Lentwood
Full Member
We need to go back to basics and that means starting with three midfielders who can run, tackle, defend and press. That is the bare minimum.
We have seen in tonight’s games what happens when a team plays a high-line and doesn’t press effectively. We also saw this last week with City vs Leicester.
Most fans will always blame the individuals because they lack the footballing nous to really understand what’s going on. Therefore, you will see fans criticising TAA, Gomez, Mendy, Shaw & Maguire after those results - and there is an element of truth in that as some of the individual errors are unforgivable.
However, more telling in all three of those games was the lack of pressing from the forwards/midfields. The most average attack will embarrass the best defenders if they are caught high up the pitch with no pressure on the ball. That’s why the old saying about “defending as a team” has never been truer.
Want we can’t have is Pogba lolloping around aimlessly, leaving huge gaps and isolating Matic (who is already slow). We don’t have the luxury of having room for an AM who only has to attack without defending. We can’t have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood switching off when the opposition have the ball.
Next game, i’d be tempted to go
GK - Henderson
RWB - AWB
CB - Lindelof
CB - Maguire
CB - Bailly
LWB - Shaw
CM - Matic
CM - Fernandes
CM - Van de Beek
ST - Greenwood
ST - Rashford
It’s not the prettiest team and it might be attritional but we’ve conceded 11 goals against Palace, Brighton and Spurs and it could have been 15/16 quite easily. That’s not down to personnel, as such, that’s tactical. A back four of Championship players shouldn’t be giving up the number of chances we give up, given the right support and the right system
Fact is, Ole is fine when playing counter attacking football but he’s yet to find a way to make us a cohesive front-foot attacking unit without leaving us wildly exposed at the back
We have seen in tonight’s games what happens when a team plays a high-line and doesn’t press effectively. We also saw this last week with City vs Leicester.
Most fans will always blame the individuals because they lack the footballing nous to really understand what’s going on. Therefore, you will see fans criticising TAA, Gomez, Mendy, Shaw & Maguire after those results - and there is an element of truth in that as some of the individual errors are unforgivable.
However, more telling in all three of those games was the lack of pressing from the forwards/midfields. The most average attack will embarrass the best defenders if they are caught high up the pitch with no pressure on the ball. That’s why the old saying about “defending as a team” has never been truer.
Want we can’t have is Pogba lolloping around aimlessly, leaving huge gaps and isolating Matic (who is already slow). We don’t have the luxury of having room for an AM who only has to attack without defending. We can’t have Rashford, Martial and Greenwood switching off when the opposition have the ball.
Next game, i’d be tempted to go
GK - Henderson
RWB - AWB
CB - Lindelof
CB - Maguire
CB - Bailly
LWB - Shaw
CM - Matic
CM - Fernandes
CM - Van de Beek
ST - Greenwood
ST - Rashford
It’s not the prettiest team and it might be attritional but we’ve conceded 11 goals against Palace, Brighton and Spurs and it could have been 15/16 quite easily. That’s not down to personnel, as such, that’s tactical. A back four of Championship players shouldn’t be giving up the number of chances we give up, given the right support and the right system
Fact is, Ole is fine when playing counter attacking football but he’s yet to find a way to make us a cohesive front-foot attacking unit without leaving us wildly exposed at the back