I see this so often.... our defence was never a shambles... only City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United conceded less with Liverpool and United marginally lower than us on goals conceded.
We were never a shambles...teams who finished ahead of us like Leicester amd West Ham conceded more.
The style of play iniated by the manager was the issue. He invited teams to attack us.
The style of play made us the best defence in the league. When the defence wasn't protected by the entire team, the opposition looked like they could score at any time.