Team Defending

bosnian_red

Worst scout to ever exist
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I think the biggest improvement so far has to be the collective defending as a team. Our pressing is organized, and then today showed our defending under pressure is excellent. Restricting everyone we play to half chances at best. 5 clean sheets in the past 6 games, with only Jorginhos penalty from a nothing situation being the only goal we conceded. Dalot being a beast, Shaw or Malacia either way being very reliable, Martinez an absolute world class defender, and then the cover for Varane stepping in adequately too. The first time in years we've actually defended and prevented attacks to a high level as a team, rather than relying on De Gea. And then today, De Gea when he was called on from half chances, stepped up too.
 
Yeah I agree with this.

Obviously when you don’t have control of a game you tend to feel worse in the moment than afterwards. Today is a good example of that.

Essentially we lost control of the midfield in the second half in part by repeatedly playing sloppy passes and dropping deeper. I don’t think this was helped by the players we had missing.

That said De Gea made two saves all game, one of them being a 30+ yard pot shot from Rice. We still finished the game on more possession and with a higher xG than WHU.
 
The back 5 were excellent today, must have done a lot of work on back post defending, been a weakness of ours in past seasons and today Dalot was a master at it.
 
Mental what happens when your back line and keeper work as a unit, rather than individuals who like to take it in turns to make stupid mistakes.
 
Considering how thin we are in attack this season, defense is key to get results and in the end top 4. I am delighted seeing that kind of performances.
 
Credit to ten hag, he recognized our weaknesses and started working on it and now we seem to be one of the better teams in this regard.

Magical what a difference a good coach can make, we should know that well.
 
paulscholes18 said:
The back 5 were excellent today, must have done a lot of work on back post defending, been a weakness of ours in past seasons and today Dalot was a master at it.
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Agreed.

I also wonder if Casemiro's presence helps in this regard. He's usually well positioned centrally to track central runners from midfield, which means the full backs aren't being caught in two minds about needing to cover more centrally. All in all, a good performance from the back 6 I'd say.
 
Every time degea made a save or another defender cleared, dalot was over encouraging and pumping them up. Martinez too. Those two lads are future captains the way they're going.
 
Most obvious improvement on on set piece, no more nervy moment. Defending on far post seem to have improved particularly with Dalot's aerial advantage, obviously on total concentration
 
It's not coincidentally what Ten Hag has worked the most on as well:
"Developing a team takes time," he said. "You can't go from zero to 100 - you have to construct it with the fundamentals before you go to the top, to the roof.

"Unfortunately it takes time, and I don't have time and I'm really impatient but I have to [wait] so it's quite clear.

"I think we're getting better at defending with 11, the players are more aware of it, that we have to do it with 11.

"Also, our build-up is improving game-to-game so now we have to develop more on our attacking game but it's the most difficult part, so it takes even more time but you can't increase the tempo of that process. I want it but we have to take our time."
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https://www.skysports.com/football/...s-he-is-really-impatient-amid-developing-team
 
Trequarista10 said:
Agreed.

I also wonder if Casemiro's presence helps in this regard. He's usually well positioned centrally to track central runners from midfield, which means the full backs aren't being caught in two minds about needing to cover more centrally. All in all, a good performance from the back 6 I'd say.
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Not just back 6 though. It's right from the front. We are pressing well, teams are struggling to build up or play through the lines, and they aren't getting free runs at our back line. Casemiro of course has a big impact, but it's the collective defending. It's clear the system is in place defensively, and it's no longer down to just individuals to do well.
 
Defense bring you championships. I'm not saying we'll win the league soon but we're setting a great foundations. Defending from last year and his one is night and day really. Defending starts from the attackers and we're pressing quality as a team now and then its more easier for defense too when we're so organized. Also when we were pinned back vs West Ham we still look organized.
 
Yeah defending starts from the front.
the manager keeps banging on about "team defending" & "team attacking" etc

The front players are now working their arses off. This allows the defence to push up a bit and the midfield to win balls higher up the pitch.

The pressing as a whole is a lot more organised and syncronised. Like night and day compared to last season.
(Now we just need De Gea to come out more..)

Credit to ten Hag.
 
In our own third we show very good special awareness. One very simple difference with Ole's tenure is that the back four defends from the inside to the outside, we don't leave room in the middle anymore, the way to go after us is to play it wide and hope that the wide players are caught napping which isn't as common as it used to and even when it happens the likes of Varane and Martinez are quick to close the space.

Now I don't know if it's our biggest improvment, our ability to move the ball in the opposition half is miles better than it was previously, we lack the last pass or shot but the rest is very encouraging.
 
paulscholes18 said:
The back 5 were excellent today, must have done a lot of work on back post defending, been a weakness of ours in past seasons and today Dalot was a master at it.
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Yes, the back 5 were very good, and that included a much maligned Harry Maguire, who I thought played reasonably well, and if he plays a couple more matches, and gets his match fitness up, then we could start to see the Harry Maguire that we had a couple of seasons ago.
I still think that he could go in the summer though, as I don't think he is what Ten Hag really wants as a CB, we could see a new signing in there, and several academy CB's training with the first team squad (they probably are already).
 
bosnian_red said:

Proof is in the pudding
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Very interesting stat.

Last season, it was terrible to see how easily most teams could move easily through the center of our midfield into dangerous positions.
Leke the proverbial hot knife through butter.

Now, having Casemiro as a shield really does help us shore up.
 
we are bottom half with a terrible showing in terms of goals scored so clearly it is our defending that has improved.

biggest risk to this is varane injury as he has been our star player in my book. hopefully we can adapt well enough now.

there is a major difference in terms of aggression, it is great to see
 
It's what many were saying for a long time, sort out a competent midfield and the defence will look better. Casemiro's experience and intelligence are massive for us.

I especially felt the fullbacks were getting a raw deal and glad to see Dalot no longer being criticized for issues in the team that were beyond his control.
 
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