clean sheets!

[Baldyboy 0]

as I stated on another post why do people moan about not keeping a clean sheet?personally I couldnt care less if we dont keep one all season as long as we win games!!!you get no bonus points for them, so all the so called fans moaning about it, what does it matter?I will be happy winning every game 2-1, so get over it!!!!

[Howson is now! 0]

Having played as a defender in my more athletic days, my job was to stop the other team from scoring. Same as a striker''s job is to score goals. I can see what you''re saying because I too feel that if we tale the three points that''s all that matters. It should matter to the players though and I believe it does. Tierney shouting at Barnett for getting involved when he didn''t need to as a prime example of how much it means to a defender to not concede goals.

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

Not sure how you can say conceding lots of avoidable goals isn''t an issue to be discussed.

Obviously if 3 points are collected and a goal is conceded then it hasn''t cost you but you should always look to improve and the amount of soft goals we''re conceding is certainly something we can improve.

If you don''t concede;

1. You can''t lose

2. You only need to score 1 for maximum points

[Power Hamster 0]

I can understand both points of view.Swansea have now kept 6 clean sheets in the league, while we haven''t kept any yet. But look who is higher up the league? Also, Swansea have failed to score in 7 of their 13 games, and today''s game was their 4th goalless draw.. Their 13 games have produced 28 goals, while our 13 have produced 40 goals. Who would you rather watch?On the other hand imagine how John Ruddy must feel, He is being put forward as a potential international keeper and yet, not necessarily through his own fault, he hasn''t kept a clean sheet yet. It is a matter of pride for defenders and keepers to shut out the opposition, so they must have mixed feelings about the overall success of the side,  while doubts are being raised about their individual abilities as defenders.So, anyone for a clean sheet an Man City then?[:D]

[lake district canary 0]

"So, anyone for a clean sheet an Man City then?"

We''ve got to start somewhere! Etihad is as good a place as any!

[Gingerpele 0]

To be honest, defending is half of the game.

The object is to score more goals than the opponent, but a 1-0 win is just as valid as a 2-1 win.

I would go as far to say, that if we fail to keep a clean sheet all season we don''t actually deserve to stay up. It means we aren''t good enough defensively. Every other team has kept a clean sheet this season, Swansea keeping 6. Yes we are in a better position than Swansea, and scoring more but we still have issues.

There is a huge list of goals we have conceded this season that could have (seemingly) been easily avoided, although if you take all of them away then we would probably be top of the league, which would be a bit unrealistic. So many of the goals we have conceded seem to come from defensive mistakes, rather than opposition brilliance. If were going to be conceding lots, can they at least be good goals? (Ok some are, but far too many seem to be avoidable).

You can''t stop people getting worried about the amount of goals conceded. It has lost us points this season, and if we have a bad patch when we just aren''t quite up to it, we can look back to the first 13 games and see games like Blackburn, WBA and Stoke were we essentially dropped points due to poor defensive mistakes.

[Mister Chops 7]

You will always concede goals through the opposition''s attacking ability.  Conceding unnecessary goals through errors and sloppy play is unacceptable in a professional sport.

[Power Hamster 0]

I haven''t been on to Swansea''s fans forums, but I would guess they are a sort of mirror image of this one, with everyone complaining about the lack of goal-scoring ("you can''t win a game unless you score" etc.) while complimenting the team''s defensive abilities. Although any manager worth his salt will work hard on his team''s weak points, at the end of the day PL has to play to the team''s strengths. In our case that means an attacking style of play, because that is what we are good at. At the same time, I don''t think anybody is seriously suggesting that we don''t need to work on the defensive side of things, because clearly we do.I am sure PL has some targets lined up for the January window.[:D]

[king canary 7,604]

The thing is I would be less annoyed about it if we were making teams earn their goals but all to often we are handing them the chances. This then puts extra pressure on the attacker who know they have to score two to win the game.I''m delighted with the result yesterday but in some ways would have prefered it to have finished 1-0 rather than 2-1

[Baldyboy 0]

where did I say clean sheets can be discusssed? I said I dont care as long as we win, 4-3 gets you the same points as 1-0!!!!

[Bryangunnshairline 0]

I would be more worried as a swansea fan. They knock it around nicely but that''s it. We have been scoring for fun almost from all over the pitch in the premier league. Scoring goals at this level is a tough ask. We have made it look easy. A lot of the goals we have conceded have been silly mistakes which can be ironed out or we have defenders coming back from injury. You can work on scoring but its a lot more worrying if your not hurting teams and just parking the bus. Plus against a lot of the sides in the prem its expected that we will concede when you look at the quality we face each week.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,161]

Funny to think that last time we were in the Premier League all the talk on this board was about our lack of ability to score goals. Thing was Worthy set his team up in the Premier League to basically not concede first of all and then to try and score. We all know how that ended up - no away wins all season and relegation.

Give me Lambert''s attacking style any day. More likely to win and much more entertaining to watch.

[Rethinking the future 0]

The big problem about being unable to keep a clean sheet is the additional pressure it puts onto the strikers as they know they have to score 1 just to ensure we gain a single point, and that they have to score 2 or 3 in order for us to win all three points.

As a neutral spectator, i would like to see 3 or 4 goals per game and this is probably why we are getting so much tv air time at the moment, but for the manager, cutting out the defensive errors is probably the main priority on the training ground.

[nutty nigel 7,530]

I''m with you Baldyboy. The only reason I can think that clean sheets can be so important is because we don''t have any. Swansea have six! And yet our GD is twice as good as theirs!

 

We are over a third of the way through the season and have a GD of -2! That is unbelievable. If anybody had looked at our fixture list and suggested this could be in August they would have been laughed off the board. If we carry this on for the next 25 games we will comfortably be safe. Our defence are as much responsible for this as the forwards. To only have a GD of -2 means we must be defending better than other teams below us.  Every season over half the teams in the Prem finish with a negative GD. That''s because of the vast difference of ability within the same league.

 

We have conceded goals through defensive mistakes and have scored just as many through other teams mistakes. Bottom line is our team is doing enough to be competitive in the top half of the Prem. It''s rather harsh to criticise the defence for no clean sheets when they are part of a team doing so well.

 

 

[G 0]

Its not just the fact we aren''t keeping clean sheets in my opinion its the nature of the goals we are conceding, if we stopped giving away these sloppy goals we could be sitting even cosier in this league. Couple of quality defenders would be welcomed by me.

[curly_whirly_tipz 0]

As much as a clean sheet would be nice, as yet *touches wood*, we have not lost from a large margin, 2-0 once and that was too man u. All other loses have only been by 1 goal. As much as a clean sheet would be nice , and frustratingly we might have a few more points if those errors werent made, we are doing ok :)

[nolegs 0]

Just to let you know.....woke up this morning and I''ve managed to keep a clean sheet!!!

[BarclayCanary (Former HDDH) 0]

''Every other team has kept a clean sheet this season''

Gingerpele that is where you are wrong, you will find that Blackburn are another team who have not kept a clean sheet all season.

Just sayin''

;)

[ThorpeCanary 71]

"I would go as far to say, that if we fail to keep a clean sheet all season we don''t actually deserve to stay up"Disagree, we will deserve to stay up if we finish above 18th regardless of goals conceded. we are mid table at the minute and deservedly so, we do not play as some newly promoted teams have done in the past to grind out 1-0 wins - be it because of our style of play or if you prefer the quality/experience of our team as a defensive unit - the league is full of top attacking players from all sides and and the way we''re gonna overcome them is to outscore them, getting attacking support from the full backs and getting numbers forward, we have players in Holt and Morrison who will hold up the ball and do the job up the other end, I couldn''t care less if we''re winning games 5-4, if the goals conceded were due to luck / a consequence of our playstyle and not just generally clueless defending (which hasn''t happened)On the other hand ill admit it would be good to see the mistakes at the back ironed out - but shit happens, they''re capable defenders and im as proud of the team and the effort from the lads as I have been for the last 2 years. we''re going in the right direction. Dont underestimate the teams in this league or forget where we were 2 years ago.

[lake district canary 0]

You can set out a team all you want to keep a clean sheet - 11 players behind the ball if you want, then you can still get beaten by the kind of forwards there are in the division.

I would prefer to see us attack more - we have goal scorers in the team -and so what if we keep a clean sheet or not as long as we''re getting points and winning matches.

For one thing it is more entertaining to watch a game with goals in even if one or two creep in at our end.

Clean sheets - preferable, yes - but not something to get worked up about if we are still picking up points.

[BarclayCanary (Former HDDH) 0]

I don''t see why people are worried about ''clean sheets''.

A 1-0 result is the same as a 2-1 result, its stilla GD of +1.

A Clean Sheet would do wonders for the defenders and Ruddy. Wonder if our first clean sheet will come against Everton or Fulham.

I am just happy to see the players playing for the shirt, while at Portaloo Road they are nearing relegation.

OTBC!

[nutty nigel 7,530]

A 2-1 result is better buddy. After goal difference the next calculation is goals scored. The only reason folk are sooo concerned about clean sheets is because we haven''t got any. I wonder what they''d be hankering for if we took a trip to the Swansea Pink ''un or Taffy ''un or whatever it''s called. It''s a sure bet some would be lamenting that despite six clean sheets their goal difference was twice as bad as ours!