| Last seasons January window 06:18 - Oct 29 with 3018 views | muccletonjoe |
Concentrated on midfield and attacking players. This season it will be defenders.
No team can rely on a goalkeeper to keep making 3 or 4 blinding saves to keep them in the game. All 4 at the back yesterday seemed to be caught out at times by the Plymouth forwards, especially Whitaker , a strong and aggressive striker.
I don't know if Tuanzebe will be one answer to our defensive problems, but judging by Kieron McKenna after match interview , he is well aware of our weaknesses. At the moment we are producing the chances and goals to cover it up. That may not always be the case with the games to come, and definitely not if we go up. |  | | |  |
| Last seasons January window on 06:38 - Oct 29 with 2634 views | franz_tyson |
You think Davis and Williams need replacing? Won't happen. Then it must be the CBs at fault. Bit rough on them as we also gave the ball away too easily up the field. Tuanzebe is getting closer - so why not wait until he's had a chance before throwing the January check book around? We defend as a team - so why is it only the CBs who need replacing. We're also set up to attack and thst does make us vulnerable. I would say poor game management ( a team thing) was more at fault yesterday than individual defender's errors. |  | | |
| Last seasons January window on 06:58 - Oct 29 with 2554 views | muccletonjoe |
| Last seasons January window on 06:38 - Oct 29 by franz_tyson |
You think Davis and Williams need replacing? Won't happen. Then it must be the CBs at fault. Bit rough on them as we also gave the ball away too easily up the field. Tuanzebe is getting closer - so why not wait until he's had a chance before throwing the January check book around? We defend as a team - so why is it only the CBs who need replacing. We're also set up to attack and thst does make us vulnerable. I would say poor game management ( a team thing) was more at fault yesterday than individual defender's errors. |
It only makes us vulnerable if they don't do the right things when we haven't got the ball. Which is more or less what McKenna was saying after the game. If the players that we have continue to do that , we will have problems in my opinion. | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 06:58 - Oct 29 with 2553 views | homer_123 |
Your basing the Jan transfer on a single match? Seems a little odd.
More of a case, for me, that it's a positive sign that in the last 2 games we haven't been at our fluid best and yet, we can eek our results (wins, not even draws).
Not saying we won't or shouldn't strengthen in Jan but actually, our main priority, as evidenced, again, yesterday is a striker in the Hirst mould.
When he's off, we really struggle to make the ball stick up front. If we obtain another player who can do that as well as Hirst, the pressure lifts off the defence and keeper. [Post edited 29 Oct 2023 7:19]
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| Last seasons January window on 07:16 - Oct 29 with 2456 views | muccletonjoe |
| Last seasons January window on 06:58 - Oct 29 by homer_123 |
Your basing the Jan transfer on a single match? Seems a little odd.
More of a case, for me, that it's a positive sign that in the last 2 games we haven't been at our fluid best and yet, we can eek our results (wins, not even draws).
Not saying we won't or shouldn't strengthen in Jan but actually, our main priority, as evidenced, again, yesterday is a striker in the Hirst mould.
When he's off, we really struggle to make the ball stick up front. If we obtain another player who can do that as well as Hirst, the pressure lifts off the defence and keeper. [Post edited 29 Oct 2023 7:19]
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Good point . We do need someone better to replace Hirst | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 07:20 - Oct 29 with 2439 views | homer_123 |
| Last seasons January window on 07:16 - Oct 29 by muccletonjoe |
Good point . We do need someone better to replace Hirst |
Not replace him but as an option when he's not on the pitch. | |
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| Last seasons January window on 07:43 - Oct 29 with 2332 views | Sawtrich |
Strange that we've conceded 13 at home and only 2 away. We set up to be on the front foot very much at home especially with Davis/Williams/Clarke pushing forwards as much as possible. It'll be very interesting to see what happens with Tuanzebe, can he help us become more solid defensively in the home games which seem to be very open, end to end type matches? |  | | |
| Last seasons January window on 07:44 - Oct 29 with 2324 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Last seasons January window on 06:58 - Oct 29 by muccletonjoe |
It only makes us vulnerable if they don't do the right things when we haven't got the ball. Which is more or less what McKenna was saying after the game. If the players that we have continue to do that , we will have problems in my opinion. |
How do you explain us being so tight defensively away from home? Whilst we don't fundamentally change our principles, it's pretty clear there is a difference in our mindset and how we set up at home. There is a balance to strike of course but at the moment we are so prolific at home and the defenders (full backs especially) are a big part of that in an attacking sense.
Hladky had to make a couple of saves too many for my liking yesterday, but ultimately that is what he is there for. There are going to be times in this division when we are under the cosh. | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 07:50 - Oct 29 with 2294 views | lurcher |
A central midfielder to replace Evans and cover for Davis will be required.
Evans is out for many months and might not play for us again. We could do with another ball winner to back Morsy up.
Brandon Williams is able to cover Davis on the left but he has ended up playing regularly in the right centre back position. |  | | |
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| Last seasons January window on 07:51 - Oct 29 with 2282 views | Herbivore |
We've got the third or fourth best defensive record in the league. At home we play on the front foot so much that it leaves us vulnerable on the break at times, we need to work out how to manage that better without blunting our attacking play, but two goals conceded in six away games suggests that our defenders are quite capable of defending. |  |
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| Last seasons January window on 07:52 - Oct 29 with 2285 views | ReusersTown |
"goalkeeper to keep making 3 or 4 blinding saves" just to point out whilst I agree we need to be a bit better defensively, this is not happening. | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 08:03 - Oct 29 with 2232 views | muccletonjoe |
| Last seasons January window on 07:20 - Oct 29 by homer_123 |
Not replace him but as an option when he's not on the pitch. |
I did mean replace him from the subs bench | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 08:19 - Oct 29 with 2175 views | ArnieM |
As KMc said yesterday is what we do when we don’t have the ball (defensively) . I’ve said for so long now it’s what we do in our box when the ball comes into it I’m not convinced by.
I think we’ll be looking at central defenders and also another striker. I hope we send Scarlett back. He’s not ready for championship level yet and why should we carry someone else’s player in our 25 when we could conceivably bring someone more effective in. |  |
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| Last seasons January window on 08:37 - Oct 29 with 2072 views | Herbivore |
| Last seasons January window on 08:19 - Oct 29 by ArnieM |
As KMc said yesterday is what we do when we don’t have the ball (defensively) . I’ve said for so long now it’s what we do in our box when the ball comes into it I’m not convinced by.
I think we’ll be looking at central defenders and also another striker. I hope we send Scarlett back. He’s not ready for championship level yet and why should we carry someone else’s player in our 25 when we could conceivably bring someone more effective in. |
Their first goal came from outside the box and the second from poor work in the full back areas. They had plenty of balls in the box and we largely dealt with those well. | |
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| Last seasons January window on 08:42 - Oct 29 with 2033 views | BloomBlue |
| Last seasons January window on 07:44 - Oct 29 by tractorboy1978 |
How do you explain us being so tight defensively away from home? Whilst we don't fundamentally change our principles, it's pretty clear there is a difference in our mindset and how we set up at home. There is a balance to strike of course but at the moment we are so prolific at home and the defenders (full backs especially) are a big part of that in an attacking sense.
Hladky had to make a couple of saves too many for my liking yesterday, but ultimately that is what he is there for. There are going to be times in this division when we are under the cosh. |
Away from home teams are attacking us more with the aim of winning the game, giving us space across the pitch to attack them more. At home teams are sitting deeper with the aim of hitting us on the break, but with the aim of the game finishing 0-0. We have to break that style down and sometimes if the opposition win the ball while we're pushing forward the 'hitting on the break' will work aka as Plymouth's 1st goal yesterday.
The other option at home is we don't try and break them down and go for a 0-0.
It still makes me laugh that some Town fans think you can just go out and buy some defenders and you'll never concede another goal, football isn't like that. |  | | |
| Last seasons January window on 08:47 - Oct 29 with 2000 views | Herbivore |
| Last seasons January window on 08:42 - Oct 29 by BloomBlue |
Away from home teams are attacking us more with the aim of winning the game, giving us space across the pitch to attack them more. At home teams are sitting deeper with the aim of hitting us on the break, but with the aim of the game finishing 0-0. We have to break that style down and sometimes if the opposition win the ball while we're pushing forward the 'hitting on the break' will work aka as Plymouth's 1st goal yesterday.
The other option at home is we don't try and break them down and go for a 0-0.
It still makes me laugh that some Town fans think you can just go out and buy some defenders and you'll never concede another goal, football isn't like that. |
Yep, but there's a few that have a very fixed narrative about our defenders even though our defensive record is actually very good, amazing in fact away from PR, and as you point out the issues at home are much more about how we and the opposition set up than about individual flaws in our defenders.
Another thing that makes me chuckle is that back when big Mick (praise be upon him) was in charge, our fans used to constantly bang on about how they'd rather see us go for it and lose 3-2 or 4-3 than win 1-0. Now we're going for it and BEATING sides 3-2 and 4-3, it seems the fans aren't happy with that either. | |
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| Last seasons January window on 08:59 - Oct 29 with 1973 views | franz_tyson |
| Last seasons January window on 08:19 - Oct 29 by ArnieM |
As KMc said yesterday is what we do when we don’t have the ball (defensively) . I’ve said for so long now it’s what we do in our box when the ball comes into it I’m not convinced by.
I think we’ll be looking at central defenders and also another striker. I hope we send Scarlett back. He’s not ready for championship level yet and why should we carry someone else’s player in our 25 when we could conceivably bring someone more effective in. |
Not sure where you make the leap from McKenna saying " I didn’t love our out-of-possession game really in any phase." to him focusing on our defenders inability when balls come into our box.
I think he's referring to us generally defending better as a team - not just the CBs.
We'll have to see what Tuanzebe is like before firing up the dashboard. It could be he's an upgrade on what we've got, but i think we need to give a bit of respect now and again to our CBs who are told to draw in attackers by passing it around our box whenits pretty sketchy at times - but it works more times than it doesn't. It's not like our CBs are just head n kick CBs and they do get exposed quite often if moves break down. | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 09:04 - Oct 29 with 1941 views | FrimleyBlue |
| Last seasons January window on 08:59 - Oct 29 by franz_tyson |
Not sure where you make the leap from McKenna saying " I didn’t love our out-of-possession game really in any phase." to him focusing on our defenders inability when balls come into our box.
I think he's referring to us generally defending better as a team - not just the CBs.
We'll have to see what Tuanzebe is like before firing up the dashboard. It could be he's an upgrade on what we've got, but i think we need to give a bit of respect now and again to our CBs who are told to draw in attackers by passing it around our box whenits pretty sketchy at times - but it works more times than it doesn't. It's not like our CBs are just head n kick CBs and they do get exposed quite often if moves break down. |
Also. It's about how we need to tighten up our passes in midfield. Many times yesterday we tried the killer pass which you expect.. but sometimes the simplest balls we were gifting to plymouth to go on the attack.
I also don't like the edmundson odd game.. Burgess and davis have an understanding on that left side and edmundson kept coming over to the right wolfy at times going over to the left and it was just unbalanced. |  |
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| Last seasons January window on 09:07 - Oct 29 with 1929 views | Mach_foreignBlue |
It remains to be seen what Tuanzebe has to offer. Therefore it doesn't necessarily mean it will be about defenders.
I'd say it will be more about Marcus Stewart ilk of signing in order to get us over the line. |  | | |
| Last seasons January window on 09:08 - Oct 29 with 1925 views | Dubtractor |
The issue as I saw it yesterday wasn't so much the defending, but the sloppy passing further up the pitch that allowed Plymouth to counter us with our players committed forward.
Not saying that our defending was perfect, cos it wasn't, but it wasn't the real problem. |  |
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| Last seasons January window on 09:13 - Oct 29 with 1899 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Last seasons January window on 09:08 - Oct 29 by Dubtractor |
The issue as I saw it yesterday wasn't so much the defending, but the sloppy passing further up the pitch that allowed Plymouth to counter us with our players committed forward.
Not saying that our defending was perfect, cos it wasn't, but it wasn't the real problem. |
The biggest issue for me at the moment is that we look weaker with Hirst off the pitch. Glaringly obvious that a striker in a similar mould needs to be priority number one in January. He presses so hard and well from the front and he's just absolutely goosed by 65-70 minutes. | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 09:15 - Oct 29 with 1889 views | Herbivore |
| Last seasons January window on 09:08 - Oct 29 by Dubtractor |
The issue as I saw it yesterday wasn't so much the defending, but the sloppy passing further up the pitch that allowed Plymouth to counter us with our players committed forward.
Not saying that our defending was perfect, cos it wasn't, but it wasn't the real problem. |
Agreed. It was a problem on Wednesday too, the CMs not quite at their absolute best in their use of the ball and when they are pushed high and the full backs are also pushed high it leaves us exposed to the counter. | |
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| Last seasons January window on 09:17 - Oct 29 with 1862 views | wkj |
| Last seasons January window on 09:08 - Oct 29 by Dubtractor |
The issue as I saw it yesterday wasn't so much the defending, but the sloppy passing further up the pitch that allowed Plymouth to counter us with our players committed forward.
Not saying that our defending was perfect, cos it wasn't, but it wasn't the real problem. |
I agree with this, if you have leaky gutters you will end up having problems at the foundation. Plymouth tested us, but we did enough to ride that storm and come out on top - what I think a few fans seem to expect is for town to dominate from whistle to whistle and this is pie in the sky thinking.
Whilst I agree that January may see the need to be active, I don't think it is about replacing weakness but rather it is starting to build the next layer of strength. McKenna will know which part of the field he will want to start building up next and there is every chance most of us will end up surprised. |  |
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| Last seasons January window on 09:20 - Oct 29 with 1819 views | FrimleyBlue |
| Last seasons January window on 09:08 - Oct 29 by Dubtractor |
The issue as I saw it yesterday wasn't so much the defending, but the sloppy passing further up the pitch that allowed Plymouth to counter us with our players committed forward.
Not saying that our defending was perfect, cos it wasn't, but it wasn't the real problem. |
My main gripe was chappers yesterday.. lost count the number of times he tried a quick pass that ended with a plumouth counter.
Absolutely you need to try things. But at times you just need to hold that ball.
With chappers doing that. Broady having an off day the ball just kept coming back. | |
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| Last seasons January window on 11:25 - Oct 29 with 1719 views | WestSussexBlue |
| Last seasons January window on 07:16 - Oct 29 by muccletonjoe |
Good point . We do need someone better to replace Hirst |
That Whittaker lad for example… | | | |
| Last seasons January window on 11:45 - Oct 29 with 1656 views | BigCommon |
We don't have defensive problems...We are currently the 3rd best defensively in the division..
We don't set up at home, to be solid at the back... High risk verses high reward..
When we do set up away from home to be more solid, we "are" solid...
There are no problems..
Occasionally we come up against a decent player that's having a blinder. That's football.
Whole team switched off for their 2nd goal, having gone 3-1 up so late and being tired and complacent..
In all honesty, we're probably making more mistakes at the other end. Missed chances etc.. Than we are defensively..
Still think we need another MF and ST, ahead of any defenders... Don't think KM fully trusts Taylor atm to start ahead of Mass.... And both Mass and Morsy are asked a lot of, which will/is taking its toll, imo. They are doing great, but having to really push themselves physically. One or two signs of them lagging later in games atm, imo. |  | | |
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