Corberan Watch

[Lurker#3]

I think you're trying to use selective stats (maybe sub-consciously) to justify your opinion at the time. Us having more touches in the defensive third and less in the attacking third doesn't suggest we're playing through the lines slower than usual, arguably it's the opposite because once we got into that attacking third we didn't spend as much time passing it around.

I also completely disagree with the bolded statement, we had more shots on target that first half than any half of football this season, and as many shots on target in that half than any entire 90 minutes this season with one exception. Putting aside the fact that goals are the only important metric, I don't know how it can be judged as anything other than a good performance. We were in complete control against a poor side, but the result could have easily been 7 or 8.

Not at all mate.

I quoted touches in the defensive third as a way of seeing how much time we spent in the defensive third in possession as theres no stat for passes completed each area, but being as we dominated possession I chose to look at passes INTO the final third to see how much we tried to attack and progress the ball through the lines, and its was really low, I think the 5th lowest of year from memory. This is supported by us having a really low number of touches in the final third however, too.

I did also counter it by saying we had far more penalty area entrances which is a huge positive, as this is where that freedom, confidence and "off the leash" mentality approach comes in and makes the difference. 

What I do want to see though, and I think its more important than the point above is us working repeatable patterns to get us into the final third consistently in a controlled manner where we develop overloads and good attacking opportunities. If we look at the goals v Pompey, Jeds and Swifts were the 2 really well crafted and executed goals. I want to see more of that.