SUIYHA
Well-Known Member
- Jan 15, 2017
- 1,738
- 8,647
Have seen a lot of coverage of our defensive woes in different player threads, so instead of trying to blame every individual then I think it's worth aggregating it in one place and trying to think of where things are going wrong and more importantly, what the solutions are.
In a most un-Mourinho but very Tottenham type way, we now appear to have a devastating attack that can blow teams away but a defence that is ultimately costing us far too many points. We are now up to ten games in a row without a clean sheet (statisticians help me out please - when was the last time we went on a run so bad?) and whilst I fully accept that some of our attacking players also deserve some blame for not killing certain games off at vital moments, the fact is we are dropping points and are vulnerable because of an inability to defend at important moments. Let's say Liverpool (at least pre-Van Dijk injury) go three goals up in a game, or even two goals up in a game - the opposition's heads drop and they stop trying, as they know there's no chance of getting it back. But with us - teams know that even when Kane, Son and co are firing, they feel they can still nick a goal and turn it around, so they keep banging on the door.
On one hand - you can say that nobody bar Villa look particularly strong defensively this season - that the new handball rules are giving away more penalties, the lack of crowds changes the dynamics, and that if we'd held on five minutes longer we'd have the second best defensive record in the league. But what I think is - these "wondergoals" and "bullshit decisions" seem to happen to us more often than they need to, partially because we allow ourselves to get into negative positions where bad luck can go against us.
In the Skriniar thread before the window closed, I wrote:
My opinion hasn't changed - I don't think any of our CBs are good enough unless Rodon turns out to be the next big thing. We are still giving away too many needless fouls in dangerous positions and failing to deal with the oncoming set pieces. We are still conceding too many goals because of poor concentration and poor technical ability amongst our defenders. I love Hugo and think he's massively improved since lockdown, but I also think that if we'd had the genuine 10/10 transfer window people were going on about, then instead of Joe Hart we'd have signed a top class, younger keeper who could be Hugo's long term successor - Lanzini's goal was a brilliant strike but I couldn't help but think if Hugo has got a hand to it he should be strong enough to keep it out - maybe I'm being harsh but it still feels like he's not as reliable as some of his rivals.
I also think tactically we're letting ourselves down. Easy for me to say with hindsight that the subs were wrong, but we've seen multiple games now where teams punish us with set-pieces and us regressing deeper as teams push forward in hope of getting something out of the game. Yesterday we should have brought on Davies instead of Moura and gone three/five at the back - if our CBs are making too many mistakes then we need more bodies back to help them and minimise the space for the opposition. Aurier, Doherty and Reguilon all appear better suited to wing-back roles anyway, so I'm not sure why we are not experimenting more with three at the back as I think it removes a lot of the burden on the likes of Sanchez or Dier having a brain fart if there are two other CBs to cover them.
We're stuck with the current bunch until January at least - but we urgently need to figure out how to sort out this mess if we're going to genuinely compete. Thoughts, suggestions, solutions - let's have 'em.
In a most un-Mourinho but very Tottenham type way, we now appear to have a devastating attack that can blow teams away but a defence that is ultimately costing us far too many points. We are now up to ten games in a row without a clean sheet (statisticians help me out please - when was the last time we went on a run so bad?) and whilst I fully accept that some of our attacking players also deserve some blame for not killing certain games off at vital moments, the fact is we are dropping points and are vulnerable because of an inability to defend at important moments. Let's say Liverpool (at least pre-Van Dijk injury) go three goals up in a game, or even two goals up in a game - the opposition's heads drop and they stop trying, as they know there's no chance of getting it back. But with us - teams know that even when Kane, Son and co are firing, they feel they can still nick a goal and turn it around, so they keep banging on the door.
On one hand - you can say that nobody bar Villa look particularly strong defensively this season - that the new handball rules are giving away more penalties, the lack of crowds changes the dynamics, and that if we'd held on five minutes longer we'd have the second best defensive record in the league. But what I think is - these "wondergoals" and "bullshit decisions" seem to happen to us more often than they need to, partially because we allow ourselves to get into negative positions where bad luck can go against us.
In the Skriniar thread before the window closed, I wrote:
My opinion hasn't changed - I don't think any of our CBs are good enough unless Rodon turns out to be the next big thing. We are still giving away too many needless fouls in dangerous positions and failing to deal with the oncoming set pieces. We are still conceding too many goals because of poor concentration and poor technical ability amongst our defenders. I love Hugo and think he's massively improved since lockdown, but I also think that if we'd had the genuine 10/10 transfer window people were going on about, then instead of Joe Hart we'd have signed a top class, younger keeper who could be Hugo's long term successor - Lanzini's goal was a brilliant strike but I couldn't help but think if Hugo has got a hand to it he should be strong enough to keep it out - maybe I'm being harsh but it still feels like he's not as reliable as some of his rivals.
I also think tactically we're letting ourselves down. Easy for me to say with hindsight that the subs were wrong, but we've seen multiple games now where teams punish us with set-pieces and us regressing deeper as teams push forward in hope of getting something out of the game. Yesterday we should have brought on Davies instead of Moura and gone three/five at the back - if our CBs are making too many mistakes then we need more bodies back to help them and minimise the space for the opposition. Aurier, Doherty and Reguilon all appear better suited to wing-back roles anyway, so I'm not sure why we are not experimenting more with three at the back as I think it removes a lot of the burden on the likes of Sanchez or Dier having a brain fart if there are two other CBs to cover them.
We're stuck with the current bunch until January at least - but we urgently need to figure out how to sort out this mess if we're going to genuinely compete. Thoughts, suggestions, solutions - let's have 'em.
