I think the attacking play does play a part in it to some degree but some of the goals we have let in have been basic stuff being messed up through individual errors. Two examples straight away in massive games that have cost us is the Gerrard miss control of a simple pass against Chelsea and whatever the hell it was Mignolet was playing at when he let in Negredo's goal at City in December. Our midfield leave our defence exposed far too often but our full backs (more applicable to Johnson) are constantly being caught out of position. I remember one game this season, might have been the Hull defeat (not sure) and Johnson lost the ball in their half and instead of chasing back he literally just strolled back and stood at the half way line whilst they scored. He doesn't get tight enough to the man he should be marking and spends too much time being near the CB's. Skrtel ends up having to go over and cover when Johnson doesn't get back and straight away it leaves a gap for us to be picked off. IMO a confident defence will start by having a confident keeper. When we had Pepe he would bark at his defence, he would clatter through his own players and looked confident where as Mignolet looks like a timid, unconfident mess half the time and I think the defence feed off that. When we are having to defend there is absolutely no composure at all, its just a mad panic to try and get the ball clear, like we are at sixes and sevens. Personally I feel we have been stronger defensively on the left hand side with either Agger or Sakho and Flanno, they seem to be more disciplined and stick to their positions and man. Skrtel has had some very good games this season and looked a rock at the back at times but he has had so many howlers at the same time, own goals, giving it away cheaply or just getting completly done over by the attacker. What worries me is that side for the reasons I've stated about Johnson and Skrtel. But then the way Lucas and Johnson were brutally ripped apart by Palace just emphasised the fact even more that our midfield don't have enough about them to really help out the defence. We need some new additions to the defence and someone like Steve Clarke to come back in and coach them.
Could blame our attacking play but more often than not we have let in pathetic goals that should no way of even been close to happening. We need to cut out the individual errors because they are killing us and if we lose the league on goal difference then we will have only ourselves to blame. Its finding the right balance between attack and defence. A good example of that balance would be Atletico Madrid; they haven't scored the most goals (though they have still scored around 80) and have only let in around 22, 23 I think it is.
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