IT HAS been raining goals in the top flight this season – great for the punters, but markedly less so for defenders.
A combination of great strikes and terrible defending has meant more goals being scored at this stage of a Premier League than ever before.
I wouldn’t be happy to be a defender in the modern game. Defenders are now frightened to do their job and make a tackle in the final third.
They have to be 100% certain when tackling in the box, and if they aren’t totally certain they simply don’t make the tackle. It’s led to a lot of goals.
The backpass rule changed things and, since Michael Platini has been in charge at UEFA, further alterations have been angled in favour of forwards.
That said, there are a lot of teams in the Premier League now who seriously cannot defend. It’d be very difficult to pick the best defence of this season, that’s for sure.
