Heard someone remark the other day that none of our back 4 look completely match fit. I think this is a large reason why we have struggled so far this season. Let's not pretend we haven't been anything but dire at the back. Is this down to them not adjusting to the manager's demands or do we have a more chronic problem? I think half our defensive issues stem from the fact that we are trying to play too high a line when in possession and when we lose it, our centre halves are not quick enough to recover. Still can't really fathom what Emery is doing at this point.
Yeah it's worrying, we've already conceded 6 goals in 3 games, so that's averaging 2 per game. We're going to have to sort that out sharp otherwise this will be a very difficult season.
I don't think the fitness of the defence is the main reason for why we look so leaky. The problem is our centre-halves keep getting isolated because our full-backs push too high up the pitch. They have no-one covering them when they maraud forward. It's a distinct lack of communication. If you analyse most of the attacks/goals that we've conceded, they have mostly stemmed from the wide areas because either Guendouzi/Xhaka are too far forward or don't have the discipline to get back and cover for Monreal/Bellerin. However, another reason is because the likes of Mkhitaryan drift in-field, leaving space open on that side of the pitch and then don't bother to track back when the opposition have the ball. Despite his 2 assists, Bellerin looked uncomfortable defensively the entire game on Saturday. Part of that was because of his own bad positioning, but part of it was also because he had no-one helping him when West Ham overloaded on the flanks. We suffered the same problems against Manchester City and Chelsea's winner also came from Hazard having loads of space to run into without being challenged. Until the players communicate better and have a better understanding of who needs to be positioned where if the fullbacks get forward, we will continue to face the same problems. Emery also needs to tell the wingers to help out more defensively. Because right now, any team that have pacy, nimble wingers will be causing us a whole host of problems due to how much space they have. So I would argue it's a tactical issue rather than a fitness one.
I'm not sure about fitness. I read we have run the most distance over the last first three games. There's a few tactical issues that need addressing. For a start our fullbacks are SOO high up the pitch they are basically wingers. We have to have DM (Torreira hopefully) sitting back with the defence when the fullbacks push up. Guendouzi can roam but Torreira or Xhaka have to always sit. Xhaka has not shown any sign of improvement under Emery. I think his days may be numbered and the same goes for Mustafi. The German has made major mistakes in all three matches soo far. We need Koscielny back.
Koscielny is back in full training Should hopefully be ready to play in 4 weeks or so. (which would be 2 months ahead of schedule)
