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Is the defence the problem? Should it be a surprise?


martnewts

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Bear with me but our goals conceded is much more of a concern than goal scoring and is the main reason we are not higher in the table. Regardless of the opinions about our ineffective midfield we have sold massive strength from our defence and not replaced it.

Forgive the rough transfer fees but I’m sure there not far away

sales
flint £6m

bryan £7m

Kelly £15m

webster £20m

total approx £48m

we have signed 

 hunt £2m

kalas £7m

Dasilva £3m

total £12m

Net spend -£36m 

It seems the project is killing our defensive strength. Is it any wonder we let in more goals than we should?

 

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6 hours ago, martnewts said:

Bear with me but our goals conceded is much more of a concern than goal scoring and is the main reason we are not higher in the table. Regardless of the opinions about our ineffective midfield we have sold massive strength from our defence and not replaced it.

Forgive the rough transfer fees but I’m sure there not far away

sales
flint £6m

bryan £7m

Kelly £15m

webster £20m

total approx £48m

we have signed 

 hunt £2m

kalas £7m

Dasilva £3m

total £12m

Net spend -£36m 

It seems the project is killing our defensive strength. Is it any wonder we let in more goals than we should?

 

I don’t agree with your hypothesis I am afraid. What is ‘ killing our defensive strength ‘ is the chopping and changing of personnel and formation .

We’ve had a lot of injuries but I still feel LJ tries to be too clever at times .

 

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I honestly think the major underlying problem is that there has barely been a point this season where we have two fully fit and in-form midfielders.

Massengo is raw and developing.

Nagy has had a niggling injury since August.

Korey Smith arguably played before was 100% match fit and is now injured again.

Henriksen had not featured all season before he came here.

Pick any two from those - even when they are available - and they are not fit enough to dominate games. Hence we constantly lose the battle in midfield, which means the defence are overloaded and keep getting chances, we fail to dominate possession and the football is terrible to watch.

If Nagy and Smith had been fit all season and playing at their best, I think we'd look a very very different side. 

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10 hours ago, martnewts said:

Bear with me but our goals conceded is much more of a concern than goal scoring and is the main reason we are not higher in the table. Regardless of the opinions about our ineffective midfield we have sold massive strength from our defence and not replaced it.

Forgive the rough transfer fees but I’m sure there not far away

sales
flint £6m

bryan £7m

Kelly £15m

webster £20m

total approx £48m

we have signed 

 hunt £2m

kalas £7m

Dasilva £3m

total £12m

Net spend -£36m 

It seems the project is killing our defensive strength. Is it any wonder we let in more goals than we should?

 

no midfield is the problem, they don't track back, they don't win headers and they can't tackle or create

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20 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

I honestly think the major underlying problem is that there has barely been a point this season where we have two fully fit and in-form midfielders.

Massengo is raw and developing.

Nagy has had a niggling injury since August.

Korey Smith arguably played before was 100% match fit and is now injured again.

Henriksen had not featured all season before he came here.

Pick any two from those - even when they are available - and they are not fit enough to dominate games. Hence we constantly lose the battle in midfield, which means the defence are overloaded and keep getting chances, we fail to dominate possession and the football is terrible to watch.

If Nagy and Smith had been fit all season and playing at their best, I think we'd look a very very different side. 

Also playing one light there imo

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11 hours ago, martnewts said:

Bear with me but our goals conceded is much more of a concern than goal scoring and is the main reason we are not higher in the table. Regardless of the opinions about our ineffective midfield we have sold massive strength from our defence and not replaced it.

Forgive the rough transfer fees but I’m sure there not far away

sales
flint £6m

bryan £7m

Kelly £15m

webster £20m

total approx £48m

we have signed 

 hunt £2m

kalas £7m

Dasilva £3m

total £12m

Net spend -£36m 

It seems the project is killing our defensive strength. Is it any wonder we let in more goals than we should?

 

I would say Kalas is an upgrade on Flint, and Dasilva an upgrade on Bryan. 

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What will be interesting this summer - assuming we don’t get promoted, is that in previous seasons we have focussed our spending on defence and attack - now both of these seem fairly strong on paper, with few additions needed (and if we could get Benik as well that would be fab) - any transfers in the summer should concentrate on strong mobile ball winning and controlling, creative midfielders.

Get a strong midfield and next season - without numerous injuries, we have a really strong squad!

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As others have mentioned, the lack of continuity in the defence cannot help build understanding. It's not just personnel its also the systems. 

West Brom and Leeds have both looked miles better than us the two times we've played. Yes they've got good players, but they also stay pretty consistent with their systems & each player knows their role and exactly what's expected of them. 

We also allow far too many shots on our goal, I mentioned in the Bentley thread he'd faced upwards of 15 shots per game in all but 2 games since the start of the year. 

It also doesn't help that our midfield options are either injured/unfit - Henriksen looked classy first game, but looked a bit off the pace in the two since. 

Smith - Injury prone
Massengo - Inexperienced, 18 years old. 
Nagy - Not fully fit, awaiting an operation
Henriksen - Not played since November. 

Perhaps we should give Rowe a chance in there, a solid player who is more likely to chip in with a goal than those 4 above.

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