Proactive defending

[BlueLyon 9,359]

What appears to be our main problem (if you can even call it a problem after 3 wins ) is our reactive defending.

In first three games we have seen very poor defending when opponent had the ball, most noticeably vs Everton recently, when we conceded 3 goals. Our formation last year was very defensive, with 6-8 players constantly in defence to protect our goal. Reactive CBs were very efficient because we had two midfielders who pressed opponents and then we closed them their space and any option to shot on goal. But even last season, there were glimpses that our defending isnt all that great, considering our flank protection was very poor and we had lot of trouble with opponent crosses into our penalty area.

This year, things have changed quite a bit. We still have pretty much same defence (for now Luis is sub), while Courtois is doing fine, perhaps even better than Cech last season. However our formation is now more open, we have replaced Ramires (natural runner and quite capable defender) with Cesc, who is not bad in defending at all, several levels above Ramires in attack, but looks to be out of breath after certain amount of time, just stops running and walks around (though Im not blaming Cesc, he was great so far, but in comparison with Ramires, the later never stops running and keeps pressing the opponent). Cesc was just looking when Everton went in attack, then Etoo scored, but Cesc was also CAM yesterday, while Ramires and Matic played in CM spots, therefore they should do more in midfield to stop Everton attack before they got even close to our goal.

The main problem seems to be CBs who are reactive, while we are now playing open formation, with midfielders very wide from goal, unlike last year's closed formation. Now there is considerable open space infront of our defence, yet they dont move forward when opponents marches towards our goal. If we had proactive defenders, they (well one of the two) would run into the attacker, stopping him before he reaches our penalty area. As we have seen vs Everton, whenever Naismith, Mirallas or later Etoo got on the ball, no one in our team realy pressed on him. We were just waiting till THEY got to us and then tried to stop them, but it was often too late as they already released the ball, either dangerous shot, cross or very useful through ball that got us in big danger to concede.

Our left flank looks suspect on times, with Hazard who is not exactly pressing type of winger and Azpi who sometimes doesnt close the space while opponent puts a cross into our box (but thats rare, last year it was Ivanovic who did that way too often).

Therefore, if we want to play more open football like we did so far, with conceding less, there is no other way but to press much more on opponent. It will take alot of energy and thats why Terry will obviously wont be able to do it, but Cahill, Azpi, Matic, Ramires, Hazard, Willian, Costa, Iva and Cesc will have to do it. Costa already does it brilliantly, tracking down players constantly, Ramires and Matic are grea runners, but sometimes their runing was completely off, with Everton midfield bypassing them with unbelievable ease. Matic takes alot of time to turn around, while Ramires is out of position oftenly. Cesc who was not CM yesterday will have to press more, take a look at Gundogan back then when he was fit and hopefuly Fab will get enough fitness to catch that up.

What was also seen yesterday is how important Oscar is. He gives us control in midfield, allowing others to attack more and keeps midfield safe. Tacticaly, he is several levels ahead of Ramires and knows exactly who to press, how to move, when to go higher, when to stay at back etc. He isnt as fast, or brilliant in attack, but his positioning sense is amazing. His pressing, while similar to Ramires is also admirable, but the difference is that Oscar makes that pressing efficient, while Ramires gets bypassed way to many times, considering how faster and more agile than Oscar he is.

Hopefuly this makes any sense, but I realy think that waste space in our midfield in front of goal could be very dangerous for us. Last year we had 6 players close to penalty area, where no one realy needed to run much, but this year, there is space, because CMs are positioned more forward and our CBs will have to cover it more times than last season, meaning they will have to be proactive. I doubt that you can suddenly make reactive CB into proactive, therefore it could be bit of problem for us this season, althrough we might simply outscore opponents if we will have our players on fire.

Matic was sublime last season, even this preseason, but gave ball away too many times and he was caught out of position many times this term, but I fully believe he will improve (I just hope it isnt our midfielder syndrome, when we got Matic, Ramires become poor, when we got Cesc, Matic will get poor, hopefuly thats not the case). Another thing, Azpi contributes very little in attack or almost nothing, but that is topic for another day.

Our team as whole gets very complacent after we get one up, I think we have to keep thempo for much longer, cant allow opponent to take control in midfield, I was bit shocked how easy Everton controled midfield yesterday and we looked disorganised and nervous.

Good thing is we are still winning despite that and may that continue till the end of the season

[Myself 793]

Top post.

[Styles 9,790]

Our team as whole gets very complacent after we get one up, I think we have to keep thempo for much longer, cant allow opponent to take control in midfield, I was bit shocked how easy Everton controled midfield yesterday and we looked disorganised and nervous.

It could be one of two things:

1) Instruction from the manager i.e. when you take the lead you tighten up and play on the counter-attack. And to be fair, that's not the worst idea in the world, especially against the better sides. The longer we hold the lead the more desperate the opposition get and commit more bodies forward which allows us to pick them off on the counter-attack.

2) Natural instinct of the players to protect what they have and they, perhaps, subconsciously take their foot off the gas. That happens a lot (but it isn't exclusive to just us); I've seen us go from playing good football and then becoming incredibly sloppy after taking the lead in a game.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I don't want anyone to go overboard on the criticism of the defence right now.

This time last year there was discontent over the boring 1-0s and 2-1s we were scraping. Now we are pummelling teams 3-1, 4-2 and 6-3 and playing some glorious attacking football. It's going to take time for us to find the right balance between this gorgeous attacking style and the defensive resilience we are renown for. Don't panic, and trust José. It'll all come good.

[chelseawise 115]

I don't want anyone to go overboard on the criticism of the defence right now.

This time last year there was discontent over the boring 1-0s and 2-1s we were scraping. Now we are pummelling teams 3-1, 4-2 and 6-3 and playing some glorious attacking football. It's going to take time for us to find the right balance between this gorgeous attacking style and the defensive resilience we are renown for. Don't panic, and trust José. It'll all come good.

I hope so because I am worried about our leaky defence. This weekend will the the ultimate test with Man City.