64 Goals Conceded in 35 Games, Where did it all go so wrong?

[Will1981]

We are pretty much nailed on to go down as we have leaked goals at an alarming rate with teams scoring against us for fun, so I decided to see which players played the most minutes for us per goal conceded.

 

Goalkeepers

 

Ward 2340 minutes played 46 goals conceded (50.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iversen 810 minutes played 18 goals conceded (45 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Defenders

 

Amartey 1610 minutes played 27 goals conceded (59.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Castagne 2987 minutes played 59 goals conceded (50.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Evans 811 minutes played 24 goals conceded (33.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Faes 2517 minutes played 47 goals conceded (53.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Justin 1254 minutes played 25 goals conceded (50.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Kristiansen 894 minutes played 21 goals conceded (42.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Ricardo 385 minutes played 9 goals conceded (42.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Souttar 900 minutes played 19 goals conceded (47.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Soyuncu 529 minutes played 13 goals conceded (40.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Thomas 868 minutes played 18 goals conceded (48.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Midfielders

 

Dewsbury-Hall 2244 minutes played 40 goals conceded (56.1 minutes per goal conceded)

Mendy 731 minutes played 12 goals conceded (60.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Ndidi 1531 minutes played 37 goals conceded (41.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Praet 639 minutes played 10 goals conceded (63.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Soumare 1365 minutes played 26 goals conceded (52.5 minutes per goal conceded)

Tielemans 2080 minutes played 45 goals conceded (46.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Attackers

 

Barnes 2540 minutes played 48 goals conceded (52.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Daka 1124 minutes played 23 goals conceded (48.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iheanacho 999 minutes played 23 goals conceded (43.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Maddison 2259 minutes played 50 goals conceded (45.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Tete 710 minutes played 14 goals conceded (50.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Vardy 1685 minutes played 34 goals conceded (49.6 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Our Best XI

 

Ward

 

Castagne - Amartey - Faes - Justin

 

Praet - Mendy - KDH

 

Tete - Vardy - Barnes

 

 

 

Our Worst XI

 

Iversen

 

Ricardo - Evans - Soyuncu - Kristiansen

 

Tielemans - Ndidi - Soumare

 

Maddison

 

Nacho - Daka

 

Conclusion

 

Ward has conceded less per minute than Iversen but Ward played all of his games under Brendaball whereas Iversen has been in goal for Smith's more gung-ho style

 

Justin has been very solid and is a big miss, Amartey has been by far our most solid central defender.

 

Mendy and Preat have been criminally underused as our most solid midfielders, Ndidi has been a complete liability and statistically we concede the most goals per game when he is on the pitch.

[South Shire Fox]

Justin has been solid and Amarteys been our most solid central defender? We can all see with our own eyes thats not true

[LVFox]

A) we didn't plan for Fofana going

B) we didn't recognise Evans is a walking sick note

C) we never sorted out a solid CM. Imo Ndidi should have been given more time at start of season and then in January we should have moved for someone solid and dependable.

D) Ward should have been dropped way before he was.

 

 

[Gamble92]

Ward - not even league one quality seriously, I wouldn't be surprised to see him forced into early retirement off the back of this season.

 

Iversen - will be good enough for Championship

 

And out of the list of defenders 

 

Amartey - got away with being a shit bit part player and found out massively this season. Shit

 

Kristensen - young lad, like his passion. Not at the level needed yet. Feel for him being thrown into this at 19.

 

Thomas - nowhere near the level needed

 

Soy - only defender we have that's genuinely class, and our dwarf manager ruined all of that, like the rest of the club

 

Ricardo - nowhere near it since the injuries and when he has played just isn't at the level he once was. Likewise Justin 

 

Faes - started off well but just creates even more panic and confusion in the defence. So I'll disciplined for a centre back it's actually quite ameteurish at times

 

 

I don't know who I've missed out. Evans? Isn't playing and will retire anyway. 

 

And a board who have let all this happen to the squad and clearly thought we could ride it out and have been massively found out.

 

Maybe instead of meetings about goal music and clappers we could get a few meetings to ask what the **** they've done to our club for the past few years.

[FOXSE]

Where dis it go wrong?

 

1. Not signing a genuine No.1 quality keeper when it was decided Kasper was going

 

2. Debacle at the start of the season selling Fofana. Needed to sell before the start of the season and have 2 good quality CBs lined up.

 

3. Having got to the winter transfer window, due to injuries and underperformance, it was clear we needed to loan in at least 3 defenders. Mature, experienced defenders. We didn't do that.

 

 

 

[Shane]

The midfield has been a big problem. Too many soft weaklings offering zero protection for our fragile defence.

[StanSP]

Where did it all go wrong? 

 

The manager who should have been sacked months ago persisting with Ward and Amartey, and ostracising the good players that could have played, such as Soyuncu. 

 

Barring Iversen's horror show for their first yesterday, it was quite clear to see he was better than Ward. 

 

Willing to confidently state if both of those were played earlier in the season, and Mendy perhaps too, we wouldn't be in this mess. At not as close to relegation as we are now. 

[SheppyFox]

That best team is poppycock. Miles off. 

[Dandy king]

1 minute ago, StanSP said:

Where did it all go wrong? 

 

The manager who should have been sacked months ago persisting with Ward and Amartey, and ostracising the good players that could have played, such as Soyuncu. 

 

Barring Iversen's horror show for their first yesterday, it was quite clear to see he was better than Ward. 

 

Willing to confidently state if both of those were played earlier in the season, and Mendy perhaps too, we wouldn't be in this mess. At not as close to relegation as we are now. 

Mendy not even in the squad yesterday, why? 

[Bezzanator89]

 

28 minutes ago, Will1981 said:

We are pretty much nailed on to go down as we have leaked goals at an alarming rate with teams scoring against us for fun, so I decided to see which players played the most minutes for us per goal conceded.

 

Goalkeepers

 

Ward 2340 minutes played 46 goals conceded (50.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iversen 810 minutes played 18 goals conceded (45 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Defenders

 

Amartey 1610 minutes played 27 goals conceded (59.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Castagne 2987 minutes played 59 goals conceded (50.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Evans 811 minutes played 24 goals conceded (33.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Faes 2517 minutes played 47 goals conceded (53.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Justin 1254 minutes played 25 goals conceded (50.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Kristiansen 894 minutes played 21 goals conceded (42.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Ricardo 385 minutes played 9 goals conceded (42.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Souttar 900 minutes played 19 goals conceded (47.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Soyuncu 529 minutes played 13 goals conceded (40.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Thomas 868 minutes played 18 goals conceded (48.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Midfielders

 

Dewsbury-Hall 2244 minutes played 40 goals conceded (56.1 minutes per goal conceded)

Mendy 731 minutes played 12 goals conceded (60.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Ndidi 1531 minutes played 37 goals conceded (41.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Praet 639 minutes played 10 goals conceded (63.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Soumare 1365 minutes played 26 goals conceded (52.5 minutes per goal conceded)

Tielemans 2080 minutes played 45 goals conceded (46.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Attackers

 

Barnes 2540 minutes played 48 goals conceded (52.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Daka 1124 minutes played 23 goals conceded (48.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iheanacho 999 minutes played 23 goals conceded (43.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Maddison 2259 minutes played 50 goals conceded (45.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Tete 710 minutes played 14 goals conceded (50.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Vardy 1685 minutes played 34 goals conceded (49.6 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Our Best XI

 

Ward

 

Castagne - Amartey - Faes - Justin

 

Praet - Mendy - KDH

 

Tete - Vardy - Barnes

 

 

 

Our Worst XI

 

Iversen

 

Ricardo - Evans - Soyuncu - Kristiansen

 

Tielemans - Ndidi - Soumare

 

Maddison

 

Nacho - Daka

 

Conclusion

 

Ward has conceded less per minute than Iversen but Ward played all of his games under Brendaball whereas Iversen has been in goal for Smith's more gung-ho style

 

Justin has been very solid and is a big miss, Amartey has been by far our most solid central defender.

 

Mendy and Preat have been criminally underused as our most solid midfielders, Ndidi has been a complete liability and statistically we concede the most goals per game when he is on the pitch.

Amartey our best central defender? Have you actually watched him play? Someone have a word with this guy.

Edited 9 May 2023 by Bezzanator89

[StanSP]

Just now, Dandy king said:

Mendy not even in the squad yesterday, why? 

Not sure. Not got his number so not able to ask. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will1981]

2 minutes ago, SheppyFox said:

That best team is poppycock. Miles off. 

It is not my best team obviously

[Dandy king]

More of a rhetorical question but thanks for the heads up 😁

[Finnegan]

I've kept this opinion to myself, by and large, for the last year or so. Mostly because I can't stand revisionism for the most part and I've thrown so many pelters the way of Puel apologists that I'm well aware of the optics! 

 

But its been my belief for quite a while that 19/20, in particular the impressive start to the season where we were both defensively and offensively spectacular, was largely down to Claude Puel's defensive organisation and the legacy of that. 

 

Puel was an absolutely dreadful coach when it came to building an attacking team and a hideous man manager (trying to phase out Jamie Vardy being the pinnacle of that.) But he did know how to drill a team defensively and give it shape. 

 

Rodgers came in and added to that goals. He gave us great attacking patterns of play and added it to the work that had already been done. If Pearson deserved his share of the credit for the title win then Puel probably deserved his share of the credit for finishing 5th that year. 

 

We weren't really tested defensively that season until the back to back thrashings against Man City and Liverpool when Rodgers naively assumed he could just play the same aggressive system without changing anything and we got hammered. 

 

After that Rodgers (and Toure) had to think for themselves and they started making stupid decisions. Added extra defenders and defensive midfielders, it was primary school logic. More defensive players = more defensive team because, ultimately, he doesn't understand defensive patterns of play the same way he understands attacking ones. 

 

Then he starts getting his full backs to sit deeper and deeper and doesn't seem to appreciate that that's killing his chance creation. The whole balance of the team starts falling out of whack because he's forced to think for himself about how to defend and it just isn't his wheel house. 

 

That's the secret. He just never was and never will be a good defensive coach. We just had good foundations that have slowly crumbled over time and where it needed his work, he wasn't able to do it. 

 

This year didn't come out of the blue. It's slowly been happening since January 2020. This is just the natural culmination of that decay. 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

That best 11 is 💩, seriously 😐 

[Tommy Fresh]

12 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Not sure. Not got his number so not able to ask. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have I'll ask him

[Lambert09]

armartey isn’t easy on the eye and makes a bunch of mistakes but it does seem that his presence tends to make whoever’s with him play better. 

 

Can’t quite work out why but he has been part of most of our clean sheets 

[apollo4joe]

Interesting reading, but it does show you can only take stats so far. Doesn't tell you the whole story

[Lambert09]

9 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

I've kept this opinion to myself, by and large, for the last year or so. Mostly because I can't stand revisionism for the most part and I've thrown so many pelters the way of Puel apologists that I'm well aware of the optics! 

 

But its been my belief for quite a while that 19/20, in particular the impressive start to the season where we were both defensively and offensively spectacular, was largely down to Claude Puel's defensive organisation and the legacy of that. 

 

Puel was an absolutely dreadful coach when it came to building an attacking team and a hideous man manager (trying to phase out Jamie Vardy being the pinnacle of that.) But he did know how to drill a team defensively and give it shape. 

 

Rodgers came in and added to that goals. He gave us great attacking patterns of play and added it to the work that had already been done. If Pearson deserved his share of the credit for the title win then Puel probably deserved his share of the credit for finishing 5th that year. 

 

We weren't really tested defensively that season until the back to back thrashings against Man City and Liverpool when Rodgers naively assumed he could just play the same aggressive system without changing anything and we got hammered. 

 

After that Rodgers (and Toure) had to think for themselves and they started making stupid decisions. Added extra defenders and defensive midfielders, it was primary school logic. More defensive players = more defensive team because, ultimately, he doesn't understand defensive patterns of play the same way he understands attacking ones. 

 

Then he starts getting his full backs to sit deeper and deeper and doesn't seem to appreciate that that's killing his chance creation. The whole balance of the team starts falling out of whack because he's forced to think for himself about how to defend and it just isn't his wheel house. 

 

That's the secret. He just never was and never will be a good defensive coach. We just had good foundations that have slowly crumbled over time and where it needed his work, he wasn't able to do it. 

 

This year didn't come out of the blue. It's slowly been happening since January 2020. This is just the natural culmination of that decay. 

we should think of puel a lot higher than we do. Brendan did well on the pitch but crippled the club. Puel did bad on the pitch but set us up for so much success with his foundations. 

 

If he didn’t sign ghezzal i would be all for making him DOF 

Edited 9 May 2023 by Lambert09

[Scotch]

Playing a high line with slowish defenders and not putting any pressure on the ball further up the pitch.

 

Being terrible from set plays, sticking with zonal leading to weird match ups for far too long.

 

Buying sh!t defenders. 

 

....Think that covers it. 

[Joe90lcfc]

32 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

Ward - not even league one quality seriously, I wouldn't be surprised to see him forced into early retirement off the back of this season.

 

Iversen - will be good enough for Championship

 

And out of the list of defenders 

 

Amartey - got away with being a shit bit part player and found out massively this season. Shit

 

Kristensen - young lad, like his passion. Not at the level needed yet. Feel for him being thrown into this at 19.

 

Thomas - nowhere near the level needed

 

Soy - only defender we have that's genuinely class, and our dwarf manager ruined all of that, like the rest of the club

 

Ricardo - nowhere near it since the injuries and when he has played just isn't at the level he once was. Likewise Justin 

 

Faes - started off well but just creates even more panic and confusion in the defence. So I'll disciplined for a centre back it's actually quite ameteurish at times

 

 

I don't know who I've missed out. Evans? Isn't playing and will retire anyway. 

 

And a board who have let all this happen to the squad and clearly thought we could ride it out and have been massively found out.

 

Maybe instead of meetings about goal music and clappers we could get a few meetings to ask what the **** they've done to our club for the past few years.

I don’t think iversen is good enough for the championship, I think ward is that bad we are painting iversen as a far superior replacement, personally we need a whole new spine for the championship starting at a goalkeeper, centre back and and a midfielder a leader who can lead and has grit! Would take kasper back  at a heartbeat if he was interested 

[shailen]

All the pundits were saying we score enough goals to stay up, but our midfield is so open that our defenders end up having to come out there and their forwards are left free. The issue has been there all season. There's no discipline in midfield for us at all. 

[Rusko187]

52 minutes ago, Will1981 said:

We are pretty much nailed on to go down as we have leaked goals at an alarming rate with teams scoring against us for fun, so I decided to see which players played the most minutes for us per goal conceded.

 

Goalkeepers

 

Ward 2340 minutes played 46 goals conceded (50.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iversen 810 minutes played 18 goals conceded (45 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Defenders

 

Amartey 1610 minutes played 27 goals conceded (59.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Castagne 2987 minutes played 59 goals conceded (50.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Evans 811 minutes played 24 goals conceded (33.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Faes 2517 minutes played 47 goals conceded (53.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Justin 1254 minutes played 25 goals conceded (50.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Kristiansen 894 minutes played 21 goals conceded (42.6 minutes per goal conceded)

Ricardo 385 minutes played 9 goals conceded (42.8 minutes per goal conceded)

Souttar 900 minutes played 19 goals conceded (47.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Soyuncu 529 minutes played 13 goals conceded (40.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Thomas 868 minutes played 18 goals conceded (48.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Midfielders

 

Dewsbury-Hall 2244 minutes played 40 goals conceded (56.1 minutes per goal conceded)

Mendy 731 minutes played 12 goals conceded (60.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Ndidi 1531 minutes played 37 goals conceded (41.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Praet 639 minutes played 10 goals conceded (63.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Soumare 1365 minutes played 26 goals conceded (52.5 minutes per goal conceded)

Tielemans 2080 minutes played 45 goals conceded (46.2 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Attackers

 

Barnes 2540 minutes played 48 goals conceded (52.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Daka 1124 minutes played 23 goals conceded (48.9 minutes per goal conceded)

Iheanacho 999 minutes played 23 goals conceded (43.4 minutes per goal conceded)

Maddison 2259 minutes played 50 goals conceded (45.2 minutes per goal conceded)

Tete 710 minutes played 14 goals conceded (50.7 minutes per goal conceded)

Vardy 1685 minutes played 34 goals conceded (49.6 minutes per goal conceded)

 

Our Best XI

 

Ward

 

Castagne - Amartey - Faes - Justin

 

Praet - Mendy - KDH

 

Tete - Vardy - Barnes

 

 

 

Our Worst XI

 

Iversen

 

Ricardo - Evans - Soyuncu - Kristiansen

 

Tielemans - Ndidi - Soumare

 

Maddison

 

Nacho - Daka

 

Conclusion

 

Ward has conceded less per minute than Iversen but Ward played all of his games under Brendaball whereas Iversen has been in goal for Smith's more gung-ho style

 

Justin has been very solid and is a big miss, Amartey has been by far our most solid central defender.

 

Mendy and Preat have been criminally underused as our most solid midfielders, Ndidi has been a complete liability and statistically we concede the most goals per game when he is on the pitch.

I don't think you need to ask where it's all gone wrong, we'll just be repeating the same things.

[splinterdream]

I think our major problem is in midfield tbh, if you don’t win your battles there, you put huge pressure on the defence.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

14 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

I've kept this opinion to myself, by and large, for the last year or so. Mostly because I can't stand revisionism for the most part and I've thrown so many pelters the way of Puel apologists that I'm well aware of the optics! 

 

But its been my belief for quite a while that 19/20, in particular the impressive start to the season where we were both defensively and offensively spectacular, was largely down to Claude Puel's defensive organisation and the legacy of that. 

 

Puel was an absolutely dreadful coach when it came to building an attacking team and a hideous man manager (trying to phase out Jamie Vardy being the pinnacle of that.) But he did know how to drill a team defensively and give it shape. 

 

Rodgers came in and added to that goals. He gave us great attacking patterns of play and added it to the work that had already been done. If Pearson deserved his share of the credit for the title win then Puel probably deserved his share of the credit for finishing 5th that year. 

 

We weren't really tested defensively that season until the back to back thrashings against Man City and Liverpool when Rodgers naively assumed he could just play the same aggressive system without changing anything and we got hammered. 

 

After that Rodgers (and Toure) had to think for themselves and they started making stupid decisions. Added extra defenders and defensive midfielders, it was primary school logic. More defensive players = more defensive team because, ultimately, he doesn't understand defensive patterns of play the same way he understands attacking ones. 

 

Then he starts getting his full backs to sit deeper and deeper and doesn't seem to appreciate that that's killing his chance creation. The whole balance of the team starts falling out of whack because he's forced to think for himself about how to defend and it just isn't his wheel house. 

 

That's the secret. He just never was and never will be a good defensive coach. We just had good foundations that have slowly crumbled over time and where it needed his work, he wasn't able to do it. 

 

This year didn't come out of the blue. It's slowly been happening since January 2020. This is just the natural culmination of that decay. 

Good points well made. I think it’s now pretty mainstream that Brendan massively benefited from what had gone on before, and he probably improved it for a short time. But as you say when it came to him truly putting his stamp on the side - tactically and recruitment - it began to fall apart, and look where we are now.

 

He was heavily criticised at Liverpool for not being able to organise them defensively. As many of us have said for a long time, the common thread in his career is that he chooses clubs to go into at the right time, he rides the crest of a wave and then after about 2 years it goes wrong and or he talks his way out of a job.