Long shots

[CopenhagenBlade]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

 

[JohnDenver]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

MK Dons 25 yarder nailed on now....

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

MK Dons 25 yarder nailed on now....

Sorry

 

[JohnDenver]

Sorry

It's OK. At least there can be no debate about blame now.

PS - to answer the question, the side is working a chuff load harder this season, and in recent games teams haven't had much of the ball or many sights of our goal. Not sure Long was weak with shots from distance, but Moore is clearly a class above his predecessor.

 

[Stretch]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

From what I have seen the midfield are working much harder at closing down the opposition, coupled with the wingbacks helping the middle 5 to hunt in packs and limit time and space. A back 3 also allows one CB to step out into midfield and help out more, normally JOC or Bash on Saturday. When it comes off it's tactically perfect. It's shame that the defence overall got a bit sloppy against Bradford though.
Oh and Moore is better than Long, of course.

 

[wizadry]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

Moore has a better back than Howard and is a big improvement on Long, especially with communicating with the back line.

Howard saved a daisy cutter from distance last night against Bury but he really struggled to get down to it, plus it was going well wide anyway. In short he's not very confident on long range shots.

Long isn't too bad at keeping them out initially, although he try's a fancy Dan sort of save or parries it straight back out to an opposition player 9 times out of 10, this isn't luck, it's poor goalkeeping because Moore has no problem with dealing with them.

 

[BushBlade]

So, has Long Shot kicked the bucket?

 

[Tyler Durden]

So, has Long Shot kicked the bucket?

As wankers would say, "chooon".

 

[Tyler Durden]

Duffy has attempted loads of long shots. It's just that most of them have ended up in Plymouth.

 

[ljk]

Players that are consistently good from range seem to barely exist at this level. Shame, because keepers are consistently crap at this level.

 

[Kenilworth]

Cos we are playing more in the opposition half than inviting them into ours

 

[DifferentClass]

As wankers would say, "chooon".

Bangin'.

 

[bladesmanluke]

Putting the boot on the other foot for a moment, Duffy and Fleck are never afraid to have a go from range for us. Fair enough they haven't gone in yet, but it's only a matter of time. Moore seems to make routine saves look routine.

 

[seanbeenstattoo]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

Both.

 

[madeinsheffield]

Also I think we had a reputation for being weak at stopping long range shots so more teams were willing to have a pop from outside the box

 

[LenTednTony]

No......We've just been unlucky. Just ask Kmac!

 

[IMABLADE]

Last season we always seemed to lose to a 'wonder' long shot but that doesn't appear to be happening this season.
Were we just unlucky?
Is Moore saving the long shots?
Are the midfield and defence better at closing down the opportunities?

NO NO and NO, we just got rid of ADKINS who loved to stand off every opposition and we also got rid of players who can't tackle

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

Players that are consistently good from range seem to barely exist at this level. Shame, because keepers are consistently crap at this level.

Josh Morris? Most of his goals seem to be 20-25 yards out!

 

[SwissBlade]

Putting the boot on the other foot for a moment, Duffy and Fleck are never afraid to have a go from range for us. Fair enough they haven't gone in yet, but it's only a matter of time. Moore seems to make routine saves look routine.

Billy Sharp v Shrewsbury

 

[WF10BLADE]

Last season the defence and midfield were powder puff and unfit.

The amount of times teams just waltzed through us was unbelievable.

This season we are pressing and not playing for one nil and then shut up shop.

Teams are really having to work hard to break us down, long may it continue.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Jay Spearing, Bolton, George Long.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I'd say we're not allowing opponents the time and space to hit the long shots as much this season. Don't think it was particularly a weakness of George's. It was for Howard though. That's when we conceded the most wonder goals. Disappointint we didn't exploit that when we played at Bolton.

 

[TJB.]

Jay Spearing, Bolton, George Long.

Watch that goal again, fella. Not many around who would have stopped that. Superb strike.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Watch that goal again, fella. Not many around who would have stopped that. Superb strike.

Here we go...



Watching that back, knowing what we know now about our recent form, you can see the positive signs that day. We really were unlucky that day. We were doing a lot of the right things, things that we're doing now - they just didn't come off on the day.

As for the goal - sieve Long. Moore would've saved that. ;-)

In all seriousness though, our general hustle and bustle now leads me to think we wouldn't have given Spearing anywhere near as much space.

 

[TJB.]

As for the goal - sieve Long. Moore would've saved that. ;-)

Not a cat in hell's chance!

In all seriousness though, our general hustle and bustle now leads me to think we wouldn't have given Spearing anywhere near as much space.

Very, very true.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Last season the defence and midfield were powder puff and unfit.

The amount of times teams just waltzed through us was unbelievable.

This season we are pressing and not playing for one nil and then shut up shop.

Teams are really having to work hard to break us down, long may it continue.

Totally agree.

The thing about pressing is that EVERY single player needs to buy into it.
Last season Done and Sharp chased the ball down but then their players would simply pass it to an unmarked midfielder.

Traditionally tactics are based on when a team has the ball
However this season the players seem to have a clear plan and tactics when we don't have the ball.

 

[Tezza1889]

I'd rather see a long range shot than waste it trying to pass it into the net, so I'm really happy this season that we've started having a pop.theyre great when the go in arnt they..

Also, I did begin to suspect that George long might have a sight problem, because anything from distance and on target always had a great chance of hitting the back of he net...