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10 years of FIFDepends which issue we're talking about, really.
I think the CBs are reasonably fine. Might need a new player (Vidic) in here or there, but overall, I'm quite happy with our defense. When they are organised, I dont worry too much anymore about a brain fart.
What doesnt help, though, is our attacking. We attack with like 3 players. That means that when we inevitably turn the ball over, we only have 3 players to 'defend at the front' with. Mourinho is a huge fan of strikers who work hard defensively for a reason. Keep them under pressure. The other team pretty much has the free reign of midfield, and they can distribute the ball how they want without any pressure. This means they tear our shape as they please, and we end up very exposed as they pass it around a few times and slowly destroy our midfield's shape. Thats how you end up with people like Nagatomo in CM, Kovacic at LB, etc.
If we commit more numbers offensively, then instead of (say) 7v3 on the turnover, you might have 7v4, 7v5. It means that its not so trivial for them just to pass the ball around, and they cant just do damage to us as they please.
I also notice we have width issues at times. Ignoring the fact that some of our fullbacks cant defend to save their lives, our full backs have a nasty habit of drifting quite central when defending, I've seen. You end up leaving massive gaps on the wings, which is why we get quite a lot of attacking play down our wings. That, and because we're playing CBs who are used to 2 at the back, we end up with other teams attacking the space between the wing back and the 'centre' back - who sometimes feels inclined to move more central, so you end up with quite a big gap there too.
tl;dr
Too much space for them to build until they've distorted our shape, and then we leave way too many gaps defensively anyway.
I think the CBs are reasonably fine. Might need a new player (Vidic) in here or there, but overall, I'm quite happy with our defense. When they are organised, I dont worry too much anymore about a brain fart.
What doesnt help, though, is our attacking. We attack with like 3 players. That means that when we inevitably turn the ball over, we only have 3 players to 'defend at the front' with. Mourinho is a huge fan of strikers who work hard defensively for a reason. Keep them under pressure. The other team pretty much has the free reign of midfield, and they can distribute the ball how they want without any pressure. This means they tear our shape as they please, and we end up very exposed as they pass it around a few times and slowly destroy our midfield's shape. Thats how you end up with people like Nagatomo in CM, Kovacic at LB, etc.
If we commit more numbers offensively, then instead of (say) 7v3 on the turnover, you might have 7v4, 7v5. It means that its not so trivial for them just to pass the ball around, and they cant just do damage to us as they please.
I also notice we have width issues at times. Ignoring the fact that some of our fullbacks cant defend to save their lives, our full backs have a nasty habit of drifting quite central when defending, I've seen. You end up leaving massive gaps on the wings, which is why we get quite a lot of attacking play down our wings. That, and because we're playing CBs who are used to 2 at the back, we end up with other teams attacking the space between the wing back and the 'centre' back - who sometimes feels inclined to move more central, so you end up with quite a big gap there too.
tl;dr
Too much space for them to build until they've distorted our shape, and then we leave way too many gaps defensively anyway.
