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The heart of the problem


Midlands Robin

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Almost every pass in possession is rushed.

This results in either inaccurate balls or passes the are hit too hard and impossible to control.

The whole point of football is to pass it to a team mate.

We’re not doing the basics right!

It’s a shame, because in LJ’s first full season, we were pretty good at it.

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12 hours ago, Davefevs said:

And people scoffed at Liverpool appointing a throw-in coach!!!

I’ll join your gang, brother. Did eff all today, bar one cross (COD chance) and winning one corner.  People don’t watch the game.  WBA RB on a yellow early doors.  What an opportunity.

Although I agree that he was poor today, I think most of our midfield problems come from the instructions they must be given. 

First few minutes yesterday COD attacked the space in behind WBA, at that point I thought "**** me, we've cracked it" and that was pretty much the last time it happened. 

We then proceeded for the rest of the game pat the ball around innefectively at the back, aas in the away game we took a team that is not like Leeds and does not press in that way and drew them onto us and drew them into being a pressing team, again I thought we were onto something and this was a deliberate act to draw them out and then move the ball forward quickly and either look for COD and Nic to attack the space or ball up to Fam to flick on for Wells to attack. 

But we didn't we continued to pay the ball around at the back and draw ourselves into positions where it required a top class pass from Nagy or Henrickson to get us going forward. 

Add to that the fact that I think COD and Nic were clearly either confused or incapable of executing, when they needed to show for the ball they were mindlessly sitting with their marker, and when they needed to go into the space they were showing for the ball. 

I genuinely don't think we were that bad yesterday and we had about 50% of the game plan right, we were able to draw them out and pull their defence higher than they want to be but we didn't take advantage of this. 

For me this either is because Johnson wanted us to play this way and made exactly the same mistake he made in the away game and was happy to not change it, or he simply could not see what was happening and therefore didn't even think the instruct the team to play longer and over the top to exploit the space created. 

I am not bothered at the result, neither am I that deflated by the performance, I am however bothered that we did not make any tactical adjustments to exploit what was there for the taking, or even in an attempt to stop the pressing that WBA were doing. 

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3 minutes ago, Spud55 said:

Although I agree that he was poor today, I think most of our midfield problems come from the instructions they must be given.

I genuinely wish I knew whether it was instruction or not following instruction.  There’s a huge part of me that says “surely that wasn’t the plan”, e.g. the players aren’t following it, but there’s a bigger part of me that says “it happens so often, it must be the plan”.  To many players are reactive, rather than pro-active. 

First few minutes yesterday COD attacked the space in behind WBA, at that point I thought "**** me, we've cracked it" and that was pretty much the last time it happened.

Haha....you got fooled in the same way I did with Eliasson v Derby, when he dragged his LB short then ran him in behind from Hunt’s pass.  I thought he’d cracked it too.  It was a one-off.

We then proceeded for the rest of the game pat the ball around innefectively at the back, aas in the away game we took a team that is not like Leeds and does not press in that way and drew them onto us and drew them into being a pressing team, again I thought we were onto something and this was a deliberate act to draw them out and then move the ball forward quickly and either look for COD and Nic to attack the space or ball up to Fam to flick on for Wells to attack.

LJ’s post-match presser mentioned that perhaps they should’ve gone more direct at times.  If the players can’t see it on the pitch and change approach, the head-coach has to get the message out there...and quickly.  Benkovic got caught by Livermore twice early on.  Nagy and Henriksen almost got caught early on too.  I’m not blaming them per se, but it was clear West Brom were gonna press the arse off of us if we went into the midfield.  At what point do you accept plan A isn’t working and switch it up.  In fairness we did that at Wigan and made them go long.  We got our midfielders (with Weimann in there) closer to Fam, and gradually improved.  It can be done.  Why didn’t we yesterday?

But we didn't we continued to pay the ball around at the back and draw ourselves into positions where it required a top class pass from Nagy or Henrickson to get us going forward. 

Add to that the fact that I think COD and Nic were clearly either confused or incapable of executing, when they needed to show for the ball they were mindlessly sitting with their marker, and when they needed to go into the space they were showing for the ball.

How many decades ago did wingers just hug the touchline?  Their positional understanding is pretty poor.

I genuinely don't think we were that bad yesterday and we had about 50% of the game plan right, we were able to draw them out and pull their defence higher than they want to be but we didn't take advantage of this. 

For me this either is because Johnson wanted us to play this way and made exactly the same mistake he made in the away game and was happy to not change it, or he simply could not see what was happening and therefore didn't even think the instruct the team to play longer and over the top to exploit the space created.

I think he, his assistant head-coaches and the analysts miss a lot of stuff....or advice / insight is ignored.  I’m not trying to be clever, but it’s pretty obvious that Livermore is key to them winning the ball.  Why did we play it into areas where he could close and press and win it back?

I am not bothered at the result, neither am I that deflated by the performance, I am however bothered that we did not make any tactical adjustments to exploit what was there for the taking, or even in an attempt to stop the pressing that WBA were doing.

I gave up, and decided to just watch Andi Weimann...was an enjoyable part of the afternoon.

 

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12 hours ago, SX227 said:

The main part is the idiotic obsession with playing out from our own penalty area.

Bentley - Williams (in pen area) - Nagy - Williams - Benkovich - Bentley - HOOF!

WE did this 20 times today.

It's pointless.

Kick the bloody ball into the opposition half and contest 50/50 balls at their end, not have our defenders and deep lying mids under pressure 20 yrds from our own goaline.

 

Every other manager in this division has sussed this out and hems us in. LJ just can't change his tactics.

If I was a defender at our club,I'd be on prozac trying to face the rest of the season getting the ball rolled out to me in our own penalty area with 4 or 5 opponents bearing down.

It's just a piss-poor game-plan which worked with Webster and Kalas at times,but it sure as shit ain't with Williams and Baker.

And the 8th best coach under 40 in the world can't or won't see that.

Styles of play go in and out of fashion. At present “play it out from the back” seems to be in fashion, regardless of whether or not the players have the ability to do it successfully. LJ and the players need to adapt to the circumstances and when appropriate, as you say, kick the ball into the opposition half. Even if City don’t win a 50-50 ball in the opposition half, at least the opposition has to build an attack from a long way out, not near City’s penalty area. I’m not advocating City reverting to a basic long ball game, rather using common sense. When it’s safe, play it out from the back. When there’s danger, keep it simple and just clear the ball 

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7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He is a player that can be effective if he’s given space.  He would’ve got bugger all space yesterday v West Brom, and would’ve been anonymous.

I don’t want to go back to 352...but if LJ thinks Wells needs a partner, then it is the only way we’ll grind out results against the better teams in this division.  I think some of those 6 pointers coming up are now must-win rather than must-not-lose.

Agree on the must win games. The difference between now and earlier in the season when we played 532 is the availability of De Silva.

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9 minutes ago, Beni71 said:

Agree on the must win games. The difference between now and earlier in the season when we played 532 is the availability of De Silva.

Good point mate.  Although Rowe did a really good job early on, Dasilva would / ought to be a cracking upgrade.

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