Our defence

[AkiRiihilatiTheGOAT]

I saw somebody on the subreddit after the Brighton win saying that our defence is the best in the league. At the time I chalked it down to post-derby win excitement and didn't see much in it. Now, we have the best defence away from home in the whole league, even without Chalobah, and while I doubt we're the best, we're definitely in the top 6 imo. Thoughts?

 

[Living In Hope]

Our league form is now 24 points from 14 games I think, being 6 wins, 6 draws and 2 defeats, including 7 away games undefeated. Yet in my view we don't look very good, which means in turn we must be very solid and tough to play against. I do feel Chalobah is a significant loss but if Guehi, Lacroix and Richards remain fit and available I think we have a very strong back line. On that basis I think we must be up there with the best back-lines in the league, as with limited flair / creativity we could not achieve this form without a very mean defence.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

Our league form is now 24 points from 14 games I think, being 6 wins, 6 draws and 2 defeats, including 7 away games undefeated. Yet in my view we don't look very good, which means in turn we must be very solid and tough to play against. I do feel Chalobah is a significant loss but if Guehi, Lacroix and Richards remain fit and available I think we have a very strong back line. On that basis I think we must be up there with the best back-lines in the league, as with limited flair / creativity we could not achieve this form without a very mean defence.

And a good goalkeeper too.

 

[PatrickA]

Our league form is now 24 points from 14 games I think, being 6 wins, 6 draws and 2 defeats, including 7 away games undefeated. Yet in my view we don't look very good, which means in turn we must be very solid and tough to play against. I do feel Chalobah is a significant loss but if Guehi, Lacroix and Richards remain fit and available I think we have a very strong back line. On that basis I think we must be up there with the best back-lines in the league, as with limited flair / creativity we could not achieve this form without a very mean defence.

I think this solidity does give us a good foundation.
I compare us to Bournemouth and Forest in this regard.
Both of these teams have a very good pair of centre halves who are destined to play at higher levels.

Where we differ from Forest and Bournemouth is that we don't have the pace and clinical finishing further forward.
Both these teams excel in this regard.

If we improved in these areas, there is no reason why we should not be able to do as well as them.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

I think this solidity does give us a good foundation.
I compare us to Bournemouth and Forest in this regard.
Both of these teams have a very good pair of centre halves who are destined to play at higher levels.

Where we differ from Forest and Bournemouth is that we don't have the pace and clinical finishing further forward.
Both these teams excel in this regard.

If we improved in these areas, there is no reason why we should not be able to do as well as them.

That seems a realistic ambition. No point being disappointed that we can't regularly compete with billionaire backed clubs.