Defensive Frailties Myth

[carlv]

It has been said that the defence was poor last season but if you look at the figures it would not appear to be the case. If you look at the last 2 seasons there is a distinct improvement despite the fact we conceded 3 more goals.
2011/2012
home away total
Clean Sheets 5 7 12

2012/2013
home away total
Clean sheets 11 5 16 (10 of which were in the last 19 games of the season)
When we do concede we obviously concede more per game than the previous system but i think this is because BR sticks to his philosophy and still tries to get something from the game which means we are vulnerable to a counter attack. This is backed on by the number of games were we fail to score which are also impressive.
2011/2012
home away total
Failed to score 5 8 13

2012/2013
home away total
5 3 8

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

 

[Rosco]

The problem is you're comparing three years of really average defences.

Conceding on average more than a goal a game - I can't classify that as a good defence.

 

[keniget]

I think Fark already covered this in another thread.

Certain stats may paint a different picture but we all know we saw a dodgy defence / midfield last season.

 

[Glen C]

I think Fark already covered this in another thread.

Certain stats may paint a different picture but we all know we saw a dodgy defence / midfield last season.

It shocks me when anyone says that our defence wasn't bad last season. I can only presume they didn't watch us play often. Because anyone who did can easily see that defence was plain awful.

 

[Hansern]

Only 4 teams conceded less goals than us last season. Although that stat doesnt tell the full picture it clearly shows that we still have a lot to work on defensivly but its not as grimm as some would like it to be.

On the positive side we conceded 26 goals before Christmas and 17 after. Which shows that we're moving in the right direction imho.

 

[Rosco]

Only 4 teams conceded less goals than us last season. Although that stat doesnt tell the full picture it clearly shows that we still have a lot to work on defensivly but its not as grimm as some would like it to be.

On the positive side we conceded 26 goals before Christmas and 17 after. Which shows that we're moving in the right direction imho.

Or that the second half of the season was easier.

And being the 5th best defence in the league is like having the 5th biggest cock in Asia. You're still not impressing anybody.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Or that the second half of the season was easier

Or we didn't feel any pressure because we were out of the 4th place race.

Or we felt more comfortable with Rodgers' system.

Or Carra really made a difference.

Or Reina's improved form gave our defense more confidence.

 

[Hansern]

Or that the second half of the season was easier.

And being the 5th best defence in the league is like having the 5th biggest cock in Asia. You're still not impressing anybody.

Which is why there is a lot of work to do?

 

[Hansern]

Or we didn't feel any pressure because we were out of the 4th place race.

Or we felt more comfortable with Rodgers' system.

Or Carra really made a difference.

Or Reina's improved form gave our defense more confidence.

The two in the middle are key imho.
But any improvement we've "made" in the second half of the season is quickly ignored on here though.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

The two in the middle are key imho.
But any improvement we've "made" in the second half of the season is quickly ignored on here though.

Well ... I understand why - people, in general, tend to perform better when there's less pressure ... we do well in 2nd halves because we have little to play for.

 

[keniget]

We always seem to improve towards the end of the season. It's not a new thing and so time will tell if this time it's an indicator of a proper upward curve or just another case of our squad of losers finding it within themselves to perform once there is no pressure.

 

[mark1975]

I think Fark already covered this in another thread.

Certain stats may paint a different picture but we all know we saw a dodgy defence / midfield last season.

Like I said recently in another thread, every time we lose possession we struggle to get it back, when teams get numbers forward in our half, we look vulnerable. I don't think we're terrible, but we're not close to what we were with the classic Finnan/Carra/Hyypia/Riise back four and as Rosco said, the defensive side of the Premiership has been pretty poor for a while now.

Our possession football doesn't really allow for us losing the ball, when we do we don't seem to have much of a team ethic to get it back. It started to come together a bit more towards the end of the season, but it's still far from great, and having Johnson doesn't help, infact statistically we've been on the wain since he joined.

 

[Hansern]

Thats a very good point Keni, but the 17 goals are from the 1st of January.
When you're talking 18-19 games its more than just because the pressure is off in my opinion.

Big season this year though for the team and Rodgers. We really need see us moving forward and developing.

 

[keniget]

I really want to see us adopt a Bielsa style pressing game. We're a young team with a lot of willing workers so there should be reason why it can't be implemented and I think it'd help us no end.

Of course it'd be great if we got a couple players in to bolster the midfield and defence to make us even stronger but one thing that was really lacking for me last season was tactical organization. We looked clueless at times - fix it Rodgers.

 

[Asbo]

Skittles and Dagger and Glenjo all withdrawn from tomorrow's friendly, all huge earners and all? Been subject to transfer speculation, if anyone been in for Glenjo?

 

[Whirly]

The majority of the goals we conceded were due to our own players switching off rather than the brilliance of the opposition. There's definitely a lot of room for improvement

 

[gkmacca]

The good thing - assuming there's not just chaos behind the scenes - is that we're taking our time to get the right players. I'd rather that than rushing to sign up a couple of mediocrities. Time will tell, but it looks like we're being sensibly cautious.

 

[RolandG]

We got lucky sometimes but there were games where every ball punted into the box left us vulnerable to conceding almost at will. I'm surprised that we kept so many clean sheets. Those thats don't tell the whole story.

Pepe was never commanding in the box or for crosses. Mignolet will hopefully be far more effective in that regard.