Our Defence - Has it actually been fixed?

Untd55

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I know people say that our defence has improved, but is it good enough? We are currently conceding on average 1 goal per game

We have conceded in 9 of 11 games so far in the league this season. After spending £130m on defence, we have only been able to get 2 clean sheets in 11 games.

I feel that player-wise, we are good enough. However, I think our defensive structure is a mess unless we are able to sit back and clog up the holes up with sheer numbers.

Currently, we are on course to concede 38 goals this season. Funnily enough, we have a worse defence record than Leicester, who we bought Maguire off.

With £130m invested, we seem to be very easy to play through. Currently, I do not see £130m worth of improvement.
 

Anustart89

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People are saying we concede few chances, our xGa is good and all our goals against come from individual mistakes, but at what point do uncharacteristic individual errors become characteristic?
 

sullydnl

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As it stands we've conceded 11 goals, which by my quick count is the fifth fewest in the league? I'm not sure what "fixed" means in this context but given we've been bedding in two new players in our back four during that period it hardly seems overly worrying. Especially if our underlying statistics are also positive.

I mean it's certainly not an issue when compared to our attack. By my count ten teams have scored as much or more than us in the league so far? Our defensive errors would be much less noticeable and costly if they were coming in games where our attack was enough goals.
 

Revan

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Nope. Neither of them are that great to be fair. All (when Shaw is fit) are okay, but not more than that, with Lindelof and Shaw being easily upgadable, while Maguire and AWB would have been decent squad players in United teams that won leagues.
 

Revan

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We only have one top defender in our back four, AWB. It definitely hasn't been fixed.
He is totally hopeless in buildup play, and as threatening as a baby in attack. He is a good defender, but modern fullbacks need to be much more than that to be considered top players.
 

Untd55

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I maintain that buying Maguire has been a mistake. We should have gone for right winger.
I agree with that. I think we needed a right-back, but I do not see us being much worse had we kept Smalling in place of Maguire.

That £80m should have been invested further up the pitch.

I have certainly not seen £80m worth of improvement in the centre-back position.
 

arthurka

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We play very passive so I will go with a no here. Our CB pairing is terrible.
 

youmeletsfly

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It hasn't been fixed at all, we have no left back, Lindelof is shit and Maguire is average.
 

kps88

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No, but this is it for a while as we've got bigger problems to deal with.
 

Jazz

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It was always the midfield that was the big deal for us. Still is. I would have invested Maguire money there.
 

ivaldo

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Our defense is good. The issue is we don't do enough to protect it. We improve the attacking aspect of our game and we will improve defensively too.
 

Leftback99

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A defence with Lindelof and Shaw as mainstays will never be good enough.
 

Paxi

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Nope, as it’s not coached properly. You can throw as much money at it as you like, but that goal today was horrendous to concede.
 

Bubz27

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A high quality holding midfielder is massively important to a good defence. Fabinho's impact on Liverpool is a tad underrated because everyone tugs of Van Dijk all the time.
 

amolbhatia50k

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No defence that has Lindelof is fixed.

Also, don't see how it can be sorted when our fullbacks give us feck all creativity?
 

Amir

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Fixed, no, but it improved a whole lot. It's our inability to score - or score more than one goal - most of the team that's the real issue. Conceding one goal a game isn't terrible, unless you are incapable of scoring once or twice yourself.
 

VeevaVee

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We'd be conceding a lot less if we were better at football in general.

It's not fixed because there's still two positions in it that aren't sorted. Add Maguire having a bad game and AWB fecking up and we'll definitely concede.
 

adexkola

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Fixed, no, but it improved a whole lot. It's our inability to score - or score more than one goal - most of the team that's the real issue. Conceding one goal a game isn't terrible, unless you are incapable of scoring once or twice yourself.
This.

No defence that has Lindelof is fixed.

Also, don't see how it can be sorted when our fullbacks give us feck all creativity?
Don't think he was that bad. We'd definitely be worse off offensively without him.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Yes. We look better as a unit. Defence is not our problem however, they have to be keeping a clean sheet every game because our attack simply doesn't score enough.
 

cyril C

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I think yes. But defence is only part of the problem, lack of creativity in MF and up front has gone backward.
 

Snow

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Young was playing at left back. Our right back is playing his 2nd ever season. Our substitute played his debut a few weeks ago. No it's not fixed.
 

adexkola

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It is close to impossible to be worse offensively than we are now.
You say that :lol:

We haven't conceded that many goals (3 more than Liverpool, 2 more than City). It's our inability to generate chances that is killing us. Thought that problem would be fixed once Lukaku left
 

DoomSlayer

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Yes. We look better as a unit. Defence is not our problem however, they have to be keeping a clean sheet every game because our attack simply doesn't score enough.
But we only have 2 clean sheets in the PL. How does what you say make sense when we have barely any clean sheets?

I will be very honest, Maguire has been wank in my opinion, considering the money we paid. The only game he seemed worth it was his debut against Chelsea, which earned him the MotM, if I'm not mistaken. He is a liability when we are counter-attacked and gets dragged out of position so easily by opposing players. Doesn't really strike me as the leader people talk about as well.
 

Ekeke

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As for the defense no of course it isnt fixed. But its not just the defense. Ander also had better defensive instincts than any of our midfielders have this season so we also lost someone good at pinching the ball in dangerous areas.

AWB has been a significant improvement at right back, the CBs have been average and Shaw has only played 3 times
 

Yagami

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No but signing Maguire and AWB have been good first steps. Maguire's great, AWB's decent to potentially good if he can improve on the ball.

We still need a partner for Maguire (maybe Tuanzebe can make that spot his own), a LB if Shaw can't stay fit (Williams?), maybe a GK as de Gea, imo, seems past it now, and a midfielder who can actually screen the defence now that we've let our best one go in Herrera. Plus, you know, some actual coaching.
 

Smores

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Haven't we spent more on defence in this one summer than LvG and Jose combined? Still poor so if this is the rebuild he's supposedly getting right then god help us
 

Fosu-Mens

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The main problem with our defence is that both Lindelof and Maguire are useless 1v1. Lindelof because he is relatively weak and slow. Maguire because he got the mobility of a sloth.

Ake, on the other hand, can handle most attacking players 1v1, both in the air and on the ground. Should have signed him instead of Maguire this summer.
 

Bobcat

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People are saying we concede few chances, our xGa is good and all our goals against come from individual mistakes, but at what point do uncharacteristic individual errors become characteristic?
This. Its not like Dave is saving our arses again and again like he did a couple of years ago. We always seem to concede very avoidable goals every damn game. Watch Kings goal again, what in the everlasting feck is Lindelof doing? Why is he moving out there when he could have moved inside and helped out AWB?
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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But we only have 2 clean sheets in the PL. How does what you say make sense when we have barely any clean sheets?

I will be very honest, Maguire has been wank in my opinion, considering the money we paid. The only game he seemed worth it was his debut against Chelsea, which earned him the MotM, if I'm not mistaken. He is a liability when we are counter-attacked and gets dragged out of position so easily by opposing players. Doesn't really strike me as the leader people talk about as well.
Thats what I mean. Because we don't score enough, we'd have to be keeping clean sheets every game. We obviously don't, but we look stronger as a unit, in my opinion.
 

Enigma_87

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We bought better players and that's about it. We defend in greater numbers against big teams, whilst the smaller ones just low block us and give us the ball and possession.
 

Ibi Dreams

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We're mostly conceding just one goal in games, which isn't perfect but isn't that bad. Our problem is scoring enough. Without checking, I think I'm right in saying that our goals conceded in the league is probably top 4/5. Just adding, say, three goals to our goals scored would see us having many more points