Why do we concede so many late goals?

[shurlock]

That's every club's priority. Who are they? Pelle wasn't goalscoring for large spells either. Ings is broken and not a great finisher. Austin is awful. Carrillo poor. At the moment our best striker is Shane Long.

 

Looking around the league outside the top 6 sums it up. Everton spend a fortune on Tosun and he's ****e. Palace ditto with Benteke. Murray did alright for Brighton despite being limited, Rondon is a useful lump, but in terms of strong strikers who score a fair number I can't see any.

 

I think we need another wide forward who can get 10 goals, and make us not rely on Redmond, who will hopefully improve as well.

 

You're missing the point. We don't necessarily need a goalscorer, though that would be ideal. We need a fresh pair of legs who can occupy and keep central defenders honest - whether that's in the air or as RH prefers in behind them. Long has showed he can do a job of sorts in that role and he's not a goalscorer. The problem is that we don't really have an alternative once we sub the main striker. We've tried Sims, Obafemi, Austin, Redmond and Gallagher who've either come up short, got injured or are not suited to the role. When Ings is healthy, we can bring on Long; but that's not something we've been able to count on -and even if we could count on Ings, frankly we can improve on Long.

[Batman]

As much as you'd like it to be true, if that were the case we'd be out of the games before late goals.

.

 

...

Edited 27 April, 2019 by Batman

[Micky]

We have mentally and physically weak players when the pressure is on.

[StrangelyBrown]

I remember us having a similar problem when WGS was manager and he put it down to fitness.

 

Personally I think it's a lack of fitness and is not having enough leadership on the field.

 

Add one or two strong characters and give Ralph a pre season and I think we'll see something very different.

 

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[Saint Without a Halo]

If games were 85 mins long we would be challenging for Europe!

[Whitey Grandad]

I remember us having a similar problem when WGS was manager and he put it down to fitness.

 

Personally I think it's a lack of fitness and is not having enough leadership on the field.

 

Add one or two strong characters and give Ralph a pre season and I think we'll see something very different.

 

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Armstrong had only been on the pitch a few minutes when he gets robbed of the ball in the centre circle. He had plenty of time to pass to a teammate. He wasn't on long enough to get tired.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Lack of fitness leads to a lack of focus and concentration.

[LGTL]

Nothing to do with fitness, we are just mentally fragile and **** ourselves.

 

Most teams concede one or two late goals a season, we concede one or two a week.

[Lighthouse]

Just had a quick flick and we’ve conceded after the 85th minute in 14 games this season. That does include a couple against Chelsea and Man City which made naff all difference but still, 14...

 

Add to that, 8 games where we’ve conceded after the 90th minute.

[Turkish]

Nothing to do with fitness, we are just mentally fragile and **** ourselves.

 

Most teams concede one or two late goals a season, we concede one or two a week.

 

This is about right. We’ve conceded 15 goals in the last ten minutes this season costing us 16 points, terrible really. Panic sets in once we get out under a bit of pressure. No one with a Calm head to lead and organise the defence in that situation. Need to bring someone in as none of them there are up to it.

[Saint Pete]

Nothing to do with fitness, we are just mentally fragile and **** ourselves.

 

Most teams concede one or two late goals a season, we concede one or two a week.

This. It really is not a fitness issue, definitely more to do with mentality and the basic defensive abilities of our players. It will only be fixed by recruiting better quality and more mentally tough players in the key defensive positions.

 

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[OttawaSaint]

It’s in our history, like Everton and the dugouts.

 

I used to live near York and would go to Saints away games in the region. Saw us **** away two 3-1 leads vs Newcastle and Boro. Also remember a Cup game vs Scarborough and they got a late one to get a 2-2 draw.

[SaintBobby]

Think MotD said we'd lost 27 points from winning positions this season (okay, that's just about conceding leads, not necessarily conceding goals late on, but surely part and parcel fo the same problem)

 

How many points have we picked up this season from losing positions? The Spurs game at home comes to mind, but not a great deal else.

[SaintBobby]

It’s in our history, like Everton and the dugouts.

 

I used to live near York and would go to Saints away games in the region. Saw us **** away two 3-1 leads vs Newcastle and Boro. Also remember a Cup game vs Scarborough and they got a late one to get a 2-2 draw.

 

Do you mean Scarborough or Stockport? I seem to remember us drawing away at Stockport, taking them back to the Dell, getting an early MLT goal and then contriving to lose 2-1.

 

Dave Jones was their manager at the time and Paul Jones their goalkeeper, I think.

[Dark Munster]

If games were 85 mins long we would be challenging for Europe!

If games were 8 seconds long we'd be about to win the league.

[Tamesaint]

Think MotD said we'd lost 27 points from winning positions this season (okay, that's just about conceding leads, not necessarily conceding goals late on, but surely part and parcel fo the same problem)

 

How many points have we picked up this season from losing positions? The Spurs game at home comes to mind, but not a great deal else.

 

Yesterday we gained a point from a losing position as well as losing 2 points from a winning position.

[whelk]

If games were 8 seconds long we'd be about to win the league.

 

I’d expect a ticket price reduction.

[Bad Wolf]

1) Ralph puts a lot of players in the box for our corners so there's less at the back.

2) Because we play "the pressing game" which drags players out of position and thus creates pockets of space for the opposition to make off-the-ball runs into.

 

If you're gonna this sort of system, there are risks. At least we're scoring goals now!

[iansums]

If games were 85 mins long we would be challenging for Europe!

 

Just had a quick look, we would have 10 more points.

[Neef]

Our lack of a clinical edge is a problem. After going a goal up we often have the opportunity to build on the lead, and score number 2 and 3, but rarely do. I'm hoping a good transfer window will help turn that around.

[Badger]

Do you mean Scarborough or Stockport? I seem to remember us drawing away at Stockport, taking them back to the Dell, getting an early MLT goal and then contriving to lose 2-1.

 

Dave Jones was their manager at the time and Paul Jones their goalkeeper, I think.

 

A game that brought Jones name to Rupert Lowe's attention. We know what happened next.

[SaintBobby]

Yesterday we gained a point from a losing position as well as losing 2 points from a winning position.

 

Yeah, am not sure how MotD count that tbh? Two points lost and one gained, so a net of -1?

[kyle04]

I think one aspect that seems to have faded from our game is ball possession, not for the sake of it but if you're leading with 5 minutes to go it helps. Free kicks and throw ins can be won and eat up the time. We just seem to sit back generally and invite the pressure, although there is little choice against the likes of Man City etc.

We cannot seem to keep the ball for long, give it away at virtually every throw in (another trait which needs addressing), or make misplaced passes in dangerous areas. In short we panic when in sight of a tight win.

[Saint Pete]

Our lack of a clinical edge is a problem. After going a goal up we often have the opportunity to build on the lead, and score number 2 and 3, but rarely do. I'm hoping a good transfer window will help turn that around.

It certainly would have helped if Long hadn't missed an open goal in the first half but the primary problem is how fragile we are defensively and how easily teams can open us up.

 

We scored 3 times yesterday at home which should be enough to get the 3 points.

 

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[derry]

There is a massive inbuilt flaw in some of our defenders. Yoshida, especially Stephens, Bertrand, Vestergaard, JWP, Hojbjerg they will always try and avoid putting the ball in the back of the stand, instead pass to a player under pressure, or as Stephens did at Watford, Bertrand at Everton last season roll the ball in play up the touchline to an opponent. Armstrong committed a cardinal sin when one goal up he unnecessarily came inside across the field and was bullied off the ball, Long had made a good run in the corner a simple pass and no danger.

 

We have another flaw, when leading we don't need to leave ourselves light at the back. That is the time to shut things down, cut out the pretty tippy tappy and stick the balls into our runners. Not the prettiest but it sure frustrates the hell out of the opposition striving for an equaliser. How many times this season have we been hit on the break, luckily against Watford JWP our last man!!!!!!! took out the runner in their half and was yellow carded.

 

We need to be more ruthless and park the bus in front of the opposition and press hard. I don't mean back off into our penalty area. Make the middle of the field a congested battle zone.

Yesterday Hojbjerg and Stephens passed across the field to an opponent, the Stephens pass ended up with Gunn denying Bournemouth a last minute winner. We need to get the ball out to the lines and break up the play and keep it out of play as much as possible down the touchline and in the corners.

Edited 28 April, 2019 by derry

[Lord Duckhunter]

Lack of mental strength and leadership imo. The experienced defensive pros, Bertrand, OR & Yoshida, appear to be quiet lads that don’t organise particularly well and we do seem a bit reluctant to hit the channels or row Z. There’s also an element of self fulfilling prophecy, the more late goals we let in, the more edgy we get, the edginess then contributes to us letting in more late goals.

 

An experienced leader at centre half will go a long way to addressing this imo.

 

 

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[OttawaSaint]

Do you mean Scarborough or Stockport? I seem to remember us drawing away at Stockport, taking them back to the Dell, getting an early MLT goal and then contriving to lose 2-1.

 

Dave Jones was their manager at the time and Paul Jones their goalkeeper, I think.

 

No, Scarborough. Case and Le Tissier scoring beauties. Some Scarborough nutter got on their shed like stand and fell through. We won the second leg 1-0. I do remember the Stockport games though, tough memories, that and Chesterfield too.