What's up with our defence?...

Kinda worrying me. 2 clean sheets out of 8 games. 12 goals conceded in 8 games (this ones terrifying by the way). Last year we conceded 24 all season. We're already halfway there. Abbiati doesn't seem to have the swagger of last season. He's making some blatant mistakes.. and far too many of them. Our defensive lineups cohesion and understanding seems to be lacking a little. Our DM role doesn't seem to be working out as well either.

I'll start with Abbiati. I've always liked him, but I think if I see him bobble/drop a ball or get beat at his near post again then Amelia should get a shout. What's he there for any if not to add competition in that position? Abbiati should be good with that. He's fought for his spot before.

Defensively, selections aside.. something needs to be done in training to create a better understanding between the players. We've leaked some weak goals due to poor marking or other misunderstandings. Gotta sharpen that up.

And our defensive mid spot is up for grabs. MVB isn't looking quite up to last years standards yet. Unfortunatly, Ambro doesn't seem up for it yet either and Gattuso/Flamini being out limits our options. Nailing down some authority in that spot would do us a lot of favors.

I'll take goals and wins in most any fashion, but we should all know defense wins championships. Gotta sort this stuff out. It's sketchy.

Nesta and TS do the job done, but I noticed Alessandro kinda in ok, but not in his wc form. Also we ve been playing Bonera and Yepes recently. Antonini played part too.

In the 5 games TS and Nesta have started so far we've leaked 8 goals. Not saying it's their fault by any means, but it shows something isn't right.

I would say more of whats up with our defencive system, I think it's more about the entire system not indivisuals, midfielders effort as well.

there are absolutely no problems with Nesilva.Abitatti has underperformed though imo

Ganso wrote:there are absolutely no problems with Nesilva.Abitatti has underperformed though imo

I have to agree here. Of the 12 we've conceded, 6-7 have been either Abbiati's Antonini's, or Yepes' fault. Nesilva are still solid, even if they're not at the out of this world heights of last season.

abbiati is obviously at fault for many goals, he acknowledge himself.... also mvb has not been as solid as second half of last season, and the fact nocerino and aquilani or seedorf or urby have all be pushing more upfield, which leaves more holes in the back. unlike the combo we had last season with more gattuso, more flamini more ambro, who are all very defensively minded.

i still hope abbiati recovers form, but he isnt getting younger, so a good young keeper is needed eventually, sooner rather than later.

Defending is a system, and it's only as strong as its weakest link... Bonera hasn't copped enough flak in this thread so I'm starting now. Abbiati underperforming has been a factor too.

We haven't played tactically well and thus has resulted in teams exploiting our flaws and mistakes.

Also Gattuso & Flamini's absence is a factor as well.

Forza Rossoneri wrote:Defending is a system, and it's only as strong as its weakest link... Bonera hasn't copped enough flak in this thread so I'm starting now. Abbiati underperforming has been a factor too.

One of the reasons Abbiati's record was so impressive last season was because Nilva was in unstoppable form and he, subsequently, had loss shots to deal with. But since Bonera, Antonini and a (mostly) out of form midfield in front of him, he's had to deal with more shots and in turn, has increased his chances of conceding goals

Once our defence starts to click again, I guarantee Abbiati will improve

we made a great amount of individual mistakes that led to goals (udinese, juve, lecce etc.) and at times some very appalling defending (lazio, napoli) and like ninja said, we havent been playing tactically well, which is very uncharacteristic for allegris milan.

and honestly, i dont really think that itll be easy to sort these problems out cause a lot of our players look totally out of shape and given their age, it takes them lots of time to recover.

i pity nesta the most... he seemed to have aged like 10 years in the space of 2 months...

4 reasons quite simply:

1-T.silva hasn't been himself this season IMO, i don't know, maybe it's fatique after an amazing season last year or just a dip in form but he's currently not as good as he was last year. still a solid defender though..

2-MVB has been terrible this season IMO and i've been saying this for a while now, he lacks focus and makes far too many mistakes, a quality replacement is needed...

3-whenever crap like bonera, antonini and dead meat zambrotta do feature in our backline!, do i really need to explain??

4-abiatti has been extremely error prone this season and ypu always wonder if he's going to catch the next ball or if it's going to slip through his hands??, i do however think this is a temporary thing...

Fadi wrote:4 reasons quite simply:

1-T.silva hasn't been himself this season IMO, i don't know, maybe it's fatique after an amazing season last year or just a dip in form but he's currently not as good as he was last year. still a solid defender though..

2-MVB has been terrible this season IMO and i've been saying this for a while now, he lacks focus and makes far too many mistakes, a quality replacement is needed...

3-whenever crap like bonera, antonini and dead meat zambrotta do feature in our backline!, do i really need to explain??

4-abiatti has been extremely error prone this season and ypu always wonder if he's going to catch the next ball or if it's going to slip through his hands??, i do however think this is a temporary thing...

I agree with all of this. TS will get back to his best soon though, not that he's been bad this season, he's just been not up to his extremely high standards.