Paul hanlon

[R'Albin]

Surely this boy is worth playing? Our defence has looked dodgy in recent times and everytime i see him play he has looked composed, good in the air, puts in good challenges .

Also he wont be progressing sitting on the bench and he is just as good if not better than grounds in LB even if it isn't his best position.

Thoughts??

[fatbloke]

Paul stop posting here touting yourself, be patient:greengrin

[jackhfc]

Surely this boy is worth playing? Our defence has looked dodgy in recent times and everytime i see him play he has looked composed, good in the air, puts in good challenges .

Also he wont be progressing sitting on the bench and he is just as good if not better than grounds in LB even if it isn't his best position.

Thoughts??

:agree:

[woody47]

Definately think it is worth playing PH more. He has a cool head on young shoulders and will just get better but needs time on the pitch.

[Hibercelona]

A young physical defender. Exactly who we need on the pitch. :agree:

Another 3 in january as well please. :pray:

[sesoim]

He hasn't covered himself in glory, but then again neither have the current defence. I'd keep Paul as backup (purely because he is young, on low wages and could get better), but really we need to bring in a couple of new defenders, especially a leader-organizer type in the middle.

[RIP]

The club's failure to develop a long-term squad build strategy is partly to blame here IMO. Paul started to emerge in the U19's back in Collins' day and if we hadn't kept changing our manager every year we would have seen several young guys including Paul brought through. We might have had to suffer a couple of bottom 6 finishes but by now we would have had a more mature squad challenging top end.

Paul's development has also been hampered by being a young centre back in a team where we have centre-back options. I personally believe that he is too inches too short for centre-half against some of the bigger teams. If your centre-backs can't dominate in your own box then you are in trouble. This makes him effective at U21 but boy against man at full SPL level.

[truehibernian]

The club's failure to develop a long-term squad build strategy is partly to blame here IMO. Paul started to emerge in the U19's back in Collins' day and if we hadn't kept changing our manager every year we would have seen several young guys including Paul brought through. We might have had to suffer a couple of bottom 6 finishes but by now we would have had a more mature squad challenging top end.

Paul's development has also been hampered by being a young centre back in a team where we have centre-back options. I personally believe that he is too inches too short for centre-half against some of the bigger teams. If your centre-backs can't dominate in your own box then you are in trouble. This makes him effective at U21 but boy against man at full SPL level.

Good points made here.

I personally think Paul has regressed and is now IMHO a poor player at SPL level. Easy to play against as a left back as he is generally slow, poor in the tackle, and is often caught drifting in towards the centre half area leaving the flank exposed. At centre half, bullied and often dragged all over the place by bigger strikers. Very harsh I know, but only my thoughts.

Paul wasn't helped by being put into the side as a full back when all his juvenile days he was a midfielder. I don't know what it is with Scottish football and coaching that managers and coaches seem to coach the good aspects of a young footballer out of them and then try and mould them into a player they are not and into positions they are not comfortable playing.

Hughes did exactly the same with young Wotherspoon. Great little player, an attacking midfielder if ever you saw one, yet plays him in the first team as a right full back thus IMHO hampering his development as a good, positive midfield player. His confidence was shot after teams exposed his frailties as a defender.

I don't think Paul is the answer for our defence to be honest. If you look at the goals we concede, it is our lack of pace and defending at full back, and our chronic inability to keep hold of the ball in midfield that need urgently addressed. Watch Grounds dither (and he dithers a lot) and then expect DW to close down the Killie midfielder for one of their goals on Saturday......rather than prevent a cross or close down space and make the Killie player think about his options, he allows the player so much time it's untrue. Hart is exposed for the first goal, just as he was v Well at ER, just as he was v Hearts. Other sides in the SPL know we are poor at full back and exploit it time and time again. We are far far too slow to anticipate a cross or deny space.

If we get good full backs who can attack balls and deny space, I am confident that Bamba and Dickoh are good enough in the central area. The other huge problem is a holding midfielder, and a midfielder who can attack and create. Once Zemmama (and Duffy) are back, hopefully we will have a burst of energy about us. But yet again, we look static, pedestrian and lacking even the basic ball skills to cause any teams any real problems for 90 minutes.

[SMAXXA]

Surely this boy is worth playing? Our defence has looked dodgy in recent times and everytime i see him play he has looked composed, good in the air, puts in good challenges .

Also he wont be progressing sitting on the bench and he is just as good if not better than grounds in LB even if it isn't his best position.

Thoughts??

True but this cant hide the fact the defence looked just as if not more dodgey when Hanlon was playing CH. For me he is decent to have as a back up centre half but not a starter, at the monemt anyway unless he developes alot and quickly.