Goalscoring defenders

[Sothall_Blade]

Freeman is currently on 9 with (hopefully) 9 more games to play and reach double figures.
Who was the last Blades defender to score that many in a season?

My guess is Tony Kenworthy with about 14 in 1981/1982?
But most of them would have been penalties.

Anyone else?

 

[UnitedBlade]

Freeman is currently on 9 with (hopefully) 9 more games to play and reach double figures.
Who was the last Blades defender to score that many in a season?

My guess is Tony Kenworthy with about 14 in 1981/1982?
But most of them would have been penalties.

Anyone else?

As we are playing 3-5-2 is Freeman a defender or a midfield player ?

 

[SwissBlade]

Freeman is a wingback, not a defender although the position requires him to tuck in just like fleck/ coutts do

He's more midfield than defender

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Freeman is could be worth £-millions now,might be a twinkle in owd Kev's eye.

 

[Ben_1982]

Borbokis?

 

[Esablade]

Freeman is currently on 9 with (hopefully) 9 more games to play and reach double figures.
Who was the last Blades defender to score that many in a season?

My guess is Tony Kenworthy with about 14 in 1981/1982?
But most of them would have been penalties.

Anyone else?

Freeman is could be worth £-millions now,might be a twinkle in owd Kev's eye.

I'll tell you one thing, he's not a number...he's Kieron Freeman.

 

[Revolution]

Freeman is currently on 9 with (hopefully) 9 more games to play and reach double figures.
Who was the last Blades defender to score that many in a season?

My guess is Tony Kenworthy with about 14 in 1981/1982?
But most of them would have been penalties.

Anyone else?

Kenworthy scored 9 penalties that year.

I think this has come up before, and no other defender has ever scored double figures.

But Freeman is a midfielder so it's a moot point.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

But Freeman is a midfielder so it's a moot point.

More inclined to classify a wingback as a defender than a midfielder, though the way we play certainly allows him to be more advanced than any previous iteration of a wingback system we've used. Wingback roles tend to be filled almost exclusively by full-backs rather than wingers.

 

[Revolution]

More inclined to classify a wingback as a defender than a midfielder, though the way we play certainly allows him to be more advanced than any previous iteration of a wingback system we've used. Wingback roles tend to be filled almost exclusively by full-backs rather than wingers.

I don't agree. If they were defenders they'd call it 5-3-2.

 

[SwissBlade]

I don't agree. If they were defenders they'd call it 5-3-2.

It's something which has come up a few times this season, people unfairly judging Freeman against fullback standards rather than as a position in its own right, wingback. It's far more midfield than a defensive position, it's just that the work rate, compared to a wide midfielder is expected to be so much higher

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I don't agree. If they were defenders they'd call it 5-3-2.

I call it 3-2-3-2.

For teams of the year (or tournament) that award on a 4-4-2 basis, I believe a wingback is placed in the 4 defenders category.

 

[Ricky]

Wing backs are typically more full back than winger most of the time.

Freeman's always been seen as a right back previously.

Either way, for him to have 9 goals without penalties, and without headers from set pieces is outstanding. They're pretty much all goals from open play.

The most outstanding goalscoring season I can remember a defender having recently was Aiden Flint for Bristol City in L1. He got 15, FFS!

 

[ucandomagic]

I reckon Kieron Freeman is our first ever box-to-box player.

6-yard box to 6-yard box that is!!

His goal scoring comes from pure athleticism more than anything else - he runs from so deep so often that nobody can live with him and he ends up free in front of goal.

I always thought that Kieran Wallace did just as well down the left, and was surprised that we didn't keep him at least as cover. Is he still on loan at Fleetwood or did they sign him? Obviously, if we could get Riley for next season then he would be different class again.

UTB

 

[northsomersetblade]

Oh Tony Tony. Tony Tony Tony Tony Kenworthy

 

[LJBlade]

How many did Lowton get for us during the 2011-12 season?

 

[Silent Blade]

I was thinking of Eddie Colquhoun in the 1969-70 season but after checking the bible he got 8 league goals that season and 6 in the following season

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

I reckon Kieron Freeman is our first ever box-to-box player.

6-yard box to 6-yard box that is!!

His goal scoring comes from pure athleticism more than anything else - he runs from so deep so often that nobody can live with him and he ends up free in front of goal.

I always thought that Kieran Wallace did just as well down the left, and was surprised that we didn't keep him at least as cover. Is he still on loan at Fleetwood or did they sign him? Obviously, if we could get Riley for next season then he would be different class again.

UTB

Wallace is still on loan at Fleetwood

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

I reckon Kieron Freeman is our first ever box-to-box player.

6-yard box to 6-yard box that is!!

His goal scoring comes from pure athleticism more than anything else - he runs from so deep so often that nobody can live with him and he ends up free in front of goal.

I always thought that Kieran Wallace did just as well down the left, and was surprised that we didn't keep him at least as cover. Is he still on loan at Fleetwood or did they sign him? Obviously, if we could get Riley for next season then he would be different class again.

UTB

looks like Wallace played in this development squad fixture against us a few weeks ago

http://www.fleetwoodtownfc.com/news...quad-fleetwood-town-match-report-3599608.aspx

 

[boo radley]

Freeman is a wingback, not a defender although the position requires him to tuck in just like fleck/ coutts do

He's more midfield than defender

 

[Pedro Verde]

Kevin Gage once had a prolific season. I seem to remember him getting a couple in an away game at Luton

 

[BushBlade]

It's something which has come up a few times this season, people unfairly judging Freeman against fullback standards rather than as a position in its own right, wingback. It's far more midfield than a defensive position, it's just that the work rate, compared to a wide midfielder is expected to be so much higher

That's because we have so much possession. A wing back gets forward when the team is possession but has defensive responsibilities out of possession. In simple terms when we have the ball he attacks like a winger, when we lose the ball he has to bomb back into a full back position. Hence the term 'wing back'. Same as Kyle and Rose at Spurs, no one ever calls them midfielders.

 

[TBW57]

This is now only the second best goal ever finished off by a wing back.

 

[The_Green_Man]

How many did Lowton get for us during the 2011-12 season?

I thought about him but I don't think he got more than half a dozen without a google search....I remember that goal against Notts County.

 

[SwissBlade]

That's because we have so much possession. A wing back gets forward when the team is possession but has defensive responsibilities out of possession. In simple terms when we have the ball he attacks like a winger, when we lose the ball he has to bomb back into a full back position. Hence the term 'wing back'. Same as Kyle and Rose at Spurs, no one ever calls them midfielders.

No, they're wingbacks. Neither midfield nor defenders but as others have said, they're classed as part of the 5 in a 3-5-2

As I said, Fleck and Coutts also sit deeper when we lose possession. It's part of the success of system we play

 

[Blade82]

I thought about him but I don't think he got more than half a dozen without a google search....I remember that goal against Notts County.

Correct... wiki says 6. I must admit I thought it was more.

Well done KF we were all raving about Lawton that season too. Personally I think Freeman is a far better defensivly than Lawton.

 

[Revolution]

Kevin Gage once had a prolific season. I seem to remember him getting a couple in an away game at Luton

Gage got 5 in 40 games in 1994-5, including 2 at Luton when we won 6-3.

I always liked Gage as a player (much preferred him to Pemberton) but that season he was something else. It was around the time wing backs came in but Gage was playing right back in a back 4 and still bombing up and down the wing all afternoon like a man possessed. I had never seen anyone cover as much ground on a regular basis. He had a tremendous season. My abiding memory of him that year is actually of him missing a sitter in a 0-0 draw at Grimsby from about 6 yards out - the fact that he was that far forward shows how mobile he was.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Gage got 5 in 40 games in 1994-5, including 2 at Luton when we won 6-3.

I always liked Gage as a player (much preferred him to Pemberton) but that season he was something else. It was around the time wing backs came in but Gage was playing right back in a back 4 and still bombing up and down the wing all afternoon like a man possessed. I had never seen anyone cover as much ground on a regular basis. He had a tremendous season. My abiding memory of him that year is actually of him missing a sitter in a 0-0 draw at Grimsby from about 6 yards out - the fact that he was that far forward shows how mobile he was.

Kevin Gage won the Player of the Year Award that season. A fact that he alludes to in his most recent weekly article in The Star.

I find the debate about Freeman's position interesting but for me , the clue is in the name and he's playing as a wing BACK. Who is expected to stay back and defend when we don't have the ball.

You certainly can't compare his role with other high-scoring wide-midfielders like Morris, Beagrie, Ifill and Williamson.

The only comparable "wing backs" I would say are Borbokis, Quinn and Lafferty. None of whom got close to double figures and so still marks Freeman's season out as exceptional.

 

[Revolution]

Kevin Gage won the Player of the Year Award that season. A fact that he alludes to in his most recent weekly article in The Star.

I find the debate about Freeman's position interesting but for me , the clue is in the name and he's playing as a wing BACK. Who is expected to stay back and defend when we don't have the ball.

You certainly can't compare his role with other high-scoring wide-midfielders like Morris, Beagrie, Ifill and Williamson.

The only comparable "wing backs" I would say are Borbokis, Quinn and Lafferty. None of whom got close to double figures and so still marks Freeman's season out as exceptional.

Yes, Gage deservedly won player of the year that season. I just re-watched the goals from the 6-3 Luton win on youtube. It is interesting to see the positions Gage gets into in the penalty area - he's just like Freeman.

To my mind Freeman is neither one thing or the other - Wing back is a hybrid position. He's not doing what Colin Morris did, but he's not doing what Chris Wilder did either.

I agree that it's an exceptional season. In fact, you might describe it as a "where the Hell did that come from?" season or half season, where a player far outperforms what he's done in the past and there was no indication that he was ever capable of that level of performance. Other examples:

Adrian Littlejohn 1992-3
Bob Booker, everything after Mansfield in April 1989
Marcus Bent, second half of 1999-2000
Ched Evans, 2011-12.
Paul Coutts, this season

 

[davidblade]

Congratulations to Freeman he been a revelation, but I think it's the system that he plays in that is a big factor in his tally this season .
One wonders how many Brayford would have scored if Wilder had changed to 3 at the back system earlier, I suspect less Freeman seems to have knack of making the right runs and a will to get in those goal scoring positions.
I really wished we had changed the system earlier and given Brayford a chance , I still believe he is an excellent player.
When Brayford was in the team there was no Coutts in the team , the other full back was Hussey , Wilson was one of the centre backs and we had a half fit centre forward in Leon Clarke playing.
I'm not suggesting in anyway that Freeman has not been an outstanding success far from it , I would of love to see them competing for the position now .
A point of note it would have been useful in certain situations to have played Brayford at centre half .
Hopefully when we are back in the championship next season we can see them go head to head.
UTB FTP

 

[Champagneblade]

One thing is for sure, the player of the year awards has some strong contenders.

Sharp will probably finish League top scorer with 30 goals.

Fleck will probably finish League top assister.

Freeman will get double figures in a role which still requires him to primarily keep the opposition winger under wraps.

You then have Duffy who has a number of MOM awards.

Coutts has had his best season for us.

Basham has been getting a lot of plaudits.

Should be some night!