Defense

[Stickingitin]

If the defense is subject to the worst within the lower realm of this league then the defense has to be priority. We have the strikers and midfield for this league goalkeeper too, yet the defensive record does not read too well.

[Plainmoor78]

If the defense is subject to the worst within the lower realm of this league then the defense has to be priority. We have the strikers and midfield for this league goalkeeper too, yet the defensive record does not read too well.

Have you come on to this forum by mistake and are actually talking about a different team. Our strikers, Wight, Holman and Lolos have managed to score just seven goals between themselves all season, that is woeful.

[Stickingitin]

Hello @Plainmoor78, I have come here to talk about something which is glaringly obvious yet seems to be less talked about. There is no mistake.
TUFC has two recorded striking scorers at this level and above, Danny and Dan, Klaidi is yet to be able to produce.
Klaidi could become one of those strikers who go away into a team that is able to service a striker, the only reason this could happen is the foundation upon which a team is built on, which is the defense.
For if there were not a defense there would be no striker.
Stats will always show that strikers score more goals when the defense is solid, stats will also show that strikers move ship when the defense is absent.
We have the worst defense whilst being in the upper realms of the National League.
Is a tweak is needed? The stats prove that it is.

[DWB]

Have to agree with Plainmoor78 as I am not sure what you have been watching. Yes at the start of the season we were conceding too many goals but that has been sorted to a certain extent although we do need better cover when the regular back 4/5 aren’t all available.
Our forwards do not score enough goals whether through injury or lack of ability. Our top scorers are midfield players. BTW it is defence not defense!!

[The Eternal Optimist]

We need the whole team to be capable of scoring goals. That is what happened last season - we weren't reliant on one player upfront to do all the scoring. Goals came from throughout the side, and that's why we were successful last season, even the goalkeeper scored on one occasion! It's unrealistic at this level to expect to have a centre forward who's going to score all your goals. We're not going to find one / afford one anyway. Most defences in this league can snuff out the effect of one centre forward, as indeed we see at Plainmoor every week. There were enough chances yesterday, from players other than the centre forward, who had chances to score. Too many shots from well placed positions ended up well over the bar. We should have had about five goals from non centre forward players.

[JimNichol'sdog]

I think that 'Stickingitin' must be an imposter from American football where they have 'defense'.

British football has 'defence'.

As for Holman being a proven striker, he is to goalscoring what Boris Johnson is to monogomy.

[culmstockgull]

I think this discusssion on the merits of defenders and forwards confuses the issue. Factually, we do have an appalling defence, we leak an average of 1.5 goals every game,only marginally better than the sides fighting relegation, where as the likes of Boreham average less then .5 a game, admittedly, even they are are unusual for this league but they are low scorers compared with the teams around them but still manage to be be third in the league with the potential if they win their games in hand to be top. there is no merit in arguing that our defence has improved two thirds of the way through the season, the damage has already been done.
Even with the best forward line in the league you cannot have success if all their hard work is undone by a leaky defence. is there a team in this league whose three genuine forwards have scored less goals than ours , I doubt it.

[Nick Potkins]

I believe there are questions to be asked about the squad right from the start of the season. We hear because of the play off final, we were late in sorting out the squad - is this true! We here finances are tight, is this true! We can't attract the right players to Devon - is this true!

I guess all of the above are to some degree correct. However, do we need three keepers. George did a fantastic job of bench warming in the National League South, could they same not be done now to save wages. An emergency loan could be used if needed to cover injury. The savings here could have been put to better use with a centre back or striker.

Sadly, to me the whole squad looked light from the get go and we have been playing catch up since.

[The Eternal Optimist]

On Saturday, if we had scored from all the chances we created, it wouldn't have mattered too much if the defence had let in a couple, as long as we had scored four or five, and therefore won the game. Our players, all of them, need to know the technique of how to hit the ball hard and low. These chances often fall to midfield or even back four players like Wynter. If the Wollens advertising hoarding at the Babbacombe end had been the target, then we would have scored four in the first half. This pattern is repeated in most games that we see at Plainmoor.

[happytorq]

Squad has been light in defence all season, something that was apparent about 20 minutes into the first game vs Altrincham. However, I do think we have the personnel throughout the squad to bear it. Since McDonald arrived, and since Moxey started playing centrally, they have looked more solid, while also allowing other players (for example Dan Martin, who has been great after a shocking start) to venture forward.

The team is creating enough chances to win games; if they were being converted we'd not be having this discussion ad nauseum. Against Dover we should have been 4 up before they got their goal, and by most accounts the same was true against Barnet on Saturday. We've been hindered by not having a focal point for the attack. Wright's injury woes, Lolos and Holman not being reliable. If we had a striker of Sinclair Armstrong's ability I feel pretty confident in saying we'd have 10 points more. But alas, we do not, so we have to make do with what we have.

If anything, our problem lies with a lack of concentration. Letting teams get a goal at a bad time then putting them in the ascendancy. We've seen it against Barnet, Dover, and others. Even Maidenhead early in the season when we were 4-0 up at half-time! We've show that we can defend well at times; the early season game at Notts comes to mind, as does the more recent victory over Wrexham.

[MellowYellow]

Defence or attack our squad at the start of the season was packed with new maverick types that invariably produced the kind of inconsistency that blights mid-table by nature. If we strip away runaway teams at the top and struggling teams at the very bottom, we get a sense of why this season we are a true ‘mid table’ team. Our current form would suggest we should be favourites to finish as the official ‘best of rest’.

[Stickingitin]

Boreham Wood are an excellent example of where TUFC isn't and a test which will be intriguing to say the least. They have scored 8 goals less than us yet we have conceded 26 goals more than them. They have an excellent defense (defense from root defend, defence meaning a short version which lets things through it and nothing to do with British) and goalkeeper whom tends to get alot of flack.
There main strikers Scott Boden and Tyrone Marsh moved on from TQ1 some time ago having been not good enough in the eyes of many a Plainmoor faithful, and yet they sit there with the only unbeaten home record and an envious away form. Cup runs abundant and not yet over.
Our first 14 games read 21 goals for and 24 goals against. -3
Our second 14 games reads 23 goals for and 19 goals against. +4
BWood's first 14 games read 20 goal for and 11 goals against. +9
BWood's second 11 games read 16 goals for and 6 goals against. +10
With the two aforementioned strikers being the joint top scorers in the Boreham Wood lineup and the defense fortifying their top flight position I would suggest a tweak in our defense.
A fortified defense will allow the rest of the team to do more logically as BW have proven.

[Stickingitin]

If we want more proof that a solid defense is key and logical then we only need to look at Forest Green Rovers in league two being the enhanced version of Boreham Wood, they are the same scenario only more goals as their strikers are more prolific.

[Taelee73]

Gary Johnsons philosophy is for attacking entertaining football. He's never hidden that fact, we're not a 0-0 or1-0 team. We're going to score and concede more than others.
Will it achieve us promotion? Probably not this season, but his record speaks for itself.
Personally I'd of liked us to of kept Boden. But we weren't going to have Wright and him.

[Plainmoor78]

I think tonight's performance at Wealdstone definitely shows it is our attack, or the lack, of it that is the pressing concern.