studentsaint Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I ask this because the first half of our season we kept clean sheet after clean sheet but we're really struggling for goals. Now when I think about our game against city or transfers in the summer, I tend to have much more confidence in our strikers. We are much more free scoring but conceding more goals, so I wonder if the mentality of the whole team under MP at the moment is to be more expansive rather than containing, or just that players have improved/dropped in perfirmance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Certain things have changed but I'm not sure they explain it. The goals we conceded during our big injury patch over Christmas really knocked our confidence defensively. Even now, when most of the players are back, you can tell we don't have quite the same arrogance about our defence. The attackers have just improved massively, particularly Rodriguez. Don't think it's got too much to do with how we play. Playing Cork instead of Wanyama changes the balance a bit too Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsarum Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I think at the start of the season we were better defensively with Wanyama in defensive midfield but we were not so effective going forward due to a combination of him playing and trying to accomodate Osvaldo in the team we have been far more effective going forward since Osvaldo left IMO, 24 goals in 11 league games I think as opposed to 25 in 21 games before he left Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelvinsRightGlove Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I think at the start of the season we were better defensively with Wanyama in defensive midfield but we were not so effective going forward due to a combination of him playing and trying to accomodate Osvaldo in the team we have been far more effective going forward since Osvaldo left IMO, 24 goals in 11 league games I think as opposed to 25 in 21 games before he left 10 in the last 3 I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint86 Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 10 in the last 3 I think? I'm worried for you if you can't add up 4 + 2 + 4 and not be confident that it is 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelvinsRightGlove Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I'm worried for you if you can't add up 4 + 2 + 4 and not be confident that it is 10 I couldn't remember if I had the order of the last three games right. Maths was never my strongest subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I'm inclined to think that the defensive record at the start of the season was due to a number of things and will be hard to repeat. People say it was wanyama, it was lovren, it was confidence, it was whatever. It's not just about personnel, it's about momentum and spirit; that desire to make 2 clean sheets become 3, and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Saint Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 I think that it is more a question of balance. Sure, early season we were keeping clean sheets etc but there was plenty of talk at the time of needing to create more chances. Id say this is certainly something we have improved upon during the season but at the cost of being not quite so water tight at the back. This can be attributed to our attacking players improving over the season or even minor tactical changes whilst we look to create more chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avenue Saint Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Victor wanyama. Look at goals against with him in and out of the side. Thunk you will find a very clear picture. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles34 Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Victor wanyama. Look at goals against with him in and out of the side. Thunk you will find a very clear picture. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk are you saying we should drop Jack Cork then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lallana's Left Peg Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Nothing about the way we play has changed other than the team having to do more things than others as the season has gone one due to our opponents paying us more respect. At home we've made several adjustments as we've often been gifted possession and teams have sat back. Away from home it is the usual story. But the foundation of how we play hasn't changed at all - we're one of a select few in the league that do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Victor wanyama. Look at goals against with him in and out of the side. Thunk you will find a very clear picture. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Look at the 'goals for' column while you're at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avenue Saint Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Look at the 'goals for' column while you're at it. Yeah you carry on with goals scored. Im more fussed about those points you get for winning games! Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avenue Saint Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 are you saying we should drop Jack Cork then? Noodles! Yes my man I would drop cork for wanyama for a lot of games. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles34 Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Noodles! Yes my man I would drop cork for wanyama for a lot of games. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk its been a while mate! But you're still wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Yeah you carry on with goals scored. Im more fussed about those points you get for winning games! Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk All I'm saying is, yes, Wanyama brings something, but does that take away something else? It's about balance. Do you make Wanyama, for example, pass it better, or do you make Cork, for example, sit deeper. There are 2 sides to the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cool Posted 4 April, 2014 Share Posted 4 April, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diggers Posted 5 April, 2014 Share Posted 5 April, 2014 The defense lost their mojo when Borec was injured, with Gazza in goal the confidence to play the ball back was lost, we lost more possession and started to concede goals. When he came back we'd lost Wanyama and to be fair to the OP i do think we have become more cavalier going forward as the seasons panned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
positivepete Posted 5 April, 2014 Share Posted 5 April, 2014 When the story of this season is written it will have to sum up how we mixed tight defence, all our away wins to date are clean sheets, with the frequent concession of comedy goals. We have conceded more comedy goals this season than I can remember in a single season. But the truth is, on the date I write this we are one of only seven teams with a positive goal difference, so we must be on the way to getting the balance right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monk Posted 5 April, 2014 Share Posted 5 April, 2014 Only difference between now and the beginning of the season is our initial press of the ball. Its intensity has reduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_John Posted 5 April, 2014 Share Posted 5 April, 2014 I think the biggest difference has been the change in tactics from the OPPOSITION and nothing we have changed. In the early part of the season the teams we played against all tried to "play through our midfield", the prime example being diverpool where we limited them to 5 attempts on goal in 90mins. The change for me came at chelski where we were winning 1-0 at h/t and THEY changed their tactics to bypass the midfield and play a more route one game. They played the ball over our defenders and turned them around. Those tactics were noted by other teams and now we get situation like spurs the other week were we controlled the midfield in the 1st half but they changed in the 2nd to hit more balls over our fullbacks and attempt to press us back. The sides with good individuals can make those tactics work against us, but the teams down the bottom cannot which is why we get games against the bottom sides were we have 75% of the ball and they only have 1 or 2 attempts on target while the top sides have individuals who can play the 40 yard pass while being subject to "the pochettino press" and individuals at the end of the pass who can receive the ball and exploit the 1 on 1 situations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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