Date: 22nd February 2010 at 9:08pm
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Following up from my post Sunday about our defensive woes, I came across this gem on a Man United forum I post on. Whilst I merely scratched the surface, Damian Phipps goes into proper detail on our defensive woes.

This will have taken a long time to do so I am extremely pleased Mr. Phipps has allowed me to share it with TheBusbyWay:

Popular history — i.e. that which real historians leave for others to decide, and which is pretty much decided by how often something is said, these days — will remember that the only reason that Chelsea lost the title in 06/07 was because of the injuries to Cech and Terry (Terry was only unavailable, as far as I can remember, for several games).

United have to lose their entire back five for a similar fuss to be made, and I have no doubt that, if we don’t win the title this season, history will suggest that we simply weren’t good enough. And rightly so, in my opinion, because the whole point is that you have to deal with whatever is thrown at you, but it is noticeable how well we do deal with extraordinary circumstances, and that is part of the reason for the disparity in coverage.

The main thrust of the argument is that it is not simply the personnel that matter, although having to use both the third and fourth choice center-backs is clearly a major disadvantage, but also the partnerships between the two center-backs, the center-backs and the goalkeeper, and the back four plus the goalkeeper. Dealing with the loss of one first choice defender can be problematic, although any side that hopes to win major honours should be able to cope. But once that becomes 3 or 4 of your first choice back five for fairly long periods, the chance of going on to win those major honours is clearly diminished.

So, I decided to test what I had said and see if the situation had been as bad as I had remembered it to be.

[The coloured numbers at top and bottom are the games in all competitions, starting with the Charity Shield. Each colour denotes a different competition. The multi-coloured bar at the bottom of the chart denotes the various center-back pairings. Apologies for any mistakes that I may have made.]

On the first chart, look for the long stretches of blue next to names of the main players at the back. Van der Sar (twice), O’Shea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evans, have all had periods of 11 or more games out of the side. The only players that have been consistently fit are Evra and, to a lesser extent, Brown. Clearly not all of the blue areas mean that a player was injured, but it is safe to say that among the main players at the back, any periods longer than 4 or 5 games are likely due to injury.

Last season and at the start of this season the first choice back five (including GK) was:

Van der Sar

O’Shea — Ferdinand — Vidic — Evra

Number of times we have used the first choice back five, this season = 1 (Liverpool (A))

Number of times we have used first choice back four (minus GK) = 5

Center-back Partnerships

Brown + Evans = 14 (PL = 9)

Brown + Vidic = 8 (PL = 4)

Vidic + Ferdinand = 6 (PL = 4)

Evans + Ferdinand = 5 (PL = 2)

Evans + Vidic = 3 (PL = 2)

Brown + Ferdinand = 0

So, as you can see, the most common center-back pairing has been Brown and Evans, and even they have only appeared together in one third of Premier League games (9/27). Six of their nine Premier League appearances together have come in the last seven Premier League games, so it is certainly true that they should have forged at least a partial understanding in that time, although it would be easy to forget that Brown hasn’t been a regular at center-back for at least 2 years, as far as I am aware (in the season prior to last, he was at right back, and last season he was out injured for long periods, which is why O’Shea took his place in the team).

The problem with Evans and Brown being the most commonly used center-back pairing, apart from the fact that they are currently the third and fourth choice center-backs, is that, with the return of both Ferdinand and Vidic, any understanding that they have forged — and, at times, it doesn’t appear to have been much, although that may be due to the fact that one of them is still inexperienced and the other is not very commanding — will likely have been lost, at least partially, the next time they are paired together. In other words, and as we all already knew, there has been no real consistency of selection at the back.

Fortunately, Rio and Vidic are well suited and already know each others games well. It might take a few games for them to settle — providing they both stay fit — but they both have the experience to deal with the situation.

Any team that loses its first choice center-back pairing and goalkeeper for as long as we have would struggle relative to them being fit and available. That we have coped so well in those circumstances, particularly as we had also just lost the best player in the world, which meant, according to many, that we would have to rely on being compact and defensively sound if we were to win any major honours, is a testament to the team and manager. If this post does anything, I hope that it will serve as a reminder to those who are quick to complain that, given the circumstances, we have performed remarkably well this season.

Again many thanks to Mr. Phipps for his detailed post, hopefully this clears up any misconceptions about Man United this season and with talk of Ferdinand and Vidic starting together tonight we can get back on track.

 

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