Obviously had my little moan about everything else earlier so thought I'd do a bit of research in to our dropped points this year I figure we have dropped 10 points in the second half of games this season vs teams having been leading - 6/10 points in the last 5 mins of games. Bournemouth - equalized 88th min Palace - 55th mins (via pen) Burnley - 85th min (Og Darlow) Leicster - 86th min (Og Perez) Southampton - 75th min Is there a deeper rooted problem at the club, is it a lack of concentration having such a young team, is it an issue of fitness, are we trying TO hard to hold out in games instead of pressing on for more?
I would absolutely love to see what would have happened in each game if we'd not ****ed about with the tactics and just kept playing. I blame Rafa 100% for lost points, but I also credit him for his ability to get us into winning positions with a sub-standard team. However, what really ****ing annoys me about our managers desire to put 7 defenders on in any game we're winning is as follows: 1) It never ****ing works. 2) It never, ever has in the history of football with sub-par teams. 3) It's insanely naive. 4) We always end up conceding. 5) If we're playing counter attacking football, stands to reason we'd get MORE chances late in the game if we just stayed the course. Really annoying.
The idea of protecting a lead is completely valid as a tactic, however, I don't think we have good enough players to do it effectively. Protect a lead by bringing on Hayden who isn't really good enough for the Premier League in fairness. Now, that said, the manager can't legislate for players downing tools like Shelvey did the other day. We also would have been further ahead in that game and others to not have lost so many many points if we had better finishers of the ball. So, it's the quality of the players why we drop points for the most part. Most said our squad was inadequate at the start of the season but game to game we seem to judge the side as if it should be achieving more than what it is actually capable of.
It's individual errors which are killing us, is ths the real difference between a PL and Championship player - the ability to concentrate for 90mins? You could also add Darlow's fumble costing us points against Everton in there too. Not in the last 10 admittedly, but still turned a possible draw into a loss
I think the idea of defending a lead is normal but at 2-0 up you keep your shape formation and personnel unless you have to change it. Now if you have to change it you go like for like. You don’t change the formation and go negative. If I was a manager and see a defensive substitution I would go all out as I’m losing 2-0 anyways so I may as well through caution to the wind and that’s what happened. If we stay up it’s job done. If we go down then he has failed. It’s that cut and dry.
Conversely though, what points have we 'stolen' by scoring late or due to a bit of luck? I remember Merino grabbing a winner in the last 5 mins at home to Palace. I thought it was harsh on Palace. We got a late equaliser at West Brom. Again fairly fortunate. Not sure about others but I'd probably suggest that's football.
To be fair I was only looking at games where we were winning during the second half and ended up dropping points but didn't look for draws into losses so could be a few more than 10 points dropped. I think it must have something to do with being a young squad. I'd imagine there are a few times a season teams are pegged back with the last kick of the game but for it to happen three times to one team is a concern.
Just having a look back through and notice against Bournemouth earlier in the season we conceded in the 92nd min to lose 1-0 as well. So out of 11 points dropped 8 of them have been dropped in the final 5 mins of games.
We're not good enough to do what Rafa wants us to do. Weird thing is he can't seem to see it, and somehow expects us to be able to close out games like Real, Napoli, Liverpool, Inter or Chelsea..... When the big lads shut up shop, a lot of opponents lose heart. George Graham's Arsenal were the absolute masters - when a team went 1-0 down you could almost see on their faces a defeat. With NUFC (and indeed any small clubs trying to 'see out' a game), most clubs just sense an opportunity and smell blood. He learns a bit slowly does our Rafa.
To be fair although I termed it as "that's football", obviously you have to be aware of trends as a manager and then look back at how you have handled those particular games. I'm not a massive fan of getting too deep. I think inviting teams on can be a viable tactic if you have pace on the break and can defend a lead through solid organisation. We showed that against Man U but to be honest that was the exception rather than the norm. It suggests it is something we should ditch in favour of a higher press or basically continuing to play the same way. I'm sure Benitez will be well aware of the issue and look at a solution.
True I seem to remember at the beginning of the season we'd conceded 3 or 4 goals in the last few mins of the first half in a few games running. I'm an "attack is the best form of defense" kinda guy and would always want to push for more goals - look at Liverpool unlikely to win anything this year but 100+ goals scored and some cracking games (although I'm sure they've been on the wrong end of some of the results). As Jonjo says - we aren't good enough to sit in and try and see out games - ManU was a one in a million game as you quite rightly say, never have I seen us block 4/5/6 shots on the line even when the opposition are presented with a pretty much open goal. Agreed though we should be playing a high press as I feel its almost a natural progression of the EPL now - all the best teams do it especially City. Also i don't think the analysts and coaches at the club will have their head in the sand on the issue of conceding late goals and will be trying to figure it out as well and I'm sure they will have had chats about it with the players about it but there's something not working there.
The other team if losing will usually up their game anyway towards the end of a match as they get more desperate. Or go more direct and launch aerial balls and crosses. We shouldn't forget there is another team on the pitch who are also trying to win the game.
I get that which is why I believe it more prudent to stay calm and keep the shape. Throwing defenders on time and again invites considerably more pressure. IMO.
It all looks a like panic is what I don’t like. I like fresh legs if they are genuinely needed. We just seem to rotate on the basis the stats say they should be in the red zone (groans) and tired. I don’t mind not flogging people and trying to prevent injury but there is a line and your eyes will tell you if someone is knackered. Also it’s the mish mash of subs chucking on players who aren’t like for like which seems to just disjoint us and no one knows what’s going on. Do they train for this situ? I’m sure they must. They must practice being under the pump chucking on defenders for midfielders and it must work. I suppose we just have to trust the manager. Gayle supposedly had a tight hammy so had to come off.
