Guardiol currently not fit to lace Laporte’s boots at LB or CB. On form Laporte would be a better pick than Dias as well. Losing Eric is a real shame.
What's Happened To Our Defence?
- Thread starter jrb
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Bluesince1979
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For a separate thread but replacing laporte, mahrez and gundo with kovacic, gvardiol and doku (though i think once dokus rough edges are polished up he will be just fine) was bad business
Let's stop playing Kyle Walker every week and bring back Johnny Stones. Walker is the one struggling, and the bias against Gvardiol is laughable. Gvardiol has been leagues above Walker this season. Akanji, Dias, and Ake all cost us games at some point this season as well. Gvardiol probably cost us the least of them all. The moment we bring back Stones and drop Walker to play with 4 CBs, we will get back to winning.
also think the same, Walker is too comfy with playing time ,needs Akanji there , the CL final defence line up all the way. Aknji offer more in possesion game , and not so bad in defence.
franksinatra
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Yes I would agree with that. The part on poor recruitment is badly worded, as I was speaking in the here and now but agree, over the long term, the signings could prove good additions.
Taylor
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It's all over the place. Too many shots conceded per game. Yesterday Walker had the chance to close the gap and prevent the cross that leads to the equaliser but was busy retreating.
Hopefully Pep will sort it asap
Hopefully Pep will sort it asap
John Wayne
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Yes, I think you're right. We usually hold our nerve in January and don't bring in any first-team signings but I feel that we may need to this time. The problem, of course, is availability. But if we're looking to offload Phillips then we have to bring in adequate cover for Rodri. In many ways, Gundogan was perfect because he had his own role but could still be a very able deputy for Rodri when required. Sadly there aren't many players out there who could be good enough to do that job.
Yeah. I was sad to see Laporte go. He was a great defender; could make a great pass to start an attack & he scored goals too. Not sure why we let him go.
Cobwebcat
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EPL xG Table and Scorers for the 2025/2026 season | Understat.com
xG table of EPL standings and top scorers for the 2025/2026 season, also tables from past seasons and other European football leagues.
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Scroll down to the table and click on xPTS. That’s what the table would look like if most of the luck was stripped out. I’m not saying we are playing as well as last season but we are a bit unlucky. We are conceding shots which most of the time would miss.
franksinatra
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I agree with completely with that. If we bring a player in we need a player who is multi functional and can play a number of positions, as otherwise a player of real quality is unlikely to sit on the bench as Rodri’s understudy. Hopefully Nunes can potentially fill that role, but you can see why we were trying to bring Bellingham and Rice in, as there are few players who can dovetail, to a really high standard, between the position of Dm and a more creative position. Its why we were so blessed to have Gundogan all these years. Im not as knowledgeable with european football but a name does not really jump out at me.
Too many individual errors. The passing this season has been poor, particularly at the back, often giving up possession in dangerous areas through poor choices and poor passes when under no real pressure. Most of the goals/chances we concede are of our own making gifting easy possession rather than the opposition doing any good.
LongsightM13
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We were playing like this first part of the season the last time Lillo turned up
Correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation but it’s fact
For me the shoehorning of Haaland and Alvarez together has failed against the best opposition, ok against the bottom feeders at home but hollows our our midfield and surrenders control against better teams who can exploit it
Correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation but it’s fact
For me the shoehorning of Haaland and Alvarez together has failed against the best opposition, ok against the bottom feeders at home but hollows our our midfield and surrenders control against better teams who can exploit it
carlosthejackal
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We defend as a team and attack as a team , at this moment in time we are wide open from top to bottom , the energy and desire to run has vanished .
Gray
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No control in midfield has lead to our defence being put under the sort of pressure they just can not cope with.
But all three Spurs goals were nothing to do with that as it happened.
But all three Spurs goals were nothing to do with that as it happened.
- 1st - No Walker on the half way line to stop any fast break after our corner (did get back eventually).
- 2nd - Shocking pass from Foden that put Spurs on the attack, Ederson positioning not good.
- 3rd - Wishy washy defending against Spurs tallest player and Ederson transfixed.
blueju
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Walker too high up the pitch, gives little attacking wise and negates his ability to do proper defensive work.
Johnny Mars Bar
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Debate around the shit refereeing aside, if you ship three goals at home you don’t deserve to win the game, end of story.
Our defence is absolutely shocking this season, it’s mental.
Our defence is absolutely shocking this season, it’s mental.
nellyonthewing
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Frickin massive hole where Gundogan used to be.
I'd say you mentioned Ederson on the two he could have done least about.
You're right about the other points and our problems are much more than Ed, but he's got to be saving the first goal.
Middedon
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This is why I’m unclear why this forum thinks Gvardiol was the worst player on the pitch last night and in the team in general (that’s playing regularly). I’m not saying he had a great game, but he didnt seem complicit in any of the goals or worse than anyone else. And realistically, I think the Sterling goal at Chelsea was the only one that he was really responsible. Which puts him on par with most of our defenders this year in terms of individual errors leading to a goal. Sure, maybe we didn’t need him this year. But other than Ruben our defense is on the older side. Doesn’t some long term planning make sense?
We have lost fern, gundogan and mahrez and we have replaced them with Phillips, nunes and kovacic. Think that says it all tbh.
Whilst mahrez didn’t run around like Kante you defend as a team and mahrez ball retention was a key part of the control we enjoyed in games, we now play foden rw and as much as I love watching him he isn’t as safe with the ball as mahrez which leaves us more exposed to counters etc.
As well as that we have recruited very poorly in central midfield and are now having to play alavrez (which again gives us no control) as well as over playing Bernardo and rodri.
Whilst mahrez didn’t run around like Kante you defend as a team and mahrez ball retention was a key part of the control we enjoyed in games, we now play foden rw and as much as I love watching him he isn’t as safe with the ball as mahrez which leaves us more exposed to counters etc.
As well as that we have recruited very poorly in central midfield and are now having to play alavrez (which again gives us no control) as well as over playing Bernardo and rodri.