Forest's defence

birkin youth

birkin youth

Geoff Thomas
At home: conceded 8
Away: conceded 4
Total: conceded: 12

Away from home, we have the best defensive record in the division

Overall, we have the second best defensive record in the division

All the players in our back four are good enough for this level. And McKenna does a brilliant job breaking down attacks, controlling the pace of the game and generally making life difficult for the teams we play against.

It would be really good if could get in cover for defensive positions, obviously, but is it fair to say the people who criticised our defence were vastly exaggerating the problems we had at the back??

OR, is it more a case of Billy working his magic to transform the back 4?
 
Moussi was key on Saturday

He bulked up the midfield and helped out the defence which was a strong, physical Newcastle team.

Billy's rotation Policy is working

Even playing Wilson for the in-form Chambo was a great decision.

Billy Davies is one of the best Tactical managers outside of the Premiership
 
I make our defence the joint 6th best.

Conceded:

Newcastle - 6
QPR- 10
Bristol City - 10
Swansea - 10
Leicester - 11
Forest - 12
Cardiff - 12
WBA - 12
Palace - 12
 
Yeah, I stand corrected... 6th best.

But still, the joint best away defensive record.

And, 1 in 3 of all the goals we conceded were in that one shit match against Watford. So if you ignore that match it would be 8 conceded in 11 games, which is a pretty strong record I reckon.

The question remains; when did our defence become good?
And considering the list of options we have for midfield; should Cohen stay at Left Back?
 
The question remains; when did our defence become good?
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When McKenna was signed.
 
Think its a combination of factors to be honest. A seasons experience in the championship has toughened up a lot of our squad both physically and mentaly, particuarly the defence who have been showing a lot more nous than last season. Billy and his coaching staff also deffinately deserve massive credit for the work they have done improving what we had. The experience and organisation that Camp and McKenna bring to the side has helped the defence, also having a player adept in screening the back four has relieved a lot of the pressure.

Its not just the back 4 that deserve credit though, the way we have defended from front to back as a team this season has led to us becoming a much more solid defensive unit.

That said I still wouldn't say no to another defender, I don't think centre half is as much of a problem as we feared at the start of the season. Wes, Chambo and Wilson have all done well there and Lynch offers decent cover.
I've liked Cohen at LB and think he's been growing in stature with every game, but i'd rather he were freed up for the midfield. Lynch has a long way to go to convince me he can make the position his own.
In fairness we still have Bennet to come back who I hope will slot back in the team, but in truth he's still an unknown quantiy at this level and its far from certain that he can recapture his best form after such a long lay off.

Based on that a new left back wouldn't go a miss possibly a loan signing until we can trully asses the options available to us within the squad.
 
Ginger across the road said:
Moussi was key on Saturday
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i have to agree,i was a little sceptical about the moose i admit but saturday he was immense,as was Dexter
 
Rogue said:
When McKenna was signed.
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:yes:

The difference having a midfield who tackle makes as opposed to people like Commons and McGugan is massive.

Pressure is relieved on the defence, and by the time anyone gets through to them, they're already recovering from a challenge. People don't have the time to run straight through the middle, unopposed, anymore, which is what happened when we had a mroe 'flair' midfield.
 
Rich. said:
:yes:

The difference having a midfield who tackle makes as opposed to people like Commons and McGugan is massive.

Pressure is relieved on the defence, and by the time anyone gets through to them, they're already recovering from a challenge. People don't have the time to run straight through the middle, unopposed, anymore, which is what happened when we had a mroe 'flair' midfield.
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Agreed. From what little I've seen, we have more grit from front to back and we work very hard for each other these days.

We still need a left back and a centre half.
 
BD has gone very quiet on this front in fact the last time he spoke about players it was about needing a goal scoring midfielder. Perhaps he sees Cohen as the long term left back with Bennet and Lynch giving cover. As for centre half, the three we have are playing out of their skins and he sees Perch as a centre half, however a bit more experiencewould work well maybe have the same effect as McKenna has had.

As for players 'missed', having seen Mills, Jones, Ward I cannot see that they were a great loss.
 
It's Baggio said:
I make our defence the joint 6th best.

Conceded:

Newcastle - 6
QPR- 10
Bristol City - 10
Swansea - 10
Leicester - 11
Forest - 12
Cardiff - 12
WBA - 12
Palace - 12
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6th best defence in the league is very good, especially considering the amount of deflected goals we've conceded
 
Stats like that makes those 'X player is not good enough for this level' comments look even more stupid and unprofound ;D
 
the difference is this season we have a midfield, previous seasons it was our weak point we were overrun by average teams
 
forestfan92 said:
6th best defence in the league is very good, especially considering the amount of deflected goals we've conceded
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compared that we are weaker than last season defensively (player wise), it means coaching/player standards have improves.
 
Football in "midfield is key" revelation shock......
 
Ginger across the road said:
Billy's rotation Policy is working
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And hes only selected 21 players this season, which is the lowest amount in the division. So its mostly the same players with mainly positional changes.
 
Broganator said:
compared that we are weaker than last season defensively (player wise)
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In what way? We never had a right back last season now we've got a very good one.

We've lost Breckin and he wouldn't get a sniff this season. Wes, Chambers and Wilson are all much better CB's.
 
Still think the defence needs massive improvement. And I think over recent weeks our lack of goals conceded has been down to a very organized set up but we've been cutting it fine. Having to come back from 1-0 down at Peterborough, Newcastle we did well to keep out in some areas but were lucky in others. Scunny hit the post you know the signs are there to show we just are not quite solid enough and I do think that for a change we've had some luck on our side.

I think we need a new left back bringing in (unless Bennett is like a new signing!!)

I think a central defender to partner Morgan with bags of expiereince could prove vital. Morgan at Sheff Utd would be ideal but others could include the Sonko's etc. etc.

and then we just need some back up someone to replace Gunter when he gets injured etc.

Who knows we could continue to have this great form with this defence and if so great but I do think it needs a lot of work!
 
mouldy said:
Still think the defence needs massive improvement. And I think over recent weeks our lack of goals conceded has been down to a very organized set up but we've been cutting it fine. Having to come back from 1-0 down at Peterborough, Newcastle we did well to keep out in some areas but were lucky in others. Scunny hit the post you know the signs are there to show we just are not quite solid enough and I do think that for a change we've had some luck on our side.
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You won't find a side in this division that keeps a clean sheet on merit alone, unless the opposition are lacklustre.
 
mouldy said:
Still think the defence needs massive improvement.

I do think it needs a lot of work!
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These are exactly the kind of bizarre statements I was referring to.

We've got the 6th best defensive record in the division, yet our defence "needs massive improvement" :wacko:

We've only let in 4 goals away from home but our defence "needs a lot of work" :wacko:
 
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