Attackers win you matches, defences win you THE CHAMPIONSHIP

[bhafc4eva]

Ok so were going through a little barren spell of goals, creativity, wins etc. I believe it's just a blip and as long as we can be there abouts at Christmas, have a great chance for Play offs. While we are not scoring many goals, we have conceeded the least. Let's look at where the team conceeding the lowest finished in the last 3 season:

2009 - 2010 Newcastle 35 goals ( champions )
2010 - 2011 QPR 32 goals ( champions )
2011 - 2012 Reading 41 goals ( champions )

Promising stats there. If you conceed few you always have a chance in the game to nick it.

I would take 1-0 wins and few 0-0 draws along the way if it means we make play offs minimum.

Keep the faith.

 

[kevtherev]

And they all scored shit loads off goals...That's where your argument falls down a bit.

 

[Simster]

And they all scored shit loads off goals...That's where your argument falls down a bit.

That may be true, but that isn't his point.

The defence who concede the fewest goals tends to win the league, but this doesn't hold true for the team that scores the most goals. If we do find a way of scoring goals whilst maintaining our shape and defensive stinginess, we will be challenging.

If I was Gus, I'd do some work on set piece play. Lets face it, if we win most games 1-0, we will be near the top, and we have looked shit at set pieces this season (and last). If the odd one was to go in, our season would look very different already. As it is, we've missed two pens in the past 4 games, never mind anything else.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Newcastle scored 90 goals
QPR scored 71 goals
Reading scored 69 goals

Last season we scored 52 goals, so improvement is needed - although that could be enough if you DONT concede. We have scored 19 in 15 games, so just over a goal a game - we need to start scoring more. Hopefully last nights scrappy win can kick start a period of good form starting on Saturday against an out-of-form Wolves.

 

[kevtherev]

I think if we had a top end proven championship signing we would have at least 5 more points and be a cert for top six at the very least.Which makes Poyets inability to get one very frustrating .

 

[Aadam]

Drawing all your games because you cannot score to win, won't win the championship.

 

[kevtherev]

Championship striker i mean.

 

[Casper]

We are only not conceding because teams are playing for a draw. Don't remember any threat last night.I would not say the defence is solid !!

 

[bhafc4eva]

We are only not conceding because teams are playing for a draw. Don't remember any threat last night.I would not say the defence is solid !!

Really? Even away from home where we have only conceeded 5 in 7 games. All other teams have conceeded at least twice as many.

 

[severnside gull]

We are only not conceding because teams are playing for a draw. Don't remember any threat last night.I would not say the defence is solid !!

was that really Peterboro last night? The most gung ho attacking side consistently over 5 years but last night they werent bothered to move the ball beyond the halfway line from kick off to final whistle. No surprise if we win more away than at home this season.

 

[Casper]

was that really Peterboro last night? The most gung ho attacking side consistently over 5 years but last night they werent bothered to move the ball beyond the halfway line from kick off to final whistle. No surprise if we win more away than at home this season.

They have seen what other teams have done at the Amex this season, one minute away from working.

 

[Casper]

They have seen how teams have played against us at the Amex this season and they were only a minute away of it working.

 

[Icy Gull]

We are only not conceding because teams are playing for a draw./QUOTE]

If we could find a way to score early against these teams they might stop doing it but as Birmingham, Ipswich, Middlesborough and Derby (away too ffs) have all managed it, it encourages others to have a go, no??

At the moment, they come here, stifle us, hit us on the break and you have to go back well over a year to find a game where we came back to win having gone a goal down. It must look like an excellent plan to a manager who can organise his defence properly.

 

[byf1]

All sounds dandy but as others have rightly pointed out, the previous champions had more attacking and match winning players and for me were still at least 2 short on that front, maybe even 3!

It's a long season and those pre mentioned teams had strikers & attacking match winners in abundance & that's what makes this situation even more frustrating.

If you look at the teams at the top like Cardiff, how many attacking match winners in their team, noone, whittingham, helguson, Joe mason, Craig bellemy & Nicky Maynard.

Versus, barnes, CMS & Will Buckley!!

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

If we can acquire this illusive striker, the way teams approach us will change completely. As it stands we are pretty toothless so teams can come and sit back. There is very little danger of us scoring so they can play for the point or snatch ONE goal and take all 3 points.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

All sounds dandy but as others have rightly pointed out, the previous champions had more attacking and match winning players and for me were still at least 2 short on that front, maybe even 3!

It's a long season and those pre mentioned teams had strikers & attacking match winners in abundance & that's what makes this situation even more frustrating.

If you look at the teams at the top like Cardiff, how many attacking match winners in their team, noone, whittingham, helguson, Joe mason, Craig bellemy & Nicky Maynard.

Versus, barnes, CMS & Will Buckley!!

I think it's fair to include Dobbie as a potential match winner.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Double Post.

 

[Casper]

The answer is a striker .... We knew that last season ! Has one arrived yet ?

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Newcastle scored 90 goals
QPR scored 71 goals
Reading scored 69 goals

Last season we scored 52 goals, so improvement is needed - although that could be enough if you DONT concede. We have scored 19 in 15 games, so just over a goal a game - we need to start scoring more. Hopefully last nights scrappy win can kick start a period of good form starting on Saturday against an out-of-form Wolves.

I sort of agree, but whether you win 1-0 or 57-0, you still get just three points. Bristol City have scored 24 goals, and are 23rd. Burnley have scored 29 and are 10th.

Scored 19 in 15 games but, with 11, have conceded three fewer than the next best team (Leicester), and seven fewer than Blackburn.

I'd rather have a watertight defence than scoring 3/4 goals a game...

 

[Zebedee]

The answer is a striker .... We knew that last season ! Has one arrived yet ?

If Gus had really wanted a new striker, we would have got him by now. One can but conclude, therefore, that despite what Gus says publicly he doesn't want one or "really" think that we need one.