Conceding goals from runs into channels

[thepolice123]

Seems like a recurring theme in our defence and a major weakness. We look completely inept when defending that area.

Off the top of my head I can recall:

Suso’s goal against us in the EL. Cutback into the box after a run into the channel.

Townsend’s goal against us in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal palace. Similar goal to Suso’s. Run into channel, drilled cross in and tap in.

Son’s second goal in the 1-6 defeat. Complete feck up by Maguire and Shaw there. Son runs into the channel and pokes the ball in.

Aubameyang‘s penalty against us came after Pogba failed to track Bellerin’s run into the channel and fouled him.

Kluivert’s goal another carbon copy of Suso’s goal. They targeted that specific area all night.

Today Shaw and Fred got sucked in and failed to defend the channel where Perez was free to drill the cross in.

 

[eire-red]

Shaw should have tracked Perez after the initial block instead of pushing out, Fred was there to close down.

AWB is usually good in those situations, getting out to block the striker peeling off the back of the CB. Maguire was covering the near post, Bailly could have pushed out to cover the pull back. Tuanzebe was caught a little on his heels too. A disappointing goal to concede just after going ahead in a crucial moment.

Our midfield and attack have been bailing out some really poor defensive errors as of late, and it's a little worrying. Feels like we need another top CB and a natural DM, someone in the mould of Matic but more legs.

 

[Trequarista10]

Today's goal was Baillys fault IMO. Vardy was their only striker, their only player attacking the cross, and we had two centre backs in front of him. Bailly didn't even look to see where Vardy was.

It reminded me of the 2nd Sevilla goal when Lindelof did something similiar. I don't know if we're attempting some ridiculous zonal defending of crosses or something, but it's ridiculous to me that our centre backs seem to stand in an area and ball watch rather than keeping an eye on the striker.

In terms of defending the channels, the problem is we always play with 4 players high up the pitch, leaving 6 players to do the job of 7 of 8 players. Our wide players aren't wingers and Bruno despite his work rate is given a license to be positioned higher up the pitch. Even playing 2 mobile, ball winning midfielders and having full backs that remain deep will not overcome this. We have to sacrifice one of our forwards, especially in tough games, because the 4213 that we play is suicidal. It also means that our defenders individually get slated and blamed for goals, but the task we give them is impossible.

 

[tjb]

Today's goal was Baillys fault IMO. Vardy was their only striker, their only player attacking the cross, and we had two centre backs in front of him. Bailly didn't even look to see where Vardy was.

It reminded me of the 2nd Sevilla goal when Lindelof did something similiar. I don't know if we're attempting some ridiculous zonal defending of crosses or something, but it's ridiculous to me that our centre backs seem to stand in an area and ball watch rather than keeping an eye on the striker.

In terms of defending the channels, the problem is we always play with 4 players high up the pitch, leaving 6 players to do the job of 7 of 8 players. Our wide players aren't wingers and Bruno despite his work rate is given a license to be positioned higher up the pitch. Even playing 2 mobile, ball winning midfielders and having full backs that remain deep will not overcome this. We have to sacrifice one of our forwards, especially in tough games, because the 4213 that we play is suicidal. It also means that our defenders individually get slated and blamed for goals, but the task we give them is impossible.

I agree with this and actually think this is the problem with our build up too.

 

[cyril C]

Seems like a recurring theme in our defence and a major weakness. We look completely inept when defending that area.

Off the top of my head I can recall:

Suso’s goal against us in the EL. Cutback into the box after a run into the channel.

Townsend’s goal against us in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal palace. Similar goal to Suso’s. Run into channel, drilled cross in and tap in.

Son’s second goal in the 1-6 defeat. Complete feck up by Maguire and Shaw there. Son runs into the channel and pokes the ball in.

Aubameyang‘s penalty against us came after Pogba failed to track Bellerin’s run into the channel and fouled him.

Kluivert’s goal another carbon copy of Suso’s goal. They targeted that specific area all night.

Today Shaw and Fred got sucked in and failed to defend the channel where Perez was free to drill the cross in.

That was because Pogba failed to follow his marker and allowed free run for Perez.

 

[Tarrou]

the main causes of the goal was Vardys world class movement and a deflection

we could've tracked the run better but a lot needed to happen after that for them to score

 

[city-puma]

I can understand why Ole sent in pogba in the second half. But from the retrospective view, putting on Matic could be better, but it will be perceived as a negative move I guess even though the intention is to add a personal to the midfield to balance because Leicester has number advantage in midfield.
If pogba can track back and help close down on that side, we could defend that moment better.
I watched our games and many other teams’ games. In this league and at this level, it is very rare to see the similar situation that in a danger, players don’t try their best to close down the opponents. I saw the lesser teams, Leeds, Fulham, Burley, their players throw their body in with full commitment for the team.
no matter how talented you are, hardworking and putting the team above anything else is the most basic character demanded for any player in this club. I am glad to see our club starts emphasizing on this for our new recruitment strategy. Tired to go for the so-called big names.

 

[lex talionis]

The second Leicester goal resulted from a cascade of errors in a few seconds, but we have to look at both Maguire and Bailly for prime culpability.

Concentration and awareness seem to lapse to often with our CBs. True, expecting perfection for 90 minutes is unreasonable, but we can’t look at the Leicester equalizer as anything but a lapse of concentration and awareness.

 

[Davie Moyes]

Today's goal was Baillys fault IMO. Vardy was their only striker, their only player attacking the cross, and we had two centre backs in front of him. Bailly didn't even look to see where Vardy was.

It reminded me of the 2nd Sevilla goal when Lindelof did something similiar. I don't know if we're attempting some ridiculous zonal defending of crosses or something, but it's ridiculous to me that our centre backs seem to stand in an area and ball watch rather than keeping an eye on the striker.

In terms of defending the channels, the problem is we always play with 4 players high up the pitch, leaving 6 players to do the job of 7 of 8 players. Our wide players aren't wingers and Bruno despite his work rate is given a license to be positioned higher up the pitch. Even playing 2 mobile, ball winning midfielders and having full backs that remain deep will not overcome this. We have to sacrifice one of our forwards, especially in tough games, because the 4213 that we play is suicidal. It also means that our defenders individually get slated and blamed for goals, but the task we give them is impossible.

Great post

 

[bsCallout]

I believe we should play Bruno as a false 9 so we can have three in midfield it offers protection against that ball by providing an extra body when a fullback gets drawn out.

Plus we have better wide forwards than true no.9's and more midfielders in our squad.

 

[bsCallout]

The second Leicester goal resulted from a cascade of errors in a few seconds, but we have to look at both Maguire and Bailly for prime culpability.

Concentration and awareness seem to lapse to often with our CBs. True, expecting perfection for 90 minutes is unreasonable, but we can’t look at the Leicester equalizer as anything but a lapse of concentration and awareness.

Maguire was the least at fault for that second goal.

 

[lex talionis]

Maguire was the least at fault for that second goal.

Maybe, but if the suspects are Shaw, Maguire, Bailly, Tuanzebe and De Gea I would rank their culpability as follows:

Bailly
Tuanzebe
Maguire
Shaw
De Gea

There’s nothing De Gea could have done so he shouldn’t even be on this list. But the issue with Maguire was that he was needlessly too close to the byline, leaving a gap for the low cross to be sent into danger. But Bailey and Tuanzebe had to be aware of and deal with Vardy.

We could have done with a bit more urgency from Shaw as well.

 

[bsCallout]

Maybe, but if the suspects are Shaw, Maguire, Bailly, Tuanzebe and De Gea I would rank their culpability as follows:

Bailly
Tuanzebe
Maguire
Shaw
De Gea

There’s nothing De Gea could have done so he shouldn’t even be on this list. But the issue with Maguire was that he was needlessly too close to the byline, leaving a gap for the low cross to be sent into danger. But Bailey and Tuanzebe had to be aware of and deal with Vardy.

We could have done with a bit more urgency from Shaw as well.

Id say Shaw > Tuanzabe > Bailly.

Maguire doesnt enter the conversation. He was where he should be doing what he should be.

Maguire protecting any near post ball, like he should be, he had two players behind hin with eyes on the play watching one player.

 

[lex talionis]

Id say Shaw > Tuanzabe > Bailly.

Maguire doesnt enter the conversation. He was where he should be doing what he should be.

Maguire protecting any near post ball, like he should be, he had two players behind hin with eyes on the play watching one player.

Maguire didn’t need to protect the near post. The angle was far too tight from too far a distance and whatever flogging De Gea deserves for his lapses in recent year there’s no chance Perez beats De Gea from that position or in a million years thinks about taking a shot on De Gea from there, with or without Vardy in the six yard box.

But I don’t want to dragged into a debate about Maguire, especially after listening to Goldbridge’s psychotic rant yesterday, where he laid it all on Maguire. Responsibility for the goal was shared across the back line and it can’t be argued that Maguire was positioned perfectly, even if it’s true Bailly and Tuanzebe failed the test of recognizingwhere the danger was.

 

[MikeeMike]

The second Leicester goal resulted from a cascade of errors in a few seconds, but we have to look at both Maguire and Bailly for prime culpability.

Concentration and awareness seem to lapse to often with our CBs. True, expecting perfection for 90 minutes is unreasonable, but we can’t look at the Leicester equalizer as anything but a lapse of concentration and awareness.

All were terrible. Fred drifted inside whilst ball watching as usual. Shaw wasnt tight enough to block a cross. 3 defenders all gawping at the cross whle Vardy nips into space. So annoying as so many goals are conceded in this fashion.

 

[bsCallout]

Maguire didn’t need to protect the near post. The angle was far too tight from too far a distance and whatever flogging De Gea deserves for his lapses in recent year there’s no chance Perez beats De Gea from that position or in a million years thinks about taking a shot on De Gea from there, with or without Vardy in the six yard box.

But I don’t want to dragged into a debate about Maguire, especially after listening to Goldbridge’s psychotic rant yesterday, where he laid it all on Maguire. Responsibility for the goal was shared across the back line and it can’t be argued that Maguire was positioned perfectly, even if it’s true Bailly and Tuanzebe failed the test of recognizingwhere the danger was.

Of course he needed to protect the near post. He needed to be able to clear any ball fired near the near post of across the front of the goal, or even prevent the attacker running in the box and getting a shot off. If he vacated that space the ball goes behind him and Vardy beats Bailly to the near post. That is basic defending for a CB. Defend that near post ball.

Maguire did exactly what he should do.

Im not his biggest fan but he was not in the slightest at fault for that goal. The rest of the back line however all failed to play their part.

 

[Red71]

Of course he needed to protect the near post. He needed to be able to clear any ball fired near the near post of across the front of the goal, or even prevent the attacker running in the box and getting a shot off. If he vacated that space the ball goes behind him and Vardy beats Bailly to the near post. That is basic defending for a CB. Defend that near post ball.

Maguire did exactly what he should do.

Im not his biggest fan but he was not in the slightest at fault for that goal. The rest of the back line however all failed to play their part.

It was a catalogue of errors to be fair. Shaw found himself out of position, chasing on the inside. Not a major problem on its own but he needed cover in the area he’d vacated. Not to have a pop at Pogba but he didn’t react in the slightest to fill the space. There was zero sense of danger which is not great in a midfielder and probably par.

If the CB is staying put, then covering the near post is probably fair enough but I would have expected Maguire to have picked up on the fact that Pogba hadn’t gone across on the cover. If Harry had gone out and narrowed the gap, he may have had a better chance of cutting out the cross before it had gone into the danger area.

The two in the middle simply didn’t react either to Vardy’s movement or to get their body in front of the “shot” which is really disappointing. A miss hit of a shot then clips off our defender and goes in...OG. Unfortunate and maybe it was too close for him to get out of the way. It’s still an error though and I’d always prefer an OG from a player trying to block a shot rather than one just standing passively, not reacting.

Last of all, De Gea stood at the near post when Maguire is covering that area off which strikes me as poor positioning. The strike was so close that he may have had little chance to save it anyway but a step or two further to his right and he had a chance to react as it rolled in pretty much centrally.

As I say, a catalogue of errors. My major concern, rather than getting out the pitchforks, is that the instinct of defensive players to sniff out danger seems to be lacking. This should be getting drilled in to these guys. Soft goals is our stock in trade at the moment and I wonder whether there needs to be a specific defensive team brought in to help tighten things up. Vidic, Rio...someone surely...?

 

[cyril C]

The second Leicester goal resulted from a cascade of errors in a few seconds, but we have to look at both Maguire and Bailly for prime culpability.

Concentration and awareness seem to lapse to often with our CBs. True, expecting perfection for 90 minutes is unreasonable, but we can’t look at the Leicester equalizer as anything but a lapse of concentration and awareness.

No, the problem was Pogba failed to follow his marker, and allow a free run and free pass. Not saying Baily was jail free, but the origin of problem.

Beside, why was Tuanzebe so much inside the box. May be he was needed there, but how many times have we conceded when our RB was inside, leaving right back exposed? Remember Seveille and Leizip?

 

[city-puma]

No, the problem was Pogba failed to follow his marker, and allow a free run and free pass. Not saying Baily was jail free, but the origin of problem.

Beside, why was Tuanzebe so much inside the box. May be he was needed there, but how many times have we conceded when our RB was inside, leaving right back exposed? Remember Seveille and Leizip?

This could be exploited by wolf. Deep cross from right and someone (Neto or full/wing back) waits in the far post to score.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Maguire didn’t need to protect the near post. The angle was far too tight from too far a distance and whatever flogging De Gea deserves for his lapses in recent year there’s no chance Perez beats De Gea from that position or in a million years thinks about taking a shot on De Gea from there, with or without Vardy in the six yard box.

But I don’t want to dragged into a debate about Maguire, especially after listening to Goldbridge’s psychotic rant yesterday, where he laid it all on Maguire. Responsibility for the goal was shared across the back line and it can’t be argued that Maguire was positioned perfectly, even if it’s true Bailly and Tuanzebe failed the test of recognizingwhere the danger was.

You don't want to blame Maguire yet you repeat pretty much word for word what Goldbridge says? Maguire was goal side of the Leicester player, as he should be. If he steps up to take away the cut back and the ball gets whipped across the 6 for a tap in Goldbridge would blame Maguire for not cutting off the low front post cross. Anything to blame Maguire. Truth is, Bailley was closest to Vardy and didn't even look at him. There were other errors leading up to it, but Bailley was inexcusable. He is caught ball watching and has no idea what is going on around him when his first thought should be "where's Vardy"...

 

[Number32]

Seems like a recurring theme in our defence and a major weakness. We look completely inept when defending that area.

Off the top of my head I can recall:

Suso’s goal against us in the EL. Cutback into the box after a run into the channel.

Townsend’s goal against us in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal palace. Similar goal to Suso’s. Run into channel, drilled cross in and tap in.

Son’s second goal in the 1-6 defeat. Complete feck up by Maguire and Shaw there. Son runs into the channel and pokes the ball in.

Aubameyang‘s penalty against us came after Pogba failed to track Bellerin’s run into the channel and fouled him.

Kluivert’s goal another carbon copy of Suso’s goal. They targeted that specific area all night.

Today Shaw and Fred got sucked in and failed to defend the channel where Perez was free to drill the cross in.

Unpopular opinion, but it might be De Gea's lack of communication here. On his prime, He is a great shot stopper, but we all know he can't command the defense like VDS or Schmeichel did for us.

For the Son's goal, there's a video tape when he was shouting to Shaw "No Luke, No! Front!" the media was blaming Shaw for ignoring his command at the time. But I noticed he didn't said "Front Post!" that might confusing Shaw to understand, front of me? front of him? which front?

As comparison when Henderson was our GK vs Everton, DMC had no room in the box for 90 minutes. I think Henderson has a better communication with our back four to command them into a good shape. Henderson has conceded 5 goals this season, and none of them was in the situation above. He conceded 1 errors, 2 corners, 2 speedy counter attacks.

Our defenders is not good enough, but they are the best option that we have now. I really love De Gea, but it's time to move on and give Henderson a chance to be our number 1.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I think Vardy moved very well for that 2nd goal. One second he was there and next second just back in to score it. It was perfect and the second by second camera shots clearly show how fast Vardy moved. I don't really blame any of the defenders near to Vardy for the goal.
The cross maybe should have been stopped. But really, I am not terribly frustrated with that goal. Such things happen.

Our defenders do a lot other brain feck things which cost us games.

 

[kouroux]

I think Vardy moved very well for that 2nd goal. One second he was there and next second just back in to score it. It was perfect and the second by second camera shots clearly show how fast Vardy moved. I don't really blame any of the defenders near to Vardy for the goal.
The cross maybe should have been stopped. But really, I am not terribly frustrated with that goal. Such things happen.

Our defenders do a lot other brain feck things which cost us games.

Vardy's movement is one thing, my issue is that the cross wasn't that great tbh, it should have been dealt with before he got too it

 

[georgipep]

You don't want to blame Maguire yet you repeat pretty much word for word what Goldbridge says? Maguire was goal side of the Leicester player, as he should be. If he steps up to take away the cut back and the ball gets whipped across the 6 for a tap in Goldbridge would blame Maguire for not cutting off the low front post cross. Anything to blame Maguire. Truth is, Bailley was closest to Vardy and didn't even look at him. There were other errors leading up to it, but Bailley was inexcusable. He is caught ball watching and has no idea what is going on around him when his first thought should be "where's Vardy"...

Dude, do you do anything else besides accusing people of quoting Goldbridge? You are the single, most obsessed with Goldbridge poster on here. You see his words in everyone. Can't you accept that people can come up with similar opinions?

 

[Borys]

I think some people will go mad if they keep doing that micro analysis of every goal.

For example, in the buildup to Leicester second goal, Tielemans passes straight at Pogba, ball bounces back to Barnes who passes it to Perez who runs into Shaw, but somehow one of Leicester players passes it back to Perez who passes it to Vardy who shots at Tuanzebe and ball ends up in goal. I'd say maybe we lacked some aggression to clear the ball but this goal is ridiculous amount of luck and a bit of skill from Vardy.

It happens guys. Perez could've passed to the other Leicester player arriving at the edge of the box, who could've scored a bicycle kick off the post.

Defensively we had the best performance out of all top teams vs Leicester.

 

[bsCallout]

No, the problem was Pogba failed to follow his marker, and allow a free run and free pass. Not saying Baily was jail free, but the origin of problem.

Beside, why was Tuanzebe so much inside the box. May be he was needed there, but how many times have we conceded when our RB was inside, leaving right back exposed? Remember Seveille and Leizip?

The second point doesnt hold much water because there wasnt anyone there. Therefore it is good defending, he is defending the back post and he knows there is no one behind him to receive the cross over the top.

 

[Longshanks]

Today's goal was Baillys fault IMO. Vardy was their only striker, their only player attacking the cross, and we had two centre backs in front of him. Bailly didn't even look to see where Vardy was.

It reminded me of the 2nd Sevilla goal when Lindelof did something similiar. I don't know if we're attempting some ridiculous zonal defending of crosses or something, but it's ridiculous to me that our centre backs seem to stand in an area and ball watch rather than keeping an eye on the striker.

In terms of defending the channels, the problem is we always play with 4 players high up the pitch, leaving 6 players to do the job of 7 of 8 players. Our wide players aren't wingers and Bruno despite his work rate is given a license to be positioned higher up the pitch. Even playing 2 mobile, ball winning midfielders and having full backs that remain deep will not overcome this. We have to sacrifice one of our forwards, especially in tough games, because the 4213 that we play is suicidal. It also means that our defenders individually get slated and blamed for goals, but the task we give them is impossible.

We leave the players up the pitch so we can transitions quickly and immediately get our forward players running at/behind the opposition defence it's the risk/reward of Oles system.

The vardy goal was a combination of mistakes from shaw/fred/pogba and a big slice of luck I dont think the CB's do alot wrong. Shaw and Fred both get drawn to close down the Justin leaving Perez free to make the run into the channel, Pogba spots this and rather than use his own energy to sprint and track the run he stands on the edge of the box shouting at Fred and Shaw and pointing, shaw does try and turn and sprint back to close down the full back but it was to late, Perez had the space and time to get the ball across.

Vardy's movement of taking a step back was a gamble it bought him half a yard of space and he got lucky in that Perez's head down smash back and across actually found him, it hadn't bought him enough space to control the ball or have a clear sight at goal he just swings a leg at it in hope and gets lucky with his scuff deflecting of tuanzebe and past De Gea. The mistake was allowing the ball across in the first place, despite that its still took a big slice of luck.

The CBs can't anticipate vardy's little step back nor can they anticipate Perez just smashing it back and across there is no time for them to react to both these things and vardy's gamble paid off and got him the half a yard of space , he then got lucky again with his finish being a deflected scuff. The CBs were left exposed but vardy didnt have a great deal of time and space he just gambled and got lucky.

 

[Idxomer]

We got way too deep to deal with one striker inside the area, in the same attack Barnes was left completely alone on the edge of the area because everyone in defense and midfield decided to chase the ball and mark Vardy.

 

[RedIan]

Vardys goal was down to great movement by Vardy. He is a quality striker v 2 average centre half’s who moved towards the goal as he stepped back a yard. Finding that yard of space in the box creates a chance should the cross find him which it did.

i see a big weakness with teams attacking down our right hand side. AWB constantly gets sucked into cover Victor in the box leaving acres of space on that flank. If AWB is actually in the full back position then he rarely gets beaten but far to often he is out of position and we have conceded a number of times with attacks coming in from that area.

 

[11101]

I think Vardy moved very well for that 2nd goal. One second he was there and next second just back in to score it. It was perfect and the second by second camera shots clearly show how fast Vardy moved. I don't really blame any of the defenders near to Vardy for the goal.
The cross maybe should have been stopped. But really, I am not terribly frustrated with that goal. Such things happen.

Our defenders do a lot other brain feck things which cost us games.

Exactly. Aguero does that little drop back move all the time and sometimes you just have to accept it cant be defended against. We always want to find somebody to pin the blame on but that was a split second movement. Short of reading Vardy's mind you couldn't stop that shot.

The problems occurred much earlier when we let them run behind us and get the cross in. Against one striker I would have liked to see the spare CB work better to cut the cross out.

 

[ghaliboy]

That was because Pogba failed to follow his marker and allowed free run for Perez.

Even if he tracks the space, at least make the drop-run to cut out the cross. He has absolutely zero defensive awareness.

I tend more to think it is a lack of team chemistry some of the goals like that we concede. Nobody has each others back and nobody defends like they're covering each other. That tends to be defending to make sure your face doesn't get hit with the full pie so you can slink off and not accept responsibility.

 

[Trequarista10]

We leave the players up the pitch so we can transitions quickly and immediately get our forward players running at/behind the opposition defence it's the risk/reward of Oles system.

The vardy goal was a combination of mistakes from shaw/fred/pogba and a big slice of luck I dont think the CB's do alot wrong. Shaw and Fred both get drawn to close down the Justin leaving Perez free to make the run into the channel, Pogba spots this and rather than use his own energy to sprint and track the run he stands on the edge of the box shouting at Fred and Shaw and pointing, shaw does try and turn and sprint back to close down the full back but it was to late, Perez had the space and time to get the ball across.

Vardy's movement of taking a step back was a gamble it bought him half a yard of space and he got lucky in that Perez's head down smash back and across actually found him, it hadn't bought him enough space to control the ball or have a clear sight at goal he just swings a leg at it in hope and gets lucky with his scuff deflecting of tuanzebe and past De Gea. The mistake was allowing the ball across in the first place, despite that its still took a big slice of luck.

The CBs can't anticipate vardy's little step back nor can they anticipate Perez just smashing it back and across there is no time for them to react to both these things and vardy's gamble paid off and got him the half a yard of space , he then got lucky again with his finish being a deflected scuff. The CBs were left exposed but vardy didnt have a great deal of time and space he just gambled and got lucky.

You are correct that we leave players high up the pitch to transition quickly. At 2-1 up away at a top 7 or 8 side, in the 85th minute, there was simply no need. All great teams have tactical flexibility and make necessary adjustments when needed. Our game management is poor. We are predictable and it means that are weaknesses are known and exposed frequently. Even top class CBs would concede goals if the team is frequently being cut open. Our CBs are far from top class. Lindelof and Bailly in particular, although they have some strengths, defending the six yard box is not to their strength. They aren't great at defending crosses, yet our style of play means every game we let one side of our defence be overloaded a few times and we have to defend dangerous crosses into the box, and we either concede at the back post or a striker pops up unchallenged in the centre.

You are correct that a combination of Fred and Shaw are also to blame, but that happens. With our formation and style of play, we will always concede crosses in games. It'd be impossible to stop crosses altogether with our formation/tactics. Pogba, hmm, I'd say his biggest fault was not being on Justin, so that Fred and Shaw, or at least not both, wouldn't have had to close him down, although you said yourself we leave our front four higher up, and he was playing LW, so impossible to know if that is strategic or his laziness. After that, it looks bad that he spotted the danger and didn't chase down Perez but honestly he's getting nowhere near him to do anything about it in time. I don't recall Rashford or Greenwood tracking back into our own box to tackle an opposition winger.

However, you simply can not absolve Bailly of blame. It's not about anticipating Vardy's movement, as I said he doesn't even look at Vardy the whole time, and Vardy actually starts behind Bailly. Bailly needs to be level with Vardy there and goalside, so he can react to the cross or Vardy's movement, that's defending 101. It may have ended up that if Bailly had did his job properly he might have blocked Vardy's shot, or he might have got an own goal himself instead of Tuanzebe. But, if he had got an own goal, at least he would have been making the correct decisions. The biggest concern and problem for me was that because Bailly was doing nothing, Tuanzebe ended up coming central unneccesarily. The problem is that if the cross had been overhit or to the back post it's quite likely Barnes would have scored anyway, and that's a goal we have conceded numerous times recently - cross to the back post, and our full back is positioned far too centrally to assist the CB, while the CB stands pointlessly in a set position without even looking where the opposition forward is.

A more general point, and not aimed at you specifically, but I think recently fans have been far too lenient towards Bailly and Lindelof, and I suspect this is due to the current attitude towards Maguire. The worse the perception of Maguire gets, the better Bailly and Lindelof seem to become. The fact is that both are CBs with glaring weaknesses, and these are constantly demonstrated by our tactical set up.

 

[arnie_ni]

Maguire didn’t need to protect the near post. The angle was far too tight from too far a distance and whatever flogging De Gea deserves for his lapses in recent year there’s no chance Perez beats De Gea from that position or in a million years thinks about taking a shot on De Gea from there, with or without Vardy in the six yard box.

But I don’t want to dragged into a debate about Maguire, especially after listening to Goldbridge’s psychotic rant yesterday, where he laid it all on Maguire. Responsibility for the goal was shared across the back line and it can’t be argued that Maguire was positioned perfectly, even if it’s true Bailly and Tuanzebe failed the test of recognizingwhere the danger was.

He hasn't blocking it for a shot. He was blocking the near post for a cross between the defense and the keeper. That's routine and the first defender always gets across his near post.

 

[VeevaVee]

We can’t defend runs and we certainly can’t defend set pieces or crosses.

I think our defence is pretty shit.

 

[lex talionis]

He hasn't blocking it for a shot. He was blocking the near post for a cross between the defense and the keeper. That's routine and the first defender always gets across his near post.

The angle for such a cross was far too tight for that to be a threat. We have to look at Pogba and Fred first for their casual play in that situation and then we have to look at Bailly for brainless defending, but Maguire positioned himself poorly in that situation and we saw what happened.

In addition, no one was making a run to the byline so there was no threat there to defend against. I hope Maguire has studied the film from his mistakes against Leicester City and RB Leipzig and that we do not see him out of position and meekly watching low crosses roll right by him that lead to crucial goals for the opposition. I still rate Maguire highly, but it can’t be argued he showered himself in glory on either play.

But this is now ancient history and we have more pressing matters before us today.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Dude, do you do anything else besides accusing people of quoting Goldbridge? You are the single, most obsessed with Goldbridge poster on here. You see his words in everyone. Can't you accept that people can come up with similar opinions?

Similar? Sure. Word for word? If you say so...