Teams have wised up to our offside trap and are playing without a recognised striker (Liverpool, Stoke, Swansea, Gladbach)
This means that they are overloading midfield and making runs from deep which aren't being picked up by our defenders until its too late, which is why we are seeing a lot of diving in. Teams are also having time to pick passes because of our non - existent pressing in centre midfield, especially when Yaya plays
Pelegrini is a busted flush, its proven that his tactics only work for a season before being found out.
I know we like to blame Yaya, and he sure does play his part in the laxed defending. But pressure needs to start from the top. Meaning, Sterling, Silva, Bony, Kevin and Aguero, need to be better organized with their pressure.
More often than not one guy pressures softly while the other 2 seat back or wait till the ball is passed to their responsibility before running towards him. This attitude and style gives the new guy on the ball a chance to look up and then pass to another wide open guy who is by then behind 3 of our players with more options to pass to.
The way it should work is thus: there is a Central defender on the ball, Aguero runs at him while KDB and Silva\Sterling run simultaneously at his defensive pass options on the wings, as Dihno and Delph do the same to the CM options in the middle and Sagna\ Kolarov push up also on the wingers outlets.
Doing that forces the defender on the ball into 3 options, 1 pass back to his goalie ( the best option)2, boot it up field, or 3 attempt a risky long pass to a forward or a retreating attacking mid. That is how you are supposed to defend from the top. This keeps them harried constantly, and their mindset is that of a player simply trying not to make a mistake, rather than one seeking to make a penetrating pass
Not by having 1 striker run at 3 defenders as they pass the ball around him while he tires out chasing, then stops all together. And the rest of our players playing a soft retreat into our half with no pressure on the player who eventually brings the ball up.
This happens so frequently, that it is annoying to watch.
BTW I am not as confident as many are that Kompany's return will change much. I think too many have erroneously attributed our good defense to Kompany's presence as opposed to us playing teams who feared us at the beginning of the season, and often showed very little offensive impetus.
Kompany really can't so much about a soft pressure in the front third.
Our defensive problem is 2 fold; 1 teams pressure us high now because they've come to realize the obvious, our weakest passer are often our defenders, thus if they are better able to disrupt our play by pressuring us before we move it to our key players in midfield. That it took this long for most teams to figure this out is a little baffling. This has been obvious for almost 4 years now. Bayern, Roma, Barca, Dortmund and a host of CL clubs have often diarupted our play by doing this to us over the years.
It's part of the reason why I've always pined for a ball playing CB. Somehow Prem teams have finally caught on to the weakness. The effect of pressuring our CBs means we often have a hard time controlling possession for long spells ( which in itself is a form of defense- teams can't attack you when they don't have the ball).
2nd, that disruption is further magnified by our deployment of more direct players and fewer passers who value possession. Out with Fernando, NaVas and Nasri in with Delph, Sterling and Kevin.
Those introductions alone was always going to reduce our possession stats, but the by product being we'd be more cutting edge when we have it.
The only problem here is that we are not doing the 2nd part of the process. To limit the drop in possession stats, we had to turn to a stiffer front line pressure team, thus getting us the ball back quickly when we lose it, and being able to create even more as the opposition is often at its weakest defensively, just immediately after they gain possession.
These are all rudimentary stuff all top club should be doing constantly. That we don't do it, is a bit disheartening. And while many are appalled by those who are pinning for John Stones, it is obvious what his sweet passing will bring to our squad, and the problems he'd help fix.
Having a 3some of Komps, Ota and Stones will leave us with 3 solid passing CBs, all of whom can also jump into midfield to play as a DM if need be. Also, we should bring Denayer back and start him at RB or in competition with Zab, while he gets reps at CB in the Cup games.
But that's for next season. Right now, we simply need to add an 'organized' forward line pressure to our game plan.
