Thought I'd create a new topic on this, as there are signs we might be turning a corner with our defending.
I'm not saying that just because we have kept 3 clean sheets in a row. ( In fact we've carried a bit of luck in doing that, and nothing wrong with a bit of luck.) But I was particularly impressed by our defending against Arsenal.
I was watching our back line as the Arse subjected it to a fair bit of pressure.
Over the past 3 years when teams have done that, it has basically been panic stations back there. But we held our line really well. We didnt collapse back on top of Mignolet like usual ( people slag Mignolet for being sh*t on crosses, but it cant have helped him having to come through half of our players and half of the opposition to try and get something on every cross.) Even the bit of luck we got with Ramsey's offside - how often have we even felt confident enough to try and play people offside in the recent past? How often have our back 4 been prepared to stay up around the 18 yard line under pressure?
Defensive organistion has been Brendan's achilles heel since he's been here. Thats been obvious for a long time. I was one of the one's harping on about a defensive coach for the last 2 years. One swallow doesnt make a summer, but it genuinely looked to me like we had proper defensive organistion last night. ( Under Kenny, I though Skrtel was the best CB in the league, after Kompany. He hasnt looked that since, but he looked it again last night - he was really excellent. Even Lovren played well. )
Obviously 2 full backs who are defensively sound kind of helps, but I think there was a bit more to it than that. If Brendan now has people around him who can coach a defence, then it can make a massive difference to our chances. Brendan has shown that he can get us playing well on the attacking side, and it can only help our attackers if they don't feel they need to score 3 or 4 goals to win games.
It also helps our entire game, in my opinion, if the defensive line can squeeze higher up the pitch, which we might be starting to develop the basis for doing.
So - are we learning to defend? A few games coming up that should put us to the test, but promising signs.
Logged