Jackareme I am having a slow day so revisited the stats above provided by @Colin_swansea - THANKS!!
The biggest eye popper for me (apart from the attempts on goal getting progressively worse) is the number of long balls going up by 15% in 2 seasons of Cooper ball and the number of through balls going down by 65% in the same period.
We have all seen this and it is reassuring that the numbers bear out what my eyes were telling me. Of course many/some of us see this as the biggest issue that we face, while others see it as a different way of skinning a cat - and the results are the most important piece.
Recognizing I will not change the views of the latter group - I wanted to give my opinion on one of the biggest causes of these statistical trends - step forward Freddie Woodman.
Freddie might have golden gloves - but he certainly had togs that were more like carpet slippers.
The best way to beat the press is to create an overload in areas and play through it. The best teams do this by dropping a midfielder into the back line and additionally use the keeper as a passing option to move the ball.
For us we had Grimes come deep - but were not able to use Freddie as an alternate because he was so slow in getting the ball under his spell and looking up, and then so inaccurate when distributing.
All of this emboldened the opposition then intensified the press and we coughed up possession easily and frequently. Worse it forced our wingbacks into a deeper starting positions - making us more defensive and breaking any linkages that we had front to back.
So how does this impact the stats? I bring forward two accomplices Jake Bidwell and (to a lesser extent) Ryan Bennett.
By squeezing the press toward these two players who are defenders (through and through) the only answer they had was to clip the ball over the midfield and hope to hit Ayew/Lowe - neither of whom were equipped to hold the ball.
It would have been a different world if Bidwell was able to use the keeper and make an angle to get the ball back. As a side note I would like to see Manning start - what you lose in defensive resilience I think you add in footballing ability.
You only need to play through the press a couple of times for the opposition coach to get cautious and 'call off the dogs" with the high press.
From what i see of Benda (I am blind with Hamer - never seen him play) we should have better options to keep the ball in the face of the press - and be better equipped to distribute the ball without kicking it half way up the west stand.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate elements of Freddie's keeping - but us spending big money bringing him back on loan at the expense of one of our own would spoil my summer.
I really want us to concentrate on what we do when we get through the opposition press - and this is where out meagre resources need to be invested.
On that theme - really excited to see young and hungry forward looking players joining - and with the right injection of talent in attacking midfield areas I am excited to see our number of long balls reduce, through balls increase and attempts on goal sky rocket COYS!!