Dave Seddon and PNE's mythical 'defensive solidity'.

Past readers of the blog will know I am critical of the LEP's sports editor Dave Seddon and his unwaveringly supportive articles about PNE, from their performances to staff and players. And in his match report in Mondays LEP he claims PNE's defence has turned a corner, but really there is no evidence for this.

Seddon claims that the 5-2 hammering against Charlton was a 'watershed moment' and since then PNE's defensive line has been robust.

When looking at the fixtures PNE have played since the Charlton game it is clear the 'new look defence' has not been tested. And nobody can yet claim that we have truly tightened up at the back.

Seddon's claim (and I am sure Phil Brown will be arguing it too) is ridiculous. Lets look at the results since the Charlton drubbing:

Tue 8	19:30	A	Rochdale	JPT (N) QF	W	1-1 (aet 4-2 on pens)	2,395
Sat 12	15:00	H	Southend	FACP	D	0-0	6,609
Sat 19	15:00	H	Rochdale	FL1	L	0-1	10,456
Tue 22	19:45	A	Southend	FACP	L	0-1	4,537
Sat 26	15:00	A	Bury	FL1	L	0-1	4,957
Tue 29	19:45	A	Hartlepool	FL1	W	1-0	4,156
December
Tue 6	19:45	H	Chesterfield	JPT (N)	L	1-1 (aet 2-4 on pens)	5,835
Sat 10	15:00	H	Stevenage	FL1	D	0-0

The opposition in these games can not be seen as strong attacking teams and have not been true tests for the defensive side of the team. And along with this PNE's form has clearly still been shocking.

The '8 game defensive revival' which Seddon naively states has occurred, has come against some of the  worst teams in the league, two of the games were in the JPT and two in the FA Cup against lower league opposition! How can anybody possibly state that all our defensive woes have been solved. 

The televised game against MK Dons on Saturday will be the first real test for the new look back-line, as the Dons look to play positively and are sharp going forward, only after this game and the ones following over the Christmas period will we be able to properly see if there has been a real turn-around.

I am afraid that this is yet another example of poor journalism on Dave Seddon's behalf. He needs to become much more analytical and critical for his articles to really hold any value. But part of me obviously hopes that he has seen something that I have missed and can somehow tell that the defensive line is more solid than it was at the start of the season. In the hope that we have actually sorted at least one of our major problems and can put a series of good results together. But another part of me knows that this may just be too much to ask for and unfortunately I feel we have not seen the very last of our defensive worries.