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Post by bigandy99 on Sept 24, 2023 22:10:14 GMT
We’re struggling to keep a clean sheet.. this needs to change for us to go up the table.. so, is it poor defending, poor communication between the defenders and goalkeeper or is the midfield not protecting the defence.. most likely all three.. what’s the solution?.. dropping Hector and starting Watson (T) is a start, for me.. Fraser returning should help our ball retention.. but am I missing something?..
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Post by aucklandaddick on Sept 24, 2023 22:40:50 GMT
We’re struggling to keep a clean sheet.. this needs to change for us to go up the table.. so, is it poor defending, poor communication between the defenders and goalkeeper or is the midfield not protecting the defence.. most likely all three.. what’s the solution?.. dropping Hector and starting Watson (T) is a start, for me.. Fraser returning should help our ball retention.. but am I missing something?.. Yep Scott missed a golden opportunity to strengthen the most obvious part of the team and he brought a young kid in with potential rather than a leader at the back…. and we can’t now fix this until January T Watson will come in as right back and the only change I can see in the middle of the back four would be Ness coming in but after watching the Crawley away debacle I don’t think this move will strengthen us It is what it is, I think especially away from home we will have to score 2 or 3 times to get wins which is simply not sustainable |
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Post by sevenoaks on Sept 25, 2023 5:59:56 GMT
Are there many commanding centre backs about?.
Perhaps Scott thought,that is exactly what Michael Hector should be.
Lucas looks like he has lost a bit of confidence, but hadn't become bad overnight.
I think.forget Crawley, although it's hard, and see what happens with better coaching and a couple of league wins under our belts..
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Post by DFT on Sept 25, 2023 9:13:09 GMT
Pity we can't get Wembley hero Patrick Baeur back, he never plays for Preston now and rarely even makes the bench.
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Post by discocafc on Sept 25, 2023 9:24:50 GMT
We’re struggling to keep a clean sheet.. this needs to change for us to go up the table.. so, is it poor defending, poor communication between the defenders and goalkeeper or is the midfield not protecting the defence.. most likely all three.. what’s the solution?.. dropping Hector and starting Watson (T) is a start, for me.. Fraser returning should help our ball retention.. but am I missing something?.. I couldn’t agree more but do think the goal we conceded last Saturday was unavoidable. It was a very good strike |
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Post by huddy1978 on Sept 25, 2023 10:28:19 GMT
I don't think there was anything we could do about their goal, but every time they crossed it I was nervous, and came very close to scoring.
I think Hackett-Fairchilds miss was a bit of a turning point in the game, Isted did well there to be fair.
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Post by reamsofverse on Sept 25, 2023 10:44:47 GMT
It's one of the worst defensive units ever put together and I have made no bones about it from day one. Hector is useless. The others not mobile enough. Not one of the CB's have a goal from a set piece in them.
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Post by Mundell on Sept 25, 2023 11:30:26 GMT
We’re clearly not as strong at the back as we’d like to be, but I think it’s important to put our defensive performances into context. In our eight matches so far, we’ve face 64 shots from open play. Only six teams have faced fewer, albeit several have played a game more. Peterborough, Bolton, Derby, Wycombe and Portsmouth have all faced more shots from open play than we have. According to Opta’s data, our XgA from open play is 6.3. Only seven teams have done better. Not ideal, but not a disaster either. To an extent, the eight goals we’ve conceded from open play is a reflection of good finishing, with Wycombe’s stunning goal on Saturday the prime example. We’ve found life more difficult at set plays where only four teams have faced more shots. Our XgA from set plays is very close to the three goals we’ve actually conceded, but again only four teams have a higher XgA from set plays. I’m not typically known for my boosterism (apologies here for a private joke with seriouslyred ), but a case can be made that with more consistent selection, some better organisation and coaching, and perhaps with a bit more discipline, especially at set pieces, we could have a defensive unit capable of making us very competitive in this season’s League One. PS The usual health warning applies here. This is still a relatively small data set. Mind you, that applies to the current League table too. |
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Post by sevenoaks on Sept 25, 2023 11:48:21 GMT
Chopping and changing doesn't help.
There has already been a massive improvement.
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Post by richmondse10exile on Sept 25, 2023 11:54:14 GMT
We’re clearly not as strong at the back as we’d like to be, but I think it’s important to put our defensive performances into context. In our eight matches so far, we’ve face 64 shots from open play. Only six teams have faced fewer, albeit several have played a game more. Peterborough, Bolton, Derby, Wycombe and Portsmouth have all faced more shots from open play than we have. According to Opta’s data, our XgA from open play is 6.3. Only seven teams have done better. Not ideal, but not a disaster either. To an extent, the eight goals we’ve conceded from open play is a reflection of good finishing, with Wycombe’s stunning goal on Saturday the prime example. We’ve found life more difficult at set plays where only four teams have faced more shots. Our XgA from set plays is very close to the three goals we’ve actually conceded, but again only four teams have a higher XgA from set plays. I’m not typically known for my boosterism (apologies here for a private joke with seriouslyred ), but a case can be made that with more consistent selection, some better organisation and coaching, and perhaps with a bit more discipline, especially at set pieces, we could have a defensive unit capable of making us very competitive in this season’s League One. PS The usual health warning applies here. This is still a relatively small data set. Mind you, that applies to the current League table too. That’s really interesting and proves to me that I am : 1) just a reactive fan that has knee-jerk reactions to the few games I get to see; 2) that I know very little about football as that all sounds a lot more positive than I generally feel; 3) that many of the other sides in this league are even worse than us. The third is both the most encouraging and the most depressing at the same time. This league should be easy to get out of but then we’re only in this league because we’re pants. Setting a memo to self to try and just enjoy the ride and seek solace in a promising start under our new manager. Onwards and upwards. |
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Post by seriouslyred on Sept 25, 2023 16:40:40 GMT
We’re clearly not as strong at the back as we’d like to be, but I think it’s important to put our defensive performances into context. In our eight matches so far, we’ve face 64 shots from open play. Only six teams have faced fewer, albeit several have played a game more. Peterborough, Bolton, Derby, Wycombe and Portsmouth have all faced more shots from open play than we have. According to Opta’s data, our XgA from open play is 6.3. Only seven teams have done better. Not ideal, but not a disaster either. To an extent, the eight goals we’ve conceded from open play is a reflection of good finishing, with Wycombe’s stunning goal on Saturday the prime example. We’ve found life more difficult at set plays where only four teams have faced more shots. Our XgA from set plays is very close to the three goals we’ve actually conceded, but again only four teams have a higher XgA from set plays. I’m not typically known for my boosterism (apologies here for a private joke with seriouslyred ), but a case can be made that with more consistent selection, some better organisation and coaching, and perhaps with a bit more discipline, especially at set pieces, we could have a defensive unit capable of making us very competitive in this season’s League One. PS The usual health warning applies here. This is still a relatively small data set. Mind you, that applies to the current League table too. That’s really interesting and proves to me that I am : 1) just a reactive fan that has knee-jerk reactions to the few games I get to see; 2) that I know very little about football as that all sounds a lot more positive than I generally feel; 3) that many of the other sides in this league are even worse than us. The third is both the most encouraging and the most depressing at the same time. This league should be easy to get out of but then we’re only in this league because we’re pants. Setting a memo to self to try and just enjoy the ride and seek solace in a promising start under our new manager. Onwards and upwards. 1) we all enjoy the theatre at The Valley, no matter the quality of the football and we go to live games to experience that emotion 2) there's clearly a hangover from mid-table mediocrity under Sandgaard where there was no obvious football expertise within the SMT. 3) including August, we are still mid-table in XG and results but... My antidote has been to classify success as 6th place and define the path as W2 D1 L1 every four games as the challenge. In layman terms the way to resolve the mid-table XG is: - eliminate turnovers leading to five vs two as we saw away at Oxford - improve set piece defence such that XG conceded overall drops from 1.4 to 1.1 overall. In other words one goal against most games - improve precision, pace and decision making of the front six and make the most of players and subs... maintain XG for at around 1.5 which should lead to two goals scored fairly often In response to Mundell , there's no need for boosterism! For we will soon see if there's a clear pattern of XG of 1.45:1.1 in most games that will deliver frequent 2:1 victories - as long as the actual finishing is decent. As you say, let's enjoy the journey and by end October we will have a view on our ability to both create and convert chances. Appleton has much work to do to deliver improvements AND get to know his squad. Time will tell whether he can deliver seven points every four games. One win from the next two and we're on track 😀 |
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Post by bexleyboy on Sept 26, 2023 10:56:27 GMT
There was not much wrong defensively saturday the stats show we restricted them to one effort .. and against a team that were the form team and pace and strength up front .. we done very well as a unit . Also Isted was very well protected not sure he a proper save to make . The goal was a good strike from outside the box , there no blame there attached to anyone .
Defence is one position you can’t chop and change, Hector and Jones are a decent pairing at this level and need to have a run together now
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Post by yorkshireaddick on Sept 26, 2023 12:02:44 GMT
There was not much wrong defensively saturday the stats show we restricted them to one effort .. and against a team that were the form team and pace and strength up front .. we done very well as a unit . Also Isted was very well protected not sure he a proper save to make . The goal was a good strike from outside the box , there no blame there attached to anyone . Defence is one position you can’t chop and change, Hector and Jones are a decent pairing at this level and need to have a run together now They had 12 efforts. 1 on target, 5 off target, 6 blocked. |
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Post by aaronaldo on Sept 26, 2023 12:17:30 GMT
Did anyone notice in the highlights the first big chance Wycombe had was the man marked by Dobbo. Free header pretty much. He also got done too easily for the other big chance they had (also in highlights) where Hector gets megged (don't get me started on Hector) and then Dobson just lets McCleary go. It gets blocked by Thomas or saved by Isted in the end but it happened too easily.
Dobbo is a great player, but I do feel he gets away with some mistakes because he's worshiped by some of our fans. He can't put a foot wrong in some peoples eyes. He has made mistakes this year.
If those incidents were McGrandles or someone else then we'd be hearing about them a lot. Just something to bear in mind when it comes to defensive issues. It's not always the defenders.
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Post by bexleyboy on Sept 26, 2023 12:31:00 GMT
There was not much wrong defensively saturday the stats show we restricted them to one effort .. and against a team that were the form team and pace and strength up front .. we done very well as a unit . Also Isted was very well protected not sure he a proper save to make . The goal was a good strike from outside the box , there no blame there attached to anyone . Defence is one position you can’t chop and change, Hector and Jones are a decent pairing at this level and need to have a run together now They had 12 efforts. 1 on target, 5 off target, 6 blocked. 1 on target ….. blocked just backs up what I said about how well we kept them out |
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Post by aaronaldo on Sept 26, 2023 12:48:36 GMT
They had 12 efforts. 1 on target, 5 off target, 6 blocked. 1 on target ….. blocked just backs up what I said about how well we kept them out We restricted them to 6 in those eyes then. As they just missed 5 of them. We didn't block those. They had some very reasonable chances. It could've gone either way and I think under Holden it likely wouldn't have ended well for us. |
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Post by yorkshireaddick on Sept 26, 2023 13:03:01 GMT
They had 12 efforts. 1 on target, 5 off target, 6 blocked. 1 on target ….. blocked just backs up what I said about how well we kept them out My point is you're picking what sounds good over what actually happened. 5 blocks leads me to believe they had 5 shots inside our penalty area. They also had 2 big chances both of which they missed according to the stats. One of the 6 off target shots was Mcleary cutting inside freely from the left, and bending one that Isted was nowhere near if it had gone inside the post. It was a good result but let's not pretend we shut them out. |
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