Outside of Stones, each of the City defenders has shown the ability to be a consistent defender. The variable that had changed this season is the system. It already increases the risk for the backline bc of how high the backline is pushing and then you pair that with turnovers and not immediately pressing/closing down space effectively, that's the recipe for defensive disaster regardless of who your defenders are.

There's so much pressure on a Pep team to be excellent in keeping possession and Pep underestimated the relentlessness of the BPL in being able to do that game in and game out...without an extremely effective team press, the team will continue to be opened up.