Our defense hasn't been the greatest in the last few years, a lot of this is down to the pressure our midfield has put on them. Has our midfield improved this year, allowing the pressure to subside or will we be up for another bad goal differential year?
We need organisers at the back . players who talk to those around and in front of them so we keep our shape .We had far too many ball watchers last year (Bodurov and Burn being the main culprits, in this respect ). We can't defend set pieces and second balls at set pieces which is partly about being drilled but mainly about the collective mindset of the players .
If we get at least one new decent centre back and Turner on loan then we would definitely be looking strong .
Improving our midfield has focussed on buying creative players. This should mean more opportunities for our strikers to score and hopefully better ball retention so less opportunities for opposition too.
This will almost certainly improve our goals for/against record, but it's a slightly indirect way of dealing with our biggest problem last year - a flimsy defence which was vulnerable on the counter and poorly organised for set-pieces.
I think the change in midfield personell and formation should help us concede less (more ball retention, less exposed fullbacks) but I don't think there is a hope in hell of a team with our defence getting promoted.
Considering how poor we were as a team last season we manged a decent amount of goals for and when confidence was high (too infrequent) we looked good.
Often the way the team was set up and the tactics employed brought the opposition onto us, although IMO the management would argue it was the best use of what players they had but it exposed us time and again
If this new midfield can keep the ball better and pressure the other end of the pitch its obviously going to help
us but the big question is, are the likes of Bodorov, Burn and Hutchinson as bad as they looked. Or was it a case of trying to put out a fire with a water pistol due to the over whelming pressure we heaped on ourselves?
I think its both, we need to retain the ball better and put pressure on further up the pitch as well as sign a player who can physically help shield the back four. And have a system that supports the full backs when defending.
Then, the icing on the cake would be a centre half who leads the line.
