A good speed in defensive also good points the back line not just increasingly expensive defenders like drunken sailor ensure the man cities of the world rarely give up goals because attack wins games defense wins times according to one for Alex Ferguson at least im going to take a look at the steps to find out where the focus is words of wisdom really do ring true so what would football be without right strike this part knows defenders and everything in between weve got it all for you today and really what would be without kickoff. Problems live on dustys in unstoppable form even compared to his impeccable usual level coming into this weekend hes played 14 games in all competitions finding the net in all but one of the 19 goals in total 13 of which came in the opening 9 when this league. Matchday thats a record breaking stuff. Hes by and mr reliable. Were looking at his incredible october goal by goal starting with much day 7 at home against hoffenheim. Practice. That. This one is classic leventhal ski emain tank space between himself and his mom looking on the edge of the bumps his opponent can either cover him the all the spice girls sign a situation love and exploits to steal him behind and score. Next up a trip to our book and hes at it again. Just to keep to the start of this seems hes the blunders league is most prolific known german marksman with 215. 00 gold hes won the top scorers cannon 4 times plus those legendary 90 minutes against the book 5 gold bull record smashing up thats probably going to. Land a. Classic. Just an. Impressive numbers but theyre just icing on the cake love and dusty says its all about the team. So you see i always want to win with the team the most of and the best way i can help us do that is by scoring goals. Ill play with a team have to be functioning as a whole team from back to front and thats also makes winning easier for everyone. Given by and struggled to find those late wins in october but they finally managed it on monday 9 to one against one young lady with the obligatory contribution from 11th of ski. Hes got. A. Match to the stuff that seems a good musical going to put it into a good. One for the archives another outright record for the prodigious polish rock. But i wasnt sure if that was the new record but didnt draw me too long so if you can get distracted during the getting in from the spirit Something Special for sure for then my woman says most is that weve got the 3 points was on them so im just going to take them to go back to the gold was preceded by a foot you just bounce when youre on a roll these things can happen. Im sure sometimes i play one too with a teammate sometimes with an opponent i just have to try every option this time i had a bit of luck got the ball back and made the most of the opportunity. On target so its a 9 straight match days not to mention goals in europe and the cup the records continue to example now theres the looming possibility of attacking one that stood so long its become legend said by gad move that way back in 19717240 goals in a single blues legacies it. 9 goals into that campaign deb i had a grand total of 3 to his 911. 00 dusty has seen already possibly putting him on course for a final tally closer to 50 the stuff of football fantasy we feed me the scoring form of his life provide live on top skiing go rather extraordinary. Play just simply unstoppable but hes not the leagues only legendary foreign striker cloudier bizarre is one of our favorites being. Created one. On a failed. I think you can pick when to. Call in. Terms of the story and i think that its about its a little you know something before during. And when they were primarily money up it all with the. Market only and i thought that but a lot they dont know to call for you at all if you and. The peruvian prince is the oldest goalscorer in the bundesliga but his time here is drawing to a close pitch so well hang up his boots in season then after 20 years in the bundesliga its. It im not going im going to be going when you want no no no no. You know if its you know if you get that meal and you get oh no good thing which i see an hour later they are about highway 30 now you are coming but i know that. Is unbelievable he will spend sort of right. When he looked at the german tongue in cheek know. The stories and more successful. When he won just about everything. He was on the 2013th triple winning same thing i guess. The future youll soon see. Sidelines. No no no no you know look im but its our enemies our release that we are going to put capercaillie in your city will enter in our mean tinsel you know into our i get that in him with them but i left them with diana and he sorry rally their pain in the lorry they make it in ever more show more timber but i thought yes with ok you eat out of the only simple. Bizarre light for one of the best that. I had a lot of the both. Our own money in things and gas in a nest we also in food. Didnt system we have p. C. I. E one the lord is complaining. In full but there was a much more fuss and you prove to us we will be in it until we know no simpler plainly you know think youre going to go i hardly have been in there he saw it i wanted it all come up it he got it when they were going on which of the 2 or what they dont have on number and we get on the if they dont and in order this our money to get to is important on the economic side of the total thing in buying time being he you know money money one back door with the name of number one out of a feeling he. But with. This all right 1st signed in the book in 1999 its hard to imagine the lake without him. That will be his sorrows sized hole in our hearts next season when hes gone. The stunt they know this is a cup itll go. Away or go through it it will be. Yeah. You know what i mean. The moment oh. Sure scoring goals is important but isnt it better to prevent we break down the age old debate of attack this is defense. Its the oldest debate in football the 2 ends of the pitch attack versus defense but which is more important when it comes to the big links the great Alex Ferguson once said that attack wins you games that defense wins you titles and its not just him off sells tickets he parents really wins championships but is that really true if you want to win a league title is it more important to have a rampant attack. All an impregnable defense. An unstoppable force. Or an immovable object. Im going to take a look at the stats to find out whether fergusons words of wisdom really do ring true and ask what it means for football today where else to start the with fergies old Stomping Ground the premier league. Ive looked through the last 20 e. P. L. Seasons to see if attack or defense was more important to each of the League Champions the numbers may surprise the former master over the last 20 seasons the champions have been the top scorers in the division 13 times while theyve had the tightest defense in the lake on 10 occasions so the best attack has led more teams to the premier league title than the best defense has in that time and theres more i looked at the number of goals scored and conceded by ear. Team in each season to give an attacking and defensive ranking for example man city scored the most goals and conceded the 2nd fewest in the premier League Last Season so they were 1st in attacking and 2nd in defending the results in the premier league there were 8 years where the champions attacking ranking was better than their defensive ranking and just 4 campaigns where it was the other way around. So maybe ferguson was having us on all the time in fact if we look at his own successes its clear that the scot really depended on his attack Manchester United won 8 in the period im looking at all under fergie i mean it wasnt going to be david moore is was it in 6 of those 8 seasons they had the best attack while they have the best defense in the league 4 times their attack outperformed their defense 4 times while the defensive ranking was higher just twice in fact ferguson want to of his League Titles with the 5th and 6th best defense in the division he had the best attack on both occasions now that i think of it fergie did love his strikers in his time Manchester United what always willing to splash out on the best attackers the likes of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Robin Van Persie were crucial to their title victories and of course wayne rooney became one of the most Successful Premier League players of all time at old trafford. Its not just the red side of manchester where attack dominates Manchester City and one for premier League Titles and theyve had the best attack in the division every single time they also had the best defense in 2 of those seasons but is the attack that dominates but maybe this is just a premier league thing maybe if we look abroad the trend is reversed well certainly not in spain theres one. Of the sensors we. League has been won by the team that scored. Most goals 11 times in the last 20 seasons while the team that conceded the fewest goals as prevailed 9 times the champions attacking ranking in that season has been higher than their defensive ranking 11 times and its been the other way around just 6 times perhaps this shouldnt be too surprising in an era dominated by messi and ronaldo real madrid are the perfect example of a team that needs a good at sack more than a good defense theyve had the most potent oftens in the league in 4 of this 6 title winning seasons in the last 20 years and their attack has had a higher ranking than their defense in 5 of those campaigns maybe that explains why Florentino Perez is so adamant the rails riches be spent on forwards apart from the obvious one they spent big on players like gareth bale and ed intissar in recent years you can add luka yo bitch. And go to their list of expensive attacking purchases although lets be honest these sightings havent all worked out like they hoped but he is the thing about Leda Ray Allen bosses dominance skews the stats somewhat those 2 have won all but for the last 20 spanish titles interesting lee in those 4 seasons the champion has never had the best attack but has had the best defense on 3 occasions so basically if youre one of the spanish superclubs stack your attack and if not shut up shop there is one league where fergusons line certainly is accurate though you wont be surprised to hear that defense is up on top in italy. You want to. Turn blue. And. This is a very important thing the best defense in syria has won the title of my. 15 times in the last 20 years and the champions defensive ranking has been better than their attacking ranking in 10 of those 20 seasons you they are the absolute kings of defending their way to the top theyve won 11 titles in that time and had the best defense in the lead in every single one of those seasons their attacking ranking has never outperformed their defense while the defensive ranking has been better on 6 occasions its hardly a shock that italy is the outlier here the countrys love of defensive football stretches way back to the 1960 s. Went into dominated with cats in a show a strategy focused on ultra solid defense from judgment of a get see through franco berets and Paolo Maldini georgiou killing me defenders have long been the true stars of italian football but what can we take away from these numbers of course being exceptional that either end of the pitch gives teams a huge advantage but it could have said that without spending days looking through stats what really stands out is how both attack and defense have to be functioning for most teams to win their league across the premier league syriac and the buddhist League Champions almost always rank in the top 3 for both most goals scored and fewest goals conceded in 20 years across those 3 least they have only been 3 exceptions to that rule and one of those was went into one syria after eventis and milan were both top points over the cow jabali scandal original champions you they have the 2nd best attack and the best defense and just to back up that its a matter of being good at both ends we can take a look at the ultimate deciding factor apart from actual points goal difference over the last 20 years in england spain germany and italy 64 out of 80 champions have had the best goal difference in the league. Makes sense right goal difference is basically a sign of how well a team is functioning in attack and defense if one is bringing down the other it will almost certainly be clear in a teams goal difference and that is the best indicator of league title success theres one other thing to consider with goal difference when after a long season the team simply cant be separated by points incredibly thats happened 5 times in the history of the bundesliga and every time its been the defensive record that has won the champions the title in those 5 seasons the winners never out scored their direct rivals but conceded fewer goals every single time. Like by and in the 992000 been does legacies and leverkusen scored more goals than them but by and superior defense saw them playing that much the shiela. One out light so this was round the drinks la linea when in 2007 their goal difference was a full 19 goals worse than barcelonas and they had a worse attack and defense but they won the league thanks to a better head to head record against their old rivals so what does all that mean for modern coaches basically having the best attack is generally more likely to win you really title than having the best defense but you cant just leave the back door open the defense has to provide the platform for the start tackles and if it doesnt all those goals could count for nothing and i should know im an arsenal fan this may be why were seeing more and more clubs spending big money on big name defenders this summer saw several clubs go big on beefing up their back lines mathias the list was arguably the hottest property of the transfer window eventually moving to new day after looking at the numbers we can see exactly why they were happy to splash the cash on another center back meanwhile in manchester clubs on both sides of town paid a kings ransom to defend this city handed over a huge bundle of cash to upgrade their back up right back from the new low while councell and united even let themselves shorten it back to ensure they could revamp their defense with Harry Maguire and aaron one misako then if we look to germany by an stands up more than a 100000000 euros at lucas the numbers and benjamin puff up to their squad for a long time defenders were undervalued in the transfer market but that is not happening anymore of course having the best of both worlds isnt just about who you buy its about how you set up too although some coaches do go to extremes when it comes to tactics. Most of them are trying to at least make things work both ends of the pitch and there are 2 in particular who have found their own magic formula right now i want to take a look youre going club and Pep Guardiola for a moment. Theyre both known for their attacking football but in reality their approach is focussed just as much on defense lets start with his man city side have torn up defenses all over england in the last couple of years but while theyve broken records for the number of goals theyve scored theyve also been phenomenal in defense but if you talk about city its always about how good they are of football playing well they are brilliant organist they had the best defense in the league no one his 1st title in england and last season they conceded just 23 goals full year the near perfect record in both attack and defense is partly down to guardia as its called brilliant city and keep the ball better than pretty much every other Team Combined with the talent of their expensive lee assembled squad that means they create more opportunities than the rest but it also means they seriously limit the number of chances their opponents have to score against the old advantage that you cant score if you dont have the ball is particularly true with city and this isnt a new phenomenon with the i love his pastor and by and teams have the best defense in the country in all 6 of his title winning seasons in spain and germany its about coming up with a system that not only gets the balance right between attack and defense but actually maximizes violence and one of the owners not the only one his current nemesis you can quote has his own theory about how to get the best of both worlds and right now its working pretty well the. Central defender the balls. Going to go to the big disco ball of course. The build up would be better liverpool had the best defense in the premier League Last Season. And they look to be carrying out fine defensive form through the Current Campaign as well gagan pressing is often seen as a buccaneering attacking strategy and it absolutely does lead to some thrilling moments and plenty of goals but pressuring opponents into mistakes in their own half doesnt just help create opportunities it also keeps the ball away from your own dangerous side if the ball is in a teams defensive 3rd a lot of things can happen a deflection or a misplaced pass can lead to chaos by pressing the opposition high up the pitch you massively reduce the chances of a freak occurrence leading to a cult and if a team cant get out of their own half there isnt much even the best attacking players can do this is a strategy that asks a lot of the players stars like most our study on monday and rebirth so fileno can simply point to that goals and assists they have to work hard in service of the guys further back to in this set up when the other team has the ball attacking players effectively become advanced defendants again its about maximizing balance of course most coaches dont have the luxury of being able to pick so many talented and athletic players the vast majority of coaches have to choose whether theyll prioritise attack or defense for those guys the numbers suggest generally that attack is a safer bet than defense when it comes to winning League Titles but as a club showing the future for the pinnacle of football is a strategy that does bugs. You. The role of goalkeepers in modern football is another great example of this but thats a story for another day. It will be with the best of the big 3 strapping brothers and cringeworthy however its not tigers best on this league or moment. Barry davis you know i hate to say possible very much in my pic