We are awful from set piece but are we a woeful defence? So: 1. exactly how many goals have we conceded from open play really? we've conceded 12 goals in 8 league games, 2 in league cup in one game and 5 in CL in 3 games. I looked back at the 12 games so far starting with most recent games 2 goals from set piece errors v real madrid.. one form open play lose 3-0 I would say both qpr goals came from set piece errors of one form or another won 3-2 1 goal from corner v basel lost 0-1 1 goal (great strike) v everton after clearing down the middle low from corner. 1-1 in end 1 goal v middlesboro from corner... tied game and led to extra time. 2-2 in end 1 to go behind early v west ham lose 3-1 0 v ludo win 2-1 1 v villa from corner. lose 0-1 0 v spurs win 3-0 I missed city game as was travelling. was first city goal right after a corner too? lose 3-1 0 v southampton win 2-1 conclusion? 6 goals from open play... 12 from set piece or the direct aftermath (panic or bad clearances) 2. what could have happened if we didn't concede so many The only games we didn't lose a goal to set piece play for sure was ludo who are muck and spurs. EVERY other game i think we lose a goal to bad clearances or gifts of free headers or balls dropping to lads feet. Now i see not all can be stopped... everton one was amazing finish but even if you halves this tally... just halve it... Lets start at the beginning City: we played decent first half by accounts. I don't know for sure. I was travelling. could we have drawn it.. lets call it still a loss. villa. That was a pathetic goal to lose. I thnk we dominated game totally and could've won it... one point dropped for sure. probably 3. west ham we were pathetic on the day and deserved it but at 2-0 down we were let back into it by the cheshire cat o nthe west ham bench who stopped grinning. I feel a point was possible here.... again call it a loss if you wish as west ham had a tactic that manquillo was found out in. boro: we did win anyway... in the end. everton: leading 1:1 had the ball been headed up we'd have won... we fell apart and encouraged everton on... add 2 points to us if we'd been better at set piece? maybe. basel: poor game. they were rubbish 0-0 was fair. add 1 point to us and take 2 from their total. QPr should've won. we got first goal and shouldv'e been 1-0, still won luckily. madrid: killed game and team but had lalready conceded Conclusion? we'd not be near this predicament we are in now. If you even just add 4 points to our tally in the league and another point to our tally and take 2 of basel and the whole dynamic changes. we'd be on 17 points in league. thats 2nd.... and we'd be 2nd in CL too.... We are shooting ourselves in the foot time and time again... Its still early in the league, so yeah great we could be up there in second but equally we could be down in 1tth if qpr had got what they deserved. Being in second would have pundits saying oh we're just bubbling along and can hit better form... but now we've pundits and fans like me questioning EVERYTHING. we are an easy target now and have heaped all this pressure on ourselves. When a key moment in a game comes and we concede from the set piece we cannot recover, villa and basel prove that. we are getting some goals but not enough to compensate this disaster, perhaps even we are getting enough goals (just) but the set pieces are killing us.
another way to look a tthis is we've blown any chance of a league challenge already with balotelli and losing 3 but its not too late to fix this calamity and if we do we can challenge for 4th... If we are sitting here in another 8 games listing all the goals we've thrown in... we won't be saying this.
good analysis mito. its not as bad as it looks, but what worries me is its both ends that have a major issue, we cant defend and we cant ruddy score, we can sort out at least one of them problems sharpish we might start to get some momentum going. for one we need a settled back 2, who is peoples choices and stick with it, mine are lovren and sakho, think we should have kept agger as backup and got rid of skrts personally. striker, well we have sturridge, but after that its champ standard in ballo,borini and lambert, for a team that finished 2nd in the league last season that's ****ing shocking, can we get another striker in jan? want to see a proper DM as well, as gerrard is not up to it and i think it would be better suited if his shackles were taken off if he has support behind him to do so. so jan window for me would be Striker if we can and DM to free up gerrard.
If we try to equalise before they score we'll be fine Really paints a bleak picture this - thanks for going through it all. Hopefully we sign a centre back in January... 6'4 and above apply within.
We need to coach what we have before spending more, though I'd like us to spend on a quality developed CDM, especially with the rumour of Lucas leaving
My issue is the phase defending during the set pieces. When the first ball is cleared the opposition seem to be the ones who win the next ball as there are no players effecting the next phase. It is like winning the first header is all that matters everything else will fix itself. I want to believe this is more to do with set up and some individuals. It is very clear a cross is coming in yet there is nobody positioned just ahead of the box in case we get a clearance. There is one individual Gerrard, who always seems to find himself in between Skrtel and Lovern. This is what causes the confusion as the minute either of the centre backs makes a challenge for the ball the other is left wondering is it Gerrard's ball or mine. In that split second the opposition manage to run in behind undetected or get the second phase ball. The two CBs should always be next to each other to prevent the confusion. Watch how Terry and Cahill combine. Jagielka had all the time to set himself up for that wonder goal as did Benzema during his first goal yesterday. Defending is not about only the back 5 it is also the activities of of the other 6 players ahead. Put Matic in our set up and I can guarantee you that flick for Ronaldo's first goal would not have occured.
Height would obviously help but its not the be all and end all for winning headers. John Terry is a pretty good example, he is very good in both boxes in the air but he's 6'1", not the biggest CB around. Cannavaro used to get his head on a lot too despite being just 5'9"! Reading the flight of the ball and timing you jump is often more important than height. Of course, getting a taller player that is able to read and judge is even better, they'll win just about everything in the air. We've had one like that not too long ago but he couldn't do much else; Soto!
I think Lucas has basically said he's not playing and wants to look around hasn't he? Would like to give Can a go. Haha I wasn't being serious... what we need is an aerially dominant player or two.
I definitely want Can to develop but in the meantime and for cover and the option to play 2 I would like another CDM
12 goals out of 18 due to set piece... we've conceded 1.5 goals per game. 1 goal epr game is form set piece. In other words on average if you were a betting man you should be betting hull will socre a set piece this weekend. If we halved this issue to 1 goal a game and half that was still set piece then we'd improve. All I guess i'm saying is there is a case that the footballs and fake wall is put away for the next two weeks at melwood and players are made practise set piece after set piece with one football and ignore the tippy tappy five asides and one touch stuff.... If there ever was low hanging fruit or whatever jargon you want to apply this is it. Perhaps you guys are right that concluding what if distracts from arguement.... but laying out game after game after game of set piece issues really shows how stark it is. In games where we are 50/50 we just trhow a goal in and lose it. where we are the better team we are still throwing it away.... v city. the only really good team we played in the league we were up against it and couldn't afford mistakes. Once we conceded first to villa and west ham it was game over. If i were steve bruce i'd be looking for a fast start and a few set pieces and load our box.
Ithink at set peice we need: a) reliable keeper. not glued to line, not a rushing out mad fellow... if mingolet decides he needs to come all the time its actually worse. We need a keeper who's reading the flight of ball and knows when the come and when not to..... the other parts of mingolets game are not about set piece but about rushing out and snaffling up through balls etc. b) men that actually man mark. Skertl seems to have taken the criticism last year to heart and is no longer pulling shifts. I want men to be all over their opponents and at minimum jumping with them. no free headers c) I want to see high wide headers, I want to see anything dropping in the box hacked clear too. Coutinho yesterday felt he could chip it over a player on the edge of his own box as the rest of our team was going to be rushing out. We need to make sure of the clearance and get the team up the pitch fast.... panic and hacks are no good. get it out of play for a throw at worst. so for me this aint about big tall CBs, we've got tall men. quite a few compared to some times in the past..... its about sticking to men and not getting cuaght other the ball at the back stick and such..... for me i've seen flanagan, johnson, enrique and moreno... and manquiloo all cuaght under the ball at the back stick.. why??? ffs.. its bascis stuff... all trying to makr a guy the cb should be on.... peopel pull onto our full backs now for far post crosses... again simple stuff.
Well, I don't disagree with much of that but it all boils down to one person; Brendan Rodgers! that's his style and he's instructed players to play in that way at every club he's managed.
oh and i'm supposed to insert a smiley of some sort for the thicko wums around the place who don't get gallows humour.
