This exactly.
With 3 quality Centre Backs, in the 3-4-3, we can drop our defensive midfielder Stephens and bring in more attack minded players such as Kayal, Bissouma & Alzate to play with Pröpper.
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[Albion] So we spend £20M on a defence that was pretty sound to begin with?
- Thread starter Tom Hark Preston Park
- Start date
This exactly.
With 3 quality Centre Backs, in the 3-4-3, we can drop our defensive midfielder Stephens and bring in more attack minded players such as Kayal, Bissouma & Alzate to play with Pröpper.
dejavuatbtn
Well-known member
At what point do we actually address the elephant in the room ie lack of goals? Bolstering an already decent defence may well ensure we lose 0-1 instead of the traditional 0-2, but without goals the only way is the same old same old which is down. Unless of course Duffy can up his game and net 10 instead of last season's 5. Nobody else currently looking likely to challenge Murray for top spot. Still, I'm sure the club know what they are doing
Sound? We had the 7th worse defensive record in the division. That’s nothing to shout about and plenty to improve on.
Agree we need some attacking players but we are rebuilding from the back, so no complaints from me.
SeagullCrow
Well-known member
- May 9, 2008
- 556
Agreed, but Murray's form dropped like a stone in the second half of last season. It became very clear that age was catching up with him, and he's going to be another year older going into the season. We can't continue to rely on him pulling rabbits out the hat.
The OP's sentiment is valid - we patently do need more options up front, but there is evidence that we are chasing targets for that position (as mentioned by others on this thread). In many respects, this is a conversations we've been having since promotion to the Premier League and it hasn't been adequately addressed earlier (- insanity, given that we know that Murray is no spring chicken. The club don't seem to be very good at succession planning). More of a concern for me is the ability to control the midfield and provide opportunities for whichever striker we choose to bring in - and there is no real chatter about us targeting anyone for that position.
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 70,198
- Thread starter
- #24
Oh, yeah, forgot about the OG. Remember clearly thinking it was an OG at the time from the North. That head-mental edited Spanish vid looks very much like that also. Tho due lack of being arsed, am quite prepared to concede it wasn't an OG. Tho don't really care.
Arkwright
Arkwright
Was our defence really sound last season? It only looked sound when we showed no ambition to attack and stuck eleven bodies behind the ball and parked the bus.
Playing three at the back we need five centre halves to cover injuries and suspensions, great signing in my book.
A week to go to add a striker and a right back and we'll have a well balanced squad
Playing three at the back we need five centre halves to cover injuries and suspensions, great signing in my book.
A week to go to add a striker and a right back and we'll have a well balanced squad
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 70,198
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- #26
Steve Foster
Well-known member
Perhaps the intention is for 38 0-0 draws. That should just about keep us up. Who knows we could nab a few 1-0 wins & reach the lofty heights of perhaps 15th? Failing that I fear we are going to have a miserable season. Less than a week left of the pre season, we have spent less than most of our competitors & no centre forward joining us yet. Are there really 3 sides worse than us in the league? Without my BHA spectacles on I can’t see that being the case. Hope I am wrong ..
blockhseagull
Well-known member
Disagree about Murray’s form
Was he less effective in the 2nd part of the season ... massively
Was it because he was completely isolated with no one anywhere near him for the majority of the games since Xmas ... yes.
However I do agree we need a further striking option.... your right that he is getting older and he will need to miss some games in order for him to perform at his best.
Sometime before the window shuts would be my guess.
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GT49er
Well-known member
This, in spades and with knobs on. Last season our strikers had to get by with very little supply and absolutely no support from the rest of the tem, who were usually huddled around our penalty area. Unsurprisingly, they didn't score very many.
Now, however we appear to be making a radical change by sometimes having several of our players in the opposition half, sometimes even all at the same time! If our strike force convert the same percentage of their chances as they did last season, the only reasonable conclusion is that they will score more this season. A nice new shiny 20 goals a season striker would certainly be nice - and the club do appear to be looking at a couple of possibles - but I refuse to join in the panic that some people seem to be getting into.
Maybe that new 20 goals a season striker is Tau next year - perhaps Potter and all the other soccer professionals we've got running the club have looked at the resources available and decided we have enough to see us through until then? Maybe? Maybe not - I don't know, but whether we land Maupay or that other chap or not, I'm still not panicking,
brightn'ove
cringe
Was it pretty sound? Seem to remember conceding a lot of comedy goals towards the back end of last season. It definitely needed strengthening.
It's moany to suggest the club aren't trying to do something about it. Signing a defender doesn't stop us signing others too.
Nah, I've already got you down as a ****.Then put me down as a moany bastid
studio150
Well-known member
Defence wins titles
London Irish
Well-known member
A better defence allows us to attack better. The switch to 3 has come up with the inspired idea of March at wing back. We now look lethal on left with Trossard link-up.
Sadly we may have gone backwards on right since days of Bruno/Knocky
Sadly we may have gone backwards on right since days of Bruno/Knocky
GT49er
Well-known member
Sound? - yes. 7th. worse record - actually that is very, very good. You have to take into account the amount of time per game spent defending. Take any of the teams with good defence records - Liverpool, Leicester, Wolves, for example - their defences would have conceded far more goals than they did had they been defending against wave after wave of unhindered attacks for 85 minutes of every game!
See above. The defence was actually very, very good.
Last edited:
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 70,198
- Thread starter
- #36
dingodan
New member
- Feb 16, 2011
- 10,080
What should we do with the extra £10M we saved?
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/revealed-what-aston-villa-everton-3017670
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/revealed-what-aston-villa-everton-3017670
Pat McCrotch
Lurker
Someone need their sheets changing
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rogersix
Well-known member
- Jan 18, 2014
- 7,904
At what point do we actually address the elephant in the room ie lack of goals? Bolstering an already decent defence may well ensure we lose 0-1 instead of the traditional 0-2, but without goals the only way is the same old same old which is down. Unless of course Duffy can up his game and net 10 instead of last season's 5. Nobody else currently looking likely to challenge Murray for top spot. Still, I'm sure the club know what they are doing
the op will not be happy with that effort
Tom Hark Preston Park
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- Jul 6, 2003
- 70,198
- Thread starter
- #40
Defence was under constant siege all season. Dunk, Duffy and Ryan deserve bumper bundles of bonuses for keeping us in the PL for as long as they did. Only human that they should start to flag towards the end. The pressure was unrelenting.