Tbf I completely forgot about the West Ham game/goal but again I think that's more of an example of the team getting used to each other and not something I expect to see happen too often.
Pep has already made it clear that we will concede goals and he doesn't get hung up on clean sheets. In fact he said he wasn't bothered about them at all in one of his press conferences recently and puts far more emphasis on us creating and scoring more than the opposition as that's what wins games.
Sure, we'll unlikely be the solid unit we were under Mancini and to a lesser extent Pelligrini but then that's to be expected when you have a manager who sets up a team the way Pep does.
Regardless, I'm not having that we're 'poor' defensively which was what I was answering to in my original post.
Hahahaha.
we'll unlikely be the solid unit we were under Mancini and to a lesser extent Pelligrini but then that's to be expected when you have a manager who sets up a team the way Pep does.
Hahahahaha
You need to stop listening to the shit punditry going around at the moment that we're going to be vulnerable in defence. It's wishful thinking from people that don't know anything about Guardiola and it's the same people who said he'd struggle in England.
Guardiola has managed 7 seasons of football, he's had the best defensive record in every season he's ever played - including the 2 seasons in La Liga against coaches like Mourinho and Simeone who are known for their teams brilliant defences. In 11/12 Barcelona conceded 50% fewer goals than Mourinho's team.
And you think we won't be the "solid unit" we were under Pellegirini - that actually made me laugh out loud.
Guardiola's game plan, the way he sets up, the whole positional play system - it's all to do with structure, so that we are incredibly hard to score against. His much talked about "15 pass rule" is there so that when you lose the ball everyone is in position to defend effectively.
Take a minute to actually think of the goals we've conceded in the league. There's been 4 of them.
1 from a bullshit penalty. 2 from goalkeeper errors we can attribute to Bravo being late to arrive. 1 from Defoe.
The goalkeeping errors will go away. Bravo didn't win 2 Copa America's without being able to catch a cross. The bullshit opening day penalty won't happen again, and to be honest even Defoe's goal came in our first game when everyone looked confused about Pep wanted.
How many clear-cut chances are we seeing? Very few.
I would be absolutely amazed if we don't have the best or second best defence in the league this season, and there's absolutely no chance we ever concede 40+ goals like we did under pellegrini. It will probably be more like Mancini's best season - 29.
