The defensive mindset is the underlying toxic problem which has seen our deterioration.
Managers seemingly all fall into this same trap. The reason why is unfathomable without resorting to wild conspiracy theories.
Normally, pushing forwards means that you are defending in the opposition half but slow-thinking defenders have admittedly made that difficult this season.
Even so, the more time spent defending – the more time to allow ever more balls into our box. Even a good defence would be troubled.
I cannot believe where we keep our back defensive line. We are not especially vulnerable to defence-splitting passes – happily – so why defend so deep?
We are still trying, very foolishly, to get 10 outfield players behind the ball at set pieces.
Leaving our fastest forward on the halfway line means opposition have to leave two back as they can’t risk a one on one.
Two outcomes. One is the opportunity to launch counterattacks. The other is to have an extra man when defending.
If Fallon sees it so clearly, why do our management team not get it?
I was interested too by Newey’s comments on ‘lazy defending’. Wild challenges instead of interposing self between forward and the goal. Proper tracking of forwards needs a great deal of work in training.
