Rasmi
Negative Nancy
Country: England
I used to slate Mertesacker for this. A lot of people don’t notice it. But it’s really about self-preservation. He will always back off players cause he is terrified being done. That’s why I said if Kiwior can’t get ahead of this guy. Then he is waste of signingThis is it with Holding. I call it 'pretend defending' or 'alibi defending'. Being somewhat close but leaving so much space you can't be turned individually but the opposing player has all the time in the world to get a shot or pass off. Even with the Leeds goal it's not a glaring mistake that everyone catches, but he let's the player he's 'marking' run into the box and he's still backpedalling and giving him time to pick a pass.
Let him head away balls, but don't let him defend an attacker attacking our box.