The origin of the problems with our defence can be traced back to December 1st, 2011. That was the evening that Lucas did his ACL over the course of an otherwise heartening victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In the days that followed, Kenny assured us that we could manage without him, Jonjo Shelvey was recalled from Blackpool and we promptly began that nightmarish form spiral with a 1-0 loss at Fulham.
Almost three years later, the problem remains the same. We look fantastic in the big matches where we have the luxury of standing off and staying compact, but when we're asked to play an expansive game to break down even the most pedestrian band of cloggers, our defence suddenly turns into a farce. With the more savvy managers (Mourinho, Pellegrini) now realising that they can beat us by playing like a fearsomely upgraded League One side, we can only hope that the idealists (Wenger, Martinez, Pochettino) won't follow suit.
Agger, Carragher, Skrtel, Toure, Sakho, Lovren... the names don't matter. They are or were all quality international defenders who I think could do a job at any other top club in Europe. After so much expenditure, it seems ridiculous to continue blaming the central defenders. There's the matter of the goalkeeper as well, but having gone between stylistic opposites in Reina and Mignolet (and with Valdes, presumably, back again), I have little confidence that changes there will address the deeper structural issues that face our side. It worries me that the focus of analysis seems to fall so heavily on the idea of individual errors, as if our international defenders were inexplicably being reduced to U12 players, as opposed to the idea that the balance of the team being played is creating the sort of defensive dilemmas where the right answer ceases to be obvious to the experienced defender.
The fact remains that if we don't play a midfield with the mobility, energy and aggression (or as Rodgers called it, "intensity") to compensate for the space we need to create to pick open the West Hams and Aston Villas of the league, we will continue to leak farcical goals by asking our defenders to do the impossible. Of course, the injuries to Allen and Can made things worse, but then, do they really provide enough balance to tip the equation in our favour? Looking at results when we were at the height of our powers last season, six goals conceded against the three worst teams in the Premier League during our title run-in would suggest otherwise. Should we be surprised if we were to again concede 3 to Cardiff (now, 16th in the Championship) or 2 to Fulham (now appearing dead certain for League One)?
Exacerbating matters is the fact that Spain's back-to-back demolitions at the World Cup provided the blueprint for negating the so-called "Busquets role." Deploy a quick and energetic midfielder to track the opposition's controller and, suddenly, they're left hoofing long balls to the wingbacks. For us, this means the entire structure of our midfield has been called into question. From a defensive standpoint, the personnel deployed simply lack the qualities to do the work necessary, and from an attacking standpoint, old solutions have suddenly become stale.
With all that said, I don't think the situation is that dire. Unlike last year, we have options that will allow us to experiment, and with the depth and talent available in attack, a mere step from "farcical" to "workmanlike" in defence should make us a very difficult team to beat. And if we really do address the midfield issue, the potential is there for something even better than that.
