Our defense..... This made me laugh

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/n...a-match-for-all-danny-simpson-61634-29417185/


Statistics suggest we have one of the best defences in the league so far...... ha

Other than the Arsenal game, where we played well and deserved a clean sheet, we have heavily relied on teams being poor in front of goal, the mackems and especially QPR, could have been a different story.

I am happy with the fact we have conceded one goal, happy that we sit 4th after 4 games, happy we are picking up points but..... it concerns me the NUFC defence are "DELUDED" (theres that word again) enough to believe we have a "rock solid" defence. Surely Pardew isnt daft enough to go along with this aswell.....

A good defence stops opportunities on goal, stops attacks before they get to the danger areas, reduce shots and crosses, pressure the opposition into mistakes and losing the ball...... Our defence hasnt done that

For once we are getting our fair share of the luck, with the seasons gone by its about time we had some but please Danny, dont kid yourself our great defensive displays have put us where we are.... the opposition not being able to hit a barn door is more likely the reason

 

He talks about Saylor and collo mainly ?
and to be honest they are rock solid and have done well in all the games to preserve clean sheets.

Simpson and Raylor have been the weak links.
But to be honest we have defended quite well just can get unlocked by poor full back posistioning

 

Statistics cannot lie or they all* go to statistics hell

* 7 times out of 10

 

I give credit to Saylor who has done well since coming back at the end of last season when he scored 3 in 3, he's looking solid and so is Colo. Against QPR, Raylor was destroyed by Wright Phillips and we were dominated in midfield and with Shola upfront it was inevitable that QPR would put us under pressure.

We've had luck, but like you say it's about time we had some of it and long may it continue. The statistics show 1 goal conceeded and i'm happy with that.

 

Don't know who said it but someone famously said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics"

 

As mentioned the articles about S Taylor and Colo, who have in fact been solid, they dont tend to stop players crossing they stop them scoring. Correct me if I'm wrong though but dont Stoke have the same record of 3 clean sheets and only conceding once? Only difference being we conceded at home and they conceded away.

 

To be fair, does it really hurt us that much to believe we are good at the back? It's not happened in my lifetime until now and we haven't won anything yet so maybe a change of mental attitude at the back can help us! Now stop being negative

 

Talking poop mate.

Our great defensive displays have played a massive part in the number of clean sheets we've had. Every team so far have been capable of scoring, and you just need to watch the play to see that without our defensive unit performing so well, we would not have had those clean sheets.

Obviously, I do expect that to become much more difficult against the best teams, but we've been up against EPL quality teams and we've done well. Simple as that. Simpson is decent and seems to be improving, Ryan Taylor didn't do as bad as I expected but needs to be replaced, and Saylor and Colo have been a superb CB pairing. I think we'll see them nullifying a lot of threats over the rest of the season - even against some of the best teams out there.

 

Take Saylor and Colo away and we have no defence.

 

I think at one stage this season, or it may even still be the case, but Man Utd have had more shots against them than any one team.

...So is there defence ****e as well then?

 

defence has been solid (for us), altho' we got paggered at qpr how many actual saves did krul make?? the signing of santon will only improve the back four!

 

Good job they are half our defence then....
Santon is abit unknown in this league, may be class
Simpson and Raylor are average right backs, nothing wrong with average at this moment though as long as we continue to develop over coming windows

 

Ermmm...Stoke?

Well...Stoke already have!



In terms of the OP. You say our defence has been poor and we have been lucky and that good defending is about reducing the number of crosses and stopping shots. May I ask you how many saves Krul made against Arsenal? How many saves Krul made against Sunderland? And, except for the two headers, how many saves did Krul make against Fulham? We have limited opposition, except for QPR, to minimal chances, and this is testament to the back four. Stop getting on there backs and enjoy the fact that, for once, NUFC have a solid back five!

 

The stat was that De Gea had made the most saves this season, and that was before this weekend. So it is probably still the case.

 

Saylor and Colo have been brilliant so far. If Colo played in London or if he was english he'd be widely recognised as one of the leagues best centre backs. Thankfully for us he's not!

 

We've got a decent defence. Not great, but not bad. We were ridiculously lucky against QPR.