Defensive frailties

L

lostinyorkshire

Well-known member
As good as we are going forward will our defence cost us promotion?

The old adage goals win games defence wins titles!

Obviously injuries are hitting us hard but right now you have to say Luton have got to be favourites as they simply defend better than the other teams in the hunt!

Personally I think we need fry back with lenihan and giles or we will falter
 
They didn't defend that well when we put one past them at their place a couple of weeks ago, only to be undone by poor reffing.

Luton will give us nothing to fear if we meet them at Wembley
 
I do not fear anyone in a one of game at Wembley, the pitch will give us width and allow our forwards to play football. Your point on our defence is valid though and it is the leakiest of the contenders (although equal to Sunderlands). If we can field Smith, McNair, Lenihan and Giles in all games we’ll be fine. I just hope Jonny H. Is fit too for CM.
 
Luton are obviously a good team which is why they are where they are in the league but so are we. We score more goals than them at 1.84 goals per game, compared to 1.27 for them and we concede more 1.22 compared to 0.87 for them. That makes us 0.22 goals per game better than them.

If you round things to the nearest whole number then on average we score 2 per game, they score 1. We both concede 1 per game. I think they will be more scared of our attack than we are of their defence and they don't score a lot of goals. I.e. we will probably concede a goal but it doesn't matter because we will probably score more than 1.

Last time we were at Wembley we had a style of football that relied on us getting the 1st goal and then holding it. Once we went behind I wasn't confident of getting back in it. With this team I am always confident that we can turn it on and score 2, 3 or more.
 
'Goals win games' - good job we've got a short series of games then I suppose. This is a knockout rather than a league so we have a great chance. Not certainties by any means, and I agree Luton will be favourites, but we are definitely in with a shout.
 
CarrickBall said:
We had 1 shot on target.

They're unbeaten in 13 games.
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They'll be favourite as they finished above us.

However, we've won more games in the league than them this season, and scored more goals by nearly 30.

We've beaten them once already this season. I'd fancy us to beat them in a one off.
 
Way_Out_West said:
They'll be favourite as they finished above us.

However, we've won more games in the league than them this season, and scored more goals by nearly 30.

We've beaten them once already this season. I'd fancy us to beat them in a one off.
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I'd give us a chance for sure, but there's no discrediting of Luton.

They finished above us
They beat us last week
They are unbeaten in 13 games

We weren't undone by a dodgy referee at Luton, or at Rotherham.

Those decisions went against us, but we had 2 shots on target combined in the two games, can't keep a clean sheet to save our lives (2 out of the last 15), have lost 4 out of the last 7 and have let our standards drop.

We're going to have to be back to our usual standards to beat anyone in the hunt, never mind Luton at Wembley.

A good performance and a win would help on Monday, for confidence and mood amongst the players and the fans.
 
CarrickBall said:
I'd give us a chance for sure, but there's no discrediting of Luton.

They finished above us
They beat us last week
They are unbeaten in 13 games

We weren't undone by a dodgy referee at Luton, or at Rotherham.

Those decisions went against us, but we had 2 shots on target combined in the two games, can't keep a clean sheet to save our lives (2 out of the last 15), have lost 4 out of the last 7 and have let our standards drop.

We're going to have to be back to our usual standards to beat anyone in the hunt, never mind Luton at Wembley.

A good performance and a win would help on Monday, for confidence and mood amongst the players and the fans.
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Miserable get.
 
Over Carricks 30 ish games we have conceded 34 , Luton 25 , hardly huge differences. Yet banged in 27 more than them over the same games.. PLay offs are not averages of whats gone before. We have shown plenty of times we can score 3 in a half , and coming from behind as well too. I'd rather take our actual 'proven' strengths into the play-offs than any other teams lack of 'perceived' average weakness
 
coluka said:
I do not fear anyone in a one of game at Wembley, the pitch will give us width and allow our forwards to play football. Your point on our defence is valid though and it is the leakiest of the contenders (although equal to Sunderlands). If we can field Smith, McNair, Lenihan and Giles in all games we’ll be fine. I just hope Jonny H. Is fit too for CM.
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Wembley looks wider than it actually is.. I was surprised when I researched it..

Riverside and Ewood Park are the widest pitches both 69m wide..

Wembley is 68m wide...Coventry city 68m wide.. Millwall 68m wide....Sunderland 68m wide... WBA 68m wide...

Only Luton at 65.8m play on a narrower pitch.
 
coluka said:
I do not fear anyone in a one of game at Wembley, the pitch will give us width and allow our forwards to play football.
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Actually, the pitch at Wembley is the same size as the Riverside, and 4 yards longer, and 2 yards wider than Kenilworth Rd.

I don't get this notion that Wembley is so huge that it's going to help or hinder any team. Do you really think 1 yard on either side and 2 yards at either end will make any difference?
 
It’s crazy that we’ve only kept one clean sheet away from home all season, against Blackpool.

That’s quite poor. Thankfully we do score for fun, but definitely something that needs improving in the summer.
 
Way_Out_West said:
They'll be favourite as they finished above us.

However, we've won more games in the league than them this season, and scored more goals by nearly 30.

We've beaten them once already this season. I'd fancy us to beat them in a one off.
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We're favourites for promotion. Bet 365 has us as 13/8 and Luton at 5/2.

Soutra said:
Actually, the pitch at Wembley is the same size as the Riverside, and 4 yards longer, and 2 yards wider than Kenilworth Rd.

I don't get this notion that Wembley is so huge that it's going to help or hinder any team. Do you really think 1 yard on either side and 2 yards at either end will make any difference?
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Your numbers make it sound small but it works out in area as an extra 520 square metres (6,619m^2 v 7,140m^2). It's about 8% bigger.
 
CarrickBall said:
We had 1 shot on target.

They're unbeaten in 13 games.
Click to expand...
They must be due a defeat then.

Luton aren’t a better side than us, they tend to bully teams and try to kick their way to a win. I honestly feel we will give them a football lesson if we both reach Wembley.
 
Soutra said:
Actually, the pitch at Wembley is the same size as the Riverside, and 4 yards longer, and 2 yards wider than Kenilworth Rd.

I don't get this notion that Wembley is so huge that it's going to help or hinder any team. Do you really think 1 yard on either side and 2 yards at either end will make any difference?
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It’s not just the little pitch at Kenilworth Rd, it is the tight ground with stands on top of the pitch.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
They must be due a defeat then.

Luton aren’t a better side than us, they tend to bully teams and try to kick their way to a win. I honestly feel we will give them a football lesson if we both reach Wembley.
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Hopefully they're due one!

I think we tend to struggle against teams that play just like that.. Stoke came to the Riverside and did it to us, Rotherham on Monday..
 
lostinyorkshire said:
As good as we are going forward will our defence cost us promotion?

The old adage goals win games defence wins titles!

Obviously injuries are hitting us hard but right now you have to say Luton have got to be favourites as they simply defend better than the other teams in the hunt!

Personally I think we need fry back with lenihan and giles or we will falter
Click to expand...
Why does defending better count more than being better going forward? We have a +28 goal difference, they have +18. Which is better? Plus we're not looking at winning titles, the play offs are very much about "winning games" .So surely the old adage favours us?
 
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