Four clean sheets since the Fulham "win"

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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).
 
It’s an enjoyable coincidence that this fine run of clean sheets commenced at the same time Journos had tried to undermine Gigi’s performances. They were quoting a higher saves ratio by Trafford without giving any real context
 
City/Villa won every game this month therefore it's only fair that the Manager of the Month award goes to Amorim.
 
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