Defensive solidity

[Lifeson]

Have we ever had it? I have been a spurs fan as long as i can remember(20 odd years) and whenever I watch my beloved spurs i have this sinking feeling that we are always on the brink of another defensive disaster. I can't really explain it but watching the Manchester teams and the Chelseas and Arsenals it always gets me how solid they look compared to my good old spurs, we make Johnny Evans look world class.

Now this is how I feel about spurs, but am I just remembering the bad times, or is this a re-emerging issue for spurs? I heard the way Danny Mills and that liverpool-geezer on motd talked about how defending is the easiest part of the game and how we are failing the most basic stuff. It makes me think how do they handle this from a coaching standpoint, cause we are looking like a pub team defensively, if stuff like this is purely down to new signings/new defensive line-ups playing together, and if so, how does stuff like this not get taking into consideration when selling/loaning players like calker and bae.

 

[beats1]

I would love a great defensive coach, like of the graham mould.

Our High line was a huge issue last season because we pressed well this season its been non-existent at times

 

[SpursManChris]

Yep, defence has certainly been our main problem for many years. It looked like we'd solved the problem this season when we were in the lead in the clean sheets table. Remember that? That feels like a lifetime ago now. It's a shame we had to start facing good teams, which exposed our defence for what it is. Mediocre.

 

[poc]

Well im getting on a bit and apart from the odd season our defense has always been an issue. Our shirt even has managed that most miraculous trick of turning a good player bad ;-)

 

[Legend10]

There is no reason for our defence to be mediocre none at all, part of the problem has been suicide defending and part of the problem is personnel.

Let's look at just one thing, even forgetting pressure on the ball which is rule number if you're going to play high defensively as we managed to find ourselves an even bigger problem.

Why would you leave acres of beautiful inviting grass behind you and game after game play a CB who has problems turning and has flat out running speed which is painfully slow at any level of football let alone Premiership football? You are just asking to be opened up, and to be honest this has been a problem for a long long time that only one thing keeps saving us from disaster, Lloris!

So let's run it forward a moment and presume that it's a tactic that you think you can get away with because your keeper is lightning quick to keep baling you out. Why would you then continue with the same tactic with the same CB who can't run but now replace your lightning quick GK with one that is 42? This tells me that it's a tactic regardless of personnel and to have a tactical plan regardless of personnel is just nonsense. AVB unfortunately compromised our defensive solidity by playing a CB in a system that exposes the biggest weakness the player has.

Moving on we have good CB's, good FB's, good defensive midfield players and an excellent GK, this group of players set up correctly can be very solid defensively and still play aggressive attacking football.

 

[Lifeson]

There is no reason for our defence to be mediocre none at all, part of the problem has been suicide defending and part of the problem is personnel.

Let's look at just one thing, even forgetting pressure on the ball which is rule number if you're going to play high defensively as we managed to find ourselves an even bigger problem.

Why would you leave acres of beautiful inviting grass behind you and game after game play a CB who has problems turning and has flat out running speed which is painfully slow at any level of football let alone Premiership football? You are just asking to be opened up, and to be honest this has been a problem for a long long time that only one thing keeps saving us from disaster, Lloris!

So let's run it forward a moment and presume that it's a tactic that you think you can get away with because your keeper is lightning quick to keep baling you out. Why would you then continue with the same tactic with the same CB who can't run but now replace your lightning quick GK with one that is 42? This tells me that it's a tactic regardless of personnel and to have a tactical plan regardless of personnel is just nonsense. AVB unfortunately compromised our defensive solidity by playing a CB in a system that exposes the biggest weakness the player has.

Moving on we have good CB's, good FB's, good defensive midfield players and an excellent GK, this group of players set up correctly can be very solid defensively and still play aggressive attacking football.

But it seems to be a problem rooted in the core of the club? Even with our now supposedly good personal at the back, we are still a shambles.

I don't know much about how the club is run from within, but do we not have defensive coaches? Do we not sit and watch last weeks matches to learn and work on the mistakes on the training ground over and over? I thought this was basic stuff to do within a football club, but we never seem to learn, just make the same mistakes game after game, year after year..

 

[jezz]

Settled defense helps and to be fair both heavy defeats were makeshift back line.

 

[SpursManChris]

I don't know much about how the club is run from within, but do we not have defensive coaches?

Well the coaches can only operate within the system. They can't just do their own thing.

 

[Stavrogin]

But it seems to be a problem rooted in the core of the club? Even with our now supposedly good personal at the back, we are still a shambles.

But like you say, we've had good defences and periods where were we very good defensively - if there is an over-arching problem it cannot be within the club - I really doubt the Ardiles mentality dictates our defensive approach.

If there is a reason it will lie with the opposition. Other teams appear to be a shambles at times too, why it happens more often to us is likely down to our position and how we are perceived

We're a top team but not quite. Lesser opposition will have a level of motivation and belief when playing us that they will not have against other top teams. Whereas top teams will be on their game and have, arguably, better personnel. For our part as an ascending team we'll be under a different kind of pressure to most others. We're expected to do well but have little experience of actually doing it. It means we're far more likely to go to pieces than other teams etc.

So, in short, for a team of our standing, there are probably more occasions when we have the opportunity to look like a shambles - so we do - but we aren't really a shambles overall, just at isolated times (like with this high back line with improper players).