Raees
Pythagoras in Boots
- Joined
- May 16, 2009
- Messages
- 29,471
- Lack of dynamism (Slow Approach)
- Lack of commitment (Fragmented)
- Aimless (No target)
- Lack of endurance (Fizzles out)
- No safeguard (Protection)
No point employing a high pressing strategy with slow players. Imagine a tortoise plodding towards you versus to a raging bull... which one is going to create panic and lead to a fatal error? Rangnick's use of Pogba to press the nimble/high IQ players of City is a case in point. Ronaldo up front, a similar issue - just ambles towards players for the most part and there is no real ball winning threat from the supposed spearhead of the press (the player who should set the tone and direction of the press).
If there is only certain players pressing (especially in the first wave of press), it can be very easy to just transfer the ball to an area of no pressure - wasted effort. We have seen Rashford makes those silly 50m sprints to the GK to look like he's putting in a shift. Stupid. Against City, at times Bruno ran towards Ederson or the CB, but Sancho/Elanga and Pogba were a step behind or did not want to press and it looked disjointed. By the second half when the legs had gone, it became even more pronounced to the point we eventually just packed it in altogether.
A press needs to be co-ordinated and the players need to have a plan i.e. we need to ensure that we press in a way where the ball ends up with their RB whose poorer in possession - then we will go in and swoop it. Does it ever feel like we have been able to target a specific player or area of the pitch the way opponents have done to say AWB? Do our players even have the intelligence and commitment to want to carry out a targeted pressing strategy?
Plentiful reserves of sprint endurance is key for a team to becoming renowned as a pressing team. If teams know you don't have the stamina to persist with it, they will set up in a way to absorb the press and then kill you off once you're burnt out. A solution to this problem is to pick and choose periods of the game in which to press. What is also key is to effectively win the game during the period of the game where you have exerted most effort and then sit on the lead. United were unable to do this against City (just about got to 1-1) and got picked off with nothing left in the tank. Our poor fitness is one of the reasons we fail to hold on to leads since Rangnick took charge, we gas ourselves out.
- 36 yr old up front who just wants to goal poach (Ronaldo)
- A winger who doesn't want to bomb up and down (Rashford)
- A midfielder who doesn't want to cover every blade of grass at intensity (Pogba)
- A fat full back (Shaw)
- Pedestian CBs (Maguire/Lindelof)
Is it any wonder that we get outrun so often? it also increases the workload on players like McFred and Bruno. Very hard to be a successful 11 aside team when you have so many lazy or non-dynamic players.
Finally, behind waves of pressure you need a backline capable of defending a high line - a deeper set defence will lead to a large gap between the waves of pressure and it will be too easy to bypass the press. This backline should be able to deal with long passes/fast counters. Lindelof and Maguire is not a well suited CB pairing to defending in a high line situation, compare it to the athleticism of Konate/VVD/Matip/Gomez. Another key component is the CDM area which acts as a sweeper to intercept any passes/loose balls which beat the waves of press.
United have headless chickens in McFred who are not there to sweep up. They are better at joining in with the press (i.e. more Henderson than a Fabinho) and this can leave gaping holes in front of the defence once the press has been bypassed.
Honestly whether Rangnick is in charge or not, if ETH and Poch were to take over and try to modernise us, there would have to be an almighty transfer window and cultural/physical reset for it to happen. No manager would be able to fix this in a season and certainly not without serious financial backing from the club.