Chelsea won the league with Cahill, Luiz and Azpiliqueta in defence. Our back three is better than theirs on paper.
People are going on like we have Demichelis and Bramble as our centre back options ffs.
Our centre backs wasn't the problem last season, it was the fullbacks. We've now bought quality fullbacks so we should be in a better position to win the league - with the centre backs that we have now.
Chelsea won the league with Cahill, Luiz and Azpiliqueta in defence. Our back three is better than theirs on paper.
People are going on like we have Demichelis and Bramble as our centre back options ffs.
Our centre backs wasn't the problem last season, it was the fullbacks. We've now bought quality fullbacks so we should be in a better position to win the league - with the centre backs that we have now.
It wasn't a fullback who got turned inside out by Diego Costa from a straight lump down the middle of the pitch at a moment when City were running the game. Nor a fullback struggling from another 20 or so similar kick it & hope moments nor similar v Utd, West Ham or Spurs pre season, when the keeper had to make the 'tackle'.
It was our whole defence. The keeper, full backs and centre backs were shite last year.
It wasn't a fullback who got turned inside out by Diego Costa from a straight lump down the middle of the pitch at a moment when City were running the game. Nor a fullback struggling from another 20 or so similar kick it & hope moments nor similar v Utd, West Ham or Spurs pre season, when the keeper had to make the 'tackle'.
Stones looked fine in the system after a shocking start, but Vinny looked iffy defensively when dragged out of position & Otamendi was just terrible.
The keeper was the reason we won, v anybody. He made key saves when the score was close, in all the games.
Imo, if we're playing a back 3, the first thing we should be doing is getting someone in there who can actually run & cover, when it goes to shit. Otta was doing his arse thing & VK was having to stretch like fuck, which will havethe inevitable consequence once the tension is increased & the pace ramped up.
Agree with this. The worry is that we're persisting with the back three, I know we'll change dependent on the opposition, but it's such a weak array of options. I don't think our current CB options are particularly better than any other side in the top 6, so how can we aim to win the PL and CL?
The Costa goal was more down to the fact that Gundogan, who was our deepest midfielder at the time, needless tried to force the play and lost possession. Any scenario where our CB is left 1-on-1 with the striker at the edge of our own box is bad overall team play.
Also, every club in the world concede chances. It will always happen. The stats show that we didn't concede many chances last season. The difference between us, Chelsea, Spurs and United is that they had goalkeepers who could bail them out.
The keeper was part of the reason we beat Spurs and Madrid not 'the reason'.
Well had he not been so fast off his line, to rescue poor defending, there's a decent chance the result would have been very different, put it that way.
I wouldn't go that far in saying our whole defence was shit last season, we still had the 4th best defence conceding 39 goals-11 of which were conceded in 3 games , 4 v Everton and Leicester and 3 v Chelsea at home.
More a case of players unfit to play Peps system than a system fault, there will be a drastic improvement I'm sure this coming season.
Agree about signing another CB though, one injury and we are very very thin again in that department.
I don't know whether you're a perfectionist or just a miserable get :) but every side in the world is going to concede chances. Unless you play United at home.
Last season every mistake or decent chance we conceded pretty much ended up in the opposition scoring. Whereas United, Chelsea and Spurs (the only sides who conceded less than us) had goalkeepers who could bail them out. That doesn't make them have a poor defence.
Bingo!
Add to the fact we've addressed the keeper and full back weaknesses, it would be mad to think that that won't be a drastic improvement already.
Bingo!
Add to the fact we've addressed the keeper and full back weaknesses, it would be mad to think that that won't be a drastic improvement already.
Fuck Levy! And, didn't he just sign a new deal at Spurs?!We really should test the waters with Alderweireld