taleofbluehalves
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- 19 Oct 2010
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There has just been four shots on target – just four – against us in our last four league games and only 17 for the campaign so far.
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Is Pep a defensive genius?
- Thread starter taleofbluehalves
- Start date
Saddleworth2
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- 27 Jan 2014
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I think he is a genius coach. We shouldn't forget Eddie in all of this. As well as a good stop shopper, he is our sweeper and the equivalent of an extra defender. Look at the way he blocked Kane last night and the number of times he goes walkies to mop up trouble behind the defence. He is as important as our centre backs in keeping us safe.
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Deleted member 77198
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Pep has only conceded 277 goals in 10 and a bit seasons as a manager.I think pep has had the best defence everywhere he has been,does someone have the stats from spain and bayern that showed it please
Barça B 41; Barça 35, 24, 21, 29; Bayern 23, 18, 17; City 39, 27, 3.
In that time his goal difference is +762
I think the key lies in being an XI man team. You might say “but all teams have XI men?!” But most only have ten who are part of the passing structure. The ‘keeper for many teams is a last resort passing option when people ahead of them aren’t finding space (hence down the years - and we still have fans who do it - where passing back to the ‘keeper was met with groans!)
When you have XI outfield players you keep the ball more. Keeping the ball is the best form of defence. The second best form of defence is having good defenders and that starts with your front three, not your back four. If your front three know how to defend from the front then it makes your defence ten times better from the back.
This is why I’ll never understand why teams just sit back and defend in games (not just against us) because that invites pressure into your own goal. It makes no real sense to defend like that because you have to be very very good at breaking quickly to get a scoring chance if al you do is sit back.
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wagonman
Well-Known Member
"Our defence can be got at..."
What the fuck does that mean?
JJ
What the fuck does that mean?
JJ
blue by birth
Well-Known Member
Our defence can be exploited. Throw any stats you want out there but if you are playing in a possession based team then you are obviously going to concede less chances leading to less goals being conceded. We are far from bad at the back but we have seen whenever a team presses us we have mistakes in us.
Yeah I agree that your team's defence can be exploited..how many goals has the alpaca conceded now...
"Our defence can be got at..."
What the fuck does that mean?
JJ
I think it means that if you get the ball off us, then get past the best press in world football (statistically in terms of ball recovery), then get past Fernandinho, while catching Mendy and Walker up the pitch, you can get a shot on target - as long as you have enough forwards to bypass Stones and Laporte and Ederson doesn't sweep it up
That's crazy! I seem to remember some of our wonderful TV experts saying he can't defend and his football wont work in the big hard Premier League lolThere has just been four shots on target – just four – against us in our last four league games and only 17 for the campaign so far.
Lancet Fluke
Well-Known Member
I had an argument on here with someone about two thirds of the way through Pep's first season. He said Pep would end up with the best defensive record in the prem because he just does, wherever he goes. At that point I thought that was pretty much an impossibility because we were so poor at dealing with counter attacks. Obviously I was totally wrong. There were a couple of games early this season where I thought our vulnerability to counter attacks was creeping back in but that has largely been nipped in the bud. It's staggering the defensive record especially as I still look at how high we defend, how open we sometimes look and some of our individuals in the defence who I think look like they could be "got at" and think it should be a disaster. But it works and is definitely a big part of Pep's undoubted genius. I think Ederson's ability to play as a sweeper has been huge in it all but the whole team works so hard and every one of them deserves enormous credit for the defensive stats.