Sunday’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur means we have now let in 10 goals in our last four matches across all competitions.
Last season’s Treble success was built on a solid foundation at the back, with City conceding the joint fewest goals in the Premier League, five in 13 Champions League games and just one in the FA Cup.
Our 2023/24 campaign began in a similar fashion, with just eight goals conceded in our first 11 Premier League games before the recent run.
However, late goals in draws with Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs have seen the Blues surrender top spot in the Premier League, with last year’s challengers Arsenal now three points clear.
Ahead of Wednesday night’s trip to fourth placed Aston Villa, Walker says it’s not just the men at the back who have to improve if we’re to start collecting clean sheets again.
“We are disappointed as defenders but you don’t defend as a back five or back six with Rodri,” he stated.
“It is the full 11 men on the pitch that have to defend. The manager demands that you have to defend and the full 11 then have to go and attack.
“You even see our goalkeeper attacking and playing the passes sometimes because everyone is involved in the game. As defenders we can’t be happy, we are conceding too many goals and too many late goals.
“Sometimes you have to put it down to concentration as well in the deciding moments. Before, we would probably keep the ball in the corner for five minutes and run the clock down.
“It is football and the beauty of football is having another game to put it right, starting on Wednesday against a tough opponent.”
City have been the dominant force in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola, winning five of the seven titles since he arrived in Manchester.
Last year saw us go one step further by claiming the Champions League for the first time and winning an historic Treble.
We have already lifted the UEFA Super Cup in this campaign and will play for the FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia later this month.
Despite all of this success, Walker insists that our recent defensive issues are not due to complacency and that the players remain as hungry as ever.
“This is my seventh season now and we have won five Premier Leagues. Do I feel like I am getting complacent myself? No,” he stated.
“I want to go and do it again because I can assure you that the celebrations at the end of it and when you look back and receive the medals as you walk up onto that podium, there’s no better feeling in football.
“I waited too many years to receive my first medal and when I got my medal it became an addiction that I had to keep going and keep winning more.
“That is the same for Bernardo, Ederson, John, Kevin etc who have been here for numerous years now. We have to pass that on to the new batch of players coming in or those that have been here one year that we go again and keep going.
“ We have certain standards, the manager has his standards for himself and the team and you should also have your own standards and as a team collectively.
Aston Villa v City | Match preview
“Do I think the performances have been that bad? To have 10 shots against Spurs in the first half was a very dominant performance.
“They’re always going to come out and change a bit [in the second half] and you have to weather the storm. But could the game have been 3-1 in the first half? I definitely thought so.”
Walker has been central to that success and now wears the captain’s armband for the Blues in Kevin De Bruyne’s absence.
The England international has played 274 times for City and is one of the most decorated players in the Club’s history with 15 major honours.
Walker is well aware of the legacy created by being part of this history making team but isn’t prepared to accept his current haul.
“The project that I started for myself personally in 2017 when I signed for City was to win trophies,” he said.
“If you would have said in 2017 that I would win one Premier League I would have been over the moon.
“What we have gone and done, I don’t think we will actually realise what we have achieved as a team and as a club until we finish football.
“For when I was playing in the Premier League, Manchester United win it once, Leicester win it once, Chelsea win it and then City might win it, then Chelsea might win it.
“Teams never did back-to-back [titles]. Now we are going for four in a row that no one has done.
“There is pressure, but that is why we are in the team that we are at. We should thrive on this pressure and go and break another record.
“My job is unfinished at Manchester City. I feel like there is still a lot more in myself and this team to win more trophies and I want to be a part of that.”
