This season, there have been six months so far. For three of those months, the goal has been against Norwich. Not quite sure how to react to that.
I've read several comments where people have been criticising our defence for the number of goals we've let in by saying things like "it's not as they have been great goals against us" which suggests to me that either: a) these people haven't been paying watching properly b) they have very short memories or c) they wouldn't know a great goal if one smacked them in the face! Off the top of my head I can think of worldies from William, Ramsey, Wilshere, Suarez (take your pick!), Barry and even Scott Parker that would have beaten pretty much any keeper or defence. Can we add this to your list of "reasons we have been unlucky this season" thread Rob?
Yeah, agreed. And certainly it must come into luck, though obviously the Suarez goal had less effect than, say, Parker's. The only question I would ask is, do we set up our defence in such a way that invites time on the ball for shooters from range? Also, given the evident quality that there is in the Premier League, does setting up our teams in this way against the top sides (with better technique) help explain our terrible form against them? To draw on one of the difficult disputes about Hughton's managerial qualities, does this help explain why Hughton's sides have been effective in the Championship (where the standard of technique is significantly lower and therefore screamers are much less likely)? There's no denying it is a feature of his style - last season we conceded far more goals from outside the box than any other team (and Bunn in particular has been shown to struggle with this). In the converse, is there a better system? By definition, it must be a good idea to force the other team to attempt worldies rather than any other shot? No easy answers.
Rob, I would say we ask for long shots particularily against the top sides. We play so deep and I think that automatically puts the defence on the back foot with the focus on staying behind the ball. This creates an area around 25 yards out that even with defensive midfielders allows attacking oppositiiion to have more chances at clear shooting chances from distance. It might take the ball being passed 25 yards out for a few minutes or across multiple opposition players but eventually enough space will be available for a shot where the player is not running at pace, is passed the ball in a perfect position to shoot either first time or after a touch, defensive midefielders slightly out of position constantly trying to thwart attacks at the edge of the box. Obviously I dont think this is always the case, against Liverpoll Saurez's long strike was due to not reacting to a bouncing ball. The finish was excellent but we made that problem ourself. Willans goal was due to us being too open. I think its important to get players behind the ball against teams like City but not to sit 18 yards out and force them to keep the ball higher up the pitch - easier said than done.
My really issue with the way we play 4-4-2 is that Johnson and Fer will just sit on the 18 yard box preventing passes but never actually closing the ball down. As soon as the ball is in our defensive third they drop all the way back and give the opposition team pretty much the freedom of our half. You just have to look at goals like Barry's for Everton. He had all the time in the world to tee up that shot because both Johnson and Fer had drop so deep that they were basically part of the defence. This has probably been my biggest gripe this season and I definitely think it leads to the higher than usual number of world class strikes we conced.
Totally agree and ties in with what I was trying to say. If you let the top teams shoot from out of the box freely, it cant be a surprise when you start conceeding from 20 yards plus as they all have players who are capable of doing that.
Agree but the table doesn't lie at the end of the season! If we're in the bottom three it'll be because we were one of the worst three teams. Also some of those goals could have been avoided if, a) we weren't so scared of Suarez, so gave him all the time in the world, b) we pressed a bit more!
I would also extend this to our opposition's goalkeeper/defenders; how often this season have we been denied by an inspired goalkeeping or central defensive display?
It would be interesting to know how many shots in total have been taken against us in comparison to other teams. Thus the law of averages would see us conceding more screamers, world classers. Something that may be of more importance is the fact that if you are the opposition and have the ball and can guess our teams mindset (look at the manager in the technical area for a second) then it really does look like worth a pop! The fact that teams think they can approach a game with us almost totally without fear is our major failing!
