The most important part of football?

[Dave]

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2008/12/15/kinnear-s-caution-pays-off-with-emphatic-win-61634-22476463/

AS well as lifting them out of the relegation zone, interim manager Joe Kinnear believes Newcastle United’s first away win in the Premier League this season was vindication for their safety-first policy.

 

The Magpies beat Portsmouth 3-0 yesterday to end a run of four consecutive draws.

 

It was their fourth clean sheet in their last seven matches and at times they erred on the side of caution, but it paid dividends when Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Danny Guthrie found the net. With six draws from their previous ten games under Kinnear, United’s habit of consistently claiming solitary points was being called into question in some quarters, but the manager felt those questions were emphatically answered at Fratton Park.

 

“I’m delighted,” he said. “People are harping on week in, week out that we haven’t been winning away, so it puts that record straight.

 

“We’re hard to beat away from home first and foremost and then it’s a case of taking what we can and creating opportunities at the other end. We’ve got that mentality into the players now. We’ve been getting a bit of criticism recently because we’ve had so many draws but the philosophy ain’t going to change.” With two of the Premier League’s most dangerous strikers – Owen and Martins now have 13 league goals between them this season – defence has been Kinnear’s top priority since taking temporary control of a team engulfed in a relegation battle.

 

“When I came they were lacking in confidence and direction and they probably didn’t work as hard as I do at coaching on defensive situations,” he explained. “We normally have four days a week working on the defence because I believe it’s the most important part of football.

 

“It’s always difficult to teach strikers to score goals – they either have it or they haven’t – whereas defensively you need to work on that as a unit day in, day out. I know people were saying we were getting too many draws for the position we were in but if you look at the teams we’ve been playing, they’ve been decent results.”

 

Kinnear viewed it as one of the club’s best away performances under his management, though he valued the 0-0 at Stamford Bridge even more highly. And the uncharacteristic ability to grind out results such as the one at Chelsea is slowly dragging United towards safety.

 

“In our last three away games we’ve claimed clean sheets,” he pointed out. “When I took the job we were 10 points behind Blackburn, 10 behind Man City. We’ve gradually got ourselves up and running and now we’re a few points in front of those teams and very close to the rest. I don’t know many teams who come here and win by three goals.”

 

Do you agree with Kinnear? What is your footballing philosophy?

[Baggio]

Most great teams are built on a solid defence so I'd agree with him on that.

[Dave]

Most great teams are built on a solid defence so I'd agree with him on that.

 

All great teams are solid at the back but can create and score goals freely too. If you ask me the two elements are equally as important; without goals you win nothing. It surprises and disappoints me to see our manager imply attacking play is quite far down his agenda.

[Tooj]

Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack!

[Dave]

Btw I deliberately left the neutral option off the poll to get some polarisation of views.

[DubblyDubblyDubbly]

Defend,defend,defend,defend,attack 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Most great teams are built on a solid defence so I'd agree with him on that.

 

All great teams are solid at the back but can create and score goals freely too. If you ask me the two elements are equally as important; without goals you win nothing. It surprises and disappoints me to see our manager imply attacking play is quite far down his agenda.

 

I totally agree Dave, you need both, but I suppose in JK's defence his job is to keep us up and the most proven way of doing that is to make us hard to beat.

[9]

to be fair, we have created chances and scored lots of goals in Kinnears time so it hasnt effected the team too much

[Dave]

Most great teams are built on a solid defence so I'd agree with him on that.

 

All great teams are solid at the back but can create and score goals freely too. If you ask me the two elements are equally as important; without goals you win nothing. It surprises and disappoints me to see our manager imply attacking play is quite far down his agenda.

 

I totally agree Dave, you need both, but I suppose in JK's defence his job is to keep us up and the most proven way of doing that is to make us hard to beat.

 

Oh I completely accept that in our situation making us hard to beat is probably the single best policy; I've no issue with that. I've wished since I can remember that this club could defend properly when called upon.

 

I meant generally really, seeing as that's how Kinnear mentions it.

[relámpago blanco]

Defence is the most important thing, if you don't concede you can't be beaten and if you have players the calibre of Owen and Martins up front you are generally going to score.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Attacking is the best form of defence, however I'd say ability is the most important part of football.

[Baggio]

Most great teams are built on a solid defence so I'd agree with him on that.

 

All great teams are solid at the back but can create and score goals freely too. If you ask me the two elements are equally as important; without goals you win nothing. It surprises and disappoints me to see our manager imply attacking play is quite far down his agenda.

 

But becoming more solid defensively is something that needs working on more than attacking IMO and we haven't really had much problem scoring goals since Kinnear has been here (we've scored 2 goals in every home game) credit where it's due to Kinnear we haven't looked as solid or as organised at the back for as far back as I can remember.

 

If I was a manager I'd let my attacking players get on with it, you would work on corner and freekick routines but for the most part you have to let the likes of Martins, Jonas and N'Zogbia do what comes natural to them and as long as they're playing with confidence then you would expect them to create chance and goals, you can't really do that with defenders.

[steve_69]

A good defence will always get you results.

Our attackers and wingers are good enough to create and score goals, as we have seen in the last few games.

A defensive minded team with a good attack wins games. An attack minded team with a shit defence loses games.

 

Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea don't concede many goals but they score plenty. That's the winning recipe!

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Wasn't Big Sam sacked for that kind of mentality.... 

[James]

I go by the Keegan philosophy:

 

1) Take a confident approach.

2) Keep the ball for as long as possible given the opposition fewer chances to score, and you more chances to score.

3) Have players good enough to defend when called upon.

4) Have players fit enough to last every minute of the season.

 

Only difference between KK and Capello is the tempo they choose to play in my opinion.

[steve_69]

Wasn't Big Sam sacked for that kind of mentality.... 

 

Fat Sam was sacked for trying to play with a defensive mentally and a driect attack, but failing to do either.

What he managed to do was lose consistently, playing some of the worst football that's ever been witnessed.

[sugoinufc]

owen and martins will always score goals!

 

Joe is right when he says defence is most important!....at least from when he came in as caretaker.....we weren´t winning and we needed to find our ground!

 

confidence were low...so first we needed some ok results to bulid on.....we were not good enough just to attack and play that kind of football!

 

Hated you last week joe.....but this seems like the right approach of the game for time being!

[Elbel1]

If you can defend well enough to keep a clean sheet you are guarenteed at least 1 point

If you attack well enough to score 3 goals you aren't guarenteed anything if you can't defend

 

Simple really

[KaKa]

I think Joes philosophy is right for our current team. Our attacking players don't need as much work as our defenders I don't think, as they are a pretty talented bunch and are a threat to score goals and create enough opportunities.

 

We are actually playing some decent football a good amount of the time under Kinnear and are looking to pass the ball about, well until Butt gets involved anyway, but still it's not like we've got all men behind the ball with hefty lumps forward whenever we get posession.

 

 

[Tooj]

I think Joes philosophy is right for our current team. Our attacking players don't need as much work as our defenders I don't think, as they are a pretty talented bunch and are a threat to score goals and create enough opportunities.

 

We are actually playing some decent football a good amount of the time under Kinnear and are looking to pass the ball about, well until Butt gets involved anyway, but still it's not like we've got all men behind the ball with hefty lumps forward whenever we get posession.

 

 

Or that period when Shola was starting and we just hoofed it long all the time.

[NG32]

The most imprtant thing a team has to do is score goals. End of.

 

Teams who cant score goals tend to go down or lurk at the bottom.  Teams that bang goals in tend to be at the top end of the table.

 

 

[Dave]

I think Joes philosophy is right for our current team. Our attacking players don't need as much work as our defenders I don't think, as they are a pretty talented bunch and are a threat to score goals and create enough opportunities.

 

We are actually playing some decent football a good amount of the time under Kinnear and are looking to pass the ball about, well until Butt gets involved anyway, but still it's not like we've got all men behind the ball with hefty lumps forward whenever we get posession.

 

 

Or that period when Shola was starting and we just hoofed it long all the time.

 

Or the last home game.

[Dr Venkman]

you can tell when you watch them, i said it during the pompey game to a friend that they look super organised in defence and in attack its just a see what happens approach

[KaKa]

I think Joes philosophy is right for our current team. Our attacking players don't need as much work as our defenders I don't think, as they are a pretty talented bunch and are a threat to score goals and create enough opportunities.

 

We are actually playing some decent football a good amount of the time under Kinnear and are looking to pass the ball about, well until Butt gets involved anyway, but still it's not like we've got all men behind the ball with hefty lumps forward whenever we get posession.

 

 

Or that period when Shola was starting and we just hoofed it long all the time.

 

Or the last home game.

 

Don't get me wrong we do go long sometimes but we're not Stoke or Bolton. We're no worse than the likes of Everton tbh.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The difference is that attacking can be done with improvisation, flair and individual ability. Defending requires discipline, training and a lot of organisation. That's why we're right to concentrate on working on the defence at the moment, the rest will look after itself with the players we have.