Defence

[SamUltraRam]

Stats from the BBC end of match details

Last 5 games played, just 6 shots on target against us...... incredible

& 4 of those 6 were by Preston when we had 10 men !!

Hats off to the coaching team & the the players - keep it up please

 

 

[Anag Ram]

The midfield has been a huge part of this. 

They snuff out attacks at an early stage. 

[Dimmu]

I hope our back five doesn't get the all the honour in this thread.

Whole team contributes to it, wingers track back and puts pressure on defenders, CKR defends from the front with and without the ball... Never mind the hardworking trio of midfielders.

Long may it continue, it's a cracking stat.

[ramsbottom]

3 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

The midfield has been a huge part of this. 

They snuff out attacks at an early stage. 

And a huge part of the midfield has been Bielik fully fit.  Immense.

[SamUltraRam]

Just now, Dimmu said:

I hope our back five doesn't get the all the honour in this thread.

Whole team contributes to it, wingers track back and puts pressure on defenders, CKR defends from the front with and without the ball... Never mind the hardworking trio of midfielders.

Long may it continue, it's a cracking stat.

Yes, it's a cliche but you defend from the front & CKR has had a major impact.

One big thing thats changed is that we now give our opponents something to worry about offensively which we certainly weren't doing before December

[David]

When you listen to Rooney talk, he’s spoke about this several times now. The first thing he wanted to do was cut out conceding daft goals and giving the opposition chances.

When you look at the amount of goals we had scored up to that point, many would have argued that needed addressing first. 

Maybe he’s not that thick after all ??‍♂️

[samtheram83]

There was a point late on against Birmingham (around the 80 minute mark I think) where CKR put in a sliding tackle in our right back position. Exactly what you want to see from a senior pro when we’re in the position we are.

Also noted Jason Knight blocking a run to stop a breakaway in the first half after we’d lost the ball and looked vulnerable.

I said to my friend that for the first time in a long time we look ready and willing to play smart, with a bit of muscle and fight when it comes to defending further up the pitch. It’s helping our defence out massively.

We look to have fighters through the spine. Bielik, Shinnie, Knight, CKR can all handle themselves.

I think this is one of Rooney’s biggest influences.

[ziggyram59]

18 minutes ago, samtheram83 said:

There was a point late on against Birmingham (around the 80 minute mark I think) where CKR put in a sliding tackle in our right back position. Exactly what you want to see from a senior pro when we’re in the position we are.

Also noted Jason Knight blocking a run to stop a breakaway in the first half after we’d lost the ball and looked vulnerable.

I said to my friend that for the first time in a long time we look ready and willing to play smart, with a bit of muscle and fight when it comes to defending further up the pitch. It’s helping our defence out massively.

We look to have fighters through the spine. Bielik, Shinnie, Knight, CKR can all handle themselves.

I think this is one of Rooney’s biggest influences.

I think he would of learnt that through been at Manchester United and working under Ferguson, all good teams start with a good defence and working for each other. 

[Millenniumram]

No coincidence that we’ve seen such a dramatic improvement in that regard since Bielik returned to CDM imo. His reading of the game is incredible - he knows exactly where to put himself to make sure he cuts out attacks before they even properly start. That relieves the pressure on the defence, and is precisely why we’ve faced so few dangerous attacks in recent games. 

That’s not to discredit the coaching staff of course, who deserve praise for getting us more organised pretty much from the word go, and of course deserve credit for making the switch to 4-3-3 with Bielik back as the sole CDM, which has been the main reason behind the upturn in performances over the past few games. But it’s definitely the return of Bielik that has made the biggest difference. His performances have been absolutely outstanding pretty much every game, and the clean sheets coincide pretty much exactly with his return to the team.

[jono]

I am sure Bielik is part of this but as a general picture, the thing I have enjoyed is that we are now flexible .. we don’t “play out from the back” or “Play hoof ball” the defence and the CDM are making independent decisions about whether to play long, short or take it forward through midfield. There is more free thought and instinct rather than a rigid system. I am sure this is the right way and at the same time the players don’t have to think so much and so the ball moves faster. It’s a virtuous circle. 

[Duracell]

1 hour ago, David said:

 Maybe he’s not that thick after all ??‍♂️

Off topic here, but I'm so fed up with this accusation being levelled at footballers for the crime of being inarticulate in interviews.

It's perhaps true that Wayne Rooney isn't 'educated', but that doesn't mean he isn't bright. 

I know some incredibly well educated, well-spoken people who I think are incredibly thick. It's the worst part of our society - if you talk a certain way people think you're clever, and if you don't, you're not. Snobbishness is deeply ingrained within us.

[David]

9 minutes ago, Duracell said:

Off topic here, but I'm so fed up with this accusation being levelled at footballers for the crime of being inarticulate in interviews.

It's perhaps true that Wayne Rooney isn't 'educated', but that doesn't mean he isn't bright. 

I know some incredibly well educated, well-spoken people who I think are incredibly thick. It's the worst part of our society - if you talk a certain way people think you're clever, and if you don't, you're not. Snobbishness is deeply ingrained within us.

I wouldn’t say I was the most articulate either, I used to cringe listening back to the Podcasts I was on, I have a tendency to mumble and with a deep voice I hate to think how I come across to others at times.

I’m not educated either, if we’re going by GCSE results, just wasn’t interested, Shakespeare, RE, cloud types, wouldn’t say I’m too thick to understand, just didn’t find it interesting enough to engage with and for me that’s a real issue with education these days.

I stumbled into creating websites and the rest is history, found my calling if you like. Rooney is probably the same with football, I wonder how many teachers said to him as a kid, you’ll do nothing in your life if you don’t knuckle down and went on to earn more in a week than they would in 5 years and classmates that went on to Uni to pick up degrees and now stacking shelves in Tesco.

This is way off topic, now ooops ?

[Duracell]

7 minutes ago, David said:

I wouldn’t say I was the most articulate either, I used to cringe listening back to the Podcasts I was on, I have a tendency to mumble and with a deep voice I hate to think how I come across to others at times.

I’m not educated either, if we’re going by GCSE results, just wasn’t interested, Shakespeare, RE, cloud types, wouldn’t say I’m too thick to understand, just didn’t find it interesting enough to engage with and for me that’s a real issue with education these days.

I stumbled into creating websites and the rest is history, found my calling if you like. Rooney is probably the same with football, I wonder how many teachers said to him as a kid, you’ll do nothing in your life if you don’t knuckle down and went on to earn more in a week than they would in 5 years and classmates that went on to Uni to pick up degrees and now stacking shelves in Tesco.

This is way off topic, now ooops ?

Yeah it’s good we have the mods and the site owner to keep us in check isn’t it?

[kevinhectoring]

1 hour ago, ziggyram59 said:

I think he would of learnt that through been at Manchester United and working under Ferguson, all good teams start with a good defence and working for each other. 

There’s a lot of ManU in it. Solid disciplined defence allowing freedom up the pitch. And 100% commitment, something we did not see under Cocu. Unsurprisingly WR sees Bielik as the game changer. I think he may find options thru the January window to give B freedom to play higher up the pitch and improve our quality in the final third. 

[angieram]

EI - Emotional Intelligence - is more important than IQ.

Rooney has FI - Football Intelligence.

It will do for me. 

[Parsnip]

On 31/12/2020 at 11:23, SamUltraRam said:

Last 5 games played, just 6 shots on target against us...... incredible

David Marshall stealing a living!

[Archied]

On 31/12/2020 at 12:47, Duracell said:

Off topic here, but I'm so fed up with this accusation being levelled at footballers for the crime of being inarticulate in interviews.

It's perhaps true that Wayne Rooney isn't 'educated', but that doesn't mean he isn't bright. 

I know some incredibly well educated, well-spoken people who I think are incredibly thick. It's the worst part of our society - if you talk a certain way people think you're clever, and if you don't, you're not. Snobbishness is deeply ingrained within us.

Yep exactly the same with spelling and grammar 

[Jram]

35 minutes ago, Archied said:

Yep exactly the same with spelling and grammar 

I was desperate for you to make a grammatical error here but can find no fault ?

[rams4ever]

One thing no ones mentioned - it looks like the team is actively encouraged to s h o o t at goal, if it doesn't come off nothing lost

[Archied]

22 minutes ago, Jram said:

I was desperate for you to make a grammatical error here but can find no fault ?

That’s a thirst foe me??‍♂️