Four clean sheets since the Fulham "win"

cleavers

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Won every game so far this month.

Only 1 conceded (away at madrid).

That's quite some form, especially given some of the refereeing we've had.

Pep still hasn't happy, but I see his point to a degree, we pressed well today, but after great movement in the first 15 minutes, it wasn't great, and we lost concentration in the first 15 of the second half, and at times after that, though we were better.

We're in a pretty good place overall, and we have injuries again (still in some cases).
 
Why is “win” in quotes? :)

Agree with your post though! I think Gvardiol has been very solid and our “fullbacks” (which really should be in quotes!) have defended better than most here (including me) expected, particularly Nunes. We are sniffing out breaks much better, but with those three moving well and covering, I think that in turn allows Dias to be more rock-steady in the middle and focus on snuffing out opposing 9s. And Nico G is also playing well, plus Donna is a premier shot-stopper. I think our back line possession is better too — quicker passing. All of a “sudden” when we are at it our defens(c)e looks solid indeed.
 
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We could have conceded more at Madrid, I think they missed a few chances we were scrambling to keep out. But I think Pep’s very much been into the team since Fulham about conceding goals.

I actually think our back four have been fine defensively on the whole and weren’t at fault at Fulham for any of the goals we conceded. I think our problem with conceding goals has been coming from passive midfield and wing defending, going back to Monaco away.

Haaland is often corralling the wingers and attacking mids to join in him pressing, like they need reminding. And Nico is often exposed in loads of space due to our players not being proactive in the press, pressing late and they’ve been caught in a sort of no-man’s land between pressing and dropping deep, doing not much defensively.

This season we’ve also been giving the ball away far too much when we’re on transition attacks where a lot of the opposition are still up the pitch, so when we lose it, we are faced with a lot of opposition players who can be passed to in space and faced with dangerous attacks.

We’ve conceded a few goals and chances this season where the ball breaks to an opposition player on the edge of the box/outside the box and our midfielders/wingers haven’t closed them down or do but turn their backs on the ball like Under 9s kids do.

It’s been better of late. Not great, but better.

Pep made a point in his press conference on Friday of still needing to improve further defensively if we want to win the league, being more aggressive and show more courage (his words).
 
yesterday and brighton away i guess more even last season once they think games too easy the switch is flicked i guess even fulham at 3-1.west ham had ome great chances and if one goes i the momentum switches see fulham they've been just fulham since. weve got long way to go. its everyones job not just the captain its a team game
 
We've finally got a goalkeeper who saves that one clear cut opportunity that we often gift the opposition, although in mitigation we didn't seem to concede possession in our own half quite so regularly when Ederson was making himself available to an under pressure team mate.

At some point O'Reilly is going to cost us a goal when trying to waft his left leg at clearing the ball when it's physically easier to use his right foot, but in fairness we're almost halfway through the season and it still hasn't happened.
 
We've finally got a goalkeeper who saves that one clear cut opportunity that we often gift the opposition, although in mitigation we didn't seem to concede possession in our own half quite so regularly when Ederson was making himself available to an under pressure team mate.

At some point O'Reilly is going to cost us a goal when trying to waft his left leg at clearing the ball when it's physically easier to use his right foot, but in fairness we're almost halfway through the season and it still hasn't happened.

Every defender of every team costs their team a goal at some stage.
Liverpool fans would give you a list for vvd this season.
 
Won every game so far this month.

Only 1 conceded (away at madrid).

That's quite some form, especially given some of the refereeing we've had.

Pep still hasn't happy, but I see his point to a degree, we pressed well today, but after great movement in the first 15 minutes, it wasn't great, and we lost concentration in the first 15 of the second half, and at times after that, though we were better.

We're in a pretty good place overall, and we have injuries again (still in some cases).
Huge improvement from earlier on in the season some big saves from “The Big Don” but as someone famously said that’s his job
 
It looks like that astonishing Fulham comeback stunned not only Fulham and City fans, but also the shellshocked City defence, because they've really pulled things around since then !
 

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