Recruitment

[archie andrews]

5 hours ago, tin said:

You and I both, Dave. But it looks like James and Williams will be gone, so it’ll be interesting to see what they have up their sleeve. I don’t see anything left-friend from Europe or further afield, sadly. 

Letting james go will have the same issue as letting cisse go circ12.... 

[DingleRed]

7 hours ago, Robbored said:

Which way the teams play is decided at the ko by a coin toss. City obviously lost and the Foxes, like all visiting teams would have been fully aware which way City like to play, namely towards the SS in the second half and that’s why they changed it - it’s more psychological than anything else.

Or more likely the sun was in the keepers face it being a lunchtime kickoff, so gave Max that problem 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, mozo said:

Manning said pre-Leicester that a higher press and attacking intent IS his preference. So maybe it was Manning-ball?

Did he not say something along the lines that he introduced the more passive block as a way to preserve the players legs during the busy winter schedule... or am I misremembering?

No, you are right, he said exactly that.  But he also said (paraphrased) in the next sentence that he isn’t prepared to see his press beaten (referencing QPR - home), lose duels and the game turn into a basketball match and his team get caught on the counter, ie not brave enough to go for the rewards over the risks.

So, it’s fine saying it, but being brave enough to implement it is another matter.  20-plus games we’ve seen mid-low block, with both back-3 /back-4 set-ups.  The games where the team have gotten braver (the previous two games Swansea and West Brom) in the last 20-25 mins ought to have tingled on his spidy-senses where the opportunity was!

The bit that frustrates me is that a high press (or maybe a high block might be a better term) doesn’t have to be reckless.  We aren’t talking a gegen-press frenzied swarm, just that the whole team plays higher.  Compress (Com-press) your opponent as a team.

edit: this refers back to saving player’s legs.  A lazy reason imho.

I’ve written about the 424 block countless times and also when behind our front 4 block with too much distance between them and their 2 DMs.  The DM’s playing safe by sitting in front of the 2 CBs (generalised).

On Friday, the two DMs com-pressed the space, the CBs played higher too, suffocating space.

The switch from away from the back-4 was going to be interesting (see my pre-match comments) without the ball.

We created a “pentagon” in the press / block.

TC at the point, ST and AM either side, and MJ and JK behind, but very high in relation to ball position.

Look how “passive” the press was against a poor Swansea side.  They were a team to press high!  I’d forgive LJ for not risking it against Leicester.

I have seen his DMs play high before - his first game, QPR (a) where our full-backs got exposed 1v1 by Sykes and Mehmeti being poor positionally (imho).

Coincidentally a game he started James and Knight together in midfield (Ian Gay - “an experiment he should never repeat”).  If that was his intention he abandoned it very quickly.

So it’s fine to come out with statements like he did, but acting on them is a different matter.  In half a season he’s failed to go with his preference, and that’s taking on someone else’s team who weren’t bad at the press!

You might argue with his reign being under pressure he went a bit “shit or bust” (well, LM’s milder version of it!)…well, if we are gonna lose to Leicester, then let’s do it with some swagger.  When Iheanacho lobbed Max I was already saying this was performance over result and I’d be giving credit.  The Lino’s flag meant performance and result.

But if Friday proves to be a bit of an epiphany for LM, and we see this kind of bravery over the passive shit he’s set-up in a lot of games, then maybe he will probably win me over.

Hope that makes sense?

 

Edited March 31 by Davefevs

[Ashtongreight]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

No, you are right, he said exactly that.  But he also said (paraphrased) in the next sentence that he isn’t prepared to see his press beaten (referencing QPR - home), lose duels and the game turn into a basketball match and his team get caught on the counter, ie not brave enough to go for the rewards over the risks.

So, it’s fine saying it, but being brave enough to implement it is another matter.  20-plus games we’ve seen mid-low block, with both back-3 /back-4 set-ups.  The games where the team have gotten braver (the previous two games Swansea and West Brom) in the last 20-25 mins ought to have tingled on his spidy-senses where the opportunity was!

The bit that frustrates me is that a high press (or maybe a high block might be a better term) doesn’t have to be reckless.  We aren’t talking a gegen-press frenzied swarm, just that the whole team plays higher.  Compress (Com-press) your opponent as a team.

I’ve written about the 424 block countless times and also when behind our front 4 block with too much distance between them and their 2 DMs.  The DM’s playing safe by sitting in front of the 2 CBs (generalised).

On Friday, the two DMs com-pressed the space, the CBs played higher too, suffocating space.

The switch from away from the back-4 was going to be interesting (see my pre-match comments) without the ball.

We created a “pentagon” in the press / block.

TC at the point, ST and AM either side, and MJ and JK behind, but very high in relation to ball position.

Look how “passive” the press was against a poor Swansea side.  They were a team to press high!  I’d forgive LJ for not risking it against Leicester.

I have seen his DMs play high before - his first game, QPR (a) where our full-backs got exposed 1v1 by Sykes and Mehmeti being poor positionally (imho).

Coincidentally a game he started James and Knight together in midfield (Ian Gay - “an experiment he should never repeat”).  If that was his intention he abandoned it very quickly.

So it’s fine to come out with statements like he did, but acting on them is a different matter.  In half a season he’s failed to go with his preference, and that’s taking on someone else’s team who weren’t bad at the press!

You might argue with his reign being under pressure he went a bit “shit or bust” (well, LM’s milder version of it!)…well, if we are gonna lose to Leicester, then let’s do it with some swagger.  When Iheanacho lobbed Max I was already saying this was performance over result and I’d be giving credit.  The Lino’s flag meant performance and result.

But if Friday proves to be a bit of an epiphany for LM, and we see this kind of bravery over the passive shit he’s set-up in a lot of games, then maybe he will probably win me over.

Hope that makes sense?

 

In a much more articulate way, sums up exactly how I feel. 

[Silvio Dante]

21 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

No, you are right, he said exactly that.  But he also said (paraphrased) in the next sentence that he isn’t prepared to see his press beaten (referencing QPR - home), lose duels and the game turn into a basketball match and his team get caught on the counter, ie not brave enough to go for the rewards over the risks.

 

 

He must have bloody hated last night

 

[Superjack]

45 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

He must have bloody hated last night

 

'Gaffer' my arse.

 

[mozo]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

No, you are right, he said exactly that.  But he also said (paraphrased) in the next sentence that he isn’t prepared to see his press beaten (referencing QPR - home), lose duels and the game turn into a basketball match and his team get caught on the counter, ie not brave enough to go for the rewards over the risks.

So, it’s fine saying it, but being brave enough to implement it is another matter.  20-plus games we’ve seen mid-low block, with both back-3 /back-4 set-ups.  The games where the team have gotten braver (the previous two games Swansea and West Brom) in the last 20-25 mins ought to have tingled on his spidy-senses where the opportunity was!

The bit that frustrates me is that a high press (or maybe a high block might be a better term) doesn’t have to be reckless.  We aren’t talking a gegen-press frenzied swarm, just that the whole team plays higher.  Compress (Com-press) your opponent as a team.

edit: this refers back to saving player’s legs.  A lazy reason imho.

I’ve written about the 424 block countless times and also when behind our front 4 block with too much distance between them and their 2 DMs.  The DM’s playing safe by sitting in front of the 2 CBs (generalised).

On Friday, the two DMs com-pressed the space, the CBs played higher too, suffocating space.

The switch from away from the back-4 was going to be interesting (see my pre-match comments) without the ball.

We created a “pentagon” in the press / block.

TC at the point, ST and AM either side, and MJ and JK behind, but very high in relation to ball position.

Look how “passive” the press was against a poor Swansea side.  They were a team to press high!  I’d forgive LJ for not risking it against Leicester.

I have seen his DMs play high before - his first game, QPR (a) where our full-backs got exposed 1v1 by Sykes and Mehmeti being poor positionally (imho).

Coincidentally a game he started James and Knight together in midfield (Ian Gay - “an experiment he should never repeat”).  If that was his intention he abandoned it very quickly.

So it’s fine to come out with statements like he did, but acting on them is a different matter.  In half a season he’s failed to go with his preference, and that’s taking on someone else’s team who weren’t bad at the press!

You might argue with his reign being under pressure he went a bit “shit or bust” (well, LM’s milder version of it!)…well, if we are gonna lose to Leicester, then let’s do it with some swagger.  When Iheanacho lobbed Max I was already saying this was performance over result and I’d be giving credit.  The Lino’s flag meant performance and result.

But if Friday proves to be a bit of an epiphany for LM, and we see this kind of bravery over the passive shit he’s set-up in a lot of games, then maybe he will probably win me over.

Hope that makes sense?

 

That makes a lot of sense and I agree with some but but not all of that  

There have been other games where we were more aggressive with our press under Manning, so I personally don't see it as a shit or bust, but more that he likes to choose when to use it.

I also agree with him that prior to his reign we were a bit headless in our rampaging breakaway football, so I do think more control is preferable, but I appreciate that Manning hasn't implemented a consistent style that has brought the consistent results we've wanted. Yet 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

He must have bloody hated last night

 

I saw that earlier.  I’ve chatted to Kalifa previously about basketball.

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, mozo said:

There have been other games where we were more aggressive with our press under Manning, so I personally don't see it as a shit or bust, but more that he likes to choose when to use it.

Boro (a) first half.  Not many others from the start of a game.

Yeah, shit or bust was meant for effect, hence the bit in brackets!