[Albion] Defence is the problem, not goalscoring

goldstone said:

Stadium criticism … four bloody great screens but they don't show the line-ups so you don't know exactly who's on the pitch and who has been given a yellow card. Much prefer the way we manage our screens at the Amex.

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Yeah, that was weird. Even with goal scorers, it's just the number and name..no picture or anything. Very strange.

spence said:

No it isn't harsh. We have been so lucky not to be hammered on several occasions. It's been very easy for other teams to get in behind us.
I've noticed a weak point where balls are played into the channel between our fall back and CB creating ridiculous amount of space.. This has often led to goals.

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Don’t agree with that at all

BN41Albion said:

Up to 10th weve conceded the joint second fewest goals, and some in top half have conceded pretty much the same as us, so 'embarrassing' is harsh. Keeping the ball is also a form of defence, which we have done very well often this season looking at possession stats. We do have a lot to work on though - too many soft goals from not being solid or switched on enough when not in possession, or gifting goals trying to play too much football in our own half

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Exactly this.

It is soft goals that have hurt us the most, cut them out and we will be gathering points and pushing into the top ten.

Bozza said:

Certainly at a cursory glance, the league table provides some validation that defence is our issue.

Our 22 goals have earned us 20 points. Contrast:

Sheffield United - 23 goals / 29 points
Crystal Palace - 17 goals / 26 points
Newcastle - 18 goals / 25 points
Burnley - 23 goals / 24 points
Everton - 21 goals / 22 points

Villa are the only side below us who have scored more yet earned fewer points.

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Strip three games out where won by scoring three goals and we’ve only scored 13 in the remaining 16 games

Wellesley said:

If you think any of our players need upgrading, you will immediately be called a 'hater' on here but I totally agree. All three of those players have decent qualities that people can point too, yet I totally agree with you. I'd like to see us upgrade one, two or all three of them. Assuming we can only upgrade one in January, then I would choose the one that we can get the most suitable replacement for. There isn't a single player of ours that I don't like but if we are going to progress, then some of our 'fans favourites' will need replacing. Mooy is an excellent upgrade, we need more goals from midfield and someone that will pick out earlier the excellent runs that Maupay makes. This is a bit of an 'in an ideal World' scenario though, I've no complaints really and love this team, both players and management. UTA.

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Being called a hater don’t bother me one bit . I spend shit loads travelling home and away and like everyone else on here voice an opinion . Stephens has always been hughtons and potters first Choice I can only comment as how I c it . And although he has had a “better” season than the last two I still fail to see what Stephens brings to the party .when u look at Mooy and the effort and skill of that man it’s almost embarrassing at the difference I don’t see how Stephens protects the back favour anymore or slides in great passes going forward . 2nd half of yesterday’s game yet again non existence from a key position. We need upgrades Propper Stephens and gross the stats on gross dosent equate to what I see I the pitch or the league table . When we played Palace did we miss Stephens .. no we played bissouma who ran his socks off tried to get forward and had more shots off and on target than Stephens has had in the last threee seasons . If you dont shoot you don’t score
We also need help upfront as he clearly dont want Murray which is sad as I feel he could of played parts in the palace game any way onto the must win game on Saturday


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It’s a bit of both.
Yesterday we should have been 2-0 up with the connolly header. We didn’t and were punished from a mistake and a very good goal. We are not set up to absorb pressure like last year so as it’s more attack minded. Sometimes like arsenal and Everton it has served us well. It’s served us well in other games as well but we have not taken the chances on offer. We will generally offer up chances at this level as in all honesty we play expansive football with players who compared to other teams who also play expansive football are inferior.

Bakero said:

I've literally just read you say that 3 times on another thread. Don't you get bored of playing the same record all day?

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No because its fact and each thread has its own different replies.

Tony Meolas Loan Spell said:

No because its fact and each thread has its own different replies.

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You're posting your opinion, not facts, which is fine but it does get a bit repetitive.

FWIW positivity.



Webster's goal 1 min 10 secs in, enjoy again and again.....

The change of formation and tactics has played its part throughout 2019. We used to play 2 central midfielders in Stephens & Propper who would sit and protect the back 4 allowing Gross a free role & Murray the opportunity to get in the box often with 2 wingers who played wide in attack but tucked in for defence. We moved away from this last Christmas under CH, 4-3-3 which resulted in us being leaky at the back.

Potter has changed the tactics so we are more progressive and creative and the formation meaning we have more players in advanced positions. This has created plenty of possession and some fantastic interplay through our midfield. We are much tighter than CH 2019 but not quite up to the standard of CH 4-4-1-1. Under Potter we have a really good chance to develop a system and a set up that makes us likely to finish mid-table and attract a few exciting prospects from abroad that could be something special, a very exciting time to be a seagull fan.

blockhseagull said:

We aren’t as solid as we used to be but that comes with the style we are playing.

I’d argue goal scoring IS the problem .... we just don’t get enough goals.

The problem is goals from midfield, we don’t get enough which leaves us relying too much on Maupay and set play headers.

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Agree. But if you look across CH's tenure as boss, you'll see that goals from midfield was also a problem then. DS and DP getting two between them over two seasons (and DP missing a whole host of sitters), Knocky managing 5 across both seasons, Jahanbakhsh being...well...the less said the better, and Solly always having next to zero output. Groß and Izzy's debut seasons aside, we've not had anyone look close to representing a goal threat from midfield under two very different managers. We have to ask why that is.
It's what worried me yesterday. Yes there's always the chance that we'll get a set piece goal, but when I saw that Maupay wasn't starting the question was, well how are we going to score? Because if he's not on the pitch, we haven't really got anyone else to rely on, as it was showed.

For what it's worth, imo there are three problems . We seem to totally lack any penetration into the penalty area. This is my main problem with Groß, as although he's arguably the best set piece taker we've ever had at the club, in open play he's often very untidy and sloppy when trying to play the slick passing game that potter likes. We're then resorting to working it out to Montoya/Mooy and co. In wide areas, but then we often end up playing a crossing game when a) Montoya is an awful crosser and b) we have next to no presence in the penalty area as our strikers are midgets (hence why we're looking to bring a new target man in). We just always seem to run out of ideas in the final third, particularly after the 80th minute, as shown against Spurs, Palace and Sheff U (although that was for pretty much the entire game)

Second issue: we're far too easy to cut through. I find myself asking around five or six times in a game "how's he managed to get through that?!", In reference to an opposition player managing to keep the ball despite having three or four Albion players stood around him and making an attempt to tackle. We saw it yesterday with Lucas' run in the build up to the spurs equaliser and it happened three or four other times too. It happened against wolves, Leicester, sheff u got in behind numerous times in this way and it's generally been our biggest downfall imo. It hurts us most when we lost the ball in attacking areas and the opposition being able to launch a breakaway. It often looks like our players will simply either dangle a leg at the ball or just take a wild swing at it. We need to sign a destroyer midfielder, who could also be the nasty **** that people say we need. Hopefully someone with a bit of mobility too.

Third issue: individual errors. I've watched a lot of football, and I don't think I've ever seen a team make so so many basic basic individual errors that you wouldn't see at primary school level. It's genuinely staggering how many times a game a basic pass goes astray or someone makes a total cock up in defence. You watch other teams, even those around us, and you'll see it doesn't happen nearly as often for them. Webster has massive potential but he's costing us near on a goal a game at the minute, Stephens (who I think is our most important player) has been habitually giving the ball away for weeks now, as has Propper, and I counted about five times yesterday where Groß simply put the ball out of play when he just had to make a basic pass. I've got no idea how the management sort this one, but it's hurting us big time.

Success is built on clean sheets a very old adage.

BensGrandad said:

Success is built on clean sheets a very old adage.

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Go and support Chris’s new club... oh!


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I don't know what our goals against statistic was at the halfway stage last season but this season it's 28 suggesting an average of 56 over the full season. Last season's goal against tally finished at 60. This suggests that our defence is no frailer this season than it was last, and if anything is slightly improved.

Love being RIGHT. No Webster and a clean sheet.

BensGrandad said:

Success is built on clean sheets a very old adage.

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Yeah, just look at Liverpool this season. They can barely keep a clean sheet but have only dropped 2 points all season.

Tony Meolas Loan Spell said:

Love being RIGHT. No Webster and a clean sheet.

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Equally no Stephens and we win so why not speculate these two scenarios are directly related. I have no problem seeing Webster play ever match for the rest of the season, a good player

Tony Meolas Loan Spell said:

Love being RIGHT. No Webster and a clean sheet.

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W did look better today in defence without Webster.

Rogero said:

W did look better today in defence without Webster.

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Very much so especially as AFC Bournemouth have some very prolific goalscorers but we kept them all quiet. Well done the back four but there doing so took the strain off of the midfield and allowed them to play more.

Perkino said:

Equally no Stephens and we win so why not speculate these two scenarios are directly related. I have no problem seeing Webster play ever match for the rest of the season, a good player

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I must admit I haven't noticed that in fact IMHO he is not good enough for The Premier yet. His strength is reputed to be his ability on the ball but he pushes it too far in front of himself to control it this then puts him in trouble and his defensive ability is non existent. I hope that GP sticks with today's back 4.