we wont come to the CL with our defence - saying that the club/team/manager is prioritising, that is just deflection -
defensively we have a huge problem, one that isnt sorted easily.
People asking for the kids to play - i can see why - but im not sure either of those are the answer -Garcia as good as he is isnt the answer to solving our problems against set pieces or fast breakaways as he is small and not particualrly fast. THB i have only seen the once and again as good as he is, Im not sure he would have solved the problems today (thought both are better in the build up than ottomendi so maybe
The issue is in the middle of the park which does affect the defense as well - we have centre halves who arent as good as passing between the lines and we had a midfielder today who takes zero risks, playing safe all the time and offering no drive forward at all instead choosing to pass sideways and backwards all the time - Gundogan - also when he loses the ball he cannt recover - Rodri is on his own and has recently commented how he needs to get use to playing in midfield as a single defensive pivot (TBF to gundogan thats the same with any combo of our midfielders - BUT the differene is that al the others have the work rate to recover, or at least try) -all the other midfielders also offer better movement between the lines - gundogan doesnt and rodri is a defensive midfielder so we only really had David Silva today doing this. - Again Pep has alluded to this in his post match comments saying the problem wasnt the defeenders but losing the ball in midfield - he is right - however he has also said numerous of times during his time at city that he needs defenders who are very good 1vs 1 - ottomendi's lack of pace means he suffers in this department and he then dives in
Our fullbacks didnt help today and Im not sure any of the replacements offer exactly the quality that Pep needs (Cancello needs more time) -they all have great physical attributes and offer a lot going forwad but in the short passing build up/retaining possession, Im not sure any of them are exactly what pep wants - Walker, Mendy can be both very sloppy with their passing.....especially when passing towards the centre of the pitch (outside to in)