goon wrote:
flobaba wrote:
Wenger basically had no clue when it came to defensive talent.
It’s because there isn’t a lot of defensive talent out there. United paid £80m for a fridge, City have been dropping £50m a year on one for a decade, Liverpool have had to spend £70m to finally get one right.
There’s a lot of expectation on central defenders these days and I don’t think academies have caught up.
You're right, Goon. I actually sympathise with Guardiola on central defense. Largely due to men like him, football has become very offensive. So you end up with these 5 5 formations, and central defenders often find themselves exposed without fullbacks because those guys are off attacking. So central defenders need to be athletic to cover the large areas evacuated by fullbacks.
At the same time, we want them to be much more capable on the ball to build out from the back.
So they have to have this athleticism and ball-playing ability in addition to the original qualities of tackling, tracking and heading that were required before. Of course, if the team dominates possession, these are required less than from an elite centre back 10 years ago, but they're still building blocks. We are chasing defensive unicorns.
