You mentioned it also in the main body of the text Ell, as well as the headline. I was prepared to give you a pass for this seasons most expensive signing, just in case there were add one that I couldn't remember
At least we're debating a player who may live up to the fee, rather than the 'ow much for this crap!' we've usually had to discuss.* *though I guess 'argue' is the usual term for it...
Great win on Saturday. Really clinical. Kind of averages out the lack of goals in the previous games. Thats why it's better to judge after 10-15 games. Wasn't over impressed with sitting deep in the 2nd half, particularly after 70 minutes. We stopped offering any threat going forward which is what happened at Arsenal. Ampadu got sucked in to playing alongside Rodon and Struijk and that meant Longstaff and Stach had to drop deeper. That forced the back four back an extra yard and we ended up camped in our box for too long. Happened at Fulham too. One to look out for in future games. Other than that minor gripe. It's been a really good start to the season. Hopefully we can get a bit of luck with injuries and we keep getting the odd confidence boosting win like Wolves to keep momentum going. The run to Christmas looks brutal and hopefully our confidence doesn't take too much of a hit.
Get over it Emu it's called defending a lead nothing wrong with it. No need to go gung ho looking for another goal then conceding. Which would the be seen as the wrong tactics.
Guess the point is - if you shut up shop and don’t concede chances it’s great.. if you are trying to shut up shop but do concede chances…. Whether they’re taken or not, then it’s a bit different. We weren’t hanging on, but we coughed up chances late on against Fulham and wolves having not really given them a sniff earlier. (Wolves goal apart). Think I read a Farke comment that he wasn’t happy with our lack of possession second half, so it wasn’t 100% as planned
There's a way to defend what you've got. You can sit on the edge of your box but set traps in certain areas where you press the ball in numbers. That press triggers certain players to push forward anticipating the counter attack. If the press works then you have numbers to break. What we ended up doing was pretty much camped in our own box trying to defend cross after cross. When we did get possession then we hammered it down field or in to the stands. We offered very little threat the last 20 minutes. Like I said, it's a minor gripe. We've spent two seasons dominating the ball and being the better side. We are having to flip that in this league. It will take a bit of time for things to click. It's a different way of playing. As Milky says, Farke alluded to the lack of possession and control in that 2nd half so it's not just me.
We won whichever way we did it, it's not all gung ho footy as much as we want it ...let's have a bit of perspective
To be clear, I'm not advocating 'gung ho' stuff. I'm merely pointing out the fact that we could be 'shutting up shop' a little less dangerously. Farke pretty much said the same after the game.
That was a great debate gents. Just to add my thoughts. Maybe it’s why pundits say a two goal lead is always “awkward” to defend. At 1-0 you are playing the sameway and looking for the goal to give you daylight, they are also playing the same looking to get the equaliser. Two goals up you have to decide to “stick or twist”. This time we stuck and got the three points, Brighton (possibly) twisted and ended up with a 2-2 draw. Reality is we’ve beefed up our defence and midfield to make us hard to beat so only natural that with a two goal lead we’d trust in our newly set up defensive structure. It worked here and but for a freak goal would have earned us a point at Fulham. Won’t always work but be prepared because I think that’s how we are going to try to stay up.
We’ve not really been gung ho at any point this season. We changed formation to play an extra midfielder. We’ve been criticised for not being creative enough or carrying a threat. We’ve been holding our own against these sides by being boringly organised and disciplined. So the questions to me are, if we’re stifling teams with our normal set up… do we need to shut up shop? And are we any good at it? These things never happen in isolation - the home team will go chasing the game and take more risks late on, the crowd will get behind them. The away team will instinctively start playing safety first, they’ll be tiring. Sometimes it’s not a plan it just happens. I’m with Emu in that I don’t have a problem with doing it, but… although we nearly got away with it at Fulham and did at wolves… it feels like we’ve not been that convincing and have risked throwing away good performances. it’s not been the Alamo, just lost control of the games and invited pressure. I can’t remember the last time we had a side that could park the bus effectively. It’s just not Leedsy.
A little less dangerously ...some crosses into our box to a big useless lump arokadare at circa 20 million (who from memory didn't have a shot/header on target) it wasn't exactly a siege they were the home side I fully expected them to come and try to get back into the game! ....farke also said about Europe
Good point. Pep pointed out that when City were conceding late goals, equalisers or opposition winners, was because they didn’t keep the ball well enough inviting pressure on their defence. His idea of “shutting up shop” is to deny opponents possession of the ball.
