Neil - What about the defence!

PoolWarrior

PoolWarrior

Well-known member
I find this table fascinating. The last 10 games we've scored 20 but conceded 16.
Only Posh and Oxford have scored more.
Only Shrewsbury, Cheltenham, Reading and Exeter have conceded more.
We've only won 4 of those 10 games.
Is the real problem the defence and how are we dealing with it?

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I don't think it's a consistent problem. 8 of those 16 goals came in 4 consecutive 45 minute periods. Second half against Cheltenham, followed by the Peterborough game and the first half at Fleetwood. We've been trying to get the balance right between attacking and defending, tweaking the line up, and losing players in key positions like Norburn and Casey. We were solid at Bolton, and again on Saturday, and have had a solid back line in other games too.
 
voyeur said:
I don't think it's a consistent problem. 8 of those 16 goals came in 4 consecutive 45 minute periods. Second half against Cheltenham, followed by the Peterborough game and the first half at Fleetwood. We've been trying to get the balance right between attacking and defending, tweaking the line up, and losing players in key positions like Norburn and Casey. We were solid at Bolton, and again on Saturday, and have had a solid back line in other games too.
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I watched Bolton on telly. Yes, the goal was our pissing about but otherwise we were sound. What wasn't in evidence was our attack. I think that has now changed.
 
Casey and Husband have been terrific all.season. Pennington and Ekpiteta are finding their best form. Grimshaw hasn't been great but has been improving. That said, the issue is the same as last season and the midfield in front of them. If we can get the right balance in that 3, we should see a few more clean sheets.
 
It is the midfield in front of the back three that has let us down. Not enough tackling and tracking of runners. Carey scored two at Fleetwood, but gave them their equaliser with a loose pass and then repeated his error against Peterborough!
 
Stu99 said:
Before Saturday this was my biggest concern. Playing 5 at the back and a negative brand of football, yet still conceding for fun.

Saturday was much better, hopefully we build on it
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We play 3-3-4 half the time, with CJ and Dale as 'full backs' it is hardly ever 5 at the back, hence conceding goals.
 
CJ and Dale are currently the wing backs, and even Critchley admitted in an interview this week that they're wingers, not really wing backs. They're just not great defenders (even though they haven't performed badly overall by any means). The centre of our defence is very strong with three from Pennington, Ekpiteta, Casey and Husband. Probably the strongest in the league individually.

I think Gabriel would make a huge difference to this team, because he's very good at both ends of the pitch.
 
Notathome said:
It is the midfield in front of the back three that has let us down. Not enough tackling and tracking of runners. Carey scored two at Fleetwood, but gave them their equaliser with a loose pass and then repeated his error against Peterborough!
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We played Peterbrough before Fleetwood, but don't let facts get in the way of your agenda.
 
Getting the balance between being solid and a team and then to open up and attack while remaining solid is the hardest thing to do.
Meliora said:
We played Peterbrough before Fleetwood, but don't let facts get in the way of your agenda.
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Gave them their equaliser, what tosh. Tried a great pass, the ball was not a pass back to our keeper, gawd save us.
 
BFC_53 said:
CJ and Dale are currently the wing backs, and even Critchley admitted in an interview this week that they're wingers, not really wing backs. They're just not great defenders (even though they haven't performed badly overall by any means). The centre of our defence is very strong with three from Pennington, Ekpiteta, Casey and Husband. Probably the strongest in the league individually.

I think Gabriel would make a huge difference to this team, because he's very good at both ends of the pitch.
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I don't know how you can state that, how do you know all about the other defences in this league, just a throw away comment.
 
Micky Walsh said:
I don't know how you can state that, how do you know all about the other defences in this league, just a throw away comment.
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It's just my opinion, based on what I've seen so far (and we've seen 18 of the 23 other teams). Not that many others will have recent championship experience for a start.
 
In general open play we are quite solid and organised
However most of the goals conceded come from messing around at the back
Or when caught on the counter attack due to a misplaced pass
Playing a fit Ekpiteta gives us a fast recovering tackler to defend a break
However as we all know he is vulnerable when asked to play the ball out
Get Marvin comfortable on the ball and our problem will be keeping him at the club
 
Almost like we’re back to the Holloway days of thinking - “As long as we score more than the other team….”

Just not as entertaining as Holloway’s teams of course.
 
Stu99 said:
Before Saturday this was my biggest concern. Playing 5 at the back and a negative brand of football, yet still conceding for fun.

Saturday was much better, hopefully we build on it
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Is it really a negative brand of football? Like when you actually think about it? Look at how many goals we've scored across the last 13 or so games, not just saturday.
 
Stu99 said:
Before Saturday this was my biggest concern. Playing 5 at the back and a negative brand of football, yet still conceding for fun.

Saturday was much better, hopefully we build on it
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You need to get your head round the indisputable fact that we don't play 5 at the back. CJ is not a defender in any sense of the word. And neither is Dale. We play with 3 at the back, fewer than most other sides! And we often have only one defensive midfielder, so we have 6 attacking players on the pitch. They just need to play better, as they did on Saturday.
 
Meliora said:
We played Peterbrough before Fleetwood, but don't let facts get in the way of your agenda.
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Well okay he repeated his error against Fleetwood, but either way he did not learn from his original mistake and cost us a goal in each match. No agenda, just stating facts!
 
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