[Albion] Scarey stat ?

[seagulls4ever]

Huddersfield are -28, Stoke - 33, WBA -26. Three of the other teams are -19 We are -14.

Thanks for stating that. I can see the table

We will finish with a better GD than Huddersfield and Stoke regardless, obviously. If WBA were to overtake us (obviously never going to happen), their GD would likely be better than ours by that point.

That leaves three teams below us with -19, and one with -18 (why leave that one out?)

Like I say, that GD isn't much different to ours. You pointing out the GD doesn't change that. One win for one of them, and a spanking from just one of the big boys we have left to play, could result in any one of those teams on -19/-18 overtaking our GD over the course of a single weekend.

 

[lawros left foot]

Thanks for stating that. I can see the table

We will finish with a better GD than Huddersfield and Stoke regardless, obviously. If WBA were to overtake us (obviously never going to happen), their GD would likely be better than ours by that point.

That leaves three teams below us with -19, and one with -18 (why leave that one out?)

Like I say, that GD isn't much different to ours. You pointing out the GD doesn't change that. One win for one of them, and a spanking from just one of the big boys we have left to play, could result in any one of those teams on -19/-18 overtaking our GD over the course of a single weekend.

The BIG BOYS we've played so far this season haven't really handed us a spanking away from home, Arsenal 2-0, Spurs2-0, Chelsea 2-0, Man Utd 1-0, but, at home Liverpool, 5-1, Chelsea 4-0, so, maybe we should be more worried about Man Utd and Spurs than Man City and Liverpool.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The BIG BOYS we've played so far this season haven't really handed us a spanking away from home, Arsenal 2-0, Spurs2-0, Chelsea 2-0, Man Utd 1-0, but, at home Liverpool, 5-1, Chelsea 4-0, so, maybe we should be more worried about Man Utd and Spurs than Man City and Liverpool.

Jose Mourinho, who knows a bit about football, said we were one of the most difficult teams to play against at Old Trafford. They scored one goal. That was after a dodgy free kick, and GBH on Bong.

 

[darkwolf666]

In case you hadn't realised, this is a thread discussing us AWAY from home.

We all know we've generally been pretty good at home this season. But, as alluded to in the initial post, if we don't improve away from home next season (if we stay up), we'll again be heavily reliant on producing better than expected home form, which won't be easy.

So why do you not think we can improve on this season?

This season was all about consolidation, not about entertainment, not about "going for it" whatever that means!

It was always about damage limitation and securing enough points to make sure that next year we can go one step better!

 

[seagulls4ever]

So why do you not think we can improve on this season?

This season was all about consolidation, not about entertainment, not about "going for it" whatever that means!

It was always about damage limitation and securing enough points to make sure that next year we can go one step better!

I never said I don't think we can't improve on this season. In fact, I think there's lots of room for improvements which we are capable of making. For a (big) start, we need to concede less from set pieces, and score more from them. But I think we've got the basis for a pretty good team, and with a few shrewd improvements in the summer, I'd be pretty confident of staying up again.

 

[perseus]

I’ve been to a fair share of away games this season, and to be honest I wouldn’t say that our tactics have been necessarily down to a lack of ambition, the problem has been our inability to keep possession and string more than 3 passes together, which has simply invited pressure on ourselves and leads to us conceding eventually. That to me is nothing to do with tactics and seems more to me that players are too overwhelmed and go into panic mode, treating the ball like a hot potato. Arguably one of our best away performances was the league game at Man Ure (other than West Ham) and we seemed to pass the ball much better.

CH needs to somehow instill a bit more belief and calmness into our play away from home to keep the ball for longer periods, which then leads to a growth in confidence.

We seem to press less and retreat into our shell more quickly than Huddersfield which means we are both able to restrict opposing opportunities from open play and we have conceded 7 goals from open play away all season, one less than Manchester U at 8,

This strategy makes us more likely to concede from bad luck or a piece of brilliance. But mostly it is conceding set pieces (10). Our passing is middle of the table but this is where Man City (88%) and the other top 5 are far ahead of the rest, but Burnley (70%) are worst of the lot.

I think when Bruno plays we have more composure at the back and the opposition do not get so many crosses in. I was hoping that we could keep our Poyet passing game (as a defensive tactic) when needed, but not all the time, just when we are winning.

We seem to be unhinged a little by pressing sides, esp gegenpressing, but the stats do not bear this out: the opposite.

Incidentally where the stats say we are the best at both not getting dispossessed and failing to trap the ball, Palace are the worst. Not that this seems to mean a lot in results. More likely, attacking sides lose the ball more often.

 

[seagulls4ever]

Jose Mourinho, who knows a bit about football, said we were one of the most difficult teams to play against at Old Trafford. They scored one goal. That was after a dodgy free kick, and GBH on Bong.

And that's one of few away games when we came out of our shell and were a bit more adventurous

 

[Bob'n'weave]

We were a championship side until Jan, bloody miracle to be on 35 points.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

I think the record is 8 since the premier league began. Can we beat it!?

 

[dazzer6666]

We were a championship side until Jan, bloody miracle to be on 35 points.

This. Thought we were favourites to be relegated with a record low points score.......not be 13th with 6 games left.

Anything above 18th will still be a colossal triumph and a platform for next season to move on. CH and team will be as aware as anyone of the areas we need to improve - they’re hardly a secret but if the pragmatic (negative) approach means we secure PL football then fair enough. Sure Bloom’s instructions to CH were ‘you’ve got one job.......’......similar to his first (half) season, which was also pretty shite to watch at times. The awaydays have been fairly grim viewing and the approach will def need to change next season if we want to move onwards and upwards.

 

[seagulls4ever]

I think the record is 8 since the premier league began. Can we beat it!?

Just had a look at Derby in 07/08, who finished the season on 11 points

They managed to gain 3 points away from home all season, scoring 8 goals in the process and conceding 46.

I do hope we can better their tally!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

And that's one of few away games when we came out of our shell and were a bit more adventurous

That's not the game I watched at OT. The league game that is. I think we were slightly more adventurous in the FA cup, but conceded 2 goals.

 

[seagulls4ever]

That's not the game I watched at OT. The league game that is. I think we were slightly more adventurous in the FA cup, but conceded 2 goals.

The game I remember is us being unlucky not to take a point given the threatening positions we found ourselves in throughout the match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t0FLlxPU0k

In the FA Cup, I remember United being extremely comfortable. We had some shots, but we didn't really get into the same dangerous attacking positions as we did in the league.

The same Mourinho you referenced implied we didn't threaten in the FA Cup game, 'long shots etc, but didn't trouble us, we had the game under control' (something like that he said). Although I don't take what managers say particularly seriously anyway. They have many different reasons for saying the many different things they do.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I remember the league game as several crosses going across the 18 yard box with nobody there to put them near the goal. Murray hadn't got the pace to get there.
I've just checked the stats and we had two shots on target, and no corners. Hardly attacking.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

People seem to defend this stat while almost suggesting that our defensive approach, while boring and leading to few goals scored, has somehow been effective. It hasn’t. Not only are we second bottom in the goals scored table, we’re third bottom in the overall away table with 10 points. Only Stoke (8 points) and West Brom (7 points) have done worse. You could also argue that we were fortunate with the timing of our wins as we played West Ham and Swansea at the times they were each the most shambolic, out of control teams in the entire country. It’s been poor in quality, excitement and results away from home. There is no way of dressing it up.

you could argue that, though it’s not really true.

Swansea had won and drawn their previous two home games when we played them, and West Ham had won two of their previous three.

 

[seagulls4ever]

I remember the league game as several crosses going across the 18 yard box with nobody there to put them near the goal. Murray hadn't got the pace to get there.
I've just checked the stats and we had two shots on target, and no corners. Hardly attacking.

Quite a few times we managed to cut them open and get ourselves in a position where the ball just needed to be tapped into the net, which were weren't quite able to do. That is dangerous, attacking play (but doesn't show up as shots on stats). Being forced to have a punt from 25 yards because we can't open teams up isn't dangerous attacking play.

 

[warmleyseagull]

'What were you actually expecting?'

More than 8 goals.

 

[Guinness Boy]

It’s a really poor division so we should have enough to stay up. A couple more seasons of this though and you can forget away ticket binfests and 30k at home.


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