The Type of Goal we are letting in?

[bat-chain]

Is it me or are they all a bit similar?

Soft undoubtedly but more than that many goals (I'm thinking first goal away at Chelsea, last goal at Liverpool, first West Ham goal, Burnley equalizer away). They all seem to come about because we seem to get easily get overloaded in wide areas. To the point where the opposing team has a free man pop up who then put in a cross which we then fail to defend.

This is in no way an attack on Pochettino, I love the man and think he has our players performing fantastically on the whole, I'm just interested to see what people think he will be making of the goals we are conceding , where will he place blame if anywhere or will he see a fault in the system?

Is it the fault of the midfield not tracking the extra runner as Chadli didn't against Liverpool, the fullback for not blocking the cross or the centrebacks for not clearing the danger once the cross comes in. Probably a bit of all three I'd say but what about you?

Is it possible that other teams have lots of similar overloads in wide areas and balls coming in but they are not an issue because the defenders just win the required headers and clear the ball once the cross comes in? I certainly wasn't impressed with Dier or Vertonghen for either West Ham's goals yesterday but is that fair?

No doubt many of our players have bought in to what Pochettino wants from them but do with closing down and so on but they lack a bit of desire to defend? To block a cross to win a header or is the team set up in such a way they can't help but be vulnerable to balls from wide areas?

 

[Shanks]

Lots of mistakes, first goal - wasn't it Dembele getting caught dribbling the ball out of the box.... quick punt out if in danger, stops that goal happening.

But yeah I know what you mean, scrappy goals being let in - all rather similiar, with someone making a mistake somewhere leading up to a goal.

 

[dagraham]

Our system means that all width must come from the fall backs resulting in them being caught up field quite often. That coupled with them having pretty poor positional sense (especially Rose) makes our flanks a big area of weakness that any decent tactician will look to exploit.

We also miss a Sandro type player as though Bentaleb is going to be fine player, he's not a true DM imo . Mason puts his foot in but we often find losing possession results in the opposition having a clear run at our goal.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Our system means that all width must come from the fall backs resulting in them being caught up field quite often. That coupled with them having pretty poor positional sense (especially Rose) makes our flanks a big area of weakness that any decent tactician will look to exploit.

We also miss a Sandro type player as though Bentaleb is going to be fine player, he's not a true DM imo . Mason puts his foot in but we often find losing possession results in the opposition having a clear run at our goal.

Yep I think a lot of our issues come from the middle of the park, even if ultimately the goals have been coming from wide positions.

Defensively, our midfield has been terrible this season and teams seem to get at our defence a lot more than they should, which is why I don't really understand why we haven't seen more of Stambouli recently.

Obviously once teams get at our defenders there are problems, with none of our full-backs being particularly strong defensively, and Dier and Fazio each having their issues at times, but if we could stop teams getting at our defence so much, maybe that wouldn't be such an issue.

I think a combination of Bentaleb (who I think can be a sort of Carrick-like figure for us given the chance) and a busier defensive midfielder would really help us at the moment, and for me Stambouli is he best option we have in that position.

 

[NEVILLEB]

They do seem to come a lot from crosses

 

[shelfboy68]

Our system means that all width must come from the fall backs resulting in them being caught up field quite often. That coupled with them having pretty poor positional sense (especially Rose) makes our flanks a big area of weakness that any decent tactician will look to exploit.

We also miss a Sandro type player as though Bentaleb is going to be fine player, he's not a true DM imo . Mason puts his foot in but we often find losing possession results in the opposition having a clear run at our goal.

Agree with you but we have been having this problems conceding soft shitty goals, even if we had maldini,baresi and Moore at the back we still would allow daft goals.
I have said for years that there is a soft mentality within the club that seems to attract soft goals and allow good leads and positions to be squandered with realitive ease, and the opposition pick up on this.
The race for top four for example see us and the gooners chase down fourth with on a couple of occasions us being in front of them, but they have the belief that they will make it and we will falter which happens on both counts.
And thats the difference the mindset gets them over the line ours is always bound to fail when presented with an oppurtunity.

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

Is it me or are they all a bit similar?

Soft undoubtedly but more than that many goals (I'm thinking first goal away at Chelsea, last goal at Liverpool, first West Ham goal, Burnley equalizer away). They all seem to come about because we seem to get easily get overloaded in wide areas. To the point where the opposing team has a free man pop up who then put in a cross which we then fail to defend.

This is in no way an attack on Pochettino, I love the man and think he has our players performing fantastically on the whole, I'm just interested to see what people think he will be making of the goals we are conceding , where will he place blame if anywhere or will he see a fault in the system?

Is it the fault of the midfield not tracking the extra runner as Chadli didn't against Liverpool, the fullback for not blocking the cross or the centrebacks for not clearing the danger once the cross comes in. Probably a bit of all three I'd say but what about you?

Is it possible that other teams have lots of similar overloads in wide areas and balls coming in but they are not an issue because the defenders just win the required headers and clear the ball once the cross comes in? I certainly wasn't impressed with Dier or Vertonghen for either West Ham's goals yesterday but is that fair?

No doubt many of our players have bought in to what Pochettino wants from them but do with closing down and so on but they lack a bit of desire to defend? To block a cross to win a header or is the team set up in such a way they can't help but be vulnerable to balls from wide areas?

Dier was ball watching on the first one and couldn't get back far enough to reach it

 

[Always Offside]

If teams are clearly targetting our fullbacks & we're conceding goals from crosses then perhaps it's time to bring Fazio back in for Dier ? Not sure if he was dropped or was injured tbh ?

 

[SlunkSoma]

Lots of mistakes, first goal - wasn't it Dembele getting caught dribbling the ball out of the box.... quick punt out if in danger, stops that goal happening.

But yeah I know what you mean, scrappy goals being let in - all rather similiar, with someone making a mistake somewhere leading up to a goal.

It was awful, but given the way we play now I would expect being dispossessed deep will be a high proportion of the goals we concede.

Another factor seems to be lack of communication between the back four, which will develop in time. So many occasions we've let in goals when we've have 3-4 defenders back yet somehow the opposition finds space.

 

[punkisback]

We are terrible at putting a cross in and defending crosses. The far post fullback always seems to struggle.

 

[Cavehillspur]

We seem to have a habit of messing about with the ball at the back too when there's danger instead of just clearing our lines, we pass it out and take massive risks, even Hugo is guilty of this at times, im surprised we havent been caught out more often.

I was watching the Pool match against Saints on Sunday and there were times when Skrtel just smashed the ball clear into row z, no messing about I watched it thinking our defenders very rarely do that, we just need to keep it simple at times and cut out the farting about. I dont know what the hell Moussa was playing at on Sunday, he actually turned towards our goal and started dribbling into our penalty area, complete and utter madness.

 

[dude573]

Conceding silly goals is something I have always associated with this club. I think Poch has done a great job covering up our defensive cracks with our improving method of attacks. I also think we owe Lloris a lot of gratitude for getting us out of some self created problems.

A lot of the goals come through our left side if I remember correctly, I guess you could blame Rose for a few of them but I think that is slightly unfair as, he essentially marshals our whole left flank on his own, when Eriksen and Lamela drift inside. I think we concede goals because although we're improving in attacks, our fullbacks are often left on their own so far forward up the pitch. I think Poch needs to tell Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli etc what he wants from them, whether they stay wide or drift inward. As impressive as Mason has been this season, I think he has been slightly guilty of losing the ball in midfield too. I think we're conceeding silly goals because to me there is still slight confusion in our play, do we have wingers or attacking midfielders? Who out of Mason and Bentaleb gets forward? And when is it okay for Rose and Walker to bomb forward?

We're playing great stuff at the moment, but Poch still has work to do to regain cohesion in our play, and I am confident he will do so.

 

[Riandor]

Well we are trying hard to play out of the back and mistakes will happen I guess... but Dembele was clearly at fault for the first goal. Terrible place to lose the ball and in such a weak fashion.

We are going in the right direction, but i do think Poch needs to look at a few positions in the summer, wing backs and CM.

Bentaleb and Mason are doing well, but they also need to learn plenty more... mason in particular is having an odd run where he does some good things and then insists on shooting from distance ALL the time. Both Bentaleb and Mason had good cracks from distance, but they need to be cannier in the final third and utilise the players around them and not shoot on sight all the time (IMO).

Our Wing backs look good going forward, but defensively both Rose and Walker have been average at best and that is not because I think they are poor players, but maybe they don't quite have the rounded game Poch's system needs.

Dier is young, he makes mistakes but he is learning and hopefully will progress into a quality defender. He is a big unit and we do need that at the back. I think the issue is Vertonghen is not a natural leader and doesn't always take responsibility for just taking out the danger any old how. He is technically good but we lack a leader at the back, dare I say it, a Dawson, but with better overall ability.