What's Happened To Our Defence?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jrb
  • Start date Start date
Keeps changing every single game, no defence in the history of football has been formidable with different personnel every week.

For me Walker has completely gone aswell and giving him that new deal was a massive fuck up. Getting John back so Akanji can play on the right side will be huge for us I feel. I don't know what the fuck the plan is with Gvardiol either, did we really pay £100 million for a backup left back? I'd like to see him and Nathan in the same team more often.
 
supercity88 said:
The headline is right but the summary of the goals I see quite differently.

1st - Doku has to deal with Son and Ederson has to be saving it. Walker was in position but was with the runner who Son would have played in otherwise.

2nd - Alvarez tries to flick the ball round to Haaland rather than controlling it and passing to feet. One header and it's straight to Lo Celso and Dias allowed him too much space to get the shot away.

3rd - Walker should stop the cross coming in. He had Bernie as backup but trots over to Johnson rather than getting tight and forcing him backwards.

The whole team needs to be smarter in possession and defensively. It's a collective effort. With the soft underbelly we have at the moment we need to be taking our chances too. We're conceding far too easily, as we did last season, and like last season it's because the side isn't playing with the right balance.
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Does it make sense to leave Doku as the person left back at a corner to deal with Son? It makes no sense at all to me. I’m not sure why Pep thought that would be a good idea.
 
supercity88 said:
The headline is right but the summary of the goals I see quite differently.

1st - Doku has to deal with Son and Ederson has to be saving it. Walker was in position but was with the runner who Son would have played in otherwise.

2nd - Alvarez tries to flick the ball round to Haaland rather than controlling it and passing to feet. One header and it's straight to Lo Celso and Dias allowed him too much space to get the shot away.

3rd - Walker should stop the cross coming in. He had Bernie as backup but trots over to Johnson rather than getting tight and forcing him backwards.

The whole team needs to be smarter in possession and defensively. It's a collective effort. With the soft underbelly we have at the moment we need to be taking our chances too. We're conceding far too easily, as we did last season, and like last season it's because the side isn't playing with the right balance.
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Few times recently that Kyle has allowed crosses to come in far too easily.
 
Nothing is the answer. Ake should play more often, Gvardiol isn’t up to speed yet and Dias has been off form but individually they’ve not been awful.

What’s happened is that as a team we don’t control the ball as well as we have done in previous seasons. Foden, Doku, Haaland, Alvarez try flicks and dribbles and low percentage passes that don’t come off and we lose the ball. Not their fault, I’m sure Pep’s given them that remit. And so because we’re usually encamped in the final third one or two decent balls give opponents easy access to the heart of our defence.

Once key personnel are back and we get our 2nd wind fitness wise after Christmas our defence will look rock solid again
 
One of the biggest problems, imo, is playing Alvarez just behind Haaland. We are shoehorning him into the side as he’s “too good” to leave out, but it’s leaving us light in midfield. Bernie has also not looked at the races when alongside Rodders as well.

I‘d also say we’ve looked laboured, pace wise, and seem to be panicking like fuck when ran at.
 
Rammy Blue said:
One of the biggest problems, imo, is playing Alvarez just behind Haaland. We are shoehorning him into the side as he’s “too good” to leave out, but it’s leaving us light in midfield. Bernie has also not looked at the races when alongside Rodders as well.

I‘d also say we’ve looked laboured, pace wise, and seem to be panicking like fuck when ran at.
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I don't know why we never try him off the flanks, he looks comfortable drifting into wide areas and has a great cross on him. Im sure he played wide at points in the World Cup aswell.
 
kevodevo said:
Take our chances and teams will undoubtedly be scared - this is a blip fear not!
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I think so too. We are still in good contention for 3 trophies. Plus the rest are getting better. A few points.

1. Think Neville is right about complacency (and though a rag twat, he has been through it himself). In previous years the Dias/Stones partnership led the way in defensive celebrations for every tackle/block/save. There was a real intensity not to concede in every moment of every game. Think with us being Treble winners that has dropped a little - the 3rd yesterday is a prime example, a nothing move with colossal fuck ups by Walker, Ake and Ederson not moving again whilst standing in the middle of the goal sums it up.
2. The loss of Fernandinho, Gundo, Mahrez, Laporte, Cancelo and Palmer in the last 2 years - all players who no one would bat an eyelid if picked individually is a big one and coupled with the world class KDB and Stonsey makes it even worse. This has to be included in our expectation levels - we are not and never have been nailed on for 4 in a row. Yet (despite some poor play from us, it takes an outstanding performance from the opposition to even get a draw. So to me that’s not that bad a sign.
3. Pep is still working things out - people on here talk about controlling matches but that’s hard to do with Doku and Alvarez in the side so he has to find a balance. You could play control and chaos with Messi but he’s a one off.
4. Don’t think the Walker Foden partnership is really working seeing as half the time Kyle sees himself as a playmaker and I’ve no idea why. Just use your pace, aggression and experience properly man. Pep hopefully will sort that out when Stones is back but he is fragile.
5. Pep has basically said that only Stones can play that hybrid midfield role so if he’s out, why carry on with it? That smacks of Pep stubbornness although to be fair, we should have won the last 3 games by at least 2 goals.
6. I love Haaland but he can’t score every goal - we badly need to replace the Gundo/Mahrez/KDB goals right now and whilst Julian is scoring he just isn’t in the game for periods or gives it away / but then again, he’s the best presser. Another cunundrum.
Keep the faith blues because this is a wonderful ride and I look forward to seeing what solutions we can come up with.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Does it make sense to leave Doku as the person left back at a corner to deal with Son? It makes no sense at all to me. I’m not sure why Pep thought that would be a good idea.
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We had Doku and Walker back so it certainly felt like it was planned, considering the pace of both of them. Doku's attempted challenge was fucking woeful to be honest, I know he's not a defender, but I don't think that matters! Having said that, we had Akanji and Dias at the back midweek and they didn't exactly show Doku how to do it!
 
I know people don’t like Sam Lee but I thought his assessment of things from the latest Let Me Talk podcast was good - very measured and reasonable. He discusses a lot of things that have been discussed here - including what’s happening in the midfield.
 
Middedon said:
I know people don’t like Sam Lee but I thought his assessment of things from the latest Let Me Talk podcast was good - very measured and reasonable. He discusses a lot of things that have been discussed here - including what’s happening in the midfield.
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He did talk a lot of sense, but a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day
 
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