The Case for the Defence

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formerly manx toffee said:
Just looking at the table (again!). We have the 4th best defensive record in the league. We have conceded 34 goals in 26 games. Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City have less goals conceded.

We have a settled 3 from 4 and it is paying dividends in Tarks, Branthwaite and Myko. Only RB is a bit iffy and we chop and change.

I guess the way we set up in midfield with a “do not lose” attitude helps.

Not talking about goals for in here !!
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Many teams have taken strong defences as their foundation and built themselves into a high placed team.

The barrier we have is solely the attacking players ability as were 10th in chances created.
 
Zatara said:
Many teams have taken strong defences as their foundation and built themselves into a high placed team.

The barrier we have is solely the attacking players ability as were 10th in chances created.
Click to expand...
Which as i said a few weeks ago when we were 7th, that should take away the native that is always thrown at us that we are a defensive team, and dont create etc, we are around 13th/14th for shots on goal depending what you look at, but even in that not to long ago,we was around 8th
 
Zatara said:
Many teams have taken strong defences as their foundation and built themselves into a high placed team.

The barrier we have is solely the attacking players ability as were 10th in chances created.
Click to expand...
It is worse than 10th according to the prems analysis.

We will break the phobia soon and go on a run IMO.

1709127248693.webp
 

Indeed, Dyche has done wonders with the defense. The resurgence of Myko and somehow getting Young/Godfrey or whoever is available at RB to play just well enough to keep goals out is quite something. People are quick to praise a good attack, even if we give up 4 goals a game, but very slow to acknowledge a top class defense.

If he had a couple of attackers that could finish a small portion of the chances we are missing we probably would have won close to 40 points this season. The last 2 seasons our attack was terrible, and our defence was terrible. Then we sold our best attackers. This is sadly a major step up.
 
Zatara said:
Many teams have taken strong defences as their foundation and built themselves into a high placed team.

The barrier we have is solely the attacking players ability as were 10th in chances created.
Click to expand...
I am quite old-fashioned and have always believed that the better teams are built on a sound defence, our defence is solid so hopefully they will be able to improve the teams attacking personnel to complement this.
 
Put a decent number 10 in this team and three decent forwards and it would be a completely different outfit.

If we had 13/14 Barkley Mirallas Lukaku Naismith upfront instead of the dross we had now we’d probably be top half.

There’s simply no excuses for consistently missing simple chances. Its not a tactical thing or a fitness thing, it’s just a quality issue that Calvert Lewin and others upfront find it easier to keep comically missing sitters than they do to just tap a ball into an empty net.
 
PeregrineT said:
Indeed, Dyche has done wonders with the defense. The resurgence of Myko and somehow getting Young/Godfrey or whoever is available at RB to play just well enough to keep goals out is quite something. People are quick to praise a good attack, even if we give up 4 goals a game, but very slow to acknowledge a top class defense.

If he had a couple of attackers that could finish a small portion of the chances we are missing we probably would have won close to 40 points this season. The last 2 seasons our attack was terrible, and our defence was terrible. Then we sold our best attackers. This is sadly a major step up.
Click to expand...
Wish we would have taken more risk in some games against teams around us. In the end, we scored 9 goals more than last season after 26 games, 28 in 26 is not great but better. I love to win 4:3 over 1:0. Let's be honest I wouldn't sacrifice a good defensive record just to score 10 more, but to concede 20 more.
 

RufusCat said:
I am quite old-fashioned and have always believed that the better teams are built on a sound defence, our defence is solid so hopefully they will be able to improve the teams attacking personnel to complement this.
Click to expand...

Saint Domingo said:
Put a decent number 10 in this team and three decent forwards and it would be a completely different outfit.

If we had 13/14 Barkley Mirallas Lukaku Naismith upfront instead of the dross we had now we’d probably be top half.

There’s simply no excuses for consistently missing simple chances. Its not a tactical thing or a fitness thing, it’s just a quality issue that Calvert Lewin and others upfront find it easier to keep comically missing sitters than they do to just tap a ball into an empty net.
Click to expand...

Agree with both. The tactics are putting us 4th in the table defensively.

Also 10th for chances created & 2nd for hitting the woodwork.

It's clearly not a creativity issue or tactical issue.

The sole issue from the data is ineffective finishing.
 
Liverpool World (blacklisted) have an article comparing the best centre backs in the league using whoscored numbers.

RS are top (obviously) and were 2nd as the only pairing rated over 7/10 on average.
 
Worth remembering this was supposedly what we were signing up for when getting Haemorrhoid Benitez in as manager.
Dyche has done an outstanding job defensively, obviously at the expense of our attack.
I would happily have a worse defence for more wins, more losses, fewer draws. But credit where due.
 

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