Pearce

[Kernow]

Comments that we have a poor defence is strange, is it the last minute goals which drive this opinion? We have the second best defence in the league, 11 goals conceded. Only bettered by Brighton's 9. It's strange how our defence is blamed when our problem this season has blatantly been scoring goals. Norwich have conceded a whopping 13 goals more than us. Thirteen. That's nearly an extra goal for every game played, yet they're 4th. The difference is they've scored 17 more than us. Once we start firing, we'll climb the table in no time. Last season was our best ever season defensively over a 46 game season, and our best all round since 1989. There's other places to point the finger before the defence.

[Day]

1 hour ago, Kernow said:

Comments that we have a poor defence is strange, is it the last minute goals which drive this opinion? We have the second best defence in the league, 11 goals conceded. Only bettered by Brighton's 9. It's strange how our defence is blamed when our problem this season has blatantly been scoring goals. Norwich have conceded a whopping 13 goals more than us. Thirteen. That's nearly an extra goal for every game played, yet they're 4th. The difference is they've scored 17 more than us. Once we start firing, we'll climb the table in no time. Last season was our best ever season defensively over a 46 game season, and our best all round since 1989. There's other places to point the finger before the defence.

Also.....

 

[May Contain Nuts]

I've had a read through the thread and can't actually see this supposed criticism of the defence, or comments that the defence is poor.

I CAN see a few analytical comments on individual games and people misreading them as criticism, and then a bit of bandwagon jumping. 

It's not wrong to point out that we've relied on the opposition's (lack of?) profligacy in front of goal on more occasions than a few, rather than having limited the opposition to very few chances - pointing that out is not the same as being critical, it's being honest.

 

[kingsy1884]

The defense if the only reason this season we are not sitting in the relegation zone without both their clean sheets and goals this season we would be in real trouble. 

If we had a better system at the start of the season and Martin in the side I am sure we would be doing much much better.

[peakram]

Given how good he has looked since he came in, its a bit baffling how it took so long for him to actually get picked in the first team, his distribution since he came into the team has helped speed us up from the back and he has been eyecatching defensively most games he's played.

[JW37]

Vice captain? 

[Uptherams]

 

2 hours ago, Coconut said:

I've had a read through the thread and can't actually see this supposed criticism of the defence, or comments that the defence is poor.

I CAN see a few analytical comments on individual games and people misreading them as criticism, and then a bit of bandwagon jumping. 

It's not wrong to point out that we've relied on the opposition's (lack of?) profligacy in front of goal on more occasions than a few, rather than having limited the opposition to very few chances - pointing that out is not the same as being critical, it's being honest.

 

That's the only thing you will see, analysis. People want to hunker down on quantitative data. It's easy and lazy to dismiss analysis of our defending by simply looking at the most basic team and league stats/metrics and throwing it at people to shut them up. 

[Uptherams]

11 hours ago, Ninos said:

Disagree. We have a great defence. What you saw only demonstrated what a brilliant side Sheff Wed are at picking defences apart. Plus they would get so many players quickly forward into their attacks that it was hard to cope. 

Conceding late on could have been helped by better defensive minded changes late on to preserve leads.

Disagree with what exactly? I didn't say we have a poor defense. I didn't say we have a great one. 

[Ninos]

3 hours ago, Uptherams said:

Disagree with what exactly? I didn't say we have a poor defense. I didn't say we have a great one. 

We have a great one (for this league). I  disagreed with your whole point that our defence was a shambles and Carson saved us. You fail to account for the sheff wed attack which was very unpredictable and they threw a lot of players forward all game long. We accounted for it pretty well

[Alph]

It's not just defenders that defend. 

You attack from the back and defend from the front. All the clean sheets were won by the team. 

But yeah, Alex Pearce defending has been as good as Shackell and he offers more in attack. And he seems to have a Buxton attitude going on

[Ashz09]

Guess there is two ways around it on Saturday. A lot of people around me was thinking our defending was ****. 

 

I don't see it that way Wednesday have a lot of quick intelligent players. I thought we did our job and had a bit of luck at times but in general dealt with there attack quite well.

[Uptherams]

11 hours ago, Ninos said:

We have a great one (for this league). I  disagreed with your whole point that our defence was a shambles and Carson saved us. You fail to account for the sheff wed attack which was very unpredictable and they threw a lot of players forward all game long. We accounted for it pretty well

At points they looked completely lost and unorganised. I don't know what game you were watching, but we were very lucky at these moments not to concede. I don't know why you are attempting to talk about other parts of the game as if they were the moments referred to. We still have a shaky defense that teams can exploit. Remember Boro and how they defended in this league. That's what solid defending looks like. 

[LazloW]

It is is true that on another day we might have conceded a couple or more, but on another day we might also have scored a couple more ourselves. Don't think we need to apologise or castigate ourselves for keeping a clean sheet. 

It is inevitable that we will concede chances and this doesn't mean me we have a poor defence.... might just mean Wednesday have a good attack. 

Pearce looks a player to me. Very happy with his contribution so far.

[sage]

21 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

At points they looked completely lost and unorganised. I don't know what game you were watching, but we were very lucky at these moments not to concede. I don't know why you are attempting to talk about other parts of the game as if they were the moments referred to. We still have a shaky defense that teams can exploit. Remember Boro and how they defended in this league. That's what solid defending looks like. 

I still think our CBs are pretty solid, On Saturday they just had to cope with chaos in front of them and either side of them.   As has been mentioned earlier, you defend with 11 players. 

If your midfield allow only occasional attacks and you concede under the slightest pressure you have poor CBs. However if you are under sustained pressure, coping with lots of crosses and dealing with multiple runners in the box then the main issues are further away from goal than Keogh and Pearce.  

[cannable]

48 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

At points they looked completely lost and unorganised. I don't know what game you were watching, but we were very lucky at these moments not to concede. I don't know why you are attempting to talk about other parts of the game as if they were the moments referred to. We still have a shaky defense that teams can exploit. Remember Boro and how they defended in this league. That's what solid defending looks like. 

That's what boring football looks like as well! 

[Uptherams]

28 minutes ago, sage said:

I still think our CBs are pretty solid, On Saturday they just had to cope with chaos in front of them and either side of them.   As has been mentioned earlier, you defend with 11 players. 

If your midfield allow only occasional attacks and you concede under the slightest pressure you have poor CBs. However if you are under sustained pressure, coping with lots of crosses and dealing with multiple runners in the box then the main issues are further away from goal than Keogh and Pearce.  

Pretty solid isn't solid though is it. That's the point. People are being disingenuous and brushing aside any negatives. I was clear in my original comment. When we are solid I don't expect us to be conceding less goals than we have been. But the goals in the last few minutes and from shaky defending will be gone. We were lucky not to concede in the last few minutes at home to Leeds either, when they hit the post. Two wins that could quite easily have been draws. From the same issues. Shaky defending and failing to hold on in the last few minutes. That would have meant 0 wins in 13 league games. 

Sorry but saying you defend with 11 players is a cop-out. We can not blame the team for every opposition attack. You can't expect 6 players to defend an attack by just 3 every time. Our defenders also shouldn't be expected to constantly defend 4 on 4, 3 on 3 or 2 on 2. They don't. But the small number of times that they are, they need to be more organised and disciplined. Because they often end up looking like a bunch of individual defenders. 

[Uptherams]

1 hour ago, LazloW said:

It is is true that on another day we might have conceded a couple or more, but on another day we might also have scored a couple more ourselves. Don't think we need to apologise or castigate ourselves for keeping a clean sheet. 

It is inevitable that we will concede chances and this doesn't mean me we have a poor defence.... might just mean Wednesday have a good attack. 

Pearce looks a player to me. Very happy with his contribution so far.

Of course. We all know we need to be more clinical and also create more clear chances. But until that happens and in order to gain some momentum our defenders need to be more stable. The defense needs to do very little to improve. The problems are small parts of a 90 minute game. 

[sage]

21 minutes ago, Uptherams said:

Of course. We all know we need to be more clinical and also create more clear chances. But until that happens and in order to gain some momentum our defenders need to be more stable. The defense needs to do very little to improve. The problems are small parts of a 90 minute game. 

Ok. As an example could you talk me though the goal we conceded against Huddersfield. The last goal we conceded. Was anyone at fault and if so, who?

[sage]

1 hour ago, Uptherams said:

At points they looked completely lost and unorganised. I don't know what game you were watching, but we were very lucky at these moments not to concede. I don't know why you are attempting to talk about other parts of the game as if they were the moments referred to. We still have a shaky defense that teams can exploit. Remember Boro and how they defended in this league. That's what solid defending looks like. 

Boro played with 2 defensive midfield players and two big full backs, one of whom was a converted centre back. 

We play with one big converted winger and one small full back. We play with one defensive midfield player who is out of position there.

Thank you for proving my point. 

[Uptherams]

13 minutes ago, sage said:

Boro played with 2 defensive midfield players and two big full backs, one of whom was a converted centre back. 

We play with one big converted winger and one small full back. We play with one defensive midfield player who is out of position there.

Thank you for proving my point. 

You had a point that was relevant or accurate?