Match Day Thread WBA v Swans

No we don't..hence Monk trying to work on the attack. Just saying if the defense does let in a sloppy Defo-esque goal its immaterial if we are 3 up.

We COULD have had 3 goals on Sat, and I am not necessarily pointing the finger at Gomis.

 

3 up, when was the last time we have been 3 up in the league, Jees we are lucky to get 1 up with that clown up front, unless our midfield having shooting boots on then it is going to be a struggle.

 

And yet we are still 9th in the league...if we do get our shooting boots on, then who knows?

Am just backing Monks 'get attacking' ethos he talks about in that article, we are safe(ish) let's go for it now.

If Gomis can't score when we are more attacking then he has run out of excuses. Time to nut up or shut up.

 

Garry said it so it must be true.

 

Gomis couldnt score in a brothel. Lets not forget he needs to get in the box to score.

 

It's no coincidence that goals are harder to come by because of the greater emphasis on defensive work, with the full backs discouraged from bombing forward (confirmed in Jazz Richards's interview over the weekend). I know it's stating the obvious but it's about achieving a balance between the two, which I assume is what Monk is talking about when he says he's now looking at our attacking structure on the training pitch, hopefully when he strikes the right balance the squad can then reap the benefits when put into practice on the field. Both our wingers Dyer and Routledge haven't become bad players overnight it's the change in tactics that's holding them back, this is not a critisism of Monk, in fact if he is successful in achieving his aims then we could see a marked improvement in our attacking display as well as defensively.

 

If what your saying is true then Monk has negated any chance of being adventurous because it's now instilled that we defend from the front .He maybe worrying more about the opposition rather than letting them worry about us .How does Dyer for example switch off being defensive minded to attack ,we saw a more improved performance from Dyer Saturday in the second half but that was because we were then chasing the game so imo Monks tactics are nullifying and restricting the players performance rather than the players themselves ?

 

I am not arguing with what you say or what was said, but wasn't it a fullback (Naughton) putting the cross in for the goal on the weekend. So they are getting forwad maybe not as much, maybe it is a happy balance.

 

Ex-defender as manager.......defensive minded.

 

Every teams defence in the whole world No matter how good it is lets goals in so why should ours be any different..

 

I thought our full backs were very forward minded against Sunderland. The one thing missing was Gomis being as fleet of foot to get where he needed to be. The commentary on the TV was repeatedly pointing out where Gomis was versus where he should have been and what he should have been doing to get on the end of some of the crosses we were putting into the box. My general take away from the game was that crossing from full backs was much better - Naughton especially - and Barrow is capable of putting in a good cross too. Dyer was again on the weaker end of the scale in that department. It's becoming more apparent as the quality of crossing from others goes up how weak he really is. Barrow is getting better every game and he's not backward at having a go at beating defenders.

I thought Cork went about his job pretty well for his first game in a new team. Ki was something else - he hit the net twice ... now if we can just make that a regular part of his game.

 

I don't think anyone thinks that doesn't happen. The only slight concerning thing for me is our negative goal difference, we have a lot more points this year yet for the first time we are in negative goal difference, I don't know where we are in relation to other years in terms of goals conceded but I fear it is a few more than in years gone by. Now I may well be wrong as I haven't checked the figures.

 

chelsea match did that and we are rectifying that with each game...its only -2 at present which is good compared to most....

 

He'll get poached by a bigger club

Tbh, the way he's played this season, he'd walk straight into the Liverpool and Man Utd sides for me

 

I posted a comment somewhere in the last couple of weeks .... that the way we're going after midfield players (Grimes, Cork etc) that Ki would be next to go. In the same pattern of Gomis and Bony, where almost as soon as Gomis was signed, HJ was being quoted in the media with comments hinting that Bony was for sales if not implicitly encouraging clubs to come in for him.

 

don't forget the 4 against Liverpool.

 

If our boys play to their potential we'll win this. The trouble is they haven't been and not for a long time. 0-0 for me. I really hope Gomis proves me and everyone else wrong though.

 

But it took Sousa to teach him how to defend and no one can deny our defence, led by Monk, was quite shocking in League 1 and in the Championship under Roberto.
If training has focussed on defence in favour of attack it explains why we've been so deep and boring this season. It also isn't working particularly well as we've conceded just 2 less goals than at this stage last season. (I'll not go into the competitions we were still in or the horrific injury list at the the time).
Just cramming the defensive third maybe a strategy but it's not a tactic that can be used if players are also having to get forward.
It will be interesting to see how this works out.

 

Second in the clean sheets table suggest it is bloody working

 

Surely not. Monk will take him to Barcelona,or Real. He's still going there,isn't he? End of the season?