'A side is only as good as its full-backs'

[BBC]

[Getty Images]

Houston, we have a problem. Specifically, a full-back problem.

Fixing it should be high on our summer to-do list, after sorting out the obvious contract situations with boss Marco Silva and star player Harry Wilson, of course.

On the surface, we are blessed. We have Antonee Robinson on the left, a United States international who was once courted by AC Milan, and Kenny Tete on the right, a former PSV Eindhoven player awash with top-level European experience.

But this season has shown that it could be time to part with one, or both, of them.

Robinson, affectionately known as 'Jedi', has been a shadow of his former self this term after having knee surgery in the summer which caused a stuttering start to his campaign.

But since his return to the starting XI, his performances have been under par. He gets dispossessed, he is at fault for more than his fair share of goals and his crossing has lost its accuracy.

It is quite the drop-off from last year's player of the season.

Then there is Tete, whose performances have been better than those of his left-sided counterpart, but his injury record is starting to become a millstone.

He has missed a dozen games or more each season for the past three campaigns and his understudy, Timothy Castagne, is just not the required standard for a side challenging for the top half of the Premier League.

The Belgium international had a torrid time last weekend against Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha.

The evolution of the game in the past 20 years means a side is only as good as its full-backs. They are crucial for both defending and constructing forward moves and, at the moment, ours are having a negative impact on both elements.

If we want to reach the orbit of the European places, it is a problem that has to be sorted - and fast.

Find more from Drew Heatley at Fulhamish