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Case for the defence and stats tell the sorry story

By Claret and Hugh follower Matt COYI Briard

I think we can all agree this season has been a total nightmare and the quicker it ends the better.

We have won seven PL games this season, of which five were won by not conceding a goal. I have been looking at the stats for this season so far and two clubs in the top ten, Sheffield Utd and Crystal Palace have scored five and seven goals less than us but sit eighth and 10th respectively.

The problem is we have conceded 23 and 18 goals more than both teams in the games we have played! Doing some more research in the last five seasons we have been in the bottom six every season for goals conceded including the last season at UP.

We are currently joint fourth worst with Southampton and they conceded nine in one game! So our recruitment policy has been to buy flair players (Anderson, Yarmo, Wiltshire, Lanzini and Fornals) when we have clearly needed defenders and box to box midfielders.

We have neglected the defence and running power in the centre of midfield and in the process are paying a small fortune in transfer fees and wages. We are NOT Man City and can play with luxury players (who still put in a shift ), we need eleven committed players who will run and run not much to ask is it?

Take Sheff Utd- a team of bang average Championship players,  who, apart from Henderson is one from and from whom most of us would not wish to sign any players.

But given their team formation, the desire shown by every player, and playing for the manager with no big egos they have been brilliant. So we don’t have the personnel and the next move is to change the formation.

Declan is a country mile our best player so play him in a three man defence with Diop and Ogbonna and let’s try and tighten the ship at the back.

Declan is not going to score goals or get assists, so let’s make the most of him to save our season. We don’t concede we don’t lose, yes it’s a BFS mantra, but it’s true; the teams that concede the most goals go down last four out of five  seasons – FACT.

If we are to stay up we need to stop conceding goals and  work much harder from front to back. We keep seven clean sheets we stay in the PL. Whatever happens at the end of the season, the squad needs a big overhaul and it needs to start with the defence.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

14 comments on “Case for the defence and stats tell the sorry story

  1. Desire and heart is our biggest weakness…most of them are just lazy ..with a few exceptions…ie rice, bowen snod…
    Lanzini and Anderson just to names couple dont want to be here ..that’s why we will go down…foreigners in a relegation fight are a waste of time …

  2. Think you’ve got that bang on Hugh but will our manager see it, I for one doubt it very much.

  3. Agree always thought you built a team from the back. Say what you like about Allardyce – guess what he built from the back.seem to remember we stayed up. Quite right we need to stop conceding.

  4. Totally concur with the logic in this piece and it hits the proverbial nail on the head. Our goals against is awful and our flair players Anderson and Lanzini underperforming and lack fight. Agree with Dec in a back three with Sousec in front, full.backs defend first attack second. Play on the break with a template break. No long ball to lone striker crap. Score one to win.

  5. Seriously it hasn’t taken until now to work this out.
    My only surprise is its not a worse record.
    We have had poor full backs for 3-4 years, anyone who say Cresswell used to to good a couple of years ago forgets he had Payet in front of him and no one wanted to commit players forward. Since Payet went its our weak point.
    How we gave Cresswell and Masuaku new contracts are a complete mystery.
    We went cheap on a right back from the championship, and have made do with Antonio and pretty much anyone else who will give it a go. Really poor recruitment, sounds familiar.
    As for the centre backs, I can’t remember the last time we had a really good centre back.
    Our midfield has to play so deep to cover the defence its a joke.
    I always ask myself, who would get in another premier league team ? hmmm.
    How can a squad with the 8th highest wage bill have no forwards and no proper defenders, its a joke.

    • Whoa Dave!!

      Diop and Rice are quality Centre-backs (Rice could pretty much play well almost anywhere on the pitch?!) Ogbonna (Italy international) and Balbuena (Paraguay Capt.) are Premiership quality, but what they all lack is support from the Full backs and Midfield.
      Too much emphasis on getting forward to support the attack?

      OK, Nobody really wants to go back to BFS, but is David Moyes any better?

  6. You make some very interesting points Matt, our transfer budgets haven’t been utelised at full back for a generation. On the flip side, we released five strikers in one year and replaced them with two none has any PL experience and one never plays to gain any!
    The balance of the squad requires recalibration no doubt, that being said we have to keep hoping that we can play the final six fixtures without further injury to the one recognised striker Haller.
    We took an almighey gamble slashing the wage budget to claw back some of the losses from previous spending and now we see the folly of allowing the Dof F to not sign two additional forwards.

  7. Good article Hugh.Its rather perplexing that we as fans can see the problems.Too many flair players not enough grit.A dodgy defence that always caves in eventually and missing a real box to box midfielder.When are we going to get a manager who can see and address these problems.

    • I think Moyes can see them but he’s not had long to address them. Soucek and Bowen seem like good signings and some of exactly what we need, legs and energy.

      If we can survive I’m pretty sure Moyes will be looking for more players along the lines of exactly what you’ve said we need.

  8. Old adage: Offence sell tickets, defence wins championships.
    BFS would have us parking the bus. Did that successfully against Chelsea a few years back, when the “Special One” managed them. Can’t do that with the tiny-tots on our payroll.

  9. Good piece. My only additional thought would be that while the defence is responsible for conceding goals, our complete lack of cohesion in the final third contributes to it because they don’t retain the ball. How many times have the defence and midfield scrabbled to get the ball away, only to see it come straight back because Anderson et al give it away cheaply? Must be maddening for Dec and co. The front three/four have been headless chickens apart from when Haller and Antonio played together.

    • I agree Chris, not conceding goals is a real team thing, not just the defensive players.

      • I have been saying it for years now. A solid defence breeds confidence throughout the team. Then the “flair” players ” are more likely to perform.

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