Luke Shaw's interview yesterday was telling. It seemed to me to be a none-to-subtle dig at the forwards. "We didn't start with the right intensity", "We allowed them to get control of the ball", We allowed them to be comfortable", "They probably felt they were in control of the game". "We are not all together on the pitch".
Shaw isn't the only person to point out this season the complete lack of pressing, intensity and physicality from the forwards. It's been mentioned by Rangnick in at least two of his post-game interviews, and indeed Rashford and Fernandes have both been left out recently. It has also been covered, to a certain degree, by the Sky Sports team, who have highlighted the lack of defensive effort from the forwards.
Despite this, it feels to me like the players who are consistently and constantly panned on this forum and in the press are the defensive players. Shaw himself has come in for a tonne of criticism. Maguire is blamed for every goal we concede. You can't hear AWBs name mentioned without someone adding "isn't that good on the ball". Jones has been completely ridiculed. Lindelof is criticised for his lack of physicality and aerial ability. McTominay and Fred are singled out every single game by the Sky Sports pundits, and they pull no punches with them whatsoever.
Modern football, more than ever, is a team game. Modern defenders are expected to take risks. They are asked to play much higher up the pitch then their 90s/00s counterparts. They are asked to help the team play out from the back by retaining possession and taking the ball in dangers areas, where much-vaunted defenders of bygone eras would have just hoofed it into the stands. Modern full backs are judged almost as much, if not more increasingly, on their attacking output, as opposed to their defensive output.
So my question, and I think Luke Shaw's frustration, is - "if our defenders/midfielders are held to these standards, why aren't our attacking players?".
The reason we have been terrible this season is not because AWB supposedly 'can't cross' or because 'Maguire takes too long on the ball'. We have been terrible because we are SO easy to play against. Rangnick highlighted it again yesterday. The opposition are able to walk past our front 4/5 with absolutely no effort, and constantly be at the back 5/6 under zero pressure. When we concede goals, who gets the blame? The defensive/midfield players...but this is outdated, 'old-school' thinking that needs to die. It might be a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason - you defend as a team. Every goal you concede is on the team, as it's EVERY players responsibility to defend, just like it is now every players responsibility to be involved in the attacks.
So, some people, usually the posters who have never played the game, will miss my point here, and I'll just get a load of responses like "well Maguire and Shaw have done XYZ so they have no right to complain"...so please, save me the time if you're going to write that and piss off to the 'Player Performance' threads, where you can continue to blame them for everything.
I personally don't believe you accuse the defensive players of not trying. Despite some of their limitations, can any poster, hand on heart, honestly with a straight face tell me Maguire or AWB or Shaw or Fred or McTominay don't try and don't put in the effort? I don't rate Fred. I don't especially rate McTominay. In my opinion, they will need to be replaced if we want to win trophies. However, I think yo can be critical of some of their mistakes, but I don't think you can ever say they don't care or don't try. I also think they are filling their part of the bargain, in that they are pushing higher up the pitch and they are trying to pass the ball out from the back (Shaw and Maguire are the two players who have the ball most often in our team).
So, to put this simpler, the defenders are fulfilling their half of the 'progressive football' bargain (with mixed results, granted), but the attackers are not. They are walking around the pitch, running at half-pace, throwing their arms around and moaning when things don't go their way and generally just playing within themselves when they don't have the ball. So if the attackers are not fulfilling their half of the bargain, if I was Maguire, AWB, Shaw etc....I would be tempted to say, "OK, bollocks to you then....we're just going to look after our own backs, set the defensive line halfway in our own half and hoof anything that comes near us into the stands". I 100% guarantee they would much prefer this, it's a much, much simpler way to defend. Yet they don't. They keep going every week, doing what is asked of them, and then get scapegoated on here and in the media when we inevitably concede goals due to how shockingly open we are.
In my opinion, our defenders, plus our CMs have been well and truly hung out to dry this season. Yet still, people defend Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Fernandes etc...and the abuse the defensive players get borders on slander at times. Yes, the likes of Rashford have been criticised, but have they changed anything? I haven't seen it. Still the same old, same old every week.
On top of all this, the forward players earn a ridiculous amount of money compared to the defensive players, due to our completely f**ked wage structure. Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Sancho alone earn £1.4m a week. Imagine being Shaw, Maguire, AWB, Fred, McTominay, giving everything they can for the club and their teammates (with mistakes at times, yes, but that's not my point) and seeing those chancers wandering around in front of them picking up their salaries whilst barely breaking a sweat. Then guess what...who gets all the abuse online and in the studio? The usual suspects!
The fact a 21 year old lad can be signed in the Summer and earn £350K, twice as much as our club captain, would say to me we as a club don't value our defensive players and the heirarchy is clear.
For me, this is the divide Luke Shaw was talking about. The defensive half of the team has it's faults, but they are trying to do their best for the team and for their teammates.
The attacking players are not fulfilling their half of the bargain. They are lazy, static and disinterested in defending, and are hanging out their teammates to dry in the process. It's NOT about individual quality and being 'better footballers', it's about attitude and who is working hard for their teammates.
