Make no mistake we still have a good squad. The defenders are not that bad. The Cubarsi, Martin and Christensen partnership is working fine for now against small teams in La Liga. Eric Garcia is also serving as a super-utility player. BUT they are injury-prone players. We have options like Espart playing for Cancelo and Kounde. 5-2 against Rayo looks comfortable on paper, but Barcelona seemed repeatedly vulnerable in transition. The 2 goals were avoidable and looked shaky while defending set pieces.
Yeah we are getting away with defensive lapses when Raphinha, Lamine and the absolute masterclass of our attacking line are scoring for fun. You probably cannot get away with them against Europe's elite like Inter, Arsenal, etc.
We spent the summer hearing rumours like Bastoni, Inácio, Lukeba, Laporte, Nijstad and several other defenders. Yet after all that, we still signed nobody at Centre Back. We had big rumours about Flick wanting a left-footed CB.
Worse, we loaned Araújo to Liverpool. He was not great either but we needed a backup for our injury-prone inexperienced players at the backline. A big signing for the backline was needed. After the departure of Inigo Martinez, we have struggled a lot with our high line.
I just hope we sign someone in the Winter TW and solidify our defense. A tall fast defender. Someone who can track back quickly and have a strong build. If we are serious about winning the Champions League this time round, we should sign a good defender. Not just any defender, but someone who fits Flick's system. Too many young guys at the back. Remember even Cubarsi had Laporte in the Spanish NT. The 10m Gabriel Jesus signing must have freed up the purse for spending on a good CB too and if we can go for a good 50-100m signing, we might finally see a solid backline that keeps clean sheets for fun and scores too.