According to Opta, in the first year of the 20-team top league 79 defenders played more than 30 games. Now you're down to 44. So everything we talk about with defences - telepathy, consistency, playing together regularly - starts to break down. United's back-four, for example, is ever changing. But I see no road back to the old ways. It's like the guy who loves Ceefax pining for its return in the face of the internet. It's not coming back.