Goals Conceded

In our last 6 league matches we've conceded:

4 against Forest
4 against Watford
1 against Fulham
4 against Derby
2 against Wolves
4 against Rotherham


That's an incredible 19 in 6 averaging 3.16 per game. I'd be surprised if any other team in the Football League has such a poor defensive record.

Is this because..
a) Lennon's plan to push on and play more strikers has weakened defensive cover and he's gambling?
b) the players are shit?
c) the players are OK but Neil hasn't found the right combo?
d) the players OK most of the time but they've just had a poor 6 weeks?
e) other...?


Whatever the cause, somewhere back there Lennon seemed to get it right defensively and if we aren't going to find ourselves in even deeper sh1t he needs to get us back to that and soon.

Or find an alternative.

Conceding >3 a game, we have no chance of survival, never mind the playoffs (really?) so it has to stop.

Ideas?

wanderlust wrote:In our last 6 league matches we've conceded:

4 against Forest
4 against Watford
1 against Fulham
4 against Derby
2 against Wolves
4 against Rotherham


That's an incredible 19 in 6 averaging 3.16 per game. I'd be surprised if any other team in the Football League has such a poor defensive record.

Is this because..
a) Lennon's plan to push on and play more strikers has weakened defensive cover and he's gambling?
b) the players are shit?
c) the players are OK but Neil hasn't found the right combo?
d) the players OK most of the time but they've just had a poor 6 weeks?
e) other...?


Whatever the cause, somewhere back there Lennon seemed to get it right defensively and if we aren't going to find ourselves in even deeper sh1t he needs to get us back to that and soon.

Or find an alternative.

Conceding >3 a game, we have no chance of survival, never mind the playoffs (really?) so it has to stop.

Ideas?

We are relegation fodder right now and should be thankful that Wigan and Blackpool are so poor.  Add Rotherham to the relegation mix and perhaps we are safe.  It's difficult to believe that we are the same team that could have knocked off Liverpool with such a tight defense.  What happened?  Perhaps losing Pratley and Mills to injury?  Perhaps Lonergan needs a rest (and may get it after his head injury)?  Perhaps the offensive strategy leaving us vulnerable on the counter attack?  With all the injuries it seems the team has fallen apart.  Only a few weeks ago we were brimming with confidence.  Then the injuries mounted higher and higher.

We've not had a settled back four for ages and that's not helping matters.

But there's obviously more to it.

The players don't look confident to me and we're plagued by individual errors in every game which are costing us.

We need to get back to basics and start doing the fundamentals right - defend tight, cut out the errors, play as a unit and develop some rapport.

For now, forget trying to go on the attack, because as Lusty says, if you ship three goals every game, you will go down.

And where's McNaughton?

latest form table...we need to improve

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B), our defenders are fucking shite and should be run out of town!!!!

This is going to sound glib now, but in Scotland, pretty much everybody other than Celtic are shite so Lennon never really had to worry too much about defending because his forwards would always score than the opposition.

I fear he's being found out now.......

Not having proper full-backs doesn't help.

Why McNaughton isn't playing I don't know, he's no world beater but he's solid. Ream is no full-back, yet has been playing there under two managers.

But the main reason for our soft centre is the total lack of leadership on the pitch - we need a captain more than anything else.

To be fair to headless chickins bonce, our defenders need another 10 yards of pace before they can be compared!!!!

bryan458 wrote:To be fair to headless chickins bonce, our defenders need another 10 yards of pace before they can be compared!!!!

Fair point.

There all just "gamblers" Mills/Dervite/Wheater/Ream/Moxey 

diving in when they don't need to, coming and trying head balls they have no chance of winning always playing too tight on nippy strikers.

their intelligence is very low. 

Lennon is having the same problem as Dougie at the back, poor individuals making poor decisions. Still it's his job to fix it so he'll have to work it out soon.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:
Lennon is having the same problem as Dougie at the back, poor individuals making poor decisions. Still it's his job to fix it so he'll have to work it out soon.

Simple: P45's all round.

Agreed! !!!, show em the door.

Got to agree with what Nat has said about McNaughton, when Dougie brought him in last year he was solid at right back.

I know he was injured when Vela was thrown in at right back but to put Ream at right back and a complete unknown at left back is just fucking madness.

i said it on the chatbox and has already been mentioned here, McNaughton needs to come in at right back with Ream or Moxey at left back. We can score goals but need to tighten up before we get pulled into a real relegation battle.

Breadman wrote:This is going to sound glib now, but in Scotland, pretty much everybody other than Celtic are shite so Lennon never really had to worry too much about defending because his forwards would always score than the opposition.

I fear he's being found out now.......

This exact thing crossed my mind yesterday as well. It didn't particularly matter in the SPL if his defence was a bit shit because they wouldn't get shown up every week because of the quality of the opposition.

He's struggling to sort it out because it's a learning curve for him and he's not sure what to do about it and is beginning to panic a little so is trying to change things constantly to find a remedy. This is why we have Ream at right back, Twardzik at left back and ended up with Heskey in the centre back position. As others have said, he needs to get back to basics, get a settled back four and most of all put square pegs in square holes.

He needs to learn pretty quick because if we need to score five goals every week to have a sniff of winning a game we will struggle big time.

I don't think it is that myself.

I think the defensive problem is (from reading between the lines of what Lennon said after the Watford game) is that Lennon wants the team to play zonal, whilst the players aren't executing the plan very well.

From the bits of game clips I've seen - obviously I'm not really in any position to judge without seeing the games for myself - Lennon brought in the zonal defence from the early part of his time with us and that intially we had great success with it - several clean sheets.

I think we have now been well scouted by clubs who now are countering our defence in the way they set up and play - and also that some players that come in to the team (like Wheater v Watford) simply have trouble changing their 'natural' style to adapt to the required set up.

I could of course be miles wrong but I think our problem is more to do with systems and players ability than anything to do with how Lennon managed against weak attacks in the SPL.

I think Lennon definitely has a preference for attacking wingbacks rather than FBs that can be part of a disciplined back 4. Janko was a revelation in his first game - playing as a winger! If he goes with 3 CBs and 2 wingbacks, unless the wingbacks have big enough engines and enough discipline to get back as well as forward all day long we're bound to be exposed sooner or later. Forest killed us in the wide positions with Burke and Antonio having a field day.
If he goes with a traditional back 4 it will definitely take something away from the midfield/attack which means he won't be able to play 2 (and certainly not 3) strikers. Going down that route will take him straight into the problems Freedman had - the very problems Lennon has been trying to resolve. Ideally we'd build on a solid defence but when Freedman tried to sort it out he was cursed with the immediate injury to Tierney and he never really resolved the RB situation although we're all left wondering what McNaughton has done and why White faded from contention so quickly. Either way at best we could have a solid back four but without pace - and that would mean compromises further forward. Doubt that will happen as Lennon has already bet the ranch on recruiting a shedload of strikers to fire us out of trouble - which may work some days but hasn't recently. Mjallby and Parker are going to have to work wonders with what they've got to turn the defensive record around but I'm not sure Lennon will give them the bodies to work with given his obsession with strikers.

Ultimately, I think Nat is right but how could we possibly replace the players we have with the quality we need given our financial situation? That's the problem that any Bolton manager will have to face until we find a buyer or the Board decides to gamble again.

McNaughton will surely play against Boro by default, no one else left, Moxey at left back with Wheater and DeVite in the centre. With that defence we surely have to go five in midfield with one up front, probably Heskey or Davies, no width and less of a threat going forward but may frustrate Middlesbrough if we don't gift them an early goal (unlikely I admit).

Ream started the match yesterday at right back, and I'm disappointed that Lennon didn't think he'd look completely uncomfortable there, which he did.

For me, Mills, Dervite and Wheater have had a dire month between them. One thing that did improve when Lennon first came in was the constant lazy aimless booting up field from Mills and Dervite, and it's crept back into their play recently, especially Dervite.