Defensively

[colincramb]

I don’t want to turn this into a negative thread, 3 points is 3 points. But, we need to be much better defensively. We can’t, and won’t, continue to win games if we are all over the place at the back - last week proved that.

Question is, what do we do to sort it out? We have good defenders so for me the shape/balance of the team must be the issue. Whatever, it needs fixing otherwise we won’t be where we are in the table for long.

[Donny Viking]

4th in the league and we have to change something???????

[Copps is Magic]

It's not the defenders, certainly not today. Wright, Butler and Marosi put their body's on the line time and time again and kept us in the game.

As Rowe alluded to on the commentary, the it's shaped by the attackers. Crawford is a good player attacking wise but he will do zero defending. Blair does break things up now and again but his next touch he invariably loses it. For me Kane very happily walks back into the team next week. You start defending by retaining possession and we didn't do that today. It took 3 world class deliveries from Copps for us to score.

Rochdale are a good side as well.

[DonnyOsmond]

I wasn't there today but if you put the majority of your players forward you'll obviously leave gaps at the back, it's just a side effect of attacking football.

[colincramb]

4th in the league and we have to change something???????

Who mentioned the league position? Like I said 3 points is at that matters. All I said was we need to be better at the back. If shipping 4 last week wasn’t an alarm bell then I don’t know what is

[Donny Viking]

I mentioned the league position because it's very relevant.

My point is we are defensively frail (as a team) occasionally because of the way we attack. If we strengthen the defense situation then we may lose something going forward. I'm not convinced it's the defenders per say at fault for goals - more a consequence of the style of football we are playing.

And don't get me on last week - how that was 3 - 0 at half time I've no idea. Butler/Marosi and Wright all made very unusual clangers, that was nothing to do with style of football or defensive set up - it's just one of them things - another day creating chances like we did and we go in 2-1 up at half time.

My point is we are 4th and looking good for it - just keep doing what they have done so far this season and we will finish in the play off's and may yet challenge for automatic. Why change things, who knows were we will end up?

[Alan Southstand]

I would argue that it's not just the system but who plays in it. The middle 3 are the beating heart of the side and all 3 have got to be on their mettle. But, I also think the front 3 can help when we don't have the ball, by closing down the opposition cb's or full backs. We do it sometimes but not all the time and that's where we can get better.

Choosing Crawford in that middle 3 was risky, as he doesn't offer much when we don't have the ball, which Anderson does, but then Crawford is the better player with the ball, so it's a tough call. Away from home, I'd prefer us to be tight and unforgiving, much like Accrington are ably doing so far, but it's the manager's choice and he'll stand or fall on those decisions.

As far as Copps goes, please can we stick to playing him on a 7 day cycle, as he demonstrated today, when he's properly fit he still has something to offer, but not so when asked to play 3 games a week. Surely that lesson has been learned?

Nice to see all 3 goals coming from others in the side - long may that continue.

[POD]

If you count the penalty, which came as a result of a corner not being cleared, both Rochdale goals came from set pieces.  We don’t seem to be able to defend them like we used to do in the Rob Jones era. 
The worst defensive error came in the first half when I think it was Danny Andrew misplaced a back pass to Marosi and that let in Henderson for a chance which he should have scored but for a great goal line clearance and then.... the miss of the season as he hit the crossbar with the follow up from six yards.

[colincramb]

Donny Viking

I love the attacking instinct of the team and we don’t want to lose that, all I’m saying is possibly a better balance would achieve even better results? As for last week, yes it was an unusual game; however we still shipped 4 goals and another 2 (we were very lucky it was only 2) today. If we are serious about promotion then not many teams go on to get promoted conceding the amount we currently are.

[idler]

Conceding easy goals at this level would be increased alarmingly at the level above.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Conceding easy goals at this level would be increased alarmingly at the level above.

Good job we're not there then 

[RedJ]

Full backs were dreadful defensively, again. Imo of course.

[StocksArmy]

How has Marosi' s save in the first half not been mentioned?

[pib]

Can’t disagree with the OP.

Anyone who was at the game today can attest that it was a pretty fortuitous win. Rochdale opened us up on numerous occasions and if their finishing hadn’t been dog shit I don’t think we’d have won.

We took most of our chances and nicked the win, but in all honesty we only played 4 or 5 bits of good football all game, and we scored from 2 of them.

We need to be much better than that over the course of the season to be honest.

Crawford looks like he comes alive in the attacking third but doesn’t do much off the ball. J. Anderson looked really good when he came on - physical, energetic, and good on the ball. Also thought Alfie May added nothing and Wilks did more in the 10-15 mins he was on.

[Campsall rover]

How has Marosi' s save in the first half not been mentioned?

Right I am not being negative just stating the facts as I see them. We played better last week and lost 4-0 due to awfull finishing and poor defending. This week it was role reversal. Funny old game this game called football.
Today we should have conceded 4 at least in the 1st half and against any team that can finish we would have done. At least 4 it could have been 5/6.
The problem to me is with the 3 in midfield they are quite narrow and our full backs are exposed.
If we defended with a bank of 4 in midfield the full backs would be getting some protection.
It’s great going forward because we attack with numbers and all 3 midfielders and Copps have attacking instincts but none are very good defensively. Whiteman is doing a reasonable job but he is not a natural defensive player. We missed Kane today because without the ball Crawford is awfull with it he is an asset.
As we are we are going to concede goals so on any day when we don’t score we are going to lose 9 times out of 10
But it’s exciting to watch even though it’s not good for the blood pressure.

[adamtherover]

Alfie  deserved the start after Tuesday night, sadly didn't take his chance.   Wilks will start next week..

[bpoolrover]

I thought may was excellent today, he chased everything down as soon as he went off they had far more time on the ball

[sedwardsdrfc]

If someone's done enough to earn a place in the team they deserve a few starts to show what they can do, unless they have a terrible shocker. Wilks will get his place back soon no doubt but would be hard on May to drop him straight away

[Campsall rover]

I thought may was excellent today, he chased everything down as soon as he went off they had far more time on the ball

Sorry for all May’s effort Wilks is three times the player he is. Which one would you prefer to defend against most. Well I know which one I would prefer.
Opinions opinions opinions. We all see thing differently.

[RoversAlias]

Full backs were dreadful defensively, again. Imo of course.

Agreed, Mason was annihilated by Clough in the first half especially.

We improved defensively after the break and only conceded because we again can't defend set pieces and because our centre forward gave away a penalty. We made some great blocks, Marosi one or two great saves and Wright and Butler marshalled Calvin Andrew well when he came on to cause trouble. He killed us in the FA Cup tie back in January so I feared a repeat today but we dealt with him.

I think we've been alright defensively, our playing style means we tend to be a bit more open at the back. Rochdale are a good side who played good stuff today in the attacking third. Our defence isn't doing too badly and we are 4th in the table so no cause for great concern right now I don't think.

[Campsall rover]

Alfie  deserved the start after Tuesday night, sadly didn't take his chance.   Wilks will start on Tuesday nite...

We don’t have a match this Tues night.

[RedJ]

Alfie  deserved the start after Tuesday night, sadly didn't take his chance.   Wilks will start on Tuesday nite...

We don’t have a match this Tues night.

Exactly.

[IDM]

So after just over a quarter of the season gone we have 24 points from 13 games and are 4th..

Clearly not playing well every game and in every position..

Wonder where we will be when we find some decent consistent form for a few games.!!

[drfchound]

It is interesting that the people complaining that we concede from set plays have forgotten to also mention that we scored from one as well.
There are plenty of goals in all four divisions that come as a result of set plays.

As for the OP, just remember that last season the emphasis was on being good defensively but good grief, it was so boring at times.
It is much more enjoyable watching us this season and don’t forget that the results speak volumes.

[GazLaz]

Andrew made a massive error in the first have when they should have scored.

[adamtherover]

Defensive errors to one side, there was also some majestic last ditch bodies on the line clearances as well. And Marko was immense..   there were 2 wpix saves he made after the ball finally got past the back line...

[Alan Southstand]

After reading the Free Press ratings for yesterday's game, I wonder if some of you, or the FP, were actually at the same game!

[adamtherover]

We were exposed down the right hand side time after time..   Every time rhey attacked it looked like they could get a quality cross in..

[Alan Southstand]

Which is what we are going to get until Crawford realises it's ok to tackle someone.