1 hour ago, All Barco no bite said:

Bayern wouldn’t expect Olise to defend.

Liverpool never expected Salah to defend.

We never expected Hazard to defend.

Stupid criticism to have as an attacker, there’s 8 players behind him.

+1 the front 3 need to be a bit of a nuisance at the back but that's it. The other 8 defend.

I thought we were loads better when Chaverria was on

4 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

More than happy for the only criticism of our superstar attacking mid to be that he ‘doesn’t defend enough’

Blokes a f**king menace up front and is a huge reason we’re playing some of the most entertaining football I can remember.

Nitpicking is what this criticism is.

‘Martinez had a good game but he wasn’t involved in any of our attacking link up play so he needs to work on that’ level logic.

In a back 3 its quite important that the two attacking mids contribute defensively when the wingbacks are out of postion, even Pedro did his job defensively.

It's not the end of the world, he's already a very good player just something he will need to work on. Especially when we start facing the top teams.

Defend as a team. Joao Pedro puts in a shift defensively. If the furthest forward player can do it then they all can. That will make us a complete team Imo.

Rogers, Pedro and Palmer all put in very good shifts defensively. Their role is to defend high up the pitch to make defensive players think twice about bursting forward. We should not be relying on them defending near the box. Pedro's inexperience defending led to a simple block turning into an OG.

Gusto and Neto were most at fault for the first goal. Gusto stood ball-watching while Rogers was trying to shield the ball from two Brighton players, and he did well but unluckily conceded a throw; instead of running back into position, Gusto stops, then throws his hand up, and then tracks back at speed but only after Neto has missed his tackle. There is no logical reason why Gusto, the nominal CM and a player actually capable at LB, should have been waiting stationary in an attacking LM position while Rogers and then Neto had to deal with an attack.

He was certainly at fault for the last goal, Gross was his man and Rogers' height and presence means we rely on him to defend set pieces there, and I'm sure Austin McPhee expects Rogers to be one of his 'generals' out there given they have previously worked together well. Yes, it was at the end of the game and Rogers was clearly gassed, but we will have more consequential injury times in the season ahead.

Rogers is by far the best defender of the three, he is excellent at winning the ball in central midfield. His seeming hesitation (like King's goal at Fulham) is at least partially explained by a lack of understanding with his new teammates. The defense only gets better if Rogers, Pedro, Palmer (and Estevao/Quenda) are allowed to do their thing and create real jeopardy and risk in the minds of midfielders wanting to push forward. All it takes is a save and a long-pass from Martinez to make them instantly regret their decision. Rogers "working harder" doesn't meaningfully solve the main problem with our defence, which is that our players are spaced way too widely and have to cover big ground to catch people running between the lines or at the back posts.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by SydneyChelsea

Some people love to hunt for every cloud for any silver lining, we have a new attacking player who has scored 1 goal and has 1 assist in his first 2 games and has played superbly, jumping on him for a defensive lapse halfway up the pitch is pretty desperate stuff.

8 minutes ago, dkw said:

Some people love to hunt for every cloud for any silver lining, we have a new attacking player who has scored 1 goal and has 1 assist in his first 2 games and has played superbly, jumping on him for a defensive lapse halfway up the pitch is pretty desperate stuff.

You seem surprised. Keep up.