Manchester City News 24/7Writer: Christopher Hooley 
Date:Monday November 12 2012
Time: 8:13PM
UK time is: 13:11:55
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
What's In A Clean Sheet
For the last few months now we, as City fans, have bemoaned the lack of clean sheets in the Premier League. I've heard it said and written that if we were tighter in defense we would be unblemished and be riding a perfect 11 game winning streak. As it stands, the Top 6 in England looks like this:
Manchester United
Manchester City
Chelsea
Everton
West Brom
West Ham
A deserving Top Six based on their performances thus far this season. No one can really make a claim that none deserve to be where they are after eleven games.
Quick, without looking it up, name the top six teams in England based solely on the number of clean sheets they've had this season. If you managed to list the following clubs, good for you:
West Ham - 5
Stoke - 5
West Brom - 4
Chelsea - 4
Arsenal - 4
Norwich - 4
Aside from West Ham, West Brom, and Chelsea, how do the other three stand in England? Stoke is currently 12th and have failed to score on 3 occasions this season. Arsenal are 8th and have failed to score twice already, and Norwich, who are 15th, have failed to score twice and have two wins on the season.
On the other side of that, Manchester United and Everton have kept two clean sheets apiece this season, and Tottenham (sitting in 7th) have claimed a single clean sheet the entire campaign.
In conclusion, perhaps we shouldn't be too concerned with clean sheets, as a few teams sacrifice everything to keep the ball out of the net, including scoring themselves. We should remain focused on the attack, and after looking at the numbers, I trust Mancini knows what he is doing.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
all times East Manchester
Sa 17 Nov 15h00 Aston Villa, The Etihad, PL
We 21 Nov 19h45 Real Madrid, The Etihad, CL
Su 25 Nov 16h00 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge, PL
We 28 Nov 20h00 Wigan, DW Stadium, PL
Sa 01Dec 15h00 Everton, The Etihad, PL
Tu 04Dec 19h45 B Dortmund, Signal Iduna Park, CL
Su 09Dec 13h30 The rags, The Etihad, PL
Sa 15Dec 12h45 Newcastle, St James' Park, PL
Sa 22Dec 15h00 Reading, The Etihad, PL
We 26Dec 15h00 Sunderland, Stadium of Light, PL
Sa 29Dec 15h00 Norwich, Carrow Road, PL
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Spain
Your Comments
Interesting Philly. Seems like City are the only ones berated for failing to keep clean sheets..
rojo2010
we are also the MEANEST defence so far, something we had last year too, not to good for my bank balance at the bookies as i always back City to win but keep a clean sheet.... it worked last year, this year not so clever,but we are 2nd and just getting ready to pounce on top spot.....no problem in the stat front, just let the football do the talking and the rest can moan all they want.
cityman51
Possibly it's been highlighted with us because of the number of clean sheets we had in 11/12, with the fewest goals conceded, the latter trend being maintained at the moment, as cityman rightly says.
Colin Is The King
Last season we tended to keep the ball in our opponents half most of the time, so the defence had virtually nothing to do in some games. This season we're not dominating possession quite as much, which has resulted in the odd goal against. Don't think it's anything to worry about as long as we keep sticking more away than we concede! Still, makes you wonder why the press keep reporting that we're somehow "in crisis" when we're clearly not!
fifthcolumnblue
A clean sheet is the basis for any team, with that you give yourself a decent chance of being in the top 6 on the other hand if you don't score goals in this league then you are definitely in trouble, because no-one is going to have 38 clean sheets, very good over the last two seasons has been around the 16 mark and in the true KK fashion just score more goals than the opposition.
Buzz Lightyear
interesting stattery. The rags have conceded 10 goals in their last 6 and yet are top. They are very "we'll score more than you" right now at the swamp and Robin is already creaking.
Johnny Baguette
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
The Citizens versus The Canaries (Saturday May 18 2013)
Balotelli: I'm Glad I Left England (Saturday May 18 2013)
VIDEO: Confusion Clouds Pellegrini Future (Thursday May 16 2013)
The Ped Report Reading 0-2 City (Tuesday May 14 2013)
Stats: Reading v Manchester City (Tuesday May 14 2013)
And On That Bombshell (Tuesday May 14 2013)
VIDEO: Pellegrini Denies City Deal (Tuesday May 14 2013)
The Royals versus The Citizens (Tuesday May 14 2013)
Manciogate: The Axe Finally Falls (Monday May 13 2013)
VIDEO: Mancini Set To Be Sacked (Monday May 13 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Buzz Lightyear | 418 |
| 2. | Bluedub | 321 |
| 3. | fifthcolumnblue | 241 |
| 4. | Johnny Baguette | 233 |
| 5. | Colin Is The King | 176 |
| 6. | citizhun | 145 |
| 7. | Skoorb | 143 |
| 8. | kennyclementstache | 141 |
| 9. | PhillyBlueMoon | 126 |
| 10. | Spooks | 118 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Reading | 0 | - | 2 | Man City |
| Man City | 1 | - | 0 | WBA |
| Swansea | 0 | - | 0 | Man City |
| Man City | 2 | - | 1 | West Ham |
| Spurs | 3 | - | 1 | Man City |
| Man City | 1 | - | 0 | Wigan |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1. Man Utd | 37 | 28 | 4 | 5 | +43 | 88 |
| 2. Man City | 37 | 23 | 9 | 5 | +33 | 78 |
| 3. Chelsea | 37 | 21 | 9 | 7 | +35 | 72 |
| 4. Arsenal | 37 | 20 | 10 | 7 | +34 | 70 |
| 5. Spurs | 37 | 20 | 9 | 8 | +19 | 69 |
| 6. Everton | 37 | 16 | 15 | 6 | +16 | 63 |
| 7. Liverpool | 37 | 15 | 13 | 9 | +27 | 58 |
Breaking League News
| Chelsea v Everton Preview
» Chelsea : 18/05/2013 13:10:00
|
| Striker wants a big tally next season
» Reading : 18/05/2013 13:00:00
|
| Lawro Predicts - Latics v Villa
» Wigan : 18/05/2013 12:43:00
|
| Should Rafa Join the Lap of Honour?
» Chelsea : 18/05/2013 12:40:00
|
| Running Scared!
» Chelsea : 18/05/2013 12:31:00
|
| Karagounis to Leave Fulham
» Fulham : 18/05/2013 12:24:00
|
| Oppositions view vs Southampton (Away)
» Stoke : 18/05/2013 12:19:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
4 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.