 Like on Twitter 1623600087195881472 Twitter 1623600087195881472
roguebaboon57 Craig Thompson 🔰 @roguebaboon57 ·
56m

Perfect Along Come Norwich scenario. #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1623594975177986053 Retweet on Twitter 1623594975177986053 Like on Twitter 1623594975177986053 6 Twitter 1623594975177986053
rewindnorwich Rewind Norwich City @rewindnorwich ·
1h

#OnThisDay 43 years ago, the 1980 Goal of the Season and arguably the greatest #NCFC goal of all time.

Here is a snippet from the excellent @justin_fashanu documentary #ForbiddenGames.

Reply on Twitter 1623592543387623426 Retweet on Twitter 1623592543387623426 2 Like on Twitter 1623592543387623426 11 Twitter 1623592543387623426
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by