Shrimpsvoices

I was not one of the fantastic 50 odd that traveled yesterday but I have just read the match report and noticed that yet again it seems to have been a very open game (or the stats seem to suggest it). 17 shots on goal against us. I remember coming out of both the Portsmouth and Bournemouth games thinking we rode our luck massively. Bournemouth particularly in the first half there were so many last ditch blocks and decent chances for them and I remember thinking we could have been 4 down at the break. As it transpired in these two games and many others this year we dug deep and were a constant threat going the other way which of course is brilliant to see. I remember saying to a friend as we left though that we were due a good hiding soon if a team had their shooting boots on. Let's also not forget that Barry was nominated for player of the month.

As a snapshot. These are the 'shots against' in our last 6 games going back to Portsmouth.
17 - Yesterday
19- Donny
15-Orient
18- Accy
16- Bournemouth
19- Yeovil
25- Pompy

As a comparison Accrington's last 3 games read 5,1,8.

On one hand it's great to see some entertainment and I am more than happy to see us play in a 'We're going to score one more than you' way..if we win! but I do think we need to be prepared for both some good days and some further heavy beatings this season if we continue to be so open.

..further supported by this

https://experimental361.com/2016/09/12/ ... -sep-2016/

Bloody hell we won! We are 4th in the league. What more can they do to satisfy?
How many of those shots against us were on target? Oh yes, not many usually meaning they are shooting from distance meaning our lads are doing their jobs, not always I admit but the important words are 'on target'. How many did we have on target in comparison?

I think winning and losing might well be the way for us, as drawing many drops points, where as winning five and losing three keeps you high up?
Got to be happy with 4th in mid September?

Freez wrote:
Got to be happy with 4th in mid September?

I'd have taken that pre season.

A Yank spectator once told Gary Player he was lucky.

The reply from Player was "The more I practice , the luckier I get" !

We seem to have better game plans so far this season.

Out of our 5 wins we have won 3 matches after being behind. Last season those would have been 3 defeats , probably heavy defeats.

Maybe we have been lucky but I am liking the open footy we are generally seeing in our matches this season. Don't wish it away by going back to dour 'keep it tight' football.

Wild Bill wrote:Maybe we have been lucky but I am liking the open footy we are generally seeing in our matches this season. Don't wish it away by going back to dour 'keep it tight' football.

I think I agree with you. Certainly as long as we are at the right half of the table anyway. My only real point is I do think we will take some heavy defeats along the way if we continue in this vain. I just hope that if the fans do embrace this open entertaining style as a few posts above suggest has been the case.. There are no overreactions if we do take some heavier defeats... a la the 'Bentley out' threads. Can't have it both ways

Pandashrimp wrote:..further supported by this

https://experimental361.com/2016/09/12/ ... -sep-2016/

A statto's wet dream.

Fascinating though. Looks like we're going to get the odd thinking but I like the Languidly Clinical.

We are a small team in this league in all the ways mentioned many times on here in the past, but it can be used to our advantage with the mindset of "us against the world".
What I expect from a Morecambe team is playing for the pride of the shirt.
What I can't stand are some of the half hearted going through the motions performances of last season, but this season so far has generally been much better. I don't expect us to win every game, but I expect effort and commitment in every game.
Against Leyton Orient we lost but I could see how it hurt the players that we lost, and that is good enough for me. It's when I suspect they are not that bothered and are happy to pick up their wages that annoys me.
I just wish we could increase the wins percentage at the Globe.

Taking so many shots against us and not conceding hardly any of them must mean our defense is brilliant.

The Portsmouth game for example was brilliant defending, not riding luck.

MfcChris wrote:Taking so many shots against us and not conceding hardly any of them must mean our defense is brilliant.

The Portsmouth game for example was brilliant defending, not riding luck.

That was actually both.

One of those things isn't it though, the harder you work the luckier you get.

The manager talks about 'fine margins' and we should consider ourselves lucky to be on the positive side of those margins so far. The graph on the link shows we are facing considerably more shots than we are taking. If this continues we will start losing more than we win, that's just logic. Blackpool outplayed us and should have won the game and we were pinned in our half for the last hour of the Portsmouth match. Somehow we won both of these fixtures. Roche has been brilliant and the opposition have missed a fair amount of decent chances.

MfcChris wrote:Taking so many shots against us and not conceding hardly any of them must mean our defense is brilliant.

The Portsmouth game for example was brilliant defending, not riding luck.

Not really.

If our defence was brilliant then the opposition wouldn't be getting the shots in the first place.

The lack of goals would be more down to excellent goalkeeping from Barry / poor finishing from the opposition.

The only way you could spin these stats as being good defending by us would be if you analysed what type of shots these were. For example, if the majority of them are long range efforts that go off target due to good defending by ourselves then you can say the defence is doing it's job.

We were certainly "lucky" in the first half at Cambridge that they didn't get a penalty and they left their shooting boots in the changing room. they had so many chances and some from fairly close range but they just couldn't get a foot pointing in the right direction. We did put bodies on the line though to try and keep it out!
Still not convinced by letting the opposition have wide players in shedloads of space, while our defence stays narrow, particularly l/b.
I think Doncaster would have doubled their tally with those chances.

Having said that, we won! many a game where we have been better and lost