Homepage Article Case for the Defence

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catcherintherye

Player Valuation: £80m
The start to the season has been gritty, functional and a little dull. There has been no flying out the traps as we witnessed in Silva’s first season, and there is a very reasonable argument that states the performances against Wolves and Southampton last season were better than the first two this season, though crucially they have warranted the same points total. This presents a very different challenge to Silva, though arguably an easier one for him to manage.



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Few would have predicted 14 months or so ago that just over a year into Silva’s reign a column would be written eulogising the defensive organisation and expressing some concern over the attacking output. Perhaps this is down to some naivety  on behalf of the fanbase, who’s own experience of Iberian managers over recent years have been influenced by our own experience of trying (and failing) to recreate the football...

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....terrific defensive record, but i’m not convinced now that Zouma has gone. Pickford has been outstanding when faced with too many one-on-one situations this season and it’s only a matter of time before an opposition convert them.

We need pace and running power in our back four, if somebody gets behind we lack powers of recovery leaving players with a run on goal. I also think we are sitting a bit deeper than Silva would like (to compensate the lack of pace). I’m not getting carried away with two clean sheets.
 

Was it really only a month ago where our defence was considered good? This has changed quickly.
I think our midfield has been a bigger culprit in all honesty. And the majority of set pieces we have conceded were not even on our defenders. Lewin let a couple of his men get away from him if I recall correctly.

The biggest problem I see is that our team gets too far advanced and gives the ball away too cheaply which allows the other side to counter. You won’t find many defenses that can defend without the support of their midfield. Even the top clubs struggle with this pretty often. We improve our midfield, our defense will probably be solid again.
 

The difference has been the loss of Guedes, pure and simple. If Gbamin is any good, then once he is fit and up to speed I would expect our defensive record to improve exponentially
 
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