After watching recent games i'm sure most people must be wondering about the state of denfending in the EPL this season.Are the players to scared of committing a foul or have teams just given up denfensive play in a quest for goals?I'm sure there are lots of reasons people can give me,but some of the goals lately have been quite catastrophic desensively.Although does make for great entertainment.
It's mostly because certain managers seem to think the concept of a defensive midfielder is passe. It's cost Chelsea games against MUPLC, QPR and now Arsenal, and it cost MUPLC the match last weekend. On the other hand, teams with defensive midfielders - City, Spurs and Newcastle - are all doing very well so far. It's not a coincidence.
Some teams are probably still adjusting to new players, but the overall standard of defending seems to have dropped a little this season. As Croydon correctly points out though, it's not just about those at the back. They need to be protected and if you allow them to get overrun, then it doesn't matter how good they are.
I think it's time John Terry announced his retirement and opening of his 'Penguin School of Defending Excellence'. I think the English game lost the 'art of defending' when the great numpty scooted across a south african turf on his noggin.
Terry has always been made to look a better player than he is by whose in front of him, be it Makalele or Essien. As soon as he's behind the Gerrard/Lampard abortion, or the tackle-free triumvirates AVB puts out every weekend, the numerous weaknesses of his game are there for all to see at frequent intervals. He's not the only one, of course - Carlos Puyol is a bog standard centre back too, but again he's always had his job made easy by the likes of Yaya Toure or Sergio Busquets. Take what we were like a few season ago, when we had Zokora...well, at least his being there meant we had eleven men on the pitch. At the time our centre backs were Dawson and a very inexperienced Kaboul, and it stunted their development, ruined their confidence, and led to Kaboul being hastily shipped off to Portsmouth when we should've kept him.
This is my point really teams seem to be sacrificing their defensive midfield for a more attack minded set-up.As you say certain teams are doing very well using their midfield to shield their defence(Spurs being one).I'll be interested to see if teams continue to play this way(depends on results).It sometimes get to the point of we can score more than you,thus making the defensive side of the game a lost art.This has been shown by the amount of goals being scored this season.As i said before it can be great entertainment,but when i played as a defender i loved to keep a clean sheet.
Given it's not a rare occurrence for Chelsea to line up without adequate cover in their midfield triumvirate, I'd say it's naivety on Villas-Boas' part - turning up at Old Trafford without one was suicide. Keeping the ball from the opponents can work when executed properly, as demonstrated by Barca and Spain in the last few years, but when it doesn't work it really doesn't work - a little more bite in our midfield would've got us a top four finish last season, or won Arsenal more titles.
Very true HBIC, which is why the arrival of Scotty and the development of Sandro have been crucial in Kaboul's (belated) emergence as quite a good defender.
By the same token hasn't the game itself increased in speed, therefore exposing previously solid defenders into plodding snails. We demand fast wingers and clever creative midfielders, meaning that when these players are on their game someone on the other side is going to look ordinary. For an example over here we have our national league - the A League.Currently the top team is Brisbane they play a high tempo passing game. The other night they played Adelaide- no slouches in the defensive department the score 7-1. It wasn't completely due to bad defending it was exciting attacking play. All things in perspective I think.
Perhaps the 'Carragher School of Packhorse Defending Excellence' would be more in tune then? Or, maybe the 'Mertaescker School of Combine Harvesting'.
Those sound good too. TBH how on earth is Mertesacker an international defender I haven't seen someone so slow or ponderous for ages.
With the speed of the game becoming much faster this has a direct consequence on the ability of defenders to tackle legally,we see Bale flying down the wing and with one touch he can quite easily be put on his backside and a foul is given when in reality is it a foul? The timing of tackling has become almost impossible to time correctly and even if it is the ref may see things differently.It just seems to me the pace is literally catching up with the game itself.Soon the foul could be given before it is committed !!! This is also another reason we see more diving(or just momentum)happening and with it the logical step of using this to get cheap free kicks.This really is a case of "Attacking the Defence".
Puyol bog standard?? Really? I have seen him a fair few times and he is very quick, strong, positionally excellent, fearless and pretty good in the air. Why do you feel differently?
I'm glad attacking play is currently in the ascendancy, it makes for a better game. Which is why I'm worried about FIFA taking a backward step over the the present 'liberal' interpretation of offside. Incidentally, I don't know what Chelsea fans think but to me Cech was terrible yesterday, if he's on the way out, that's a massive problem for them.
I thought Cech was only part of the problem Chelsea's defence was all over the place. Terry is playing on reputation only - he's slow, gets caught out of position, and looks up to his sell by date.
Hi NSIS. Agreed Cech was just part of the problem, but not a lot seemed to be made of what a poor display that was. I haven't gone on to the Chelsea boards, but it seems a lot is made of Terry, but not much about Cech, who looked awful to me from the highlights.
Here's a piece from the BBC about the "Lost Art of Defending". http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thefootballtacticsblog/2011/10/is_premier_league_defending_ge.html
I'm well happy we're getting more goals, I'm more interested in the art of attacking than defending, and once again congratulate FIFA et al, for introducing rule changes/interpretations that make the game a more exciting, attacking spectacle than 10/20 years ago. Of course we're particularly blessed in the Prem, because of so many exciting talents, domestic and foreign in our game.
The managers accidentally borrowed "The Art of War" from the library instead. The game now does favour attacking football over defending. Referees are far more stricter on tackling from behind / two footed tackles / high boot tackles and will book / send off a player even if they get the ball cleanly. Its a consequence of trying to make the game more offensive and trying to minimize the risk of players getting injured. Lee Dixon himself said that he'd find it difficult to play football today because most of his tackles would be considered fouls now. Makes the league far more exciting though. There seem to be fewer drab 0-0 / 1-0 games and more high scoring games.
