Good performance..Simon Mignolet in particular and the whole team in general.
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Match Day Thread Time to look at our defence 2023/2024
- Thread starter LuisDiazgamechanger
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Good performance..Simon Mignolet in particular and the whole team in general.
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Ming and Skrts look like they've benefitted the most from the system change. Ming still needs to work on a few things but you have to give him credit for sticking with it (and BR for giving him a kick up the arse). At least you can see he's working hard to iron out his faults. He's gone from being a massive problem to a regular match saver
. The same applies to Skrtel who yet again has been asked to learn a different role and shown (with a bit of patience) that he's a ****ing good defender....as long as he hasn't got to play next to Johnson for too long 
#M&S
Ming and Skrts look like they've benefitted the most from the system change. Ming still needs to work on a few things but you have to give him credit for sticking with it (and BR for giving him a kick up the arse). At least you can see he's working hard to iron out his faults. He's gone from being a massive problem to a regular match saver
#M&S
Migs has been brilliant. So too has Skrtel to be fair.
But he's benefiting from being in the easiest position in the back 3 where he less exposed and has less responsibility. We'll see how well he does when/if we revert to a back 4 again.
I know you're not a Sakho fan but was wondering where you stand on him this season? Starting to warm to him yet? Lol
I'm pretty sure I said a long time ago that picking the wrong players is what is hurting us at the back - the likes of Skrtel, Lovren and Johnson were playing week in week out.
Amazing how playing Sakho and Can has helped? ...
And this thread is on the defence - hence why I was criticising them and not the attack.
But if people are happy to accept mediocrity, then be my guest.
What mediocrity are people accepting? Title winning form? One of the best defensive records in 40 years? Over a third of a season since we lost in the league (to an offside goal)?
[HASHTAG]#mediocrity[/HASHTAG]
As my comment said, there were some who were happy that Skrtel, Johnson and Lovren were playing week in week out, and were quick to blame the system rather than personnel.
My argument was that playing better players i.e. Can and Sakho in the defence has had a bigger impact.
And also, it's all good doing it for half a season - why didn't we do this in the first half of the season? Is it because we're a team in transition? No - it was because of poor tactics and poor selections. We haven't improved upon last season - that's mediocre in my books.
I wasn't warming to him much the first half hour last night no
Since Christmas he's been up and down like a yo-yo. Very good one game, pretty awful the next. As I've always said I see massive potential in him, potential to either be a great player for years to come or a player we talk about as a "never quite got his **** together" kinda guy...obviously I hope it's the former. I'd say it's a ridiculous claim to suggest Skrtels job is the easiest when you see how much Sakho and Can let past in the first half....Skrtels reading of the game saved both their skins on a few occasions last night. To be fair to Skrtel JS how would you like being a centre half with Lovren one side and Johnson as your full back? You keep trying to find reasons to suggest he's not good enough because you simply don't like him. As I've stated before IMO he's still the most solid and reliable centre back we've got (taking age and potential out of the equation). As the season wears on I've been shown to be pretty much spot on in that opinion
It seems Rodgers agrees with me too.
Yes. Lose our (and the league's) top 2 strikers. 8 players in. How the **** is that not transition?
Except it took Rodgers 3 months to get back to title winning form. At other teams like Spurs it's taken 2 seasons for the new players to start to integrate.
I wasn't warming to him much the first half hour last night no
I'd say it's a ridiculous claim to suggest Skrtels job is the easiest when you see how much Sakho and Can let past in the first half....Skrtels reading of the game saved both their skins on a few occasions last night. To be fair to Skrtel JS how would you like being a centre half with Lovren one side and Johnson as your full back? You keep trying to find reasons to suggest he's not good enough because you simply don't like him. As I've stated before IMO he's still the most solid and reliable centre back we've got (taking age and potential out of the equation). As the season wears on I've been shown to be pretty much spot on in that opinion
It is the easiest job because:
a) he has less space to cover
b) he's acting as the sweeper so he can attack balls without fear as he has the other two are behind him
In the middle of the back 3, he's done very well and it suits. What happens when we go back to the back 4?
Teams like Dortmund, At Madrid, Ajax lose their star players all the time. They don't regress as poorly as we did.
a) surely applies to Sakho and Can too does it not???
b) the other two are usually in front of him....but he still attacks the ball
What happens when we go to a back 4 is entirely dpendent on who plays in that four. You seem to forget a simple fact....a fact I've stressed to you often but you refuse to accept (because of your blatant bias)....Skrtel has played in very good back fours under both Kenny and Rafa. He played in back fours that at times looked more water tight than a ducks arse
Dortmund are 34 points off the top of the table in 10th. The Spanish and Dutch leagues are a joke and nowhere near as competitive.
a) surely applies to Sakho and Can too does it not???
b) the other two are usually in front of him....but he still attacks the ball
What happens when we go to a back 4 is entirely dpendent on who plays in that four. You seem to forget a simple fact....a fact I've stressed to you often but you refuse to accept (because of your blatant bias)....Skrtel has played in very good back fours under both Kenny and Rafa. He played in back fours that at times looked more water tight than a ducks arse
No - with our full backs pushed forward, Sakho and Can have more space to cover in wide positions
We'll never agree on this, so we'll just accept that I'm right.
You've used Dortmund's one poor season to prove a point? Disregard they've won the title twice, and are consistently good in the CL.
And the Spanish league is a joke? At Madrid are competing with Barca and Real, yet still won the league last season (despite selling Falcao!).
No - with our full backs pushed forward, Sakho and Can have more space to cover in wide positions
We'll never agree on this, so we'll just accept that I'm right.
Our full backs were pushed up as far last year with a back four and yet you were suggesting Skrtel was awful because he couldn't cover them
You're tying yourself in knots Jimmy to try and prove a point you're wrong about 
Let's just accept that Rafa, Kenny and BR know more about these things then either of us do
(and thus accept that I'm right)
Our full backs were pushed up as far last year with a back four and yet you were suggesting Skrtel was awful because he couldn't cover them
Let's just accept that Rafa, Kenny and BR know more about these things then either of us do
We played with a back 4 last season? We're playing with wings backs this season!!
Skrtel had less space to cover but was still sh*t.
You're right - Skrtel featured heavily under Rafa (only in his final season when we finished 7th/8th), he played well under Kenny where we had 2 banks of 4 and finished the season 7th.
Skrtel has been a fixture in our defence for the past few years and we've been poor as a team.
Sakho regains his place around December/January and we go on this run.
We've missed Sakho far more than we will ever miss Skrtel.
Sakho regains his place around December/January and we go on this run.
We've missed Sakho far more than we will ever miss Skrtel.
No you used them as examples of nothing ever going wrong when having to massively update your squad.
Except they are faced with that every year but still enjoy success despite operating on a smaller budget.
Because success is easier in their leagues. Dortmund are the second richest team in Germany. They only sell their players to the first richest team in Germany. (BTW Dortmund's budget is only slightly smaller than ours)
We are the 5th richest team in the PL but every team in the PL is in the top 40 richest teams [HASHTAG]#competitive[/HASHTAG]