Would a team with a sound defence rule Europe just now?

[Thermopylae 15,286]

I don't know if it's changes to the rules and improvements in pitches that have favoured attacking football or perhaps it's just a case of a greater television market encouraging teams to play a more attractive style but whatever the cause it does seem that the art of defending is increasingly being lost to the game.

I remember Souness saying that his Liverpool team used to play Forest in their own half but would always lose because Clough's boys were flawless in defence. Some people would say that is just boring football but defending is half the game ... or at least it should be !

[plymouthranger 3,872]

I think football's changed, you look at managers who generally are sound defensively like Mourinho they get ridiculed for it.

The problem is that sides who sit deep often play with a big target man to counter this, which doesn't work anymore. Opposition defenses play with higher back-lines than ever, so firing long balls is a sure fire way of conceding possession. How you build a side that counters well is by having forwards with raw pace and good decision making, be it Vardy or Salah. The days of lumping a ball 50 yards for Hateley to knock down to McCoist are over at an elite level.

 

 

[SIRB_72 4,000]

Atletico Madrid are the closest we are going to get. They've came close twice to the CL and won La Liga.

I totally agree that the art of defending has gone though there have been different ways to defend in general.

In terms of defenders though if you compared the first 9 years of this century to the last the quality of defender has dropped immensely. 

[CM 1234 68]

Juventus got fucked out

[DW1872 1,207]

3 minutes ago, CM 1234 said:

Juventus got fucked out

They did. Couldn't have happened to a nicer club tho. They've cheated their way to countless serie a points over the years.

What goes around....

[DietofWorms 2,063]

The Milan team with Baresi, Tassoti, Costacurta and Maldini were the pinnacle of brilliant talented defenders and masters of the dark arts. I miss that stuff. I love that talent as much as goalscoring.

[blueballss 2,969]

Atletico Madrid, as solid at the back as anyone over the last few years, close but no cigars

on another note, sound defence Roma, not conceded at home prior to last night in CL, how bad were they