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Defending

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1Defending Empty Defending Wed Feb 16 2022, 12:14

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

Just been looking at the three headed goals by Burton.

The first from a long throw had Bakayoko beaten to a header on the penalty spot in the centre of the goal!

The second had Dadi beaten at the back post from a corner.

The third, from a corner, had the ball again won initially at the back post, then a bit of a scramble with the ball coming to the Burton player (who had previously headed in their second goal) who was left completely unmarked not only from when the corner was being taken but left alone at the near post during the scramble and nodded in the goal completely unchallenged!!!

Now Bakayoko and Dadi are strikers and use to heading, so that should not be an issue for them.  I would suspect they are also use to being brought back for set plays, so although not defenders they should know enough to know what their roles are at corners.

As for the second and third goals - the scorer is Burton's big centre back.  I don't know whose job was it to pick him up at the set plays and he clearly had a bit of flexibility in arriving in the box (his first goal was at the far post, his second at the near post) but surely it was known that he would be up for the corners?

For the third goal it seems to me that Johnston was marking no one - but I don't want to be critical of him as I have no idea of what he was assigned to do - maybe he was doing exactly as he was told to do?

My point though is that all three goals came from the same side - Bolton's left, from aerial balls in from corners or a throw level with the penalty area (ie all coming from the same direction), delivered to the penalty area or back post (ie deep into the defence. rather than near post head ons for players running in for the second ball - and all won (two of which were against our forward players the third seemingly against a mixture of Fosse, MJ and Dadi).

Hard to say what was wrong with our defence - was it a weakness Burton had picked up on - all the goals followed the same pattern within minutes of the game starting, or was it just that Jones absence somehow caused an unexpected weakness in defence?

All a bit disappointing really though as Evatt had planned for this sort of aerial attack.  Players can't win every header they go for I know that but it was bad that no one picked up the bloke who scored their third goal - clearly something went wrong on our defending there.

What views have you got about our defence on the day and in general?

2Defending Empty Re: Defending Wed Feb 16 2022, 12:29

Norpig

Norpig
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

We have been vulnerable to set pieces this season but thought it had improved when we went to a back 3 but it seems to be creeping back to the bad old ways again. Personally i think Johnston is the weak link in the back 3 as he is not physical enough to deal with big CB's on set pieces or big strikers.

We missed Gethin last night so i would go back to Jones, Santos and Aimson from right to left in the back 3.

3Defending Empty Re: Defending Wed Feb 16 2022, 15:30

wanderlust

wanderlust
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Burton negated the shit pitch by keeping the ball off it and the long throws and corners paid off.
We on the other hand, have a team that is built to pass and move - and the pitch limited our chances of doing that - hence more pressure on our goal.
So if it comes down to picking tall attackers to supplement the CBs when they lob it into the box (or we are forced to lob it into theirs) there has to be an understanding about who is doing what and if the ball is anywhere near them, they have to attack it - but it seemed as if nobody was attacking the ball - apart from the Burton players.
Looked like zonal marking gone bad to me, with everyone standing around saying "after you!"
Get back on to the training ground, supplement the CBs with Baka and Bod, and lob the ball into the box until everyone knows what they're doing and they all take responsibility for attacking the ball if comes near them.
Because teams will have watched that so you can bet your bottom dollar we're going to get plenty more of it.

4Defending Empty Re: Defending Wed Feb 16 2022, 17:00

Sluffy

Sluffy
Admin

wanderlust wrote:Burton negated the shit pitch by keeping the ball off it and the long throws and corners paid off.
We on the other hand, have a team that is built to pass and move - and the pitch limited our chances of doing that - hence more pressure on our goal.
So if it comes down to picking tall attackers to supplement the CBs when they lob it into the box (or we are forced to lob it into theirs) there has to be an understanding about who is doing what and if the ball is anywhere near them, they have to attack it - but it seemed as if nobody was attacking the ball - apart from the Burton players.
Looked like zonal marking gone bad to me, with everyone standing around saying "after you!"
Get back on to the training ground, supplement the CBs with Baka and Bod, and lob the ball into the box until everyone knows what they're doing and they all take responsibility for attacking the ball if comes near them.
Because teams will have watched that so you can bet your bottom dollar we're going to get plenty more of it.

Nah, if that was the case they would have been a danger all through the match and the fact was that they weren't.  

Something clearly changed for the good with our defence with the same players on the pitch who defended so poorly in that first 20 minutes.

The stats show that Burton had 8 corners and they scored from their first 2 so clearly we defended them a great deal better than whatever it was that caused us the problems in that six/seven minute spell.

The stats also show us with 61% possession, so whatever our perception of the game was we played a lot of the game on the ground, so being aerial wasn't the only option for the two teams.

I'm tending to think that problem was more to do with the integration and bedding in of all the new players, playing together on the pitch possibly for the first time as such (including training perhaps - or at least not that often as yet?).

For instance Jones was missing, we've only recently started with a back three again and the last time Aimson played he was on the left of the three and yesterday on the right, that Dempsey and not Morley was there to track runners into the box, that Dadi and Baka probably had less defensive training together as they would both more likely have had Charles as the other player in the drills with them, and so on.

That's my take on things anyway.

5Defending Empty Re: Defending Thu Feb 17 2022, 09:08

Bolton Nuts


Admin

wanderlust wrote:
Get back on to the training ground, supplement the CBs with Baka and Bod, and lob the ball into the box until everyone knows what they're doing 

Impossible for us to practice this because we can't cross properly. 

Otherwise. Good points.

https://boltonnuts.forumotion.co.uk

6Defending Empty Re: Defending Thu Feb 17 2022, 10:22

Whitesince63


El Hadji Diouf
El Hadji Diouf

Sluffy wrote:

Nah, if that was the case they would have been a danger all through the match and the fact was that they weren't.  

Something clearly changed for the good with our defence with the same players on the pitch who defended so poorly in that first 20 minutes.

The stats show that Burton had 8 corners and they scored from their first 2 so clearly we defended them a great deal better than whatever it was that caused us the problems in that six/seven minute spell.

The stats also show us with 61% possession, so whatever our perception of the game was we played a lot of the game on the ground, so being aerial wasn't the only option for the two teams.

I'm tending to think that problem was more to do with the integration and bedding in of all the new players, playing together on the pitch possibly for the first time as such (including training perhaps - or at least not that often as yet?).

For instance Jones was missing, we've only recently started with a back three again and the last time Aimson played he was on the left of the three and yesterday on the right, that Dempsey and not Morley was there to track runners into the box, that Dadi and Baka probably had less defensive training together as they would both more likely have had Charles as the other player in the drills with them, and so on.

That's my take on things anyway.
I think the reason we didn’t concede more was luck rather than any improvement at the back Sluffy. There were several other panicky moments that we got away with. We did settle down but to be fair, at 3 up Burton didn’t need to commit more players forward as they did early on. I think Lusty is spot on that we don’t attack the ball, either in attack or defence. Considering the size of Baka and Bod, they are totally ineffective in both areas in regards to heading the ball and it’s a weakness we need to overcome in the summer. 

We need a big dominant centre half, the same at centre forward and also for me an experienced, commanding goalkeeper, which Trafford isn’t. Why Evatt seems to be so fixated with teenagers I just don’t know but frankly, Trafford doesn’t look any better than Crellin. He rarely comes for a cross and soon panics, which surely can’t be good for the defenders. There’s a lot of good about the team but defensively we’re nowhere near, especially when Jones is missing.

7Defending Empty Re: Defending Thu Feb 17 2022, 10:26

wanderlust

wanderlust
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Biggie wrote:

Impossible for us to practice this because we can't cross properly. 

Otherwise. Good points.
Very Happy

8Defending Empty Re: Defending Thu Feb 17 2022, 10:32

wanderlust

wanderlust
Nat Lofthouse
Nat Lofthouse

Whitesince63 wrote:
I think the reason we didn’t concede more was luck rather than any improvement at the back Sluffy. There were several other panicky moments that we got away with. We did settle down but to be fair, at 3 up Burton didn’t need to commit more players forward as they did early on. I think Lusty is spot on that we don’t attack the ball, either in attack or defence. Considering the size of Baka and Bod, they are totally ineffective in both areas in regards to heading the ball and it’s a weakness we need to overcome in the summer. 

We need a big dominant centre half, the same at centre forward and also for me an experienced, commanding goalkeeper, which Trafford isn’t. Why Evatt seems to be so fixated with teenagers I just don’t know but frankly, Trafford doesn’t look any better than Crellin. He rarely comes for a cross and soon panics, which surely can’t be good for the defenders. There’s a lot of good about the team but defensively we’re nowhere near, especially when Jones is missing.
I like Santos, but I'm surprised he's so poor in the air - you'd think that growing up he'd have used his height to his advantage and become an expert at heading, but for some reason he never seems to connect properly with it as his zero goals tally attests.
I suppose the upside is that if he was good in the air and a genuine goal threat at corners he'd be playing in the prem and not for us Smile

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