Why the defensive problems?

[Foxxed]

I thought we looked dangerous in the first half with Thomas, KDH, Barnes, Maddison and Daka. I had hope we had the nucleus of a rebirth. But our defensive problems did us undone.  Again.

 

The thing is, we should have a good defence. Ndidi is one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe. Castagne is a Belgium international. Evans is a highly experienced and successful centre half. Soyuncu was one of the best centre halves in the prem last season. Thomas is an FA Cup winner. We have Kolo coaching them. Kasper is a world class keeper.

 

And what’s more, last season these players were fantastic. Our defense was the envy of the league. And now it’s leaking goals. They say a team must be more than the sum of its parts. Our defense significantly worse than the sum of its parts. And the change has been sudden and unexplained.

 

Why is it so bad while having great players. Why?

 

 

 

Edited 5 December 2021 by Foxxed

[tom27111]

Hi Brendan.

 

You need to work this out for yourself.

 

Thanks

 

Foxestalk x

[turlo]

Whoever comes up with a half decent answer should be employed by the club as the current coaching team ain't got a forking clue

[cropstonfox]

Kasper

[Bob Farley]

Covid 

[foxfanazer]

No organisation, no accountability, nobody stopping crosses, nobody taking charge of incoming crosses, nobody on the back post, Kasper glued to his line, defenders lunging into challenges and getting spun.....need I go on?

 

Just a complete cluster **** to be honest

 

 

But to be fair its Puel's fault. Brendan will sort it when he's settled in a bit

Edited 5 December 2021 by foxfanazer

[splinterdream]

Cags is crap, wilf jogs around the pitch, when cags is missing upfront, wilf not there to cover for him so castagne and Thomas get pulled in leaving masses of space on the left and right 

 

There's just no organisation, lazy players not covering.

 

I see us in possession and wilf could be running to give player with the ball options (acting as a pivot) and he's just walking around, player in possession has limited options and loses the ball.

 

We also don't get out quick enough to play the offside

Edited 5 December 2021 by splinterdream

[Jakemoore]

We’re too soft and pathetic. I genuinely believe this is the basis of all our problems defensively. We have players who are decent defenders on paper but other than Wilf, Evans and to a lesser degrees Cags, they’re all too soft. I think they get rattled and then lose their heads. If I was an attacker I’d relish playing against us. We’re pathetic. 2021 and all that but **** me do we need to man up. 

[HesNotGudjonsonn2]

I would go back to old school man to man marking. Zonal does not work for us and confusion reigns. 

[Pliskin]

We don’t defend as a team anymore…

 

We don’t press, and we leave gaps all over the pitch. N’didi is having the worst season he’s had for us. 
 

Because we are a team that relies on playing with a press, the defence like to step out and attack the ball high up the pitch, the problem is we are still trying to do that, and in our current form it isn’t working and we’re being made to look completely disorganised.

 

Rodgers I think is worried about the defence and is over compensating by being too cautious with the ball, the problem is the team

are trying to do three things, Daka or Vardy press, the midfield are overly cautious and the defence are trying to step out to win the ball high up the pitch, problem is we are all out of position when the opposition win the ball back, we then give away countless needless free kicks because we are now scurrying back to try and win the ball back.

 

The zonal marking has never worked and is just being made to look even worse because we’re out of form, to zonal mark you need world class defenders, or at the very least defenders who like attacking the ball in the air, which we don’t. 
 

We are just bang out of form, and Rodgers stubbornness isn’t helping him, but we’ve also got hosts of players out of form, the most worrying one for me is Wilf, he has been absolutely dross this season, there was a moment today where he was just stood staring at a 50/50 ball rather than attack it…. Something isn’t right with him, not sure if he wants away or what but he’s been very poor this season. Castagne has been poor as well, last season he looked a revelation, this season he looked pretty ordinary. Barnes hasn’t been at it this season either, and Maddison has only recently picked up. 
 

I can’t see anything changing, we will limp through the rest of the season like this, probably end up finishing around 14-12. There’s too many issues to address for things to suddenly improve. 

Edited 5 December 2021 by Pliskin

[Jakemoore]

2 minutes ago, HesNotGudjonsonn2 said:

I would go back to old school man to man marking. Zonal does not work for us and confusion reigns. 

I see your point but none of the top teams use man marking. Not one. They all use zonal marking so they can’t all be wrong. The problem lies with the personnel and not the tactic imo.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Just now, HesNotGudjonsonn2 said:

I would go back to old school man to man marking. Zonal does not work for us and confusion reigns. 

Not sure it will make much difference whether it's zonal or man-to-man or a mixture of the two. You still need players to actually attack the ball when it's in the air, and I don't see many of those in our squad.

[dmayne7]

Sad to say, but it's all down to the manager. Just look at what's happened to Wilf. You don't go from being the best in the league when it comes to positional play and intercepting, to suddenly being over all the shop. Manager's instructions clearly.

[Tielemans63]

What I'd give for a Huth or a Wasilewski right now. We've got lots of nice footballers but we need a couple of nasty feckers.

[Shane]

The defence have been poor for a while now & deserve plenty of criticism but defending also starts from the front. Our midfield and attackers aren’t pressing as a unit, winning second balls or tracking back & lack a cohesive defensive structure off the ball. This allows teams to cut through us unchallenged & our defenders can’t cope with the numerous 1v1 situations they find themselves in.
 

We could have Man City’s back four & even they’d struggle with the ‘protection’ they receive from Lookman, Barnes, Soumare, etc. 

[Wymsey]

Would this defensive weakness not happen if James Justin and Wesley Fofana were both playing?

[adam]

It's either brexit or covid. Or possibly climate change. 

[foxfanazer]

Just now, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Not sure it will make much difference whether it's zonal or man-to-man or a mixture of the two. You still need players to actually attack the ball when it's in the air, and I don't see many of those in our squad.

It might help with accountability though. At the moment there's 3 or 4 players culpable for every set piece goal. If it's man marking it's the responsibility of the player marking the man who scores or who flicks it on for someone else. At the moment anything different is worth a try right?

[Genesis1]

I think another issue is we've never really had a manager since Pearson who will absolutely rip into them, when you look at the likes of Klopp, Pep and Tuchel. Not saying that's the main reason but all over the pitch bar a few, we're poor and I can't imagine Rogers handing out a bollocking like some of the top teams managers.

 

[Haywood_6]

It's mostly because we struggle to win the ball when it's in the air. Basically all of our players and our keeper. 

[tickler28]

1 hour ago, Foxxed said:

I thought we looked dangerous in the first half with Thomas, KDH, Barnes, Maddison and Daka. I had hope we had the nucleus of a rebirth. But our defensive problems did us undone.  Again.

 

The thing is, we should have a good defensive. Ndidi is one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe. Castagne is a Belgium international. Evans is a highly experienced and successful centre half. Soyuncu was one of the best centre halves in the prem last season. Thomas is an FA Cup winner. We have Kolo coaching them. Kasper is a world class keeper.

 

And what’s more, last season these players were fantastic. Our defense was the envy of the league. And now it’s leaking goals. They say a team must be more than the sum of its parts. Our defense significantly worse than the sum of its parts. And the change has been sudden and unexplained.

 

Why is it so bad while having great players. Why?

 

Because for some reason at the minute....and I don't know why....Great players in the past like Ndidi, Soyuncu, Evans and Castagne are looking poor....perhaps injuries have taken their toll....certainly all of these players plus Barnes and Maddison have struggled since coming back from their respective injuries....perhaps its the medics at LCFC that are to blame....certainly seems to have gone down hill since Dave Rennie was sacked.

[hejammy]

1 hour ago, Foxxed said:

I thought we looked dangerous in the first half with Thomas, KDH, Barnes, Maddison and Daka. I had hope we had the nucleus of a rebirth. But our defensive problems did us undone.  Again.

 

The thing is, we should have a good defensive. Ndidi is one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe. Castagne is a Belgium international. Evans is a highly experienced and successful centre half. Soyuncu was one of the best centre halves in the prem last season. Thomas is an FA Cup winner. We have Kolo coaching them. Kasper is a world class keeper.

 

And what’s more, last season these players were fantastic. Our defense was the envy of the league. And now it’s leaking goals. They say a team must be more than the sum of its parts. Our defense significantly worse than the sum of its parts. And the change has been sudden and unexplained.

 

Why is it so bad while having great players. Why?

 

Let's dissect this. 

 

Ndidi - since his injury he has been a shadow of what he was - perhaps it just takes while to get back into the swing of things or perhaps his head has been turned. Perhaps the treatment of his fellow countryman (Nacho) doesn't sit well with him. 

 

Castagne - he's a Belgian international yes but I would say he's probably one of the weakest links in that Belgian side. Also again since his injury he's been a bit iffy. 

 

Evans - he wasn't really that highly rated that's why he went to West Brom and didn't particularly do amazing there. He slows down our play all the time but he's the best we have at marshaling our defense. He isn't a bad defender at all but he does slow the play down. 

 

Cags - he's always been rash but has had someone next to him to calm him down plus had Ndidi protecting him very well last season. 

 

Thomas - this one you are clutching at straws, he was in that team but he wasn't really instrumental for the FA cup was he? Still wet behind the ears and too light weight for my liking. 

 

Kasper - world class shot stopper. Mediocre at everything else really. 

 

We miss Fofana and JJ. Plus we miss the form Ricky was in. 

 

Once Ndidi gets his mojo back we will leak less goals. 

[nettle]

Over coaching Wilf get him back to doing what he does best

[Whys it always me]

4 minutes ago, hejammy said:

Let's dissect this. 

 

Ndidi - since his injury he has been a shadow of what he was - perhaps it just takes while to get back into the swing of things or perhaps his head has been turned. Perhaps the treatment of his fellow countryman (Nacho) doesn't sit well with him. 

 

Castagne - he's a Belgian international yes but I would say he's probably one of the weakest links in that Belgian side. Also again since his injury he's been a bit iffy. 

 

Evans - he wasn't really that highly rated that's why he went to West Brom and didn't particularly do amazing there. He slows down our play all the time but he's the best we have at marshaling our defense. He isn't a bad defender at all but he does slow the play down. 

 

Cags - he's always been rash but has had someone next to him to calm him down plus had Ndidi protecting him very well last season. 

 

Thomas - this one you are clutching at straws, he was in that team but he wasn't really instrumental for the FA cup was he? Still wet behind the ears and too light weight for my liking. 

 

Kasper - world class shot stopper. Mediocre at everything else really. 

 

We miss Fofana and JJ. Plus we miss the form Ricky was in. 

 

Once Ndidi gets his mojo back we will leak less goals. 

You mean the same Thomas who got the assist in the FA cup final. Yep you’re right he wasn’t instrumental at all. 

[hejammy]

1 minute ago, Whys it always me said:

You mean the same Thomas who got the assist in the FA cup final. Yep you’re right he wasn’t instrumental at all. 

Yes because that goal was all about the assist...  

 

I would say Pérez was more instrumental for that goal than Thomas 

Edited 5 December 2021 by hejammy