Clean Sheets

[Number 9 0]

I''m not referring to Wiz''s bedtime issues!

Correct me if I''m wrong, but have we only signed one defensive player. I''m worried still that we will leak careless goals again this season.

Think about how many silly goals we conceded, yes we exceeded our expectation, but put a lot of pressure on the goal scorers.

How much better could it have been, how can it be improved this season?

[Move Klose 303]

We will sign a centre back and left back in the summer. We conceded so many because we played so open. I dont think Hughton will play such open football.

[lake district canary 0]

Oh dear, the dreaded clean sheet.    Yes we need to cut down on the defensive mistakes, but under Hughton I believe we will be much better at the back.     As for clean sheets,   please lets not go down that road again.    1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, all have the same effect - wins or draws.  

 

 

 

The occasional clean sheet would be nice, but if it restricts us to a season of 0-0''s, 1-0''s, 0-1''s - forget it.

 

 

[Number 9 0]

I''ll agree that every team will leak some goals, especially an attacking team, but it makes survival extremely difficult when we ate letting in 2 goals, say, on a regular basis. The balance between attack and defense needs to be massaged slightly.

[Salopian 1]

After conceding penalties every match at first, our defence seemed to have learned from experience. I hope that this will improve our defensive efficiency. I hope, too,that with Ayala and Tierney both available for a full season, and Bennett R available for a full season, and Ruddy more experienced, we shall have a meaner defence also.

 

If we had signed a top quality defender for £10m or so, we could be even a little more confident, but this is unlikely to happen.

[ZLF 271]

There is an enormous difference between being a defensive side and a team that defends well.   I dont get why having better defenders would automatically turn us into a modern version of the 80s Arsenal? 

  

Last season city attacked well but defended poorly, especially in the middle;   with better players we can continue to attack well and score as many  while cutting out the silly erros and keeping more clean sheets.

 

Our centre backs were simply inadequate last year, and left back was found wanting.  The two decent defenders are no longer here (Naughton & Drury) and leaves huge gaps on the flanks.   We do have some hope with Bennett & Ayala as a partnership in the middle  but a Davies signing makes us far superior.  That just leaves the flanks.  £10m on two good full backs is good value and a must. 

[Gingerpele 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]

Oh dear, the dreaded clean sheet.    Yes we need to cut down on the defensive mistakes, but under Hughton I believe we will be much better at the back.     As for clean sheets,   please lets not go down that road again.    1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, all have the same effect - wins or draws.  

 

 

 

The occasional clean sheet would be nice, but if it restricts us to a season of 0-0''s, 1-0''s, 0-1''s - forget it.

 

 

[/quote]

Clean sheets are very important. Defensive stability means if the attackers are off form, or up against a solid defence and only have a goal or two in them, or worse none, then we are more likely to get a point or three.

Of course lots of boring 1-0s/0-0s isn''t much fun, but a boring 1-0 win, or 0-0 draw against a top team is a much better outcome than playing well and losing 3-1 (Man.C for example, not that i''d suggest playing all that defensively against them, we don''t have the ability, but we pretty much played our normal attacking game and lost 6-1, nothing good about that result, apart from at 2-1 we should have equalised, and possibly even taken the lead at 0-0, but we didn''t and we got punished).

[lake district canary 0]

Thinking or worrying about clean sheets does not help anyone.    If you concentrate on defence too much, you will run the risk of  keeping it tight, but still losing 1-0.    You will stifle your own attack, you will end up defensive minded and still run the risk of losing matches.    I lost count of the goals caused by defensive mistakes last season.   Simply getting a settled line up in defence will help keep the goals down.   

 

 

Attack is the best form of defence.   Attack, score goals, let in the odd one now and then - but attack, score goals  and win matches.    Set up your team to give the opposition something to think about.       Away to Spurs is an example.  Home to Newcastle is an example.  If we''d set up more last season like those two games I reckon we would have done even better than we did.   

 

 

[Gingerpele 0]

''let in the odd one now and then''

Thats the key, we don''t let the odd one in now and then, we let in shed loads. We may have scored 7th or 8th highest amount in the league last season, but I think we must have conceded enough to be in bottom 5. Our goal difference was pretty poor, we essentially lost 2 places because of it. If those two places had led us into the relegation zone, I bet no one would be saying not to think or worry about clean sheets.

No one (as far as I can tell) is say go all out and forget about attack, which is how i''m interpreting your post to suggest. There is a balance, against most teams in most games we don''t have the ability to easily score more than a couple. There will be exceptions of course, but despite being fairly high scoring, we were mostly scoring 1 or 2. Yes 2-1 is the same as 5-4, but 1-0 is better than 0-0, 2-0 is better than 2-1.

I''ll give you some examples, Everton and Wolves away. Everton at home as well, three draws. I reckon if we had a more stable defence we would have won those games. We were good enough in attack in two of those three games, but the attack just weren''t quite able to establish a 2 goal lead, and we let the other team back into the game. Swansea home, Sunderland home, Bolton away, QPR away, a few games where we let in goals that just suggest a lack of focus. Say we did focus on defence more, without having to sacrifice too much attack power (its not like we go all out attack, its just our defence wasn''t that solid) not conceded in those four games, and not let the other team get the equaliser in those three games, we then have -7 GD along with WBA and Swansea, and finish above them because of scoring more (I think goals scored is next in pecking order).

Can you not see how conceding less benefits the team in many ways? Attack may be the best form of defence, but we aren''t Man.C, Barcelona or Spain and capable of keeping the ball in the opposition half for 80% of the game, we have to defend, and because we attack quickly we often end up being on the wrong end of attacks more often than we manage ourselves. NO ONE is suggesting we concentrate on defence too much, or at the very least i''m not. We can easily afford to be tighter at the back, without risking too much of our attacking threat.

[mre2 1]

If you play open and score freely, but concede some is ok. However, the biggest defensive problem last season was too many times goals were gifted to the opposition by defenders getting caught in possession or cheaply giving the ball away. These individual errors need to be cut out.

[Number 9 0]

Bearing in mind that certain players have left the club, we definitely do need to bring in couple more defenders (in addition to Whittaker)

My concern is regarding the timing of transfers. A striker can ''bolt on'' almost, but we need defense to work ad a team, having practised and played together for some time.

Hopefully we will sign up soon to enable the back four to gel.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="lake district canary"]

Attack is the best form of defence. 

[/quote]What about the counter-attack?And we didn''t let in "the odd one", did we?

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="lake district canary"]

Oh dear, the dreaded clean sheet.    Yes we need to cut down on the defensive mistakes, but under Hughton I believe we will be much better at the back.     As for clean sheets,   please lets not go down that road again.    1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, all have the same effect - wins or draws.  

 

 

 

The occasional clean sheet would be nice, but if it restricts us to a season of 0-0''s, 1-0''s, 0-1''s - forget it.

 

 

[/quote]

Agreed. The philosophy should be to score more than the opposition. Attack is the best means of defence IMO. Defensive football is boring and will drive away fans.... just look at Stoke etc.

[lake district canary 0]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="lake district canary"]

Attack is the best form of defence. 

[/quote]

What about the counter-attack?

And we didn''t let in "the odd one", did we?

[/quote]

 

 

True.    However, its the term "clean sheets" that bothers me.    People like to latch on to labels.   This particular label deflects from  a more general principle.   That of making sure you score more than the opposition.    If it happens that you score one goal and you win, low and behold you''ve got a clean sheet.    In other games - things will work out differently.     "Clean sheets" is mentioned as if its some kind of footballing principle - but it isn''t.   The object is to win matches and you only win matches by scoring more goals than the opposition.     If you happen to win 1-0 fine, but if its 2-1 or whatever, it doesn''t matter.          I suppose someone will say 0-0 is a clean sheet.  Yes - but its only worth 1 point.     

 

 

 

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="lake district canary"]

Attack is the best form of defence. 

[/quote]

What about the counter-attack?

And we didn''t let in "the odd one", did we?

[/quote]

That''s why we need to sign a pacey striker. 

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Number 9"]I''m not referring to Wiz''s bedtime issues!

Correct me if I''m wrong, but have we only signed one defensive player. I''m worried still that we will leak careless goals again this season.

Think about how many silly goals we conceded, yes we exceeded our expectation, but put a lot of pressure on the goal scorers.

How much better could it have been, how can it be improved this season?[/quote]its points and goal difference that keep you up...not clean sheets...i dont care if we win every game 2-1 next season.. we stay up...

[Michael Starr 519]

Tend to agree with one or two posters here. I think Hughton will possibly tighten up with defence a little. We''ll also have Tierney and Ayala back for selection which will help. I also expect a high profile defensive player will come in at some point before the Fulham game to re-enforce what we have.