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Defence.

Defence.

H

HunterLionheart

Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
28,474
What needs to change? It's obviously a disaster area right now.

Organisation, personell, concentration levels? Tactics?

We had 8 primarily defensive minded players start the game today, with Browne, a presser, in the 10 role, and we still conceded 3.

I genuinely don't know what the issue is, so what needs to change? A new coach, a new manager or new defenders?

It feels like we remain very vulnerable down the wings?
 
HunterLionheart said:
What needs to change? It's obviously a disaster area right now.

Organisation, personell, concentration levels? Tactics?

We had 8 primarily defensive minded players start the game today, with Browne, a presser, in the 10 role, and we still conceded 3.

I genuinely don't know what the issue is, so what needs to change? A new coach, a new manager or new defenders?

It feels like we remain very vulnerable down the wings?
Click to expand...

At this point, the manager.
 
I thought the defence was much improved today.

2 of their goals were....a wonderful 25yrd freekick and a looping deflected 20 yard back headed OG.

The other was a header from a cross.

We weren't carved open time and time again. We looked solid and dealt with much of what West Brom threw at us in terms of trying to split us open, get round the back etc.

There's just some sort of Voodoo shit at work at the moment. It's totally bizarre what's going on.
 
Preston1880 said:
I thought the defence was much improved today.

2 of their goals were....a wonderful 25yrd freekick and a looping deflected 20 yard back headed OG.

The other was a header from a cross.

We weren't carved open time and time again. We looked solid and dealt with much of what West Brom threw at us in terms of trying to split us open, get round the back etc.

There's just some sort of Voodoo shit at work at the moment. It's totally bizarre what's going on.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
 
Preston1880 said:
I thought the defence was much improved today.

2 of their goals were....a wonderful 25yrd freekick and a looping deflected 20 yard back headed OG.

The other was a header from a cross.

We weren't carved open time and time again. We looked solid and dealt with much of what West Brom threw at us in terms of trying to split us open, get round the back etc.

There's just some sort of Voodoo shit at work at the moment. It's totally bizarre what's going on.
Click to expand...

I agree we were much better defensively today but we’ve conceded 3 goals and Maxwell has made 3 very good saves. It’s frightening how many chances we give up. Something has to change, just not sure what.
 
Preston1880 said:
I thought the defence was much improved today.

2 of their goals were....a wonderful 25yrd freekick and a looping deflected 20 yard back headed OG.

The other was a header from a cross.

We weren't carved open time and time again. We looked solid and dealt with much of what West Brom threw at us in terms of trying to split us open, get round the back etc.

There's just some sort of Voodoo shit at work at the moment. It's totally bizarre what's going on.
Click to expand...

We were in the first half. But for Maxwell we would have been 3-0 down at half time!!!!!
 
STF72 said:
At least Maxwell knows how to leave his line
Click to expand...

And but for an offside flag would have given away a penalty and probably got a red.

For the record I thought he played alright today. Looks as though he is tempering the kamikaze nature of his sweeper keeper style which is a good thing IMO
 
Spaces.

Back 5 disjointed.
Vertical compactness very poor.
Spaces between the 2/3 CMs far too big.

This comes down to Neil, not Trev.
 
I like Davies and it was an unlucky OG today, but how many goals has he cost us this season? He’s having a shocker.
 
Just watched the highlights back.

The 2nd of Maxwells real saves...We had 3 center backs on the field and Pearson was the man tackling back. Thats a bit of a worry.

I think the back 5 experiment needs putting to bed. First half we played well and I think that with an extra body further forward we might have had a better chance of nicking a goal.
 
AN has clearly lost faith with a back four setup, but his decision to play Fisher and Hughes as wingbacks is simply bewildering. Both are out and out defenders IMHO so linking up play and being a wide outlet is simply not suited to them. (Nevermind the fact we ask them to try to cross balls to a non existent striker)

It didn't work at Sheff Utd. It didn't work today. Much like when he tried a 442 at Norwich supposedly to stifle them. There's a reason he's generally stuck with 4231 in his managerial career.

It's a shame none of his recent attacking signings seem like they are actually suited to that formation. Nmecha and Moult both would look better in a front two (perhaps not together).

Burke can only really play in no.10 role but we already have a small, weak, non speedy similar option (Harrop) who AN can't get anything out of.

Barker looks like an out and our winger suited to a 442 with a target man to aim at. Yet we play him narrow and give him noone to cross to.

Our defensive options on paper are pretty good. I just don't like how we are using them. And the lack of any real pattern to our attacking play in the final third, means our defence is having to contend with far too much pressure every game.
 
It's not just luck when we've conceded 3 four games in a row. If you don't let them get into good positions you don't concede unlucky goals. I'm not necessarily saying today, I wasn't at the game and they have a lot of quality up front, but the defence has been a mess all season. Hopefully a back four with Pearson, Ledson and Browne in midfield will sort it out but if not you've gotta question whether AN can sort it out.
 
In September we played 5 league games. We did not score against Leeds, but in the other 4 we scored 2 goals in each match. That should have earned us a minimum of 4 points and with a decent defence could have been as many as 12 points.
We should not need to score 3 goals a game to draw.

I have been going on about never replacing Paul Mariner as attack coach.......I am of the opinion now that we don't have a defence coach on our staff either.

Bring back Greyson as defence coach, I say!!

(Didn't Norwich have a similar start to a season a few years back?)
 
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Preston1880 said:
I thought the defence was much improved today.

2 of their goals were....a wonderful 25yrd freekick and a looping deflected 20 yard back headed OG.

The other was a header from a cross.

We weren't carved open time and time again. We looked solid and dealt with much of what West Brom threw at us in terms of trying to split us open, get round the back etc.

There's just some sort of Voodoo shit at work at the moment. It's totally bizarre what's going on.
Click to expand...

Totally agree
 
A wing back system only works if you have players who can play that role as they are the most important players on the field. Craig Brown found this out when he was in charge. We also have to get a front man who gets into the box asap when we attack -the majority of goals are scored inside the area (every one of Gayle and Rodriguez open play goals have been scored there)
 
Think it sums up the club at the moment that we have some numpty called Jack Cudworth coaching our goalkeepers. Completely unprofessional.
 
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