Exeter Blue I am here said:
OB1 said:
It's quite well known in these here parts that one of my favourite stats is shots per game conceded. Sadly we are no longer the team conceding fewest shots: the Rags have that honour with 9.9 per game, the it's our opponents on Sunday, Southampton, with 10; followed by City on 10.1. Narrow enough to maybe change on Sunday.
Last season we did concede the fewest shots, at 9.4 per game. So although we are conceding more shots this season, it amounts to less than one per game. So, with respect to adrianr, his observation does not hold water.
If I didn't know different - thanks to you telling me ;-) - I'd probably have made the same observation as adrianr. I guess then it's just a perception that we concede more shots than other teams, perhaps created by the way we defend and by the number of those opposition chances that seem clear cut (like Nathan Dyer's on Sunday). Whatever, we may not yield many opportunities, but it's still a good job that Joe Hart is the best one on one shot stopper in the world, cos the number of times his Schmeichelesque starfish routine has come to the rescue seems on the high side in my mind
That's the beauty of stats for me, they can help you distinguish perception from reality.
Look I'm a nervous passenger at the best of times in the pantechnicon that is now MCFC. I am "well known" at matches for regularly proclaiming that I won't be happy until we are three up and I've been saying that for years; even when sat there watching games that my head tells me we are not going to concede in.
I think City look far more vulnerable than they actually are defensively. Part of that could be the offside tap: you end up with teams appearing to come close when in fact the trap has worked a treat - effective but tough on the nerves. When it doesn't work, it is a recipe for a one-on-one. It's not just this that makes us look vulnerable. The space we leave in midfield has been done to death and two of my big gripes are cheap fouls that allow opponents to launch high balls in and the failure to prevent opponents crossing in open play.
City have lots of room for improvement but I just don't think we are as far off as many appear to. Also, we are trying to develop a way of playing that will leave us short of numbers at the back at times.