Everyone seems to be focused on the defence when it comes to passing. You need all 11 players to believe if its going to work. The most important bit is movement. Without that you don't have options which is why we go all the way back. The best bit was Oxford didn't actually press us that hard. They just let us have the ball and waited to pounce on the predictable mistake.
Hallelujah. Someone has said it.
Many would have us believe that Sol and the players actually believe the object of possession was simply to play passes across the back 4!!
Possession football or short passing is aimed at one thing and that’s to draw opposition players to the ball and away from areas they want to protect ie their own half, their own final third and ultimately their goal.
Ultimately the only purpose is to play through, round, or over the press when it eventually comes.
Some teams will sit deep and let you have it - you need to be patient to draw these teams out and play closer to them, to threaten what they are protecting and offer them temptation to break ranks and try and win the ball.
Others will set out to press aggressively from the off - you cannot play close to your goal against those teams as the risk is too great. But you do need to break their press quickly and efficiently, again by playing through, round or over their press.
Some teams will offer a hybrid of these principles and you will need to recognise when and how you can break their lines.
Either way, you need ALL your players to be brave and proficient in their technical ability and willing to receive the ball in tight areas and have the ability and options to play quickly.
This is what Sol has constantly alluded to when he mentions “taking the handbrake off” and “making angles to play passes”.
However, where we currently sit, and after the numerous manager turn overs and the inevitable changes in philosophy that those managers have brought, the players have neither the confidence in themselves or the knowledge or belief in the system to do it well enough.
Saturday was a prime example. The back three repeatedly wanted and looked to play into midfield to try and break a line or beat the press. The options were very very limited either numerically or tactically and ultimately technically. The midfield players couldn’t or wouldn’t offer themselves up in areas that enables us to get out and so it resulted in another pass sideways or backwards. This appears to be done slowly because players are looking to play forwards, can’t see an option and then have to look elsewhere.
The most important players in modern football and modern methods are the midfield players who are technically good enough to receive the ball in tight areas offer themselves up on the half turn and play forwards from receiving the ball from their defenders and turn things into attacking possibilities .....academies are spending hour after hour on the training pitches, endless hours in recruitment and lots of money trying to create or find these players such as Phil Foden who can do this.
There has to be a start point and there has to be a pathway of improvement and that doesn’t include chopping and changing managers, philosophies or ethos every five minutes. That means being patient, persevering and having trust in what you do. This starts at the top, works through the club at all levels, filters through to the players and includes you / us, the clubs supporters.
Saturday we didn’t have those type of players on the pitch and we dont have the bravery in our play to be able to do it......yet. Hutchinson who is probably our most adept and bravest player for wanting and asking to be on the ball in tight areas was on the bench. There was a noticeable improvement when he came on, coupled with a system tweak and aided also by the introduction of Goodship who shows similar qualities. But for that first half hour we got it horribly wrong and that goes for management, players and fans!
Working backwards, the fans have a huge input into this. When players have spent all week working on a system and a pattern of play and have been asked to try and play through the thirds and into midfield that’s what they will try to do. When the crowd don’t buy into it and howl their displeasure it sows a tiny seed of doubt into the player in possessions mind. Caught between the weeks work and managers instruction and 6000 people booing him.....it creates indecision for a split second that is often the difference. I’ll tell you now from experience it will create an annoyance in the players mind...”you’re booing me when you have no idea what I’ve been asked to do or what I’m capable of” and it breeds resentment...player to crowd, crowd to player and ultimately most importantly, player to manager - which is where “losing the dressing room” begins.
We have been getting it wrong. Not by trying to play football but by not doing it well enough and not doing it at the right times.
Teams will set out to press us and if not aggressively they will press is tactically by setting traps forcing or allowing us to play into a certain player or area and then trapping us in areas we cannot get out of.
Tactically (and this is where
@mfurok will actually agree with me ?) we need to actually play more directly earlier in games and play what is known as “for position not possession” for possibly the first 10,15 even 20 mins of a game. Set our stall out and allow the game to settle into a more natural pattern, allow nerves to settle and to let players feel their way into games before the ebb and flow of the game is in place....then we can grow into it and assert whatever it is we feel is our philosophy and game plan.
I could go on with observations on formations and what suits this best but I’d be boring some, accused of lecturing others and called a selection of names by others ???
Of course, I should always end my posts with the disclaimer that this is if course only my opinion.......