cityfanlee23

You might be able to catch some in the first half 😉 Im going to look really stupid aren’t I 😂

You've strawmanned me multiple times now. We play high possession football, the low block is an out-of-possession strategy to nullify the opposition, the more we hold the ball, the more teams will naturally sit back. We can agree to disagree.

Pretty natural response, I have been a fan of Gegenpress for a long while so possession football doesn't excite me much, but I can buy into it and enjoy the strategy when it's made with attacking intent. A nice balance somewhere in between the last match and some of the higher possession matches would be a good spot.

You baited me back in so easily and i've let myself down, but well done, but you've effectively added nothing to this conversation and ignored most of what I've said and continued to say "nuh uh" Low blocks are very common defensive strategies when out of possession, high possession teams come up against them far more frequently than average possession teams do. The way we play football has a direct link to how opponents try to counter it. If it was solely about respect, Leeds and Southampton would also be experiencing this. In reality, there is an element of many reasons why teams sit back in low blocks against us, our midfield passing plays a very important role in that. You believe our high possession strategy plays no role in how opponents set up against us, I think it does based on watching us give opponents an age to get into position time and time again, and plenty of real-world examples of other teams facing this same issue. Agree to disagree.

We've scored 2 more goals than them in 20 games, my point was Leeds play a far more offensive style of football than we do yet do not run into the low block as much as we do, you're making a rebuttal to a point I did not make and is irrelevant. You think it's because teams respect us more than they do Leeds, It's impossible to prove or disprove, and it's just an example, no obsession. To Steelman your point, you argue that the way we play has no relation to the way the opposition sets up against us, mine is that the way we play absolutely does have a direct relationship with how opponents attempt to stop it, the most effective way of stopping a possession-based team scoring is the low block, which is why we come up against it so frequently. The "Low Block" is an out of possession defensive strategy, so naturally teams with higher possession come up against it more frequently. There are plenty of real-world examples of possession based teams consistently coming up against low blocks. We are not going to agree and frankly, your response seems to come across with a bit of arrogance that you "don't know how you can make it more obvious to me" so I don't see it's worth either of our time.

Yet it only really happens consistently to us, teams with equal if not better attacks overall like Leeds don’t have this issue nearly as much. There are 5-6 other teams that within our goals tally that don’t run into this issue, we are the only one of them who on a consistent basis run into the low block. The evidence seems to suggest we do a great job at inviting the low block. There’s no inherent reason why teams only decide to sit in their own area against us with zero threat to their box, but not against teams with equal attacks or atleast equal goals scored/more offensive than us.

Hopefully a while if Enzo is considering just throwing them back in again.

Expecting milwall to sit back a bit more than Plymouth did but we need to make sure we are passing it with tempo and purpose and opportunities will arise. I’m on a massive high from yesterday’s game, need more of that going forward, no excuses for playing with a lower tempo now.

When I say willingness to actually counter teams I should have said "willingness to see counter teams quickly" we have blown multiple counter attack chances in pretty much every game this season, as well as our obvious issues with wastefulness. As I said previously I think the forum is split into 2 groups at the moment. Some argue that teams sitting deep is what causes us to pass it around so much, but the other side (me included) argue that our often slow-paced passing is the reason teams sit back so much because they are happy for us to pass it sideways and backward for 60 passes and allow them to sit in a deep block knowing we struggle to attack it. One side thinks the often ultra high possession is a symptom of the deep block, the other thinks the deep block is a symptom of the possession. Leeds and Southampton's attacks are just as good as ours and they don't seem to run into this issue nearly as much as we do, so it's probably a mix of the two, some teams want to set up to be hard to beat, but we make that much easier given how much of the ball we hold and how we often slow play right down when we have it. I appreciate why we do it, it's just about tempo imo.

I'd argue that it was this + our willingness to actually counter teams rather than breaking down our own attacks as we often have in previous games. Obviously just an example but in most games this season our fast counter attacks have been 15-20 passes, ultimately with most of them breaking down. Today our counters were 4-5 passes and we were in their box. We need to do this more often.

Plenty of people argue that it is, but the majority of games we have over controlled the game and struggled to lure the teams to press us, ending with our midfielders having 80% sideways and backwards passing. We did not play like we always do by any stretch, there have been countless times this season where we have a chance to hit teams on the break but we get outside the box and pass it backwards, today we pulled the trigger and were in their box within 2-3 passes, usually our counter attacks break themselves down due to overplaying. Today was fantastic, because we focused on less passes between our defence and their box.

Contractually you're correct, but it's pointless having a player who does not want to be here if he's never playing and only used when we are desperate, especially given today's performance. I think he could quite easily force his way out, or just pick up a paycheck. Neither scenario are ideal for us really so I think his feelings do need to be taken into account.

Fantastic, what a great all-round performance. First half we were offensively aggressive and had a great balance between long through balls and short controlling passes, defensively fragile. Second half we turned on the taps and buried the game. Full credit to Plymouth for going for it, they played well and probably felt unlucky in the first half. Onto the analysis. Today in the context of how we have played this season was almost Anti-Enzoball, direct, fast, and flowing football, not needlessly holding possession. Now obviously part of that equation is that Plymouth allowed us more space than other teams have this season, BUT I personally have been saying for a long time that part of the reason we encounter the low block so often is because of the total control we approach many games, especially in the first halves of matches. Leeds are a perfect example of a team that are as good as us in terms of offensive players on paper, but they very rarely get stuck in front of a low block because of their aggressive nature, there is no magic reason why we often come up against the low block, for me it's because we play often slow possession football that results in low blocks rather than the slow possession football being a symptom of the opposition employing it, but that's very much a chicken and egg situation. So for me, I'd be more than happy if we found a balance between today's game and the possession style we often employ, it's about turning up the dial a bit more frequently, the constant low blocks we face are often a symptom of the way we play, and not the other way around. (obviously, I'd prefer to play this way every week but a balance would be fine) Today was a fantastic shift in approach and performance and I hope in a few days when we play Millwall (who are less likely to go for it) we can still pass the ball around as confidently as we did today and really go for it. Daka was immense, he needs minutes, I hope he can continue to aggressively approach games in this way to allow him to pull defences apart like he did today, one of his best performances for us and we saw the Salzburg Daka today.

Best case scenario is he shows glimpses, but doesn't have a huge amount of consistency, we pick him up cheap on a permanent and then comes alive

I didn't know we NEEDED a sea themed Nelson song until today

I think he will need some guarantees by the end of the month, hopefully we have enough time as you could forgive him for wanting a fresh start, but today he was electric. Needs a nice christmas run and a couple of games in January and I think if he does well and gets minutes he will stay

This is a good point, I see it as a sliding scale, whereas this season it's often been a light switch between aimlessly holding the ball and attacking. We need a better balance between controlling the game (with tempo) and unlocking defenses. I know a lot of people are going to defend Enzoball by suggesting that the reason we have scored so many is because Plymouth have not sat in a low block and have given us space, but I've said from the beginning, arguably better attacking teams like Leeds don't come up against a low block nearly as much as we do and they are far more offensive in their style, If we get the balance right and increase the tempo, I think we can create exciting attacking football whilst controlling the game. This idea that teams only setup as a low block against us because they are scared is just a myth imo, they often do it because we invite them with our often low-tempo passing. This almost feels like Anti-Enzoball today, but I'd be very happy and content if we found a good balance between today and possession football, although I'd obviously prefer this side of the scale most weeks. We just need to find a balance.

What a performance today. Absolutely fantastic, he NEEDS minutes now, he needs to start for the next few weeks to give him some confidence. Plymouth went for it today and that gave him some freedom, but he used that freedom far better than Vardy or Kel have this season and Fatawu/Mavididi played much better as a result of him being on the pitch. We've seen these glimpses before but I really hope this could be the resurgence of the Salzburg Daka that we know is in there.

It's a balance, you're 100% right that often we have not had the space to attack like today, but it's also very obvious that part of the reason we face low blocks is because of the fact we pass it around so slowly and allow them to do it. There are plenty of teams this season who have posed more of an attacking threat such as Leeds, and they don't run into the same low block problem nearly as much as we do. I think if we played more aggressively and quicker we would often create more chances, but because we constantly pass it around for 50-60 passes before attacking we almost invite the low block. Balance is key I think

Nah you don't get any points for fence sitting like that, next time make the call

Especially given how fragile we are in defence and how wasteful we have been in attack this season. I understand that often it's beneficial to go for quality chances over quantity, but given how many chances we have blown this season it's sometimes better to go for brute force

Patson has been absolute fantastic today. Finally seeing sparks of that Salzburg Daka. Need to see him starting every week now to give him some real minutes to solidify himself. For one of the very few times this season, I'm actually not fussed if Cannon stays on the bench.

I don't want to prod the bear too much, but this is not Enzoball, and offensively it's been magnificent. We could easily have 7 today, the game is entertaining. Plymouth have given us a bit of space and credit to them for going for it today, but THIS is what Enzoball should be. I'd be happy if we struck a balance between todays offensive transition and possession.

@CrispinLA in Texas

Based on the current season the performance has been very anti Enzo-ball. Hard to tell if it's because of the Plymouth press or because Enzo has instructed them to be a bit more direct.