This quote from Red Nick on another thread got me thinking.
Originally Posted by Red Nick
We havent kept a clean sheet away from home in the premiership
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Very true. However we've also only scored one goal, which was a penalty.
For me our problem is exactly the same as last season. We are unable to break down a defence and I don't think its an issue of individuals or rotation - Our attacking play is too rigid, nervous and predictable. Infact it reminds me of England during the World Cup.
Our attacking options seem to be
1: Shoot from long range.
2: Engineer the move into an oppotunity to cross the ball in from the top edge of the area for someone's head....... and then try to get on the resulting second ball.
3: Play the ball along the floor behind the full backs for the winger to get on the end of and hit it across or maybe the winger just tries to beat the full back to do the same.
4: Try to release a striker (Bellamy) on a quick counter.
And that's it. Surely there has to be more options going forward or am I just getting old ? Is that infact all there is to football ? Do Arsenal, Chelsea and the scum do the same ? Last year we scored 57 while Chelsea got 72, the scum 72 and Arsenal 68
If we were scoring 2 or 3 a game, the frailties of our defence would not seem so important. Are we too focused on our defending ? Are we just not very good at attacking ? Is it actually that our individuals aren't as good as other teams or do we have a fundamental flaw in our attacking play?
........... and we never, ever, ever score from corners.