The Atkinson/Baker (or Kalas) axis

[Maltshoveller]

2 minutes ago, lukebcfc1989 said:

?? Atkinson let his man get across him for the goal, Baker failed to block the cross. Kalas stops that goal yesterday IMO, but if you are relying on 1-0 then you are asking for problems anyway….

Full backs not at fault atall yesterday 

Arsenal did ok doing it!!!

[Sturny]

I can see Atkinson being our best defender in a couple of seasons. I'm expecting some harsh lessons learned in the champ for him this year but i'm sure he'll learn. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, lukebcfc1989 said:

?? Atkinson let his man get across him for the goal, Baker failed to block the cross. Kalas stops that goal yesterday IMO, but if you are relying on 1-0 then you are asking for problems anyway….

Full backs not at fault atall yesterday 

What do you think of the reasons I give for the goal in this set of tweets?

In your opinion what does Kalas do differently based on the way that goal unfolded?

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, lukebcfc1989 said:

?? Atkinson let his man get across him for the goal, Baker failed to block the cross. Kalas stops that goal yesterday IMO, but if you are relying on 1-0 then you are asking for problems anyway….

Full backs not at fault atall yesterday 

If you look through Fevs post above , the still show what goes on. From my untrained eye.

Bowlers run is the key. Runs behind James (?) who obviously doesn't see him and no shout to warn him.
Vyner has kept an eye on the wide man and Baker/Atkinson have a man each.
Baker tries to close, but he has ground to make up and leaves Atkinson with 2 men as JD is his FB spot & not covered.
I would have liked Vyner to have been narrower but I can understand him worried about the wide man.

The goal is made by Bowlers good run, there are always things you can do better, but saying Kalas would stop it is impossible to back up. I would always start with Kalas, but I think it's unfair to heap the blame on the CB pairing this time.

[Mr Popodopolous]

7 hours ago, Roger Red Hat said:

Totally agree. For me, Kalas always plays too deep, which he also does for his country.

Time will tell but think part of that- thinking last season and his post match interview, think he can play a bit higher. Baker if anything I've had down as a bit less suited to the higher line.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Time will tell but think part of that- thinking last season and his post match interview, think he can play a bit higher. Baker if anything I've had down as a bit less suited to the higher line.

Me too, but yesterday and Villa showed we can play a high line without blistering pace.  What is important is that the midfield and forwards pressure the passer.

The two or three times a Blackpool midfielder had time and got his head up in the middle third they pinged the right winger over Jay’s head twice….both times it zipped off for a throw in, and the other time they went over Vyner’s head (he was narrow), but he got in and made a good recovery tackle.

So that’s the danger of the high line.  In the main, we pressed the player on the ball very well.

If Kalas plays we will get to see whether he’s setting the line or it’s new Nige tactics.  The silly thing is Kalas is quick, effortlessly quick….so not sure why he plays so deep.

[Davefevs]

Mr P….couple of pics from Wyscout:

Average positions passes were made from, so not always representative of the high line, but usually a decent indicator.

What is interesting is pass combos from certain players:

• Atkinson and Dasilva, that’s key to getting us up the pitch
• Dasilva and Palmer, good to see the left side being able to keep it (75 mins only)
• James and Atkinson, so that’s the left half nicely sorted, showing good angles / options
• King and Vyner, I said all summer Lansbury didn’t give our full-backs an inside pass option, so always pinging long.  Hint of a better partnership
• Vyner and Weimann, ditto above
• Off the page is Scott and Weimann

So some things I can watch over the coming weeks, especially when centre midfield options change, e.g. Bakinson, Williams or Massengo play.

The next one is defining pressing that occurs outside our own defensive 40% of the pitch.

that final 15 mins shows the press dropped off a fair bit.

But the good sign is that last season our PPDA was 12.59 one the three worst in the champ.  Yesterday it was 8.44 (lower is better)….and a good proportion of that was taken up with passing between Maxwell, Keogh and Husband, before Maxwell kicked long.  So they had little passing spells in our half….another big change from last season.

Good signs…I’ll keep an eye on throughout the season.

[Chicken George]

9 hours ago, lukebcfc1989 said:

?? Atkinson let his man get across him for the goal, Baker failed to block the cross. Kalas stops that goal yesterday IMO, but if you are relying on 1-0 then you are asking for problems anyway….

Full backs not at fault atall yesterday 

Full backs definitely at fault 

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

What do you think of the reasons I give for the goal in this set of tweets?

In your opinion what does Kalas do differently based on the way that goal unfolded?

You’re pinning it unfairly on James in my opinion. The full backs are at fault. Vyner is about 6 miles away from baker. Dasilva doesn’t move at all to help. Both full backs left the centrebacks on their own to deal with 3 players. James would never be expected to run so far out wide to track that run. Vyner shouldn’t leave such a big gap 

[Davefevs]

11 hours ago, Enter Sandman said:

Full backs definitely at fault 

You’re pinning it unfairly on James in my opinion. The full backs are at fault. Vyner is about 6 miles away from baker. Dasilva doesn’t move at all to help. Both full backs left the centrebacks on their own to deal with 3 players. James would never be expected to run so far out wide to track that run. Vyner shouldn’t leave such a big gap 

Vyner is marking Garbutt (overlap), who is out of picture in most screenshots.  Dasilva (assumption) needs to communicate better too.

In that situation we should have one spare.  We didn’t.  Initially we had 3 v 2 (Baker, Atkinson, Dasilva on Lavery and Yates). Someone has not communicated to James (who isn’t marking, but screening), that Bowler has run behind him.  Either Baker goes with him, and James drops in, or James goes with Bowler.  It is more natural for James to go with Bowler rather than disrupt the 3 v 2.

The issue appears to be nobody has warned him of Bowler’s run, because he doesn’t move.  I’m not saying it’s James fault, unless he was told, and he ignored.

That is the root cause of the goal….James not tracking Bowler.  It’s not me blaming an individual at all, but it’s that breakdown that everything bad that happens afterwards stems from.

3 hours ago, lukebcfc1989 said:

I believe he either blocks the cutback or beats the player who scored the goal to the ball,

Where ever you position him in place of Baker or Atkinson on the pitch in that defending scenario.

That's his game last ditch blocks and challenges.

Atkinson and Baker appear to be first ball winning centre backs. 

That’s a big leap of faith, but if that’s what you think, then fine.  If that’s his game, he needs to dramatically improve his positioning and anticipation!