lishiyo
Still frustrated :(
- Aug 24, 2008
- 2,368
- 1
A bit of a break from loan news (btw, let's keep an eye on Ipswich, QPR, and Forest!)...
I noticed on GG a thread on our defense this season citing that it is the best outside the top 6, which isn't true. There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding how great our defending is this season – it’s been MUCH better than last season, but not in the top 6 as claimed except for our very defensively solid home form. So I did a bit of an analysis and reviewed the highlights of our games in the league this season and made a breakdown of goals conceded in the premier league (using http://www.statbunker.co.uk/football/btb/index.php?PL=competition&Code=EPL&statType=goalsagainst, http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/tottenham-hotspur/, and highlights of games on timesoccer.com).
It is true that our offense has been our Achilles this season and that should be our primary concern. But because we lose and draw so many matches by one goal, conceding cheap goals has been very costly for us this season in terms of points. We have drawn 8 times and lost by one goal 10 times (highest in the league), while losing by 2 goals twice. We have yet to lose by more than two goals, which only 4 other clubs can say at this moment.
We conceded 33 goals (averaging 1.17 per match) in the Premiership in total this season. This is 9th in the league after the top five, Fulham (who happen to be fourth with only 25 goals conceded – Hangeland must be amazing, considering they conceded only 1 less goal than us last year!), Wigan, and Everton. Not brilliant, but a lot better than we did last year when we conceded 61 goals in 38 games.
However, we are 4th at home (above Arsenal) for least goals conceded (9) while tied for 4th from the bottom away. This is the biggest home-away difference in the league. More worrisomely however, is the fact that we are tied for third from the bottom for goals scored at home (14) while tied for 6th – with Man Utd! – on away goals scored. Clearly we have to figure out how some kind of balance here and start scoring at home while maintaining a good defense.
Parts of our defending we could improve upon:
Set pieces (including goals created by free kicks):
1 – Chelsea (corner) – 2 pts
1 – Hull (direct fk) – 1 pt
2 – Arsenal (one header off a fk, one corner) – 2 pts
1 – Fulham (corner) – 1 pt
1 – Everton (indirect fk) – 1 pt
1 – Wigan (corner) – 1 pt
2 – Bolton (one header off a fk, one corner) – 3 pts
1 – Hull (corner) – 0 pts
Total: 10 goals, or 30% of all goals conceded
Points lost: 11
Other soft goals conceded:
Goalkeeping clangers, not including set pieces:
1 – Villa – 1 pt
1 – Fulham – 1 pt
Points lost: 2 pts
It doesn’t look that bad because I didn’t include set pieces here, but we’ve definitely conceded several due to Gomes being nowhere or Cudicini dropping it (we’ve actually conceded more from set pieces per game with Cudicini I believe, such as Bolton and Hull) and we could’ve been punished far more. That said, other goalkeepers have made far more mistakes than either our gks this season yet don’t get slated for them as much!
Penalties conceded:
1 – Portsmouth – 0 pts
1 – Stoke – 1 pt
Points lost: 1
Perhaps understandably these occurred at the beginning of our frustrating season, we seem to be doing fine here now.
85-90+ minute goals:
1 – Middlesbrough – 86th – 1 pt
1 – Newcastle – 90th – 1 pt
1 – West Brom – 90th – 0 pt
1 – Wigan – 90th min set piece – 1 pt
1 – Bolton – 87th min set piece – 1 pt
Points lost: 4
5 out of 33 goals conceded (15%) have come in the last 4 minutes + injury time.
Along with the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half (7 goals), we are most likely to concede during the last 10 minutes of the game (7 goals). However, we have also scored the highest proportion of our goals in the last 15 minutes of games (10 out of 33 goals).
17 out of 33 goals (52%) conceded are from set pieces, penalties, goalkeeping mistakes, and goals in the last few minutes, which cost us a net 16 points so far this season (half of our current total). We can also add some comedy individual defending errors though it is true that every team can say that and even the best defenders and goalkeepers will make mistakes every once in a while.
Obviously statistics can prove whatever anything and aren’t really that useful. But it does indicate that what we’ve been complaining about all season has merit – we need to hold our concentration in the closing minutes of the game and prepare better or change our strategy for set pieces. These are really cheap goals to concede and things that we can improve upon with better coaching and fitness, without necessarily buying better defenders (unless they are particularly good at defending set pieces). Looking back we also tend to concede headers from crosses a great deal even in open play – we are very vulnerable to long balls anywhere on the pitch. Forget our midget midfielders and strikers, even our tall backline is shaky in the air.
I’d like us to improve on record on these kinds of goals esp set plays, at least to the level of Fulham and Wigan, who both have very good defensive records due to the organization and discipline of their teams without having brilliant defenders (though Bramble has been quite good this year Eek). While we have to figure out a way to score more (especially at home, though this seems to be improving recently with the Lennon, Keane, and Modric combo), because we keep dropping one or two points by only one goal, even a small improvement in our defensive aerial ability would gain us points. Harry, get on it!
On a more positive note, we do have the best record against the Big Four, and are tied for 3rd on current form.
I noticed on GG a thread on our defense this season citing that it is the best outside the top 6, which isn't true. There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding how great our defending is this season – it’s been MUCH better than last season, but not in the top 6 as claimed except for our very defensively solid home form. So I did a bit of an analysis and reviewed the highlights of our games in the league this season and made a breakdown of goals conceded in the premier league (using http://www.statbunker.co.uk/football/btb/index.php?PL=competition&Code=EPL&statType=goalsagainst, http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/tottenham-hotspur/, and highlights of games on timesoccer.com).
It is true that our offense has been our Achilles this season and that should be our primary concern. But because we lose and draw so many matches by one goal, conceding cheap goals has been very costly for us this season in terms of points. We have drawn 8 times and lost by one goal 10 times (highest in the league), while losing by 2 goals twice. We have yet to lose by more than two goals, which only 4 other clubs can say at this moment.
We conceded 33 goals (averaging 1.17 per match) in the Premiership in total this season. This is 9th in the league after the top five, Fulham (who happen to be fourth with only 25 goals conceded – Hangeland must be amazing, considering they conceded only 1 less goal than us last year!), Wigan, and Everton. Not brilliant, but a lot better than we did last year when we conceded 61 goals in 38 games.
However, we are 4th at home (above Arsenal) for least goals conceded (9) while tied for 4th from the bottom away. This is the biggest home-away difference in the league. More worrisomely however, is the fact that we are tied for third from the bottom for goals scored at home (14) while tied for 6th – with Man Utd! – on away goals scored. Clearly we have to figure out how some kind of balance here and start scoring at home while maintaining a good defense.
Parts of our defending we could improve upon:
Set pieces (including goals created by free kicks):
1 – Chelsea (corner) – 2 pts
1 – Hull (direct fk) – 1 pt
2 – Arsenal (one header off a fk, one corner) – 2 pts
1 – Fulham (corner) – 1 pt
1 – Everton (indirect fk) – 1 pt
1 – Wigan (corner) – 1 pt
2 – Bolton (one header off a fk, one corner) – 3 pts
1 – Hull (corner) – 0 pts
Total: 10 goals, or 30% of all goals conceded
Points lost: 11
Other soft goals conceded:
Goalkeeping clangers, not including set pieces:
1 – Villa – 1 pt
1 – Fulham – 1 pt
Points lost: 2 pts
It doesn’t look that bad because I didn’t include set pieces here, but we’ve definitely conceded several due to Gomes being nowhere or Cudicini dropping it (we’ve actually conceded more from set pieces per game with Cudicini I believe, such as Bolton and Hull) and we could’ve been punished far more. That said, other goalkeepers have made far more mistakes than either our gks this season yet don’t get slated for them as much!
Penalties conceded:
1 – Portsmouth – 0 pts
1 – Stoke – 1 pt
Points lost: 1
Perhaps understandably these occurred at the beginning of our frustrating season, we seem to be doing fine here now.
85-90+ minute goals:
1 – Middlesbrough – 86th – 1 pt
1 – Newcastle – 90th – 1 pt
1 – West Brom – 90th – 0 pt
1 – Wigan – 90th min set piece – 1 pt
1 – Bolton – 87th min set piece – 1 pt
Points lost: 4
5 out of 33 goals conceded (15%) have come in the last 4 minutes + injury time.
Along with the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half (7 goals), we are most likely to concede during the last 10 minutes of the game (7 goals). However, we have also scored the highest proportion of our goals in the last 15 minutes of games (10 out of 33 goals).
17 out of 33 goals (52%) conceded are from set pieces, penalties, goalkeeping mistakes, and goals in the last few minutes, which cost us a net 16 points so far this season (half of our current total). We can also add some comedy individual defending errors though it is true that every team can say that and even the best defenders and goalkeepers will make mistakes every once in a while.
Obviously statistics can prove whatever anything and aren’t really that useful. But it does indicate that what we’ve been complaining about all season has merit – we need to hold our concentration in the closing minutes of the game and prepare better or change our strategy for set pieces. These are really cheap goals to concede and things that we can improve upon with better coaching and fitness, without necessarily buying better defenders (unless they are particularly good at defending set pieces). Looking back we also tend to concede headers from crosses a great deal even in open play – we are very vulnerable to long balls anywhere on the pitch. Forget our midget midfielders and strikers, even our tall backline is shaky in the air.
I’d like us to improve on record on these kinds of goals esp set plays, at least to the level of Fulham and Wigan, who both have very good defensive records due to the organization and discipline of their teams without having brilliant defenders (though Bramble has been quite good this year Eek). While we have to figure out a way to score more (especially at home, though this seems to be improving recently with the Lennon, Keane, and Modric combo), because we keep dropping one or two points by only one goal, even a small improvement in our defensive aerial ability would gain us points. Harry, get on it!
On a more positive note, we do have the best record against the Big Four, and are tied for 3rd on current form.
