Efe Ambrose

The change in the line up that lennon should have made is clear as day, Bench Ambrose, shift Lustig to centre back and matthews at RB.

That was the obvious choice to make, Lustig has a bit of pace too, with matthews also in the team we add even more pace down the flanks. It was a very poor tactical decision from Lenny, that goal after 3 minutes completely knocked the stuffing out of the fans and we really couldn't get going after that.

Real shame, i rate Ambrose, just not in defence, he could make a brilliant midfielder. A place where if he does make a mistake it won't be punished as harshly.

 

2 games in 3 days & a flight from Africa. Don't think he should of been played.

 

I had no idea how old he was until now.
Can't believe it. Thought he was touching 30 at least :smiley-laughing002:

Now i feel old

 

yes Ambrose had a bad game but the first goal went right through Forsters legs.. then Forster basically just stood there when the ball was cleared back out to the Juventus player, i know it was already over the line with the first shot but he could have done better, not all Efe's fault

 

He should have been hooked at half time a big gamble that failed miserably . A good performance from the rest of the bhoys we were robbed big time .

 

Obviously gutted that Lennon chose to play him. Don't think he should be made the scapegoat. Juve did their homework, indentified him as a link and ruthlessly exploited it. The heading weakness was highlighted for the first goal.

 

Agreed.

It was one thing starting him, but the fact that he stayed on past half time is even more mind boggling.

 

The guy has the makings of a very good player for us lets get behind him.Our managers young our teams young we are still on a steep learning curve.

 

I don't think he would have been physically fatigued. He would have been mentally fatigued and that's why his concentration wasn't there. Obviously the fact that he'd played a final two days before won't have helped him physically.

 

Ambrose- Hero to Zero...

Its easy to froget his previous performances that helped to get us where we are. Granted, he had a bad game and paid for his mistakes but i think a lot of the reaction on him has been a bit over the top. He gave everything v Barcelona over both legs and we were singing his praises then.

He is a good center back and i dont think he gets credited enough for his distribution from defence and on the ball ability. He had a bad game in such a crucial game. Its hard to take. But it wasnt so long ago that people were out for kelvin wilson... hes turned it around. Im confident Ambrose will do the same.

On commons reaction, he said his part and they are all grown men. Maybe it was a tad insensitive being so public about it. He made a few points though and at least he has shown passion.

 

Only been a few people I've saw actually criticising him in general. Most admit he had a bad game but it was Lennon's bad choice to play him.

Only really been Commons and a few others :icon_mrgreen: :smiley-laughing002:

 

We were playing quite a high defensive line last night so playing would Thomas Rogne could potentially have been a bit of a disaster. Rogne just doesn't have the pace to stay with the Juventus forwards if a long ball was played over the top of our defence.

This would have been my back four last night..................

Adam Matthews------Mikael Lustig------Kelvin Wilson------Emilio Izaguirre

Lustig and Wilson would have provided the pace we needed at the heart of the defence and Adam Matthews has been playing well lately so I felt a bit bad for him that he didn't get to start the match.
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Effe Ambrose is never a centre back, his reactions and thinking are too slow for that role, and his suicidal dribbling of the ball out of the box is catastrophic for the defence, all Cardinal sins for a centre back. A good centre back's priority should always be to clear his lines as fast and efficiently as he can, Ambrose can't do that, and his heading of the ball is positionally wasteful and dangerous.

My suggestion would be to convert him either into a wing back, midfielder, or perhaps even a forward where his height, strength and speed might just be what we are lacking in high pressure games like the Juventus match. Further up the field Effe is likely to cause less danger to our own defence.

 

A forward? You have seen Efe's attempts at finishing, right??

The guy struggles to score from 2-3 yards out, he'd be a terrible forward.

 

I fully agree Dr Venglos. An attacking midfielder for me, never a CB in a million years.

 

Or at least a midfielder.

 

Agreed .

Efe should have been told by Lennon to take a day or two off and completely forget about playing Juve. There is absolutely no way he was physically fit enough, mentally fit enough or prepared tactically for Juventus. He had a horrible night and should't have put himself forward for selection, but NL shouldn'y have considered him for a second when we've got a Swedish international that's more than capable of stepping in.

 

Exactly. Ambrose faded badly at the end (understandable), but with Lustig off injured Lennon had no choice but to leave Ambrose on. Thought he played really well most of the night. Bad start and the way he (understandably) ran out of gas at the end cost us.

 

I prefer him in midfield, as someone said his dribbling out of defence is suicidal at times, let alone attempting it against a multi million pound world class team.