NC Defence (Discuss)

[Old_pie]

Last season whenever this issue was brought up, it would be swatted away with the fact we had the 2nd best defence record in the NL.
We ended the season at 0.91 goals against per game.

Currently, we are 13th in the defence table, averaging 1.56 goals against per game.
Not a problem so long as you're banging them in at the other end, but the highest placed club in the defence table that we've scored against is Grimsby in 9th.

How does it look over the last 8 games, ie take out the aberration of the first game?

[nw6pie]

I think we’re two players short of being an exceptional, championship-winning side: a quality goalkeeper and a quality (athletic, rugged, ball-playing) centre half. Defence was the one area we didn’t upgrade this summer, so 13th on defensive stats is no surprise.

You just have to compare the quality of the goals we score against those we concede to see where our weakness lies (two scrappy goals conceded from set pieces yesterday).

[upthemaggies]

Surely the main stats were Gillingham were top and Wrexham were 5th whereas Donny were 2nd to bottom and Stockport mid table,quite a lot of the teams at the top don’t have great goal differences ..but have more points.

That's the problem with the actual league table. The cliche is that the table doesn't lie, but that depends on what you're asking it to tell you. If you want to find out who is the best team in the league, it was telling us that Notts were that team for much of last season, but ultimately it turned out to be Wrexham. If we're asking "who is the best team currently", then maybe the current form table is a more reliable source. This is why it's best to look at a spread of tables (home, away, for, against, form) and then you end up joint top of the NC MAD prediction league like me*.


*Won't be able to say that for long, but whilst I can, I'm going to milk it.

[upthemaggies]

How does it look over the last 8 games, ie take out the aberration of the first game?

You could do that for every club though - take out the game they had two key defenders suspended, the one they had the dodgy ref, the games before they brought in so and so. etc.

[Thordardaughter]

For me it comes down to the fact I always get the feeling we will score but I also get the feeling we will always concede at some stage in every game.
We’ve come a long way with Luke Williams but I do believe we are pretty frail at the back at times and could do with some improvement ideally with the players we have already.

[marky]

Recently when doing the prediction I have not felt confident enough to predict a clean sheet for Notts, however I did so for yesterday's game, it's safe to assume I won't be making that mistake again for a while.

[Proactive not Reactive]

That's the problem with the actual league table. The cliche is that the table doesn't lie, but that depends on what you're asking it to tell you. If you want to find out who is the best team in the league, it was telling us that Notts were that team for much of last season, but ultimately it turned out to be Wrexham. If we're asking "who is the best team currently", then maybe the current form table is a more reliable source. This is why it's best to look at a spread of tables (home, away, for, against, form) and then you end up joint top of the NC MAD prediction league like me*.


*Won't be able to say that for long, but whilst I can, I'm going to milk it.

I’ll take 2nd again or even 3rd this season 😜
Well done on being top,don’t think I will be troubling you 🤣

[Old_pie]

You could do that for every club though - take out the game they had two key defenders suspended, the one they had the dodgy ref, the games before they brought in so and so. etc.

The last N games shows us the trajectory we are on. So seeing as you won't do it I've looked at the table for the last 6 games and we have the 2nd best GD, we are the 3rd highest scorers, we have the 7th best defence and 3 more points than anyone else.

But if all that means nothing there's no point in looking at stats is there?

[The_Don_ORiordan]

The way we play is always going to add sone risk.

I think the difference for me was that the goals conceded on Saturday weren’t because of the way we play, they were just really really poor defensive play. In none of the cases were we caught on the break, nor gave away possession deep in our own half. They were just poor.

That needs to change or our position in the table certainly will.

[countygump]

The way we play is always going to add sone risk.

I think the difference for me was that the goals conceded on Saturday weren’t because of the way we play, they were just really really poor defensive play. In none of the cases were we caught on the break, nor gave away possession deep in our own half. They were just poor.

That needs to change or our position in the table certainly will.

What happened with Notts and Darnell Fisher?

Don't tell me, he went fishing.