Conceding Too Many Goals

[saintant]

Clearly we are conceding far too many goals this season leading to dropping crucial points and finding ourselves cut adrift from the automatic promotion positions. We play some great football and score some superb goals but, as was the case last night, it's often not enough.

RM is never shy of stating that we will never change our possession based style whatever happens. It is this arrogant attitude that leads to us conceding so many goals and throwing away good positions. No team can expect to dominate an opponent for 90 minutes and there will always be times when you need to batten down the hatches and ride out a temporary storm. Good coaches spot the danger signs and use in game management but not RM. If he wasn't so obsessed with keep ball he'd have in place a tactical reset to deal with the sticky periods we face in every game. He could then get a message to the players to go into survival mode and set up a low block with less risky play from the back, a bit of old fashioned shit-housery and more direct football until the tide turns. There are always trigger points when such alternative tactics could be introduced - as examples last night the obvious signs were when Ipswich hit the post or when Bednarek was injured. These two incidents led to Ipswich getting on top for the first time in the game. Instead of reacting RM continued with his gung-ho approach and we inevitably conceded crucial goals.

The other elephant in the room regarding conceding too many goals is the goalkeeper. Baz simply does not make anything like enough saves and lets in too many soft goals. Maybe RM has been loyal to him for too long and perhaps Lumley should have been given more opportunities. It is probably time to take Baz out of the firing line for the next few games and let's see what Lumley can do. If he shows he can cope he'll be a better option for the play-offs.

Edited April 2 by saintant

[AlexLaw76]

The stubbornness of the manager is the significant factor in this. We are too open, pile way too many forward as we try and break down a packed defence, with a terrible keeper and seemingly a need to play Jack Stephens at all costs

[Nemi]

Not to redirect the blame away from Martin because he hasn’t been good enough, but we’ve had the exact same issue ever since VVD left the club, under various different managers with various different playing styles.

Back when we actually had some success, we built a team of younger talents alongside a group true leaders in the core positions. We never had to worry about throwing away a game back in 15-16.

Nowadays, we only buy younger talents and they’re lead by a bunch of failure signings who only know how to lose. 

I’m sorry to pick on them because they haven’t been exactly terrible, but Stephens and Bednarek aren’t capable leaders. They might shout a lot, and they might be passionate, but they panic and crumble under an ounce of pressure because they’ve spent their whole career chucking away what should be easy victories. And that’s all they know what to do. And this rubs off onto our younger players who inevitably panic too. 

And as long as this leadership focuses on buying individual young players with the sole motive of making a profit, instead of building a balanced squad with true leadership, we’ll continue our journey down the football leagues.

Ultimately we have zero chance of being promoted this season, because no matter how well we play, we collapse during the key moments, whereas Leeds, Ipswich, and to a lesser extent Leicester, will be promoted because they have the mental brittle to ride out tough moments.

[Fan The Flames]

1 hour ago, Nemi said:

Not to redirect the blame away from Martin because he hasn’t been good enough, but we’ve had the exact same issue ever since VVD left the club, under various different managers with various different playing styles.

Back when we actually had some success, we built a team of younger talents alongside a group true leaders in the core positions. We never had to worry about throwing away a game back in 15-16.

Nowadays, we only buy younger talents and they’re lead by a bunch of failure signings who only know how to lose. 

I’m sorry to pick on them because they haven’t been exactly terrible, but Stephens and Bednarek aren’t capable leaders. They might shout a lot, and they might be passionate, but they panic and crumble under an ounce of pressure because they’ve spent their whole career chucking away what should be easy victories. And that’s all they know what to do. And this rubs off onto our younger players who inevitably panic too. 

And as long as this leadership focuses on buying individual young players with the sole motive of making a profit, instead of building a balanced squad with true leadership, we’ll continue our journey down the football leagues.

Ultimately we have zero chance of being promoted this season, because no matter how well we play, we collapse during the key moments, whereas Leeds, Ipswich, and to a lesser extent Leicester, will be promoted because they have the mental brittle to ride out tough moments.

Zero chance of going up and continuing our journey down the football league is a bit over dramatic.