[Albion] 5 goals conceded in 8 games.

[Stat Brother]

Come on then, a few have danced around this as a way to offset the 'I don't mean this to be a negative thread about the lack of goals scored' negative thread, so let's make it official.

So only 5 goals conceded.

Much without the £20m Webster.
All without £50m White.
Lamptey injured.
Incorporating a new signing.
And
The return of Duffy.


Irrespective of the calibre of teams faced that's still mightily impressive.
With what's to come it is probably the record that initially needed highlighting.

If the defence can keep their heads for the rest of the month, hopefully even us most jaded cynical Albion fans, can dare to dream.


Oh and please god this isn't an invite to slay off Ryan - give that a rest.

 

[dazzer6666]

Two of which were penalties, and one other that should have been disallowed for a clear foul by the scorer……

Defence has been magnificent so far.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

We've done brilliantly at the back.

There's been a bit of last ditch defending, as exemplified Burn at the weekend, but generally I think it's an achievement of the whole team. We're winning every midfield battle and this is protecting the defence from coming under too much pressure. If we still have a good defensive record in a fortnight, that will be some achievement.

I think the bloke who started the other thread was having a genuine discussion about the balance between defence and attack and not having a pop

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

We've cut out a lot of unforced errors, or getting caught out of position. There is a toughness back there at the moment, a proper solid mentality. [MENTION=42429]Nobby Cybergoat[/MENTION] mentions the Burn tackle above, but I also noted the huge thanks he got from the rest of the defence - they are a super tight unit that you can just tell they love defending - when you have that, there is very little blame, and when there is little blame between you, you can play without fear. I think that is where Duffy has leaped back into form, there is no blame game, no individual mistakes, only collective ones. He's thriving because it's a great environment to be a defender in.

 

[macbeth]

In terms of the individual qualities they all offer, we now have one of if not the most balanced back line in the league

 

[Stat Brother]

We've done brilliantly at the back.

There's been a bit of last ditch defending, as exemplified Burn at the weekend, but generally I think it's an achievement of the whole team. We're winning every midfield battle and this is protecting the defence from coming under too much pressure. If we still have a good defensive record in a fortnight, that will be some achievement.

I think the bloke who started the other thread was having a genuine discussion about the balance between defence and attack and not having a pop

Don't underestimate last ditch defending.

Every defence has to do it.
Not every defence can do it.

Some of the clean blocks by esp Dunk 'n' Duffy when the goal/a penalty are there for the taking, are every bit as impressive, as the more gifable classy defending.

 

[Swansman]

Defending against Norwich was actually quite poor but overall its been great for a long while now.

It starts up front with Maupay and Trossard making it difficult for any team to make good decisions in their build-up play and then the quality of defending goes all the way back to Sanchez who looks like one of the safest goalkeepers I have ever seen on any level. I thought as a young keeper he would have had the occasional dip in form and made a few mistakes by now but other than the very rare thing like the poorly timed challenge against Norwich, the Leicester (?) corner goal is the only blunder I can recall which is incredible. You wont find a keeper who made less mistakes in the last year.

Bissouma has been controlling the dangerous area between midfield and defenders in a great way pretty much all by himself for a long while now while the defenders are skilled and clever. The tactical organisation is obviously also a part of it. Sometimes when I go to bed I get beautiful pictures in my head from the game against Leeds early this year, a five second sequence from an unusual camera angle where you could the BEAUTIFUL lines of defense moving from side to side as some kind of shared-mind superorganism while the poor Leeds left back desperately looks for any kind of space to play the ball.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

Don't underestimate last ditch defending.

Every defence has to do it.
Not every defence can do it.

Some of the clean blocks by esp Dunk 'n' Duffy when the goal/a penalty are there for the taking, are every bit as impressive, as the more gifable classy defending.

Duffy v Leicester was like a one man wrecking crew.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Defending against Norwich was actually quite poor but overall its been great for a long while now.

It starts up front with Maupay and Trossard making it difficult for any team to make good decisions in their build-up play and then the quality of defending goes all the way back to Sanchez who looks like one of the safest goalkeepers I have ever seen on any level. I thought as a young keeper he would have had the occasional dip in form and made a few mistakes by now but other than the very rare thing like the poorly timed challenge against Norwich, the Leicester (?) corner goal is the only blunder I can recall which is incredible. You wont find a keeper who made less mistakes in the last year.

Bissouma has been controlling the dangerous area between midfield and defenders in a great way pretty much all by himself for a long while now while the defenders are skilled and clever. The tactical organisation is obviously also a part of it. Sometimes when I go to bed I get beautiful pictures in my head from the game against Leeds early this year, a five second sequence from an unusual camera angle where you could the BEAUTIFUL lines of defense moving from side to side as some kind of shared-mind superorganism while the poor Leeds left back desperately looks for any kind of space to play the ball.

Spot on. Unsurprisingly, out of all PL forwards, Maupay has made the joint most presses per 90 minutes.

More surprisingly, he's joint with Zaha!

 

[schmunk]

Spot on. Unsurprisingly, out of all PL forwards, Maupay has made the joint most presses per 90 minutes.

More surprisingly, he's joint with Zaha!

...except Zaha has been pressing the turf.

 

[boik]

Sounds like we're "solid at the back". Someone should be happy! ;-)

 

[Stat Brother]

Sounds like we're "solid at the back". Someone should be happy! ;-)

Those were the days.

We all reach an age when a toasted cheese sandwich on thick white bread clearly isn't doing us any favours, and yet we still can't say no...








... despite the consequences.

 

[RandAlex8]

and 50M richer!

 

[Pavilionaire]

The longer this fine defensive run continues the more ludicrous Southgate's omission of all Brighton defenders from his squad looks.

 

[Simster]

Why would anyone start a thread like this with Man City and Liverpool coming up?





*checks OP*

Sigh.

 

[Taybha]

This may just be coincidence but I think we've copped more yellow cards from fouling players on the break than any other club and certainly have the highest total of yellow cards after the 8 games.

Could it be we've turned nasty or is it a conscious decision by Potter to drum the value of taking one for the team in dangerous positions by the opposition, whatever the reason at some point and real soon we will start to lose a number of players for 1 match, at this moment in time if that's the reason then Potter will perhaps know what's coming but it will have been worth the risk I reckon .

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

It's certainly worthy of note that Potter was brought in to make our defensive team more attacking, and despite doing just that has also made us better defensively than Hughton's team. Some achievement that.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Our ability not to give away chances is GPot's greatest strength as manager. The defensive setup is so strong that we just don't concede many shots at all.

I don't really know how good Sanchez is at shot stopping as he has so few to deal with. But his ability in the air is incredible and just adds to our armour.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

 

[Icy Gull]

It's certainly worthy of note that Potter was brought in to make our defensive team more attacking, and despite doing just that has also made us better defensively than Hughton's team. Some achievement that.

The ball retention stats under GP are not to be ignored. As some manager (Poyet?) said, you need to have the ball to score goals.

I am still a little surprised and impressed when I see how well we can knock the ball about between players every game, regardless of the opposition.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

Why would anyone start a thread like this with Man City and Liverpool coming up?

It's likely not going to look as impressive a stat after is it...