Our Defence - Has it actually been fixed?

Bobcat

Full Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
6,365
Location
Behind the curtains, leering at the neighbors
I agree with you that he is much more up and down than the other defenders, but it is also a little exaggerated. Most of the games he is not a 2/10 nor a 9/10, but more a boring 5-7/10. However he is very inconsistent, which is not a great attribute for a bench CB.
Fair enough, maybe a bit exaggerated, but for all his talent he tends to do some really weird shite way to often and he he could just cut that out he would be a pretty damn good CB
 

Mickson

Full Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
3,722
Location
Vidal's knee
If Tony Pulis had AWB, Lindelöf, Maguire, Shaw he would barely let goals in. Ole has spent over £150m on defenders and we still can't defend. I know where the problem is, although people will still be blaming the players. They need coaching. They need a setup. They need clear roles. And yes, they aren't the best in the world individually but defenders rarely have to be if the setup is right. Defending is the easiest part of football.
 

A-man

Full Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Messages
6,314
Fair enough, maybe a bit exaggerated, but for all his talent he tends to do some really weird shite way to often and he he could just cut that out he would be a pretty damn good CB
Yea he does some weird shite at times :) I personally don’t think it is so easy to fix as it doesn’t look like mistakes to me, but more lack of abilities like awareness, positioning, decision making. He does random stuff sometimes, like pushing forward when he has no one to cover for him. All his random and unexpected things would be much more appreciated if he was a attacking midfielder or forward, but as CB?
 

UNITED ACADEMY

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
13,127
Supports
Erik ten Hag
If Tony Pulis had AWB, Lindelöf, Maguire, Shaw he would barely let goals in. Ole has spent over £150m on defenders and we still can't defend. I know where the problem is, although people will still be blaming the players. They need coaching. They need a setup. They need clear roles. And yes, they aren't the best in the world individually but defenders rarely have to be if the setup is right. Defending is the easiest part of football.
Tony Pulis would play 4 back four, 3 DM, 2 defensive winger.
 

lysglimt

Full Member
Scout
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
15,107
If Tony Pulis had AWB, Lindelöf, Maguire, Shaw he would barely let goals in. Ole has spent over £150m on defenders and we still can't defend. I know where the problem is, although people will still be blaming the players. They need coaching. They need a setup. They need clear roles. And yes, they aren't the best in the world individually but defenders rarely have to be if the setup is right. Defending is the easiest part of football.
The biggest (and maybe only) problem is set-pieces. If you ignore the first three matches where we clearly werent ready to play - our defensive record has been quite ok this season. Not great, but certainly not bad. But we had 11 goals against after 3 matches which was absolutely awful - after that - it's 10 in 10 which is among the best in the league.

And if you look at the goals:

Leeds - 1 corner and 1 dream superstrike from Dallas in a wildly open game
Sheffield United - 1 mistake by Henderson and 1 corner
West Ham - 1 corner
Southampton - 1 corner and 1 freekick
Everton - 1 goal from open play by Bernard after we lost an aerial duel prior
Arsenal - 1 penalty
Newcastle - 1 freak own goal

So after the Spurs-game - 6 set-pieces, 1 mega mistake by Henderson and 1 freak owngoal. If we can sort out the problem on set-pieces, our defending could be really good.
 

Andy_Cole

Full Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2009
Messages
7,856
Location
Manchester
If Tony Pulis had AWB, Lindelöf, Maguire, Shaw he would barely let goals in. Ole has spent over £150m on defenders and we still can't defend. I know where the problem is, although people will still be blaming the players. They need coaching. They need a setup. They need clear roles. And yes, they aren't the best in the world individually but defenders rarely have to be if the setup is right. Defending is the easiest part of football.
If he was our manager we’d also not score any goals and be deep in mid table. He wouldn’t have a clue how to attack.
 

Bebestation

Im a doctor btw, my IQ destroys yours
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
11,862
Our defense wont ever be fully fixed without replacing De Gea.

He saves the ball well but his style of plays effects the balance of our defensive line and even how they attack, how high they get up the pitch, their ease of holding on to an offside position etc, how much they can trust the goalkeeper to come forward etc.
 

Machine Elements

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
Messages
408
Our midfield and attacking quality & depth are great if we get rid of jokers like James & Lingard and add a DM.

Can't say the same thing about our defence though. Bailly is a better ball playing CB than our £80m signing and probably the best defender we have. We won't win anything with this defence.
 

Dinghy

Full Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Messages
2,482
They didn't look dangerous all game, yet they score 2. That's our defence summed up.
 

U99ted

Full Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
2,349
Only 3 clean sheets all season, 2 of them being 0-0 draws.

Also 23 conceded in 14 games.
 

Raw

Full Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2013
Messages
25,399
Location
Manchester, UK
It's a bag of wank. I feel like no matter how much we spend on it, it'll still concede sloppy goals.

Need some form of defensive coach or something.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
Only Shaw was good today and that was mainly due to his speed running the ball forward and a good cross from a freekick. Barnes was dangerous and scored, though from central with McTominay giving too much room. Vardy was mostly contained but got free to score
 

spiriticon

Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
7,384
It's not a bad defence but its not stable enough to be title winning.

I thought nobody had a particularly bad game today but still we concede 2 goals.
 

Lennon7

nipple flasher and door destroyer
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
10,473
Location
M5
Defending and finishing is an issue. Chances are being made - for once that’s not the issue. We need to start Cavani which might address the latter problem but desperately need a centre back and/or defensive midfielder to sort the defence.
 

elmo

Can never have too many Eevees
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
13,270
Location
AKA: Slapanut Goat Smuggla
It's shit, I've been saying it since last season when idiots keep claiming we've a good defense just because we've the third best defensive record in the league.

A good defense doesn't average nearly conceding a goal a game!
 

Judas

Open to offers
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
35,964
Location
Where the grass is greener.
They lost it for us today. We might have been wasteful up front, but we played against a team who did nothing, and came away with two goals and a draw. Not good enough.
 

Crimson King

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2013
Messages
3,026
It gifts too many goals. It completely undermines the rest of the team. Coupled with the wayward finishing it's why you never feel this team is fully in control of a game, even when a couple of goals up.
 

BusbyMalone

First Man Falling
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
10,362
We're never going to win anything major with this lot. Maguire is a massive problem. He cost a fortune so Is always going to play, he's been made captain, which was a huge mistake, so taking that off him is now a story and, more importantly, he's nowhere near good enough.
 

Paxi

Dagestani MMA Boiled Egg Expert
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
27,678
Crumbles under the slightest pressure. We simply can't afford to sit back
Prone to ball watching too. It's a shambles. If Rio or Vida were playing like that we'd be appalled by their form.
 

PoTMS

Full Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
16,215
No, our defence wouldn't look out of place at Sheffield United or West Brom. That's not saying Maguire, Lindelof and Bailly are bad players, they're just painfully average. You could stick O'Connell or Bartley in our team and we'd look no worse.
 

sincher

"I will cry if Rooney leaves"
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
25,587
Location
YSC
Fair criticism of the defence overall today but the two CBs played ok IMO. Their first goal was a sloppy pass by Bruno and then Scott didn't close Barnes properly. Their second goal, Shaw lost Perez on the right and Vardy's movement was sharp.

There were still too many sloppy passes in midfield. If we could cut that out we could be more dominant and hold onto leads better.
 

Irwin99

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
9,124
We need two. Maguire isn't good enough.
There are lots of examples where a truly great centre back can carry a decent one beside him and bring the defence up another level -Liverpool are the obvious example, Chelsea a few years ago, and I rated Ronny Johnson a lot but Stam was world class. I think Maguire (or Lindelof) would benefit from a world class center back alongside them.
 

Gerald G

Full Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
7,546
Location
Wardrobe.
We desperately need a defensive midfielder - I think that would improve our defensive unite more than a CB funnily enough.

Also - our defending once we lose possession or in transition is genuinely appalling. It's becoming a big concern.
 

DoomSlayer

New Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2019
Messages
4,875
Location
Bulgaria
We keep scoring and the defense keeps leaking goals. Until that gets fixed, we are not challenging for any big titles.
 

Harry190

Bobby ten Hag
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
7,603
Location
Canada
I don't see anything wrong with Leicester's second goal. That one goes in 90 percent of the time. Can't fight lucky bounces.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
Fair criticism of the defence overall today but the two CBs played ok IMO. Their first goal was a sloppy pass by Bruno and then Scott didn't close Barnes properly. Their second goal, Shaw lost Perez on the right and Vardy's movement was sharp.

There were still too many sloppy passes in midfield. If we could cut that out we could be more dominant and hold onto leads better.
Why dont we expect our CBs to be sharp? Agree about the first goal but the 2nd could have been defended better