Can Fabio defend ?

My knowledge of football which I have been watching for over 50 years has been called into question as I had the apparent audacity to suggest that Fabio da Silva was a defensive liability. Not saying he cant tackle or criticise his lack of effort and I have seen him make goallne clearances. BUT his positional play for a full back leaves a great deal to be desired and his man-marking skills are virtually non-existent. Any good winger coming up against him is likely to have a field day. Anyone agree or disagree ?

My knowledge of football which I have been watching for over 50 years has been called into question as I had the apparent audacity to suggest that Fabio da Silva was a defensive liability. Not saying he cant tackle or criticise his lack of effort and I have seen him make goallne clearances. BUT his positional play for a full back leaves a great deal to be desired and his man-marking skills are virtually non-existent. Any good winger coming up against him is likely to have a field day. Anyone agree or disagree ?

Fabio is a player who always gives 100%, which can't be said for everyone. At times he can go missing at the back but on other occasions he produces solid tackles, uses his pace and brings energy. I would keep him in the side as a wing back.

But we don't play a system that requires wing backs ffs

But we don't play a system that requires wing backs ffs

Nothing wrong with experimenting, Steve. That's what pre-season is for.

My knowledge of football which I have been watching for over 50 years has been called into question as I had the apparent audacity to suggest that Fabio da Silva was a defensive liability. Not saying he cant tackle or criticise his lack of effort and I have seen him make goallne clearances. BUT his positional play for a full back leaves a great deal to be desired and his man-marking skills are virtually non-existent. Any good winger coming up against him is likely to have a field day. Anyone agree or disagree ?

I agree

Defender he is not.
Yes some great clearances, would maybe suite a back 5 or a back 3 with pushed up wing backs

He could be ok for us, but players like him, Whitts, mason and Harris are not 4 4 2 in my opinion

Disagree!

And if you think his positionong is bad just think you could have Andrew Taylor instead, and some clown played him in the Premier! I've seen clothes horses perform better than him.

Disagree!

And if you think his positionong is bad just think you could have Andrew Taylor instead, and some clown played him in the Premier! I've seen clothes horses perform better than him.

We'll agree to differ then. I wasn't all that fussy on Taylor either as it happens.

The two goals which Craig Davies scored end of season showed just how bad his positional play is. I'd never pick him first choice.

A 100% er yes there's no doubt about it but not a great defender. Jumps in too much when he should jockey and positionally very suspect. Would rather a defender to defend first and foremost than be able to bomb forward at every opportunity and leave his flank unguarded but that's not modern football I suppose.

A 100% er yes there's no doubt about it but not a great defender. Jumps in too much when he should jockey and positionally very suspect. Would rather a defender to defend first and foremost than be able to bomb forward at every opportunity and leave his flank unguarded but that's not modern football I suppose.

Defensively he is hot and cold.

Hopeless

You could easily argue he's a quality defender precisely because of the fact he bombs forward.

Attacking defenders usually force back opposition players who normally occupy that space.

He might be made to look bad on the ocassions when he's gone forward and players like Noone give the ball away with stupid passes or crap shots, which happened all too often last season. It might also be that we haven't got very savvy centre halves who possibly should be shifting across to cover Fabrics attacks.

We spent most of last season looking like we would never score. Let's not start restricting our fastest full back to not crossing the half way line. We're boring enough without that!

I see where you are coming from i think Fabio would make a good left mid or a possible winger? As he is good at attacking but not the best at defending

Hes a tryer but a liability, often saved only by his undoubted pace. Awful temperament too

Hes a tryer but a liability, often saved only by his undoubted pace. Awful temperament too

Awful temperament!

Do you mean competitive?

Fabio is actually a really good club player who is exemplary in his dealings with fans before and after games. He's one of very few players who seems to have genuine time for fans.

I've met him a few times and he's brilliant so his 'temperament' on the pitch probably reflects the fact that he wants to be a winner.

Give me a team of Fabios any day.

He's very competitive which is a great quality and a quality that some other players seemed to lack last season but you can be competitive and still use your football brain. He worries me every time he's being taken on because he to often jumps in when there's no cover defender. When it comes off for him it looks great and we all rave about the challenge but more often he gets exposed.
If this area of his game improved I would be more than happy with him.

Hes a tryer but a liability, often saved only by his undoubted pace. Awful temperament too

Awful temperament!

Do you mean competitive?

Fabio is actually a really good club player who is exemplary in his dealings with fans before and after games. He's one of very few players who seems to have genuine time for fans.

I've met him a few times and he's brilliant so his 'temperament' on the pitch probably reflects the fact that he wants to be a winner.

Give me a team of Fabios any day.

I think you'll find he meant temperament and not competitive!

There's no doubting his competitiveness and you make a couple of good other points about him, but he is very headstrong and nearly got sent off when coming on as a sub earlier this year, at a time when he'd been dropped for his defensive liabilities and was given a chance to redeem himself!

Thankfully he had a decent end to the season, but as one poster has stated, he's either hot or cold and needs to become more consistently hot rather than cold!

Hes a tryer but a liability, often saved only by his undoubted pace. Awful temperament too

Awful temperament!

Do you mean competitive?

Fabio is actually a really good club player who is exemplary in his dealings with fans before and after games. He's one of very few players who seems to have genuine time for fans.

I've met him a few times and he's brilliant so his 'temperament' on the pitch probably reflects the fact that he wants to be a winner.

Give me a team of Fabios any day.

I think you'll find he meant temperament and not competitive!

There's no doubting his competitiveness and you make a couple of good other points about him, but he is very headstrong and nearly got sent off when coming on as a sub earlier this year, at a time when he'd been dropped for his defensive liabilities and was given a chance to redeem himself!

Thankfully he had a decent end to the season, but as one poster has stated, he's either hot or cold and needs to become more consistently hot rather than cold!

I agree with that but not many of last season's players could be described as anything like hot either. Faults and all Fabio would be very hard to leave out of our top 5 performers over last season. Don't forget his start to the season when he won several MOM awards and many were saying he was our best player. Couple that with his decent end of season and that leaves the bit in the middle where he didn't play that much under Slade.

When he came on after a period of not being selected then of course he's going to go at it a bit. Perhaps the fact that he didn't actually see red means he was in control and calmed down once he'd made his point.

It's possible!

My knowledge of football which I have been watching for over 50 years has been called into question as I had the apparent audacity to suggest that Fabio da Silva was a defensive liability. Not saying he cant tackle or criticise his lack of effort and I have seen him make goallne clearances. BUT his positional play for a full back leaves a great deal to be desired and his man-marking skills are virtually non-existent. Any good winger coming up against him is likely to have a field day. Anyone agree or disagree ?

Mate, I can agree he rush his decisions sometimes and gets cough off position. However, his recovery is probably one of the best in the team. Rushed desicion can be coached though, witch leave him a really good prospect. A rough diamond to be shaped. Also I feel he gets the heat of many others mistakes. When I watch the game replayed, I often think he is covering for other players missing. Often he is left with two players to mark, and when they score, he gets blamed. He was closest after all. But watch the replay friends. There is often unbalance and it started long before Fabio got involved.

Always has a Panto villain moment in him every game - made us laugh with disbelief at times, as a character he is, as they say, FAB!