What a pity that our defence which kept us out of the Conference last season has at present become our weakest area this season. There does seem to be a lot of comments and opinions on other sites regarding what is required to put this problem right. After a defensive slip up to yet another dead ball set piece.....hindsight becomes a wonderful asset. They say that it could be the goalkeeper at fault....Jake Cole has been No 1 choice,he has proved that he is a good shot stopper. His performances can be criticized regarding controlling his goal/penalty area....he prefers to stay on his line.......does this then put extra pressure on his defenders to clear the danger......surely a goalkeeper has more reach and more chance than a jumping defender to clear or even better to catch and hold a crossed ball. We all realize that the back four need to be well organized for dead ball situations and with the help of other team members know who they are marking.......does a rooted to the line goalkeeper bring a lack of confidence to defenders knowing that they cannot depend on the keeper clearing the danger. In training... dead ball situations are surely practised time and time again.....it cannot just be bad organisation can it ? It has been mentioned also that we do lack height compared with most other teams....is that a solution, taller players,that can only be so if they are better players then the existing ones. What do you who have the chance to watch matches think.....do we need a dominate organizer at times like this......I thought from last season that Darren Purse was that man.....has he got over his summer op and is now playing without pain......or has Blanchard not fully recovered since his concussion accident.....or can it be the defence are just at present going through a bad patch of form.......or a bit of everything. Or......is it the fact that we are not involved this season.... with no other thought than survival after only 1pt from the first 27pts that we had last season......and have moved away from nothing but out and out trench warfare to grind out points......and so we are looser at the back and have more forward momentum..... releasing players up field from a more defensive roll.
mexijan........your red marked comments reminds me of 5 years of Open University essays........thank you very much. I do concede your comment about it not affecting dead ball situations,..... so are players getting back and picking up there opposite number etc.
Not seen the goal yet personally but will have a look on player tonight when I am home. I have noticed a few glances from Purse and Blanchard towards the statue rooted between the posts on a few goals we have conceded this season from dead ball situations/headers. That said if you know the keeper isn´t going to come then you have to organise and set up to defend that way. The worst thing you can have is an inconsistent keeper, one minute punching by the penalty spot next minute rooted to the line, and that is certainly not something Cole can be accused of, he gets home sick if he leaves the 6 yard box. If a player gets beaten to the ball due to height/spring then that is one thing but free headers then either someone is switching off or we are not organized both unacceptable. Again the youth factor can also be a contributor here.How to read a run, being in the right place to block it and knowing all the tricks and skullduggery and how to cope with/get away with comes with experience. Not just height wise but weight wise we are small which doesn´t help either. Wotton back in there would help but do we want that? What we would lose in general play outweighs what we would gain from the odd set play. PS B+ Good thought provoking article Mr Plym keep it up
"But for me do you have someone in your team who's 6ft 2ins and can mark at set pieces but can't control a bag of cement? "Or do you get someone who's got good energy, likes to get on the ball, be brave and get on it in all different positions and is 5ft 8ins? It's a no-brainer for me. Flethcers opinion on the subject so guessing we will not be signing the Jolly Green Giant anytime soon.
I have banged on about this Cole not coming thing for ages now. He reminds me of Larrieu when he arrived. He never came off his line either at first and the odd occasion he did he flapped at it rather than dealt with it. He probably trains Cole. We will get caught out time and time again this way if Cole doesn't learn and learn fast. I don't get it with these keepers these days. I'm not asking for him to become Grobelar and go on a run down the wing but just come for a cross. Hardly any of them catch anymore which might be because the ball moves a lot more now I suppose. He should do something though and not just stand on his line and hope. Lets be honest the tallest person we have in the 6 yard box is the keeper with his arms up and jumping. He has at least 3 or 4 inches on the biggest striker in advantage.
He is making it hard for Fletcher with the saves he keeps making would seem harsh to drop him. Blanchard is actually fairly short for the centre of defence and Purse is hardly a giant in that position. Gonna be a problem area for a while I think. As for keepers coming and ctching the ball there ae not many who do now most punch if the come for the ball, movement of the modern ball may well be a factor Sensible but players can still judge headers so not sure why keepers can´t catch? Hart for England drives me mad with this punching and parrying of shots but it does seem the norm now.
If the forward misses a header then it is part of it but when a keeper misses one it's you being 1 - 0 down so it isn't quite the same thing. I have always said Cole is a great shot stopper and he has saved us quite a few times with this. I'm not advocating dropping him but I just wish they would include going for a cross in his training at some point. Every single dead ball situation against us makes me cringe if it is crossable into the box. I have seen so many conceeded now from these it's embarrassing. We don't have the biggest players and never seem to. Think the biggest we ever mustered was Robbie Turner and Stuart (Can't think of his surname) who was 6' 4" and jumped 6' 5" including his height. He did score a cracking volley against Man C when we came back to beat them 3 - 2 once though.
I think it's dangerous to rely entirely on a keeper: I agree consistency is vital so the defence knows what to expect but for every goal a keeper prevents by dealing with something the defenders couldn't, I reckon you see another one which wouldn't have gone in if the keeper hadn't left his line [or at least the 6 yard box]. You mentioned Joe Hart and it's interesting that the one bad goal he's conceded for England recently was when he went walkabout for a cross when he didn't need to against Poland. The main thing is to know who's marking who, who's on the posts, who's on the edge of the penalty box to block the second phase ball etc. Those markers have then GOT to at least get in the way of their opponents & prevent free headers. In most cases, the best place for the keeper is on the line to pick up the pieces. I think it's hard for the average fan to criticise one player unless you're the manager and you know how the defence as a whole is supposed to be working. It ought to be bread & butter stuff and until & unless that's sorted, I think I'd leave the keeper to his own devices. At the end of the day, in a game of 2 halves, a high proportion of goals are scored from set-pieces, you can't eliminate them, just reduce them - and of course score as many as you can at the other end.
notDistant......noticing your posting time I assume you are having an uncomfortable night....it must be difficult for you.
I'm not blaming Cole solely notdistant. What I am saying is that he inspires absolutely no confidence on crosses into the box which is a different thing. There is a time to come and a time not to. Very good keepers will generally get this right but they will all make mistakes from time to time. Cole does not have coming as part of his armoury at all and will therefore never be a great keeper although he can be a good one. The keeper in my opinion should be part of defending a cross, not the sole person responsible but at least part of it. I do not agree that keepers should be rooted to their line as you seem to suggest.
NDG do you think that for every ball a keeper claims there is the offset of conceding one or did I read that wrong? I remember in the 70´s or 80´s when English teams played in Europe the experts often saying that the opposition keeper was weak under the high ball which basically translated to he stays on his line or on the occasion he does come will flap like Big Bird on a BBQ. English keepers used to be the best now we just seem to be following the norm and I think that is a strength we have lost. The guy at Man Utd a few years ago would have lived with the "Dodgy Keeper" chant but now it seems that prevention is no longer the best cure. For me it comes down to the over analysis syndrome football is suffering from and one dropped cross resulting in a goal is played a hundred times whereas the 100 collected never get shown.
I did qualify what I said somewhat - I suspect a dodgy goal is lost for every one where the keeper claims one OUTSIDE THE 6 YARD BOX. In other words, by all means come out for crosses, but not far! The keeper does have second big advantage - not only can he use his hands, no referee alive is going to give a penalty against a keeper trying to take a cross, so they can clatter who they like, when they like. You're right, keepers do catch the ball far less these days, whether crosses or shots. In fact, having having watched the Chelsea v Man U game on the box, De Gea seems to want to take it a stage further and renounce the use of his hands altogether in shot-stopping and use his feet only like the outfield players. Maybe it's the lighter balls, maybe it's better skills from the outfield players producing better crosses, maybe it's the influx or foreign keepers.
