I think there's a discernible reason *why* our CB pairing isn't doing as well as it did last season. Essentially its a change in style that caused it. We've changed the way we play, we're less of a counter attacking team now & try and have more control. (1/4)

We want to push up higher, have more of the ball & the consequence of that is that we need at least one of our CBs to have more pace in certain games. When we were playing more on the counter, because we sat deeper, it was more suited to Maguire & Lindelof together (2/4)

But now as we want to push further up & have more of the ball, we need one of our CBs to have some pace. This is why we need a CB so much in the summer. Bailly fits the requirements profile wise, but he can't stay fit. (3/4)

We've waited long enough for him to prove his fitness, its time to bring in a replacement. I think we need to get to the stage where we have Maguire & Lindelof each paired with a pacy partner

Essentially:

First XI CBs: Maguire + new CB
Second XI CBs: Lindelof + Tuanzebe

(4/4)

Just going to add one more thing to this. I'm well aware that there are other issues like the lack of a goalkeeper who commands his box in our first XI and the lack of a DM, but that's a topic for another thread. I wanted to focus here on the effect the change in style has had.