Defence is big CITY issue for Pep
THE problem with City’s defence is that it isn’t set up to defend a lot!
Pep Guardiola has made playing on the front foot a trademark of his teams, and by dominating possession the opportunities for opposing teams to build pressure are usually limited.
That looked to be the case for the opening 13 Premier League games, when the Blues conceded just five goals in a remarkable start to the season. However, Leicester’s two makes it ten goals conceded in the last six, and it is now nine without a clean sheet in all competitions.
Where Kyle Walker was the villain against Crystal Palace, Fabian Delph made a couple of errors at the King Power Stadium but the problem is a collective one according to the manager. He said: “We started the season with cleans sheets, we conceded five goals in I don’t know how many games. It was incredible how stable it was – [other teams] shot one or two a game during that period,” he said.
“It’s quite similar right now. I don’t know how many times they shoot but, with the exception of the last five to 10 minutes, of the first half, in the second half I don’t know many times Leicester shot.
“But right now we are conceding goals and it’s one of the big issues. We have a specific quality of players. We have players to play with a ball and it’s not a team built to just defend a lot the time.
“But you have to make that effort to change that dynamic.”