The Soccer Blog: Defense

Showing posts with label Defense. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

A look at our defense

By: Shaun | February 8th, 2011
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Manchester-Uniteds-Nemanj-001 How have our defensive partnerships fared in the 25 PL games played thus far? Just as with the Chicharito post, this is another attempt to use simple stats to measure performance.

As of Feb 6th, 2011, we’ve played 25 league games and amassed a record of 15W 9D 1L. We have conceded 24 goals making it an average of 0.96 gcpg (goals conceded per game). Not great, but not awful either. Thankfully, we’ve mustered up 55 goals for an average of 2.2 goals scored per game. However, our average is skewed slightly by big wins such as the 7-1 victory against Blackburn and the 5-0 win over Birmingham. If you remove those 2 games from consideration, our goals scored per game drops to a mere 1.72 goals scored per game. Not exactly the stats of a goal scoring machine, which then places even more of an emphasis on our defense to stay tight at the back.

25 league games played (15W 9D 1L) / 0.96gcp

Evans/Vidic – 7 games (3W 3D 1L)11 goals conceded/1.57gcpg Win percentage = 42%
Ferdinand/Vidic – 15 games (9W 6D)10 goals conceded/0.67gcpgWin percentage = 60%
Smalling/Vidic – 3 games (3W)3 goals conceded/1gcpgWin percentage = 100%

As is obvious from the above, Ferdinand and Vidic are our best option at the back. Stats were clearly not needed to arrive at that conclusion. The Evans/Vidic combination looks to be the weakest one, at least on paper, with an average of 1.57gcpg. Their record of 3W 3D 1L (and a win percentage of 42%) reads like that of a midtable team. Another way to look at it is the fact that the duo have conceded 44% of the league goals scored against us in only 28% of the games we’ve played. The Rio/Vidic combo on the other hand have played twice as many games and conceded 1 less goal in total. vidic smalling

Smalling/Vidic have a 100% record over 3 games, but it’s impossible to say how good that record would be over 15 games. Would it better than the Rio/Vidic combo? Once again, we won’t know, but Vidic/Smalling have also partnered twice in the Champions League and we won both those games as well. If you’re superstitious, then we should be playing Vidic/Smalling for every game from here on out.

If you isolate the individuals and look at their records in the games they’ve started (irrespective of who they’ve partnered), the trend stays relatively similar.

Vidic – 25 games (15W 9D 1L)24 goals conceded/0.96gcpg54 out of a possible 75 points (72%)
Ferdinand – 15 games (9W 6D)10 goals conceded/0.67gcpg33 out of a possible 45 points (73%)
Smalling – 3 games (3W)3 goals conceded/1gcpg9 out of a possible 9 points (100%)
Evans – 7 games (3W 3D 1L)11 goals conceded/1.57gcpg12 out of a possible 21 points (57%)

In this, Ferdinand appears to have a slight edge over Vidic in terms of goals conceded per game, but their percentage of possible points won are almost identical. Evans on the other hand can’t catch a break as this isolation further reinforces the belief that he is the weak link in our defense this year.

evans2 This is by no means an attempt to call out the firing squad on Jonny Evans. As has been mentioned before, we need to remain patient with him even if every fiber of our being is saying otherwise. We’ve given up on too many bright youngsters who have shown potential and they in turn, have gone on to become superstars (Rossi and Pique would top that list). Of course there’s also the others who we’ve released or sold and they have gone on to become very good PL players, but not necessarily up the standard expected at United. With that said, we find ourselves in a tough spot with Evans since he’s proven himself in prior seasons and is just experiencing an unbelievably rough patch of form this season.

If you need a reminder of his contribution in the past, refer to the previous post. It’ll hopefully aid in alleviating some of the frustration. For now anyway…

Some Related Man United Posts:Jonny Evans will come goodMisc postgame thoughtsBusy last day of the transfer windowMy Christmas wish listMore post Arsenal game thoughts

Category: Man Utd Ramblings, Manchester United

Tags: Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans, Man Utd Ramblings, Manchester United, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand
Tweet « Jonny Evans will come good | Home | Liam_TraffordshirtsStrange that Sir Alex opted for a Vidic/Evans partnership against Wolves when Smalling compliments Vidic well, just like Rio. Vidic doesn't look comfortable alongside Evans and more often than not he's clearing up his mess. I'd still give him time though, at least until the end of next season then maybe make a judgement on his future in a United shirt.LolloOne flaw - the 'S'!! Try defenCe, will be much stronger!blog comments powered by Disqus

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Thursday, 6 January 2011

Let Man City Play Defense, Gooners Should Focus On The Arsenal

By: Sairax | January 6th, 2011
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You have to love living in the internet age. Never have we been more connected with people around the world and never have we been able to have such immediate access to information. Of course this means that we also have the ability to share our thoughts in real time and let our opinions be known to so many more people. I, for instance, no longer share my Arsenal-related thoughts solely to my cat who gazes at me in wide-eyed wonderment as I muse about Cesc and Nasri becoming our very own Xavi and Iniesta.

ceschitspost

What’s my point here? Nothing really, I’m just amused at all of the reaction from last night’s game against Man City. Many gooners out there are upset and frustrated at Mancini’s tactics and his assertion before the game that they came to win. I understand the feeling, but I really am not fussed to be honest. Man City are in a unique position of having ridiculous amount of money to spend. Not just, ‘I can buy and elephant’ kind of money. Not even ‘Can I bring my dog with me when I go on a shuttle tour in outer space’ kind of money. They’ve got, ‘can I resurrect dinosaurs so I can recreate Jurassic Park’ kind of money. So automatically people are going to expect results. Fast-tracking success tends to be built on a solid defense. Even when promoted teams come into the Premier League they make sure they have a solid defense, first and foremost. Birmingham ended up finishing 9th last season, primarily due to their ability to keep the ball out of the net. Once you have that foundation, then you can move on to your attack.

Right now, City’s main focus is to get into the Champions League, and if they are lucky, even win the league. I don’t like their approach and I wouldn’t want Arsenal to go that route, but it is working for them, so I’m not at all surprised that they parked the bus against us yesterday. I think that they would have been better off trying to win though. Man Utd are laughing right now because the two teams chasing them for the title both dropped points. I also think Man City have good enough attacking options that they could have scored against us or even snatched a victory. Surely they’ve seen how other teams have exposed our defensive frailties? Perhaps they could have tried to go for the whole 3 points.

But hey, I’m not really complaining. Why do I care they didn’t want to win? The important thing is that we tried to win. We tried to attack and score, but ultimately it just didn’t work out for us. Reading John Cross today I was struck by his argument that we didn’t shoot enough, or that we could have gone ‘route one’ much earlier in the match. He also claims we didn’t have a shot on target that came from outside the box until the 61st minute (thank you for reminding me in the comments yesterday. I have provided the video of the shot below), which is incorrect as Jack had a strike from outside the area in the first half that stung the palms of Joe Hart (check the MOTD highlights from yesterday around the 3rd minute). We also hit the bar quite a few times, so I don’t think it was a lack of shooting that was our problem. Really, Man City defended resolutely and in large numbers, particularly in the second half. I don’t care what team you are, scoring against such a tight defense is always going to be difficult. Some say we should have put on Bendtner or Chamakh and thrown crosses into the box. Really? Because that worked out so well when we’ve done that against Chelsea in the past. First of all, crossing isn’t exactly our forte. Secondly, City’s players are so huge, they’d be laughing all day long heading out crosses. I think we did try different things in attack. Theo wasn’t able to get crosses in during the second half because Zabaleta was tailing him every second. We brought on Arshavin to try a different approach, but that didn’t end up working out. I think we played a good game, but we lacked a bit of luck. If we were going to get a goal, it would have been during our first half blitz, or it would have had to have come from something very special. We didn’t score, but we got a point and kept a clean sheet. Not great, but not a disaster so let’s all take a deep breath before we start ruing the complacency and wastefulness of Arsenal because I think that’s really unfair on yesterday’s performance by the team. And don’t even get me started on the people saying we should park the bus against Barcelona. There are too many things wrong with that idea that it makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.

With the Man City game out of the way we have gotten through most of our tough fixtures, by which I mean games against the top 5 contenders. We still have to face Man Utd at home and spuds away, and you can throw in Liverpool coming to the Emirates as well. That’s not bad at all, especially considering that Man Utd still have to play Chelsea home and away, spuds away, us at the Emirates, and Man City at Old Trafford. Throw in Liverpool (they beat Chelsea remember?) and that’s a lot of tough games coming up for them. Man City, Chelsea, and the spuds all have tough games ahead, not to mention upcoming ties in the FA Cup, Champions League, and the Europa League. All is not lost, so keep all of this in mind before thinking we have no chance left at the title.

As you probably remember, Sagna picked up a red card last night in the closing minutes of the game. I’m sure Sagna was reacting to something Zabaleta said because Sagna does not lose his cool like that ever. Zabaleta got sent off as well and will be appealing the red card, but we will not be appealing Sagna’s red. Wenger thought both players should have just gotten yellows, but Sagna did go in to headbutt Zabaleta, so the red card can be justified. Wenger probably knows that and looked at the fixtures he’ll be missing and decided that Sagna may as well serve the suspension and get a much needed rest. He’s played all of our games through the Christmas period and is one of our most consistent players, so a rest could do him some good. He will miss out on the Leeds FA Cup tie this weekend, the first leg of the Carling Cup semifinal against Ipswich, and the league match away to West Ham. He’ll also be missing the Barcelona tie in the Champions League due to the red card he received against Partizan, so it looks like Bac is getting his own little winter break.

Speaking of the Carling Cup this weekend, Wenger has indicated that he will be making plenty of changes for the game against Leeds. I think we all expected this. With our opposition being Leeds, I think that our lineup against Wigan would do well against them. Our starters need rest and we have a huge number of games coming in the next couple of months, so rotating is a necessity at this point. Nasri and van Persie have picked up little knocks so there’s little chance we’ll be seeing them. This will gives players like Bendtner and Denilson a chance to get some time on the pitch after being out with injury for so long and then not being able to get in the first team due to other players performing well. Gibbs will be back in the squad and hopefully he will be fit enough to play and not pick up another injury.

In other news, Nasri is currently in talks to renew his contract with Arsenal. Apparently, Barca are after him in the transfer market, but who knows how true that story is. Anyway, I expect him to stick around and we’ll probably hear soon enough that he has officially renewed his contract. Owen Coyle has come out and confirmed his interest in taking Carlos Vela on loan. It would be a good option for Vela and Coyle is doing a great job at Bolton so I have no issues with this. The most important thing is that Vela gets some time on the pitch. Finally, Havard Nordtveit has officially signed for Borussia Monchengladbach and I know you’ll all join me in wishing him all the best in his career.

In case you missed it, here is an interview with our Captain Fabtastic talking about all the lovely trophies he would like to win with Arsenal. I’m sure some will think Cesc doth protest too much and some will think this is proof that he will stay with us, but I say, just watch it like it’s an interview with our captain or else you’ll drive yourself nuts.

I leave you with a few links of some of the more amusing pics and gifs from the Man City game. Eboue knows fashion and Song seems to be paying tribute to his uncle Rigobert with his new look. Look closely and you can see Mr. Arsenal in attendance!

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Category: Alex Song, Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Bacary Sagna, Carlos Vela, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue, Injury Report, Kieran Gibbs, Manchester City, Randoms, Rants, Samir Nasri, Video

Tags: Alex Song, Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, bacary sagna, Carlos Vela, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue, Havard Nordveit, Injury Report, Kieran Gibbs, Manchester City, Randoms, Rants, Samir Nasri, Video
Tweet « Arsenal 0 Manchester City 0: The Mack Truck in Front of City’s Goal is Blocking My View | Home | Melon ManI could be wrong, but I imagine you couldn't "park the bus", even if you wanted to.
That seems to be the only criticism of your style of play I could level at you, and indeed Barca.
You have a way of playing football which is easy on the eye, and brings results more often than not, but Mancini is looking for more flexibility from City.
Perhaps Mancini's vision will not allow for the sort of footballing heights acheived by your club, but with the right personnel, it may be possible. I sincerely hope so, and I believe we've seen glimpses of the future this season, especially with David Silva running the midfield.
It would be nice if other fans recognise City are a work in process, despite the sums of money spent, and recognised the stages neede to reach on the way to the summit - you seem to be intimating you see what is being striven for to your credit.
I don't think we could go head to head with united and Arsenal this season without our best eleven fit and available, it seems sensible not to get beaten, if not for the point gained, but the psychological damage avoided by a heavy defeat - we didn't like the 0-3 loss to you at Eastlands at all.
Good luck to you for the rest of the season.ibrahimlets see if u can park the bus in barcelona match like man city did....Gigi_manI think we can, if we decided to.
But we wont go for that.
If I was AW I would, but I am not, (man am I a kind of Mou..??? noooo).
SairaxI'm assuming this is some sort of sarcastic remark but no we couldn't park the bus like Man City did. We're not equipped to do that as a team. We know that defense is not our forte and much of our game is focused on getting the ball forward and keeping possession. Also, Wenger would not suddenly change tactics like that.Paul_fazSairax,

Thanks for your honest and accurate appraisal of what is only a mid season clash. I am a City fan and understood the respect that we showed to Arsenal, who have been whipping us for years. If we drew then we stayed second, it was a tactical game and not too much more than that should be read into it.SairaxWell, it's not really my cup of tea in terms of style of play, but I can only worry about how Arsenal approach a game. Still think you could have gotten a goal or two if you had pushed numbers forward.

Could you guys at least beat United? Who wants to see them win the league unbeaten? *shudder*blog comments powered by Disqus