Heatmaps...

[spudski]

...anyone else look at them?

For anyone who doesn't know what they are, they show where each teams touches are on the pitch. 

I've followed ours over the season...and we definitely have a style of play notably different from most opposition. 

Our play is in the shape of a C. 

Majority of our play is in our own half and very wide. 

We have literally hardly anything from the middle of the Centre circle to the opposition's goal, basically the width of the 18 yard box. 

Nothing down the middle in the opposition's half. 

Not sure if the link will go straight to it, but if you click on match centre, then heatmap, it will show it. You can do it for each game. 

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1732145/Live/England-Championship-2023-2024-Leeds-Bristol-City

[Loco Rojo]

Fevs opening his Heat Map draw!

[LondonBristolian]

I think the thing that frustrated me the most yesterday was the number of times we took extra passes around the sides of the opposition area rather than finding a good ball into the middle. 

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said:

I think the thing that frustrated me the most yesterday was the number of times we took extra passes around the sides of the opposition area rather than finding a good ball into the middle. 

From the TV there seemed to be forward options that we refused to take, but it's difficult to tell whether those options were always viable. Of course if we were playing out from the keeper we'd quite often chose the player being closed down by two attackers/midfielders, and he'd just manage to get the ball first and play in back or out wide. And the ball would oftyen end up being cleared long anyway.

[Davefevs]

@spudski I look at that and other stuff after every game.

I wrote this pre season:

https://medium.com/@davefevs/bristol-city-pre-season-2023-24-fc862b965c6f

There are a couple of references in there to how we played last season, see - three buffalo girls go round the outside and pass the Dickie from the left hand side

Our of an age to remember those tunes!

But the plan was to play Scott and Knight and get passes into them on the turn.  That has become more difficult without Scott.

[bcfc01]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

@spudski I look at that and other stuff after every game.

I wrote this pre season:

https://medium.com/@davefevs/bristol-city-pre-season-2023-24-fc862b965c6f

There are a couple of references in there to how we played last season, see - three buffalo girls go round the outside and pass the Dickie from the left hand side

Our of an age to remember those tunes!

But the plan was to play Scott and Knight and get passes into them on the turn.  That has become more difficult without Scott.

Wonder if TGH can play that role ?

[spudski]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

@spudski I look at that and other stuff after every game.

I wrote this pre season:

https://medium.com/@davefevs/bristol-city-pre-season-2023-24-fc862b965c6f

There are a couple of references in there to how we played last season, see - three buffalo girls go round the outside and pass the Dickie from the left hand side

Our of an age to remember those tunes!

But the plan was to play Scott and Knight and get passes into them on the turn.  That has become more difficult without Scott.

This is what crossed my mind after looking at our heat maps this season...we really are missing someone playing centrally in the opposition's half. 

Any opposition will look at our play and set up and see how rigid it's become. 

In simple terms we literally knock it around in our own half, draw players, then play it wide, and look to make a cross into the box. 

With our width...I'd look to be exploiting space provided centrally...but we just don't. 

[Davefevs]

Just now, spudski said:

This is what crossed my mind after looking at our heat maps this season...we really are missing someone playing centrally in the opposition's half. 

Any opposition will look at our play and set up and see how rigid it's become. 

In simple terms we literally knock it around in our own half, draw players, then play it wide, and look to make a cross into the box. 

With our width...I'd look to be exploiting space provided centrally...but we just don't. 

We saw when Naismith first came back into the team that we started to get balls into midfield quicker and Knight in particular was rolling his man and driving forward.  That’s been less apparent in recent games, but Leicester (a) and Leeds (a) are not games to reach too many conclusions.  Stoke and Rotherham more so.

I think Nige had hoped to move away from a counterattacking system, which in some respects he we have, but it leaves us a bit mixed in our approach.  I went on a Leeds pod last week and said the same.  We are almost at the worst point in the transition from counterattacking to more control…the mid point!  The mid point feels like a bit of a lack of identity.  I do think the sale of Scott has had a huge impact.  Even if Nige was naive to think it might not happen, I honestly don’t think he thought he would be hamstrung by “budget” in terms of bringing one or two in.

So, we are a bit stuck, and not helped by injuries.

If Vyner was fit (he’s never injured) then you might see Naismith in midfield.  Although I’m not necessarily sold on that, I’m not stupid enough to think it might give us a different dimension in there either.

Conway has been a big loss too.  I still think there’s scope to play a front-two with one behind…even with a back-four.

So, in summary, it ain’t a bad time to have an international break.

The table says we are 14th, I’m not arguing, but 4 wins and 4 losses is “mid-table”, we are a win against Coventry (next up) from going top-ten in all likelihood.  We have to use this next group of fixtures to start to push beyond equal wins and losses.

[spudski]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

We saw when Naismith first came back into the team that we started to get balls into midfield quicker and Knight in particular was rolling his man and driving forward.  That’s been less apparent in recent games, but Leicester (a) and Leeds (a) are not games to reach too many conclusions.  Stoke and Rotherham more so.

I think Nige had hoped to move away from a counterattacking system, which in some respects he we have, but it leaves us a bit mixed in our approach.  I went on a Leeds pod last week and said the same.  We are almost at the worst point in the transition from counterattacking to more control…the mid point!  The mid point feels like a bit of a lack of identity.  I do think the sale of Scott has had a huge impact.  Even if Nige was naive to think it might not happen, I honestly don’t think he thought he would be hamstrung by “budget” in terms of bringing one or two in.

So, we are a bit stuck, and not helped by injuries.

If Vyner was fit (he’s never injured) then you might see Naismith in midfield.  Although I’m not necessarily sold on that, I’m not stupid enough to think it might give us a different dimension in there either.

Conway has been a big loss too.  I still think there’s scope to play a front-two with one behind…even with a back-four.

So, in summary, it ain’t a bad time to have an international break.

The table says we are 14th, I’m not arguing, but 4 wins and 4 losses is “mid-table”, we are a win against Coventry (next up) from going top-ten in all likelihood.  We have to use this next group of fixtures to start to push beyond equal wins and losses.

Condensed version...we seriously miss Scott

Joking aside...I totally agree with your analysis. That's how I see it. 

[W-S-M Seagull]

I'd like to see us pass the ball with a bit more speed. Our passing seems quite slow and laboured at times. 

Max needs to stop kicking the ball long up field too. Their first goal came directly from him doing that. 

[Kingswood Robin]

7 hours ago, Loco Rojo said:

Fevs opening his Heat Map draw!

Looks like the Barton Files

[spudski]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I'd like to see us pass the ball with a bit more speed. Our passing seems quite slow and laboured at times. 

Max needs to stop kicking the ball long up field too. Their first goal came directly from him doing that. 

There's a graph that shows passing intensity and speed for the Championship by Club shared on Twitter weekly. We are one of the slowest. 

I've noted we are slow and laboured like you say in the first two thirds...then it becomes like a hot potato in the final third...often rushed, no composure or accuracy. 

[Davefevs]

58 minutes ago, spudski said:

There's a graph that shows passing intensity and speed for the Championship by Club shared on Twitter weekly. We are one of the slowest. 

I've noted we are slow and laboured like you say in the first two thirds...then it becomes like a hot potato in the final third...often rushed, no composure or accuracy. 

Yep, from The Analyst.  I scrape that data into my vizzes.

Here’s us before the weekend.

[Superjack]

Damn right it's a 'C'. 

Because if we can't get one of the wide men away, we just pass it between the back four and the keeper. 

Rotherham prime example. 

I am possibly Nige's biggest fan, but he has to sort this.

[Lack of Action Man]

9 hours ago, spudski said:

...anyone else look at them?

For anyone who doesn't know what they are, they show where each teams touches are on the pitch. 

I've followed ours over the season...and we definitely have a style of play notably different from most opposition. 

Our play is in the shape of a C. 

Majority of our play is in our own half and very wide. 

We have literally hardly anything from the middle of the Centre circle to the opposition's goal, basically the width of the 18 yard box. 

Nothing down the middle in the opposition's half. 

Not sure if the link will go straight to it, but if you click on match centre, then heatmap, it will show it. You can do it for each game. 

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1732145/Live/England-Championship-2023-2024-Leeds-Bristol-City

Your points in bold - I feel this is quite visually obvious with us and has been for a long time. 
 

We are very comfortable working the ball left to right, and back again, in safe/uncontested areas. We are also reasonably good at getting down the channels.

We are severely lacking in midfield. We do not have someone who can drive forwards through the middle of the pitch (consistently) nor someone who is able to play the ‘killer’ pass in central areas. 
 

It feels as though we struggle to dominate the central midfield zone in the majority of games I have seen.

[Harry]

It’s a personnel issue. 
Our central midfield is made up of grafters. 
James is a number 6 in every sense of the word. A deep lying midfielder (note I don’t say deep lying playmaker - he’s not. He’s just a deep central midfielder). 
Williams is a 6 and half - thinks he’s an 8 but he’s not. He’s a grafter. He’s someone able to play a bit deeper comfortably and keep the ball ticking over but when in advanced area’s he lacks quality. 
Knight is also very much a grafter. He’s shown so far that he can run 20 miles every game and make good interceptions, but he’s shown very little in terms of quality on the ball - especially in tight area’s. In fact, whilst I’ve really liked his off the ball work, I’d go so far as to say that, Swansea game aside, he’s actually been very poor in possession. Off the ball - great. With the ball - for me still a helluva lot to prove. 
 

The midfield is packed with grafters and ‘tickers’. Players who can comfortably keep the ball ticking over but lack any vision or quality when it comes to attempting to open things up. 
 

This lack of a ‘technician’ in the midfield could be offset by a striker who can come deeper and hold the ball up, or an attacking midfielder/10 who can operate between the lines. 
But we don’t have either one of those either. Centrally, neither Wells or Cornick are at their best dropping into holes and linking up. Invariably, if they do they immediately look for a sweeping ball to a wide area rather than something shorter inside. 
So there is no striker to drop deep and link. And we have no attacking mid to play in the spaces behind the opposition midfield. 
So, when we do end up getting the ball wide in the opposition final third, we don’t have anyone willing to receive the ball inside, and we end up either going backwards and across or swinging a hopeful cross in. 
 

Thats the main issue. No players who can comfortably receive possession in the opposition final 3rd. 
 

Of all the teams we’ve played so far, there is one opposition player who stands out for me as someone who could fill this role for us. Adam Randall from Plymouth. Whilst we won that game quite comfortably, Randell had more touches in central area’s than 2 of our midfield 3 put together, plus he has the ability to score that goal from distance which is something we severely lack. 
 

It doesn’t completely solve our problem, but having a Randell in CM instead of 1 of our current 3 immediately gives us more creativity, technicality, composure and goal threat and would allow us to play more through the middle rather than our current very predictable routes. 

[Lack of Action Man]

9 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s a personnel issue. 
Our central midfield is made up of grafters. 
James is a number 6 in every sense of the word. A deep lying midfielder (note I don’t say deep lying playmaker - he’s not. He’s just a deep central midfielder). 
Williams is a 6 and half - thinks he’s an 8 but he’s not. He’s a grafter. He’s someone able to play a bit deeper comfortably and keep the ball ticking over but when in advanced area’s he lacks quality. 
Knight is also very much a grafter. He’s shown so far that he can run 20 miles every game and make good interceptions, but he’s shown very little in terms of quality on the ball - especially in tight area’s. In fact, whilst I’ve really liked his off the ball work, I’d go so far as to say that, Swansea game aside, he’s actually been very poor in possession. Off the ball - great. With the ball - for me still a helluva lot to prove. 
 

The midfield is packed with grafters and ‘tickers’. Players who can comfortably keep the ball ticking over but lack any vision or quality when it comes to attempting to open things up. 
 

This lack of a ‘technician’ in the midfield could be offset by a striker who can come deeper and hold the ball up, or an attacking midfielder/10 who can operate between the lines. 
But we don’t have either one of those either. Centrally, neither Wells or Cornick are at their best dropping into holes and linking up. Invariably, if they do they immediately look for a sweeping ball to a wide area rather than something shorter inside. 
So there is no striker to drop deep and link. And we have no attacking mid to play in the spaces behind the opposition midfield. 
So, when we do end up getting the ball wide in the opposition final third, we don’t have anyone willing to receive the ball inside, and we end up either going backwards and across or swinging a hopeful cross in. 
 

Thats the main issue. No players who can comfortably receive possession in the opposition final 3rd. 
 

Of all the teams we’ve played so far, there is one opposition player who stands out for me as someone who could fill this role for us. Adam Randall from Plymouth. Whilst we won that game quite comfortably, Randell had more touches in central area’s than 2 of our midfield 3 put together, plus he has the ability to score that goal from distance which is something we severely lack. 
 

It doesn’t completely solve our problem, but having a Randell in CM instead of 1 of our current 3 immediately gives us more creativity, technicality, composure and goal threat and would allow us to play more through the middle rather than our current very predictable routes. 

Spot on.

[Middlesbrough Robin]

9 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s a personnel issue. 
Our central midfield is made up of grafters. 
James is a number 6 in every sense of the word. A deep lying midfielder (note I don’t say deep lying playmaker - he’s not. He’s just a deep central midfielder). 
Williams is a 6 and half - thinks he’s an 8 but he’s not. He’s a grafter. He’s someone able to play a bit deeper comfortably and keep the ball ticking over but when in advanced area’s he lacks quality. 
Knight is also very much a grafter. He’s shown so far that he can run 20 miles every game and make good interceptions, but he’s shown very little in terms of quality on the ball - especially in tight area’s. In fact, whilst I’ve really liked his off the ball work, I’d go so far as to say that, Swansea game aside, he’s actually been very poor in possession. Off the ball - great. With the ball - for me still a helluva lot to prove. 
 

The midfield is packed with grafters and ‘tickers’. Players who can comfortably keep the ball ticking over but lack any vision or quality when it comes to attempting to open things up. 
 

This lack of a ‘technician’ in the midfield could be offset by a striker who can come deeper and hold the ball up, or an attacking midfielder/10 who can operate between the lines. 
But we don’t have either one of those either. Centrally, neither Wells or Cornick are at their best dropping into holes and linking up. Invariably, if they do they immediately look for a sweeping ball to a wide area rather than something shorter inside. 
So there is no striker to drop deep and link. And we have no attacking mid to play in the spaces behind the opposition midfield. 
So, when we do end up getting the ball wide in the opposition final third, we don’t have anyone willing to receive the ball inside, and we end up either going backwards and across or swinging a hopeful cross in. 
 

Thats the main issue. No players who can comfortably receive possession in the opposition final 3rd. 
 

Of all the teams we’ve played so far, there is one opposition player who stands out for me as someone who could fill this role for us. Adam Randall from Plymouth. Whilst we won that game quite comfortably, Randell had more touches in central area’s than 2 of our midfield 3 put together, plus he has the ability to score that goal from distance which is something we severely lack. 
 

It doesn’t completely solve our problem, but having a Randell in CM instead of 1 of our current 3 immediately gives us more creativity, technicality, composure and goal threat and would allow us to play more through the middle rather than our current very predictable routes. 

Good analysis.

We do have very predictable routes that are soon snuffed out as soon as one of our wide players has an off day or come up against good players/tactics.

[wheretheheartis]

I wonder what would happen, if we tore the rule book up and played naturally, no patterns of play, no following heat maps, just went out played like they were kids and went for it. You score 4 we'll score 5 

[hinsleburg]

Is the answer until January dropping one of the Midfield 3 (probably Williams) and playing Weimann/Conway in there?

I actually think Conway's best position is playing in the role that Weimann did a couple of years ago when he scored 20. Almost as a second striker, playing close to Wells/Cornick but able to drop off and find space in the number 10 spot too.

Think of our current group, he's the one I would back to take a ball on the half turn in the centre and drive at the opposition. It then allows him to find space for crosses and also late runs in behind and hopefully get some decent chances for him. 

[spudski]

1 hour ago, Middlesbrough Robin said:

Good analysis.

We do have very predictable routes that are soon snuffed out as soon as one of our wide players has an off day or come up against good players/tactics.

We rely on crosses. 

After Stoke and Huddersfield, we have used this tactic the most. 

Crossing is also statistically the least effective way of scoring. 

I've also noticed how the majority of our corners are inswingers. 48 compared to 8 outswinging. Obviously another tactic. 

https://fbref.com/en/comps/10/Championship-Stats

[And Its Smith]

11 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s a personnel issue. 
Our central midfield is made up of grafters. 
James is a number 6 in every sense of the word. A deep lying midfielder (note I don’t say deep lying playmaker - he’s not. He’s just a deep central midfielder). 
Williams is a 6 and half - thinks he’s an 8 but he’s not. He’s a grafter. He’s someone able to play a bit deeper comfortably and keep the ball ticking over but when in advanced area’s he lacks quality. 
Knight is also very much a grafter. He’s shown so far that he can run 20 miles every game and make good interceptions, but he’s shown very little in terms of quality on the ball - especially in tight area’s. In fact, whilst I’ve really liked his off the ball work, I’d go so far as to say that, Swansea game aside, he’s actually been very poor in possession. Off the ball - great. With the ball - for me still a helluva lot to prove. 
 

The midfield is packed with grafters and ‘tickers’. Players who can comfortably keep the ball ticking over but lack any vision or quality when it comes to attempting to open things up. 
 

This lack of a ‘technician’ in the midfield could be offset by a striker who can come deeper and hold the ball up, or an attacking midfielder/10 who can operate between the lines. 
But we don’t have either one of those either. Centrally, neither Wells or Cornick are at their best dropping into holes and linking up. Invariably, if they do they immediately look for a sweeping ball to a wide area rather than something shorter inside. 
So there is no striker to drop deep and link. And we have no attacking mid to play in the spaces behind the opposition midfield. 
So, when we do end up getting the ball wide in the opposition final third, we don’t have anyone willing to receive the ball inside, and we end up either going backwards and across or swinging a hopeful cross in. 
 

Thats the main issue. No players who can comfortably receive possession in the opposition final 3rd. 
 

Of all the teams we’ve played so far, there is one opposition player who stands out for me as someone who could fill this role for us. Adam Randall from Plymouth. Whilst we won that game quite comfortably, Randell had more touches in central area’s than 2 of our midfield 3 put together, plus he has the ability to score that goal from distance which is something we severely lack. 
 

It doesn’t completely solve our problem, but having a Randell in CM instead of 1 of our current 3 immediately gives us more creativity, technicality, composure and goal threat and would allow us to play more through the middle rather than our current very predictable routes. 

Absolutely. This 3 doesn’t really work hence Pearson’s wish to play James, Knight and Scott as a 3.  Williams the obvious one where upgrade will ultimately be needed. 

 

4 minutes ago, spudski said:

We rely on crosses. 

After Stoke and Huddersfield, we have used this tactic the most. 

Crossing is also statistically the least effective way of scoring. 

I've also noticed how the majority of our corners are inswingers. 48 compared to 8 outswinging. Obviously another tactic. 

https://fbref.com/en/comps/10/Championship-Stats

We do, without having the quality of crosser needed to execute them consistently. I’d say only Bell is, or could be, the required level.  

[Rob k]

1 minute ago, And Its Smith said:

Absolutely. This 3 doesn’t really work hence Pearson’s wish to play James, Knight and Scott as a 3.  Williams the obvious one where upgrade will ultimately be needed. 

 

We do, without having the quality of crosser needed to execute them consistently. I’d say only Bell is, or could be, the required level.  

Naismith whips in a nice ball tbf

[Grey Fox]

19 hours ago, Davefevs said:

@spudski I look at that and other stuff after every game.

I wrote this pre season:

https://medium.com/@davefevs/bristol-city-pre-season-2023-24-fc862b965c6f

There are a couple of references in there to how we played last season, see - three buffalo girls go round the outside and pass the Dickie from the left hand side

Our of an age to remember those tunes!

But the plan was to play Scott and Knight and get passes into them on the turn.  That has become more difficult without Scott.

It is seriously difficult not to say “ I told you so” , sometimes

[Harry]

15 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Naismith whips in a nice ball tbf

And yet he’s the only one who has scored a header direct from a corner for about 10 years  

Maybe he’s better being in the box rather than taking it. 
 

Our set pieces are a bit of a worry for me though. We had a couple of very feeble efforts from Gardner Hickman the last couple of weeks when in great situations with a free kick on the edge of the box. 
When was the last time we scored from a free kick? Was it Tomlin? 
We don’t have the ability to score from free kicks and neither do we have the ability to score from outside the box in open play. Meaning we can only score goals from inside the box - quite limiting and predictable (again as per my earlier post - being too predictable). 

[spudski]

 

[Super]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

And yet he’s the only one who has scored a header direct from a corner for about 10 years  

Maybe he’s better being in the box rather than taking it. 
 

Our set pieces are a bit of a worry for me though. We had a couple of very feeble efforts from Gardner Hickman the last couple of weeks when in great situations with a free kick on the edge of the box. 
When was the last time we scored from a free kick? Was it Tomlin? 
We don’t have the ability to score from free kicks and neither do we have the ability to score from outside the box in open play. Meaning we can only score goals from inside the box - quite limiting and predictable (again as per my earlier post - being too predictable). 

We've had that debate many a time!

[And Its Smith]

9 minutes ago, spudski said:

 

A poor man’s Ipswich AND Leicester! 

[Davefevs]

14 hours ago, Harry said:

It’s a personnel issue. 
Our central midfield is made up of grafters. 
James is a number 6 in every sense of the word. A deep lying midfielder (note I don’t say deep lying playmaker - he’s not. He’s just a deep central midfielder). 
Williams is a 6 and half - thinks he’s an 8 but he’s not. He’s a grafter. He’s someone able to play a bit deeper comfortably and keep the ball ticking over but when in advanced area’s he lacks quality. 
Knight is also very much a grafter. He’s shown so far that he can run 20 miles every game and make good interceptions, but he’s shown very little in terms of quality on the ball - especially in tight area’s. In fact, whilst I’ve really liked his off the ball work, I’d go so far as to say that, Swansea game aside, he’s actually been very poor in possession. Off the ball - great. With the ball - for me still a helluva lot to prove. 
 

The midfield is packed with grafters and ‘tickers’. Players who can comfortably keep the ball ticking over but lack any vision or quality when it comes to attempting to open things up. 
 

This lack of a ‘technician’ in the midfield could be offset by a striker who can come deeper and hold the ball up, or an attacking midfielder/10 who can operate between the lines. 
But we don’t have either one of those either. Centrally, neither Wells or Cornick are at their best dropping into holes and linking up. Invariably, if they do they immediately look for a sweeping ball to a wide area rather than something shorter inside. 
So there is no striker to drop deep and link. And we have no attacking mid to play in the spaces behind the opposition midfield. 
So, when we do end up getting the ball wide in the opposition final third, we don’t have anyone willing to receive the ball inside, and we end up either going backwards and across or swinging a hopeful cross in. 
 

Thats the main issue. No players who can comfortably receive possession in the opposition final 3rd. 
 

Of all the teams we’ve played so far, there is one opposition player who stands out for me as someone who could fill this role for us. Adam Randall from Plymouth. Whilst we won that game quite comfortably, Randell had more touches in central area’s than 2 of our midfield 3 put together, plus he has the ability to score that goal from distance which is something we severely lack. 
 

It doesn’t completely solve our problem, but having a Randell in CM instead of 1 of our current 3 immediately gives us more creativity, technicality, composure and goal threat and would allow us to play more through the middle rather than our current very predictable routes. 

Very true Harry.  Our simplistic options are two-fold in our current set-up:

- hope that TGH is a technician, who can improve the midfield-three collectively

- use Weimann or Conway as the 10 behind Wells, to allow two 6s (James, Knight or Williams plus Naismith if we get Vyner back), but then accept we won’t become a “controlling team”.  Personally I don’t give a stuff how we play if it’s effective.  WSM was effective.

The other option is to change the current set-up.  Lots of options there for us budding amateurs!

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Absolutely. This 3 doesn’t really work hence Pearson’s wish to play James, Knight and Scott as a 3.  Williams the obvious one where upgrade will ultimately be needed. 

 

We do, without having the quality of crosser needed to execute them consistently. I’d say only Bell is, or could be, the required level.  

The loss of Scott is huge to the way Nige wanted to play.

Especially in games like Leicester and Leeds, where you need to hold onto the ball to save you wasting energy chasing it.

2 hours ago, Grey Fox said:

It is seriously difficult not to say “ I told you so” , sometimes

But….why do you keep replying / saying that to me though?