Poor defending, poor goalkeeping or something else? Every conceded goal analysed.

[CroJack]

In this thread I am going to analyse every goal we have conceded this season.

Goal No. 1

Sheffield United 1 : 2 Swansea City

The first goal we have conceded was the goal in the away game against Sheffield United.

Here is YouTube video, go to 5:30 to see the goal:

Which defenders are not doing their jobs properly in this situation?
They should be able to anticipate either a high/low cross coming into 6 yards box or a low cross into the highlighted (empty) space in the penalty box.






Let's look at the players 1,2, & 3 and their positioning:



As you can see their positioning is totally wrong. The yellow arrows show where they should be - not in front or behind, but between SW attackers and the goal, close to the men they are marking.​

Players 4,5,6,7 & 8:



Players 4 & 5 are doing what they are supposed to do, players 6 & 8 are watching passively, and only the player 7 is trying to run into the free space, obviously sensing the danger.



This is what happens next:



A (pretty weak) shot that easily could/should have been saved.​

 

[CroJack]

I mean, really?


Conclusion:

The first goal we conceded this season was a result of both poor defending and goalkeeping.​

 

[The Blobster]

The second hull goal yesterday showed Nordfeldt up for the clutz he is. A pass along the middle of his 6 yard box and instead of cutting it out he crabbed across his line and watched it bundled in at the back post. Also , where the fuck was Naughton ?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Clearly we cannot continue with the current complement of keepers. Benda must be given a run out now with nothing much at stake.

Agree with the analysis above. How an entire defensive line can fail to get goal side of their attackers is beyond me.

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 2

Swansea City 2 : 2 Leeds United

This goal is a prime example of poor defending.

We are one goal up against Leeds at the Liberty and Leeds scores from this situation:



The Leeds player who is running with the ball has four options. The pass just in front of our penalty box is most dangerous
because there is a free space there and one of the Leeds players have a free run towards our box.

​

What are our players doing?
Player 1 is running backwards instead of closing down the Leeds player who has the ball. Unfortunately, our full-backs do that often.
Player 2 is well aware of the Leeds player who has a free run through the middle.
Player 3 is in a good position to defend against a high cross.
Player 4 is totally unaware of the Leeds player behind him and not ready to defend against a high cross.
Player 5 is making a good run, closing down his man and trying to cut the passing option to the middle.
Player 6 is running where? He should be closing down the Leeds player who is running through the middle.
Players 7 & 8 are jogging are not contributing defensively.

Here is what they should be doing:



The Leeds player who is running with the ball decides not to pass or cross the ball but instead to take on our full-back (Player 1) who is running backwards and invites the pressure.

We are now in a pretty good defensive shape but our full-back is still running backwards:



Now it's obvious that either a high or low cross is coming to the far post:

​

 

[CroJack]

We are still in a good shape here:




And here:



But one player is sleeping (or two):



How on earth can this happen?



Not good enough Mike?




We conceded this goal because a) Olsson was running backwards and inviting pressure; and
b) Big Mike was not close enough to the man he was marking.

Poor defending.

​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 3

Swansea City 2 : 2 Leeds United

This is the equaliser score by Leeds when we were 2:1 up.

Scroll to 6:27 in this video to watch the goal:

We are pressing high and Leeds are trying to counter-attack on the left flank.



Mike mistimes his tackle and gets outwitted by the Leeds player who then has a free run behind our defence:





This is still a good situation for us because there aren't any Leeds players around
our box:



The Leeds player sends a low cross towards our penalty box but I still can't see any other Leeds players there:

​

 

[CroJack]

Player No. 2 fails (comically) to make a simple clearance and I still can't see any Leeds players around our penalty box.
Notice how many Swansea players are defending!!!



And then this happens:









​

 

[CroJack]

That was a pretty weak shot (again) and our goalkeeper should have done better !!! The goal we conceded was a result of a chain of defensive errors.

Conclusion: poor defending and poor goalkeeping.

These two sloppy goals against Leeds cost us 2 valuable point.​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 4

Swansea City 0 : 1 Bristol City

A high ball from the Bristol half bypassing our front line and midfield:





Olsson wins the aerial duel and makes a headed clearance but he clears the ball into a dangerous area:





We are still in a pretty good defensive shape:

​

 

[CroJack]

Although surrounded by three Swansea players, the Bristol City player passes the ball to his winger on the left flank:





Roberts fails to block the shot/low cross, Olsson does not close his man down and Rodon loses his man. Our goalkeeper is in a good position to either stop the low cross or save the shot.



Watch here how both Olsson and Rodon are behind the players they should have been marking.



Rodon is still trying to make it up whilst Olsson is watching:

​

 

[CroJack]

The Bristol player (the one Olsson should have closed down) somehow manages to score with his heel:



Conclusion: the goal we conceded against Bristol was the result of poor defending.

Martin Olsson was involved with his poor defending in goals No. 2, 3 and 4.

Another two points lost.​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 5

Millwall 1 : 2 Swansea

Scroll to 3:48 to watch the goal:

Not much to criticise here because we were playing with 10 men for almost 90 minutes but still - we had eight players to Millwall four in our box.

This was the first goal we conceded this season from a corner-kick.



As you can see this is a poor zonal defending. Three Millwall players are totally unmarked in our six yards box:



The Millwall player who scored had made a late run into our six yards box and none of the Swansea players reacted.



Conclusion: poor defending.​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 6

Stoke 1 : 0 Swansea

An offside goal scored against us. Robbed for 2 points.

Scroll to 6:07 to watch the goal:

As you can see Joe Allan is clearly in an offside position:







Our goalkeeper almost saves the shot:

​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 7

Swansea 2 : 3 Ipswich

Mike fails to block the cross and Rodon is not close enough to the man he is marking:





A good header:



And that's it:



Conclusion: poor defending.​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 8

Swansea 2 : 3 Ipswich

Here is the second goal Ipswich scored ( 3:41)

We are in a good defensive shape here but Grimes should press the player with the ball and try to block the cross:



Two of our players should be closer to the players they are marking:



An excellent cross:



And an easy goal:




Conclusion: poor defending​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 9

You can watch the third goal Ipswich scored here ( 9:43)

Again a goal scored from a corner kick.

As you can see we are man-marking here:



It's a pretty high ball:



A pretty weak but accurate header:



We didn't do anything wrong here apart from one thing - why don't we have anyone at the near post?

Conclusion: just because we didn't have anyone at the near post I think it was a poor defending. 3 points lost.​

 

[CroJack]

Goal No. 10

Aston Villa 1 : 0 Swansea

Scroll to 0:25 to watch the goal.

We are defending with 10 men against Villa's five. But what Villa do here is a very clever attacking. They have three tall players close to each other so a) they cover well the area targeted by the player who crosses the ball (it's much easier for him) , and b) they make it more difficult for Swansea players to man-mark them.







Nobody is blocking the cross, Mike is not close enough to Tammy Abraham:

.



There is enough space between two of our defenders for Abraham to jump and score:

​

 

[CroJack]

And, of course, he scores:







Conclusion: poor defending.​

 

[ivoralljack]

I guess you could be posting from now until the start of next season, CJ, about our defensive mistakes. What worries me is that, whilst the rest of the team has shown a marked improvement in most areas, our defensive frailty has shown no signs of improving with basic mistakes taking place almost every game. So I ask again, who the hell is in charge of defensive coaching? Whoever it is and whatever he's doing, it ain't working!!!