While some may have criticised Barcelona for not being as exciting to watch as in recent seasons, one thing for sure is that they are more defensively secure, in fact they are the most solid that they have been in 17 years.Once again they did not concede away to Sporting CP with Ter Stegen making a few good saves and since the Supercopa de Espana they have conceded just two goals in eight games, with none coming in the Champions League.The fine goal from Shibashaki for Getafe and another by Sergi Enrich at Camp Nou are the only times that the Barcelona defence has been perforated.It is necessary to go back to the 2001-02 season to find similar statistics and strangely back then the team was not so strong. Rexach was the coach, Javier Saviola was the star signing and Bonano was the goalkeeper, who is unluckily remembered for the goal he conceded by Zidane as Real Madrid knocked them out of the Champions League.Defenders in that side included Sergi, Puyol, Coco, Christanval, Frank de Boer and Anderson who also conceded two goals from the first eight games. Since then Barcelona have had far better sides and now there is plenty of optimism as Valverde has restored solidity at the back to a team that has a lot of quality going forward.