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The second goal was all about where and how we lost the ball in midfield and very little to do with how we defended it subsequently. Players will always look weak positionally when the ball is turned over poorly, although I agree the midfield could have dropped far deeper
kalashnikov wrote:
Screengrab from 2/3 seconds before they scored.
Count the Chelsea players around the box. Then count the West Ham players. 4 v 4. 88mins. Away from home. 1-1. A simple long ball gets lumped forwards. It wouldn't be so bad if it were 3 vs 4, but Moses' run has completely taken our midfield out of the game.
And where are Noble and Kouyate? Well behind the play aren't they.
We'll concede goals this season because those two have close to the worst positional sense of any of the midfielders in the prem. Headless chickens.
Well said, people just don't get it, teams that are solid always have somebody screening their back 4, we have 3 midfielders all doing whatever they want on the pitch with no clear instructions for one to be within 10 yards of the centre backs at all times. Noble is a Jack of all trades, master of none, he is neither a defensive midfielder nor an attacking midfielder. We didn't even get near their 2 **** and slow centre backs because they had 2 players screening the back 4, we always look so vulnerable to counter attacks and long balls, it's just poor organisation and the wrong personell in vital positions.
Said it before, we could have all 3 Juve CB's starting and concede bundles. Noble will never look at the space behind him, he'll just go running towards whoever has the ball whilst Kouyate is looking for any excuse to counter or make a run into the box.
I know he was sloppy last season, but everytime Song played he would consistently be top for tackles and interceptions. Think we should have gone for M'Vila on a free this year.
We'll concede goals this season because those two have close to the worst positional sense of any of the midfielders in the prem. Headless chickens.[/quote]
I bet that's why we got relegated last season then, ffs.
I still think nordtveit will do that job fine... he was of f the pitch at that point, yes? I know he had an awful game but I don't think it reflective of his abilities. Just one of those games....
Xabbu wrote:The second goal was all about where and how we lost the ball in midfield and very little to do with how we defended it subsequently. Players will always look weak positionally when the ball is turned over poorly, although I agree the midfield could have dropped far deeper
There was a lot of time between losing the ball and Matic eventually lumping it forwards.
Noble and Kouyate are marking the center of the pitch. No Chelsea players within 15m of them. They are neither pressing nor dropping deeper to protect the space behind.
I actually the issue is they tend to play as a 2. So they press as a 2 and drop as a 2. Neither are good enough to judge when to press and when to drop. They'd be better off playing staggered. One always slightly deeper than the other and vice versa.
kalashnikov wrote:No it's why we had the worst defensive record of any team in the top 7.
We came 7th. If we'd come 3rd your comment might be fairly shocking. But we came 7th so having the worst defensive record in the top 7 isn't exactly a shock.
Burnley Hammer wrote:I still think nordtveit will do that job fine... he was of f the pitch at that point, yes? I know he had an awful game but I don't think it reflective of his abilities. Just one of those games....
Well said Burnley.
Players normally take time to settle in this league. The way the likes of this lad and Tore have been written off by some after just one game is flippin' ridiculous. They're good players - they'll come through.
kalashnikov wrote:No it's why we had the worst defensive record of any team in the top 7.
fjthegrey wrote:
We came 7th. If we'd come 3rd your comment might be fairly shocking. But we came 7th so having the worst defensive record in the top 7 isn't exactly a shock.
Oh sorry I'll correct myself. We conceded the most goals in the top 7. The next worst team conceded 41 goals - 10 less than ourselves.
That's a shock.
The bastions of defensive stability Swansea and Watford conceded 1 more and 1 less respectively. While the defensive archmaster himself, Roberto Martinez, managed to concede just 4 more.