Just seen this on another forum, it makes a very interesting read! Perhaps we should be concerned! What do you think? http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8891851/this-excellent-piece
This is why I was more than happy with CH last season while others were maybe less so. He has built from the back. A stronger foundation which can now be built on with attacking players. It is amazing how influenced even clubs are by marketing. It almost seems that Sky, pundits and fans are desperate for goals. I mean a game with goals in is always considered more entertaining and exciting than one with no or fewer goals in. Maybe due to this clubs feel under a certain amount of pressure to prioritise goals over defence, rightly or wrongly. This is a problem right down to grass roots where it is much more glamorous to be scoring goals than defending well. Personally I played in goal and defensively and loved it but thats a rarity. The rules of course also play a part now days as they greatly favour attacking players. Little if any contact is allowed, offside rule is in their favour etc. Without seeing stats about it I would guess another explanation is that there is a higher turnover of attacking players to defenders. It often seems that a team can keep many of there defenders for a number of seasons (son no need to change them) whereas attacking players seem to move more frequently. Maybe due to them being more desirable.
We were not deficient in defence last season,in fact it was far better than the 11/12 season.We did end the season as one of the lowest scoring sides however.
We have bought Olsson who is potentially one of the best left backs around and we tried to get Alderweild. In Bassong, Turner, Ryan Bennett & Russell Martin we are decently covered in central defence, and with Leroy Fer in holding midfield we have improved that important area for preventing goals as well. We'll be fine!
I think we'll be fine too but they are revealing statistics that have happened every single season since the Prem's inauguration, so it is very relevant, it's just that our defence is sound anyway if all stay fit!
I think it's a shame we didn't buy another quality centre back but remember that we stayed up comfortably with Whitbread, Ayala, De Laet and Barnett
Well, if the defender isn't out there yet there no point in getting the doc back just to make up the numbers. We will be still actively looking for a centre back and other players right now for upcoming windows, It never ends. I think maybe there should be a sticky "I'm worried" thread Dave where people can go and be worried about things
The reference to Norwich and RvW is just sheer ignorance on the writer's part. It would have made more sense in the summer of 2011, but nobody needed to tell CH that our defence was the priority in the summer of 2012, and to compare CH's revamp of our central attackers with Palace failing to shore up their defence is simply ludicrous. If you want to see the case for prioritising defence made with far more cogency than this, look at the article HERE, which also makes the point that a high tally of goals scored matters much less than a low negative goal difference.
Agree! Goal difference is one of the best indicators of overall performance. CH improved the defence last year and it is significant that the PoS was Bassong. With 5 CBs available, it wasn't the priority this year, though if the right deal was available (as in Toby) it could have happened. Up front was definitely the priority this year and it was met in full, IMO. I think Elmander, in particular, is going to surprise a lot of people. My slight disappointment is that another CAM wasn't added. Elmander offers new possibilities there, including goals, and Hoolahan and Howson are both good players, but another would have been good, given the 2 squad places available. To me, however, City's priorities were spot on and it leaves 2-3 options for January, if needed.
@RiverEndRick I'm pretty sure a quality CAM will be high on the list of priorities now. I'm afraid I've given up on Wes. He has had plenty of time to improve his game if he has it in him to do it, yet he never seems to change; always the same Wes, just a year older every season. The constant cry we hear in his defence from carrabuh and others, that he is needs a better class of player around him, won't wash now. His job is to create for the strikers he's playing with, not some imaginary set of strikers who can magically read his mind. Howson is less creative but IMO offers more right now. But I expect to see two of RvW, Elmander and Hooper playing this season, with Wes and Howson on the bench.
I think that's a bit harsh on Wes, Robbie. He has been as important as Holt in our rise from the depths of Division One and so often he seems to have been played as the only hint of creativity in our team, especially since we got back to the Prem. I agree, though, that maybe his days are numbered. No place for sentiment in football, I suppose. Although I think the runs of RvW are crying out for someone with a bit of imagination in that position, to predict the runs. May not be Wes, but someone is needed.
The title of the link refers to "strugglers". Do you really think that you'll be struggling this season? Can't really see you lot being involved in a relegation battle this season, or anywhere near it, (and I've said as much for the last two seasons), easy mid-table finish for you lot, possibly a place or two higher.
@vietnamcanary I absolutely agree that Wes has been massive for us over the years. He joined during our downward spiral to League One, and contributed hugely to our subsequent rise to the PL. But in all those years, and quite conceivably throughout his career, he has always been the same, sometimes brilliant, frequently hugely frustrating, and often rightly consigned to the bench. Creative central midfielders often improve with age; with experience and maturity comes better reading of the game and an enhanced understanding of the players around them; Wes doesn't seem to me to have developed at all. CH has insisted on his contributing more defensively than he ever did previously, but as Trappatoni said, that's not Wes's game and if you want that from your CAM there are usually better options available. We all know what you can get from Wes, but we all know equally that you can't rely on getting it. So, if we are looking to improve the side, consistent quality at CAM now has to be a priority.
Thing is welly, though we love to Lord our exalted position over you lot down the road, most of us realise that survival is the main aim, year on year for a while yet!
I can understand that, but you really don't think you'll be involved in a relegation battle (ie struggling), do you?
I don't think we will, not with the quality that we've bought this summer, but I don't want to shout too loud and turn us into another QPR of WCT
While on the subject of being worried, spare a thought for our friend Mikey. Currently Col U are 1:0 down to Coventry at HT, having managed just 32% of possession against 68%, and with a shots at goal differential of 14:6 in favour of Coventry, (6:0 on target). Even allowing for the questionable stats from the Beeb, I hope Mike hasn't made the trip to Sixfields. PS I thought I'd post this just to try and do Mike a good turn. It might inspire the "Mighty Us" to great things in the second half.
We get so paranoid about our own teams, last season before MM was appointed, in the deepest darkest days of PJ's reign, I was seriously thinking that we were ****ed, but the likes of Supers were posting on our board that we would stay up and they were right (although it took a managerial change to do it.) Last season there was a few of you lot posting doom and gloom and relegation stuff but I never for one moment thought that you'd be relegated... You'll be ok this season, no worries.
Whilst the article might make a valid point in general, the comments about our club are wide of the mark. Had we bought RvW, Hooper et al last summer, rather than Bassong and co, then fair enough, but last season the defensive platform was put in place, so failure to strengthen up front would have been a far worse course of action for this summer.
Absolutely DH, but I thought it would be of interest to everyone that the goals conceded stats have been the same each year that the Prem has existed! Those that have conceded most have ALWAYS been relegated even though, on occasion, they have out-scored teams that were safe!
