Analysing the Clean Sheet Philospohy

Why is more emphasis placed on maintaining a clean sheet than scoring more than the opposition, regardless of how many goals are conceded? Surely ‘the beautiful game’ warrants flair, pace, imagination, technique…with which of the above do you associate these features, clean sheets? Perhaps not.

Nonetheless, too frequently do we see managers evaluate their team’s performance in all the wrong ways. ‘If only we had cut out those 2 or 3 mistakes then the result would look so differently right now, we’d have got the draw or possibly even have snatched the win.’ No! This manager (ahem, Sam Allardyce is the perfect example) has conveniently forgotten to acknowledge the 5,6 or7 other glaring opportunities the opposition (complacently) misfired; ‘the beautiful game’ doesn’t even get considered because it’s all about the results.

I think it is fair enough to say that every team’s offense are going to spoon some of their chances throughout a match however, hoping to eliminate those 2 or 3 mistakes that occur so unfortunately every other match seems very optimistic. Conversely, ‘attack is the best form of defence’?

Scoring goals is more difficult and placing the onus on this strategy can leave a team vulnerable to conceding themselves; a draw is more favourable than the loss and patience will pay off! In other words, prioritise discipline so that your team will either find an opportunity and grasp it without jeopardising the stability of the team’s defensive organisation, or hope that the opposition will suffer fatigue as the match wears on, thus creating more space to conjure scoring opportunities and minimise the threat of counter attacks in the process.

 

Aside from strategy, managers face the dilemma of scouting strikers who are typically more expensive and culpable to injury, less reliable and adaptable to adjustments of the team’s system, and perhaps most significantly, rare!

Only by illustrating the gulf between prices for strikers and defenders can we appreciate the headache suffered by managers as every transfer window commences:

Defenders

Vidic (£7m, from Spartak Moscow to Manchester United)

Chiellini (euro4.3m, from Fiorentina to Juventus)

Pique (£5m, from Manchester United to Barcelona)

Evra (£5.5m, from Monaco to Manchester United)

Thiago Silva (euro10m, from Fluminense to AC Milan)

Cannavaro (euro7m, from Juventus to Real Madrid)

A. Cole (£5.5m + Gallas, from Arsenal to Chelsea)

 

Strikers

Torres (£20m, from Athletico Madrid to Liverpool; £50m, from Liverpool to Chelsea)

Rooney (£25.6m, from Everton to Manchester United)

Ibrahimovic (euro24.8m, from Juventus to Inter Milan; euro46m + Eto’o + Hleb, from Inter Milan to Barcelona)

Villa (euro40m, from Valencia to Barcelona)

Drogba (£24m, from Marseille to Chelsea)

Eto’o (euro24m, from Mallorca to Barcelona)

Aguero (£35m, from Athletico Madrid to Manchester City)

The list could go on but I think the pattern is clear. Conversely, it would be wrong to ignore the substantial fees paid for defenders on occasion; Pepe (euro30m, from Porto to Real Madrid), Ferdinand (£29.1m, from Leeds to Manchester United), Alves (£23m, from Sevilla to Barcelona) etc. Furthermore, the capturing of world class strikers at bargain prices should also be acknowledged: Van Persie (£2.75m, from Feyenoord to Arsenal), Henry (£11m, from Monaco to Arsenal) and so on…although I must admit, it’s becoming a struggle. Other modern greats, like a certain Argentinean maestro and Spain’s Raul aren’t featured in the above simply because their clubs were mightily fortunate enough to evade paying extortionate fees, savvy scouts eh!

The idea of strikers suffering more injuries is quite straight forward really, they lurk in more threatening positions and thus tempt more threatening defence. Defenders are rarely pursued to the same extent, players follow a protocol of minimising time that defenders have on the ball but seldom do we see purposeful tackles with potential to injure.

How often do we see strikers suffer a patch of bad form? Can we say the same about defenders? No.

It seems quite odd that defenders are so much more readily available in the current market. As kids playing football with friends at the park or in the playground, all we ever wanted to do was score (most of the time).  Why doesn’t this pattern continue to the professional game? Only the attributes associated with players who prosper in the respective positions can explain this dilemma…

Again, most of the time…

Strikers rely on physical superiority (be that strength or pace to overpower or evade their opponent respectively), imagination (to fool defenders, which may provide them with that extra yard of space) in which they can perhaps get a shot away, thus we have technique. And finally, an attribute which doesn’t really have much bearing on a player’s ability but certainly influences the decision of scouts/managers/team-mates as to whether the individual is a team player. Work ethic.

In contrast, one might argue that defenders can be successful with merely mediocre physical condition. Moreover, we might be permitted to propose that imagination hinders the defender’s efficiency, organisation and reliability. Rather an ability to ‘read the game’ and deal with threatening situations as calmly as possible is favoured; some skills are easier to acquire than others.

Are managers right to predominantly opt for defensive tactics or should they strive to display ‘the beautiful game’ for fans who appear to be quite divided, results or entertainment value? Your choice.