[Albion] No clean sheets so far this season

[RandyWanger]

Loose on Thursday and there won't be any clean sheets in Sussex

 

[Paris]

Loose on Thursday and there won't be any clean sheets in Sussex

Never thought we'd see the day when we were outstanding favourites to beat Ajax.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Potter eventually found the balance, his last 15 games saw 16 goals conceded and 7 clean sheets. Yep, he had Caicedo, Mac Allister and Bissouma available for much of that, but more fundamentally he had managed to solved the issue of us conceding goals on the break, of defenders chasing the ball rather than marking runners, that we had for the first half of Potter's tenure and so far under RDZ. Would be nice to get that back because a lot of these goals conceded are keystone cops.

Conceding on the break is a weakness, but perhaps more worrying is how many goals are being conceded by misplaced passes out from the back, or loose control while doing so, you can identify that in so many of the goals conceded these days, and that's supposed to be our strength.

RDZ would probably say our strength is our wreckless keep ball in our own area. Yes, it’s a different strategy that he is being judged on and he will defend it to the last. It makes for exciting football but not good for bedwetter continence. I think the only way to reduce goals conceded is a change of strategy- he is more likely to change personnel than admit defeat on that one.

 

[tigertim68]

I don't feel I can blame any of our defenders individually for the goals we're conceding. The manager is asking them to play risky passes then defend half way up the pitch. Things are obviously going to go wrong and we'll concede.

To me, it's the lack, of cover from midfield (when the oppo counter) and to a lesser extent, from the wingers that is a cause for concern.

We've sold who we've sold and there's no point going back there and I think Baleba is a positive in there as he can cover ground and make a tackle and the situational awareness will come.

Here's my solution. Pascal Gross, brilliant player and very fit, but not quick enough to offer effective cover. We should move him into the attacking line. Kind of like MacAllister did for us last season. Pedro moves out wide to compete with Adingra and Mitoma. Gilmour comes into the midfield

Gros and Gilmour too lightweight, need another midfielder to play with them

 

[London Irish]

Loose on Thursday and there won't be any clean sheets in Sussex

And no more Euro tickets scrambles just as I've got my loyalty up above 500 points

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Our defence or this forum?


Im 1/3 pages in - probably been done already

 

[raymondo]

Possibly there haven't been any clean sheets on account of all the bedwetters
Sorry, I was way off the pace. Note to self: Read whole thread before posting

 

[Weststander]

Comparing the identical fixtures 2022/23 (where RDZ was the boss) to 2023/24 so far:

Wolves A
West Ham H
Bmuff H
Villa A
Liverpool H
ManC A

7 goals conceded last season, 15 this, only 4 of the difference explained by Villa. This season’s more porous defence is not explained by RDZ-ball.

 

[macbeth]

i’m not as relaxed as most appear to be about this. if you concede goals at the rate we are, you will eventually lose lots of games. scoring in a game could just mean you’ve got a consolation in a 6-1 loss. a clean sheet means you’ve taken at least a point. it’s easy to just blame it on the style of play, but in actual fact the defending has been amateurish at times. nothing about our style of play dictates that we have to concede the goals we did against west ham, or the appalling poor set piece goals against aek.

i do accept the point that we are more exposed playing the way we do, but then that comes down to the bottom line that our defence isn’t quick enough. i’m not asking for tons of clean sheets, but to have none so far is a worry and it’s silly to pretend it’s not. defence has to be the area we bolster next in terms of new arrivals

 

[Weststander]

i’m not as relaxed as most appear to be about this. if you concede goals at the rate we are, you will eventually lose lots of games. scoring in a game could just mean you’ve got a consolation in a 6-1 loss. a clean sheet means you’ve taken at least a point. it’s easy to just blame it on the style of play, but in actual fact the defending has been amateurish at times. nothing about our style of play dictates that we have to concede the goals we did against west ham, or the appalling poor set piece goals against aek.

i do accept the point that we are more exposed playing the way we do, but then that comes down to the bottom line that our defence isn’t quick enough. i’m not asking for tons of clean sheets, but to have none so far is a worry and it’s silly to pretend it’s not. defence has to be the area we bolster next in terms of new arrivals

Conceding a couple of goals make a PL win highly unlikely.

 

[tstanbur]

I've seen this a lot, and firmly disagree. Veltman has been excellent, but Dunk is far from his imperious best at the moment. Maybe it's because he's covering for a completely different three players around him every match, maybe he's tiring from being the only player who plays every match, maybe it's because he has a different keeper behind him every two matches, but in the last few matches:

- he drifted away from Alvarez to leave him with a gallon of space to score City's 1st,
- gave the ball away cheaply for the Liverpool first,
- made the error for the Marseille second and
- been central in a defence that shifted 6 vs Villa.

Now let me be clear, Dunk is our best defender. He's fantastic as a captain and a leader but his best performances of late have been for England, not for us.

Odd post considering Dunk was absolutely outstanding for the majority of the game v City.

Out of interest did you watch on TV or at the stadium?

Or just the highlights ?

 

[JBizzle]

Odd post considering Dunk was absolutely outstanding for the majority of the game v City.

Out of interest did you watch on TV or at the stadium?

Or just the highlights ?

He was, apart for the part where he drifted away from Alvarez to leave him with a clear shot for their 1st goal.

On the 2nd part, I assume you were at the game otherwise this has no relevance other than to go with the "I was at the game, so I know better" line? Sadly for me, I only watched the full match twice, plus the highlights

 

[Poyningsgull]

Never thought we'd see the day when we were outstanding favourites to beat Ajax.

We were outstanding favs to beat AEK as well.!!

 

[portslade seagull]

Rotating the defence every game doesn't help barring injuries

 

[GT49er]

Gros and Gilmour too lightweight, need another midfielder to play with them

I think the suggestion was for Baleba and Gilmour in midfield, with Gross further forward.

 

[Badger Boy]

When we sort out the defence, we'll be unstoppable. We're trying to work out how to play without Caicedo and to a lesser extent, Mac Allister. Mac got through more running than people saw but everyone knew how good Caicedo was defensively. We need to find a new way of protecting our defence but it would really help to have a goalkeeper who could make some saves. Steele's kicking is excellent but his goalkeeping is rubbish.

 

[tstanbur]

He was, apart for the part where he drifted away from Alvarez to leave him with a clear shot for their 1st goal.

On the 2nd part, I assume you were at the game otherwise this has no relevance other than to go with the "I was at the game, so I know better" line? Sadly for me, I only watched the full match twice, plus the highlights

Not at all. I watched on TV. It is relevant asking how you saw the game as it can certainly affect opinions.

 

[Questions]

Shocking ……not clean sheets out.

 

[Machiavelli]

He was, apart for the part where he drifted away from Alvarez to leave him with a clear shot for their 1st goal.

On the 2nd part, I assume you were at the game otherwise this has no relevance other than to go with the "I was at the game, so I know better" line? Sadly for me, I only watched the full match twice, plus the highlights

I was there but, from MotD highlights, I think Baleba could have got closer to Alvarez for their first -- for which Gross was most at fault. I haven't watched the action multiple times, but the 3 of us there all thought Dunk and Fati were our best players. Mitoma came good in the second half too.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

He was, apart for the part where he drifted away from Alvarez to leave him with a clear shot for their 1st goal.

On the 2nd part, I assume you were at the game otherwise this has no relevance other than to go with the "I was at the game, so I know better" line? Sadly for me, I only watched the full match twice, plus the highlights

I was there but, from MotD highlights, I think Baleba could have got closer to Alvarez for their first -- for which Gross was most at fault. I haven't watched the action multiple times, but the 3 of us there all thought Dunk and Fati were our best players. Mitoma came good in the second half too.

I also think Baleba probably should’ve been in the area of where the drawback was put into, if not on Alvarez’s shoulder.