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calriv

What's happening in the second half?

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http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11994/2705370/Premier-League-stats

The tables at the bottom mean that if we finished every game at half time, we''d be sixth. But for the second half, we''re 16th. Is this just holding out for victories or tiredness?

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and only 17th in total successful passes - I thought we were a passing team?? - It seems we are the leagues best long ball team instead ;-)

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I don''t know what others think on this, but certainly I thought it against both Arsenal and QPR. But when we go ahead, do we seem to try and shut up shop too soon?

Against Arsenal we scored one, and seemed to drop even deeper than before. I can remember saying to my mate this was going to end badly, because there''s no way we were going to hold on to a 1-0 lead until the end of the game.

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It''s more likely an anomoly in the stats. Most matches are decided in the second half so first half scores are always going to be misleading and not an accurate representation. After all matches last 90 minutes, not 45.

If you''re ahead at half time, the other team are going to come at you more, if you''re behind, especially away from home, you''re more likely to lose.

Thats why I don''t like stats.

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Last year we were often behind, or drawing at home, with 20 mins to go and went on to retrieve a draw or get a win.  It''s like we have a playbook that the players are very comfortable with.  20 mins to go - we need a goal - bring on a couple of subs and go for it.  E.g. against Forest at home we conceded a daft goal at the start, but I''m sure we were all confident that we''d plug away and get something from the game.

 

But this year we seem to have had plenty of occasions where we''ve gone ahead and it does feel like we''re not sure how to play it.  E.g. against Villa and Arsenal.  I wish we could master the art of scoring and keeping on playing just the same, pushing forward to get a 2nd but keeping it tight.

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The problem is that a lot of teams change their game when losing. What was working against a team who themselves are trying not to concede does not always continue to work when going behind galvanises them or spurs them into action. When you are losing, you have nothing to lose by pushing forward; when you are drawing you don''t want to risk conceding.

Some experts will tell you you should try and push ahead your advantage after you have scored; others will say you should calm it down for a few minutes and ensur you don''t immediately concede. You will hear things like "teams are at their most vulnerable when they have just scored".

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Thank god we don''t play a third ''half'' we could be relegated already

What are the stats for playing towards the River End first as I''m sure that if we could only play teams in blue, kicking off towards the River End first and the half time score only counts, we would be top ...........

..................or was that bottom, I can never remember

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