StriderHiryu

In the last block of games Maresca didn’t rotate the squad enough. This is the worst team in the league so now’s the time to do it. Start Coady, Yunus, Praet and get some minutes for Cannon in the second half. Bring the big guns on second half if we’re struggling. The games come thick and fast now!

I think we’ll wait till we are in the Premier League because I think we’ll spend 25-30M on one. It will be someone who is really technical and good at dropping deep.

International break is well worth pointing out. Look how many teams dropped points this weekend, it definitely disrupted the flow for many. The striker thing I also agree with. We brought Cannon but I think if we go up we’ll buy another one.

I agree with you Matt! Here are some of my takes today: This isn't my channel, so I don't feel bad blatantly upselling it on here . TL:DR Watford went man for man, but noticeably stood off us and were happy for us to have the ball until we passed a certain point on the pitch. The first half was very slow and patient. IMO way too slow and way too patient. There was a point in the game where Kasey McAteer made a superb challenge to win the ball and the break was on, but after he passed it the ball went backwards when we had superiority in transition. However, in the last 5-10 minutes we turned up the pressure massively. McAteer header, KDH chance, Mavididi causing chaos, etc. Half-time came at a good time for Watford who were hanging on. Second half was much better: Making subs at 55 instead of 60 I liked. Gave us more time to find the "solution" as Enzo likes to say. Our bench was absolutely frightening today. No one in the division can come close to the options we can bring on. We missed tons of chances, KDH off the post, Mavididi's shot almost snuck in, Vardy missing sitters. But even when all of these happened, I looked at the clock, and it read "65:00." Even though we hadn't scored in 4 hours of play, I felt like there was no way we weren't scoring today. After we scored, we didn't manage the game too well, a pattern that we've surprisingly seen quite a bit. Watford should have scored, and we get away with things like this in this division. The frustrating thing is these chances aren't coming from great play, but falling asleep. This wasn't like the wonderful freekick Boro scored, this was just not keeping care of the ball. Many supporters, myself included, would like us to play a bit more aggressively earlier in games, when we clearly wait until later on. When it gets chaotic in the opposition box, this is what usually results in us scoring. So instead of trying to walk it into the back of the net like we try in the first half, perhaps we should go for more 50/50s, as with our quality we will win a lot of these. Controlling the game makes a lot of sense, but I feel like this same performance in the Premier League would see us go a goal down and then be desperate to score. Look at Burnley who lost again today. Overall we controlled the game, thoroughly deserved to win and this was much like we've seen all season. Tire out the opposition in the first 60 and then kill them in the final 30 of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There have been games where we really turn up the attack and go for it, but I feel like we could be doing this way, way sooner. Tiring out the opposition, I do get that, but you can also blitz a team and bury them in the first 15-20 minutes. It's OK sometimes to go for more chaotic attacks where you try and win the 50/50's. I am not the biggest Gary Neville fan, but something he says about Man City is that the current version is his favourite version of them because with Haaland (and now to some extent with Doku) they play the percentage ball sometimes, because they have a world class striker that will bury chances. Vardy may not be what he once was, but Ihenacho and Vardy are in a different stratosphere to any other strikers in this division. Basically my worry is that with his style we aren't creating enough chances as we will need in the top flight. However, we should give him the benefit of the doubt, we are top of the table, have the best defence and are scoring goals. Let's get promoted and see what kind of team we have by the time September rolls around next season.

Some thoughts here from me on Beyond the 90: This isn't my channel, so I don't feel bad blatantly upselling it on here . TL:DR Watford went man for man, but noticeably stood off us and were happy for us to have the ball until we passed a certain point on the pitch. The first half was very slow and patient. IMO way too slow and way too patient. There was a point in the game where Kasey McAteer made a superb challenge to win the ball and the break was on, but after he passed it the ball went backwards when we had superiority in transition. However, in the last 5-10 minutes we turned up the pressure massively. McAteer header, KDH chance, Mavididi causing chaos, etc. Half-time came at a good time for Watford who were hanging on. Second half was much better: Making subs at 55 instead of 60 I liked. Gave us more time to find the "solution" as Enzo likes to say. Our bench was absolutely frightening today. No one in the division can come close to the options we can bring on. We missed tons of chances, KDH off the post, Mavididi's shot almost snuck in, Vardy missing sitters. But even when all of these happened, I looked at the clock, and it read"65:00." Even though we hadn't scored in 4 hours of play, I felt like there was no way we weren't scoring today. After we scored, we didn't manage the game too well, a pattern that we've surprisingly seen quite a bit. Watford should have scored, and we get away with things like this in this division. The frustrating thing is these chances aren't coming from great play, but falling asleep. This wasn't like the wonderful freekick Boro scored, this was just not keeping care of the ball. Many supporters, myself included, would like us to play a bit more aggressively earlier in games, when we clearly wait until later on. When it gets chaotic in the opposition box, this is what usually results in us scoring. So instead of trying to walk it into the back of the net like we try in the first half, perhaps we should go for more 50/50s, as with our quality we will win a lot of these. Controlling the game makes a lot of sense, but I feel like this same performance in the Premier League would see us go a goal down and then be desperate to score. Look at Burnley who lost again today. Overall we controlled the game, thoroughly deserved to win and this was much like we've seen all season. Tire out the opposition in the first 60 and then kill them in the final 30 of the game.

Jamie Vardy summed up!

Goals win games, clean sheets win Championships. What division are we in again...?

This style of play is highly effective at controlling the game, but needs tweaks (or possibly just more practice) in the attacking third. That said, in that last 5 minutes I felt Watford were hanging on, and it was a shame the halftime whistle blew because the goal felt like it was coming. Hopefully we can bag a few in the second half, I think we deserve to be ahead.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12762017/Burnley-Leeds-Leicester-SUE-Everton-300million.html Terrible paper, but interesting news.

In West Ham's case they paid some upfront and some as a % every year. The % means you can amortize it over a longer period. E.g. agree to pay 50M over 10 years.

It seems inevitable to me we will compensated to some degree by this news. It's reported the difference between survival and relegation is as much as 100M! Might not get that amount but seems likely to be hefty. What will happen to Man City?! Any punishment with them would affect all clubs, but there's a very strong argument for us given missed Champions League revenues.

Sheffield United settled for 20m when they were relegated and West Ham survived, despite the dodgy signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/mar/16/sheffield-united-west-ham-carlos-tevez

That's my take on it too. We started the second half badly, but around 60 minutes we took control of the game and we had lots of really good chances, but couldn't convert. Poor decision making in the final third. A stunner from them to win, you have to give Greenwood praise for a terrific free-kick. It kind of feels like other teams have worked us out though. Haven't scored in the last two, and the underlying data suggests we didn't deserve to score many either.

That's my point!

I'm concerned. For large periods we had control of the game and possession and did make some good opportunities. But this team has looked like it's needed the international break for a few games already, and this one is no different. I imagine the subs this half will be Fatawu, Casadei and Vardy... is that enough to turn the game? Last 5 minutes Boro had some excellent opportunities and should be ahead.

I find it interesting that Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna are both doing very good jobs for their respective clubs, whereas Man United are in a mess. They will never do it, but purging a lot of their ageing squad and brining in one of them to overhaul everything, starting with a young core, would probably be the way to truly reboot them. I think both managers will have opportunities in the Premier League, either with their current clubs or those that fancy a change. McKenna seems to be the better one, but Carrick changed Boro from a team in the relegation zone to at one point almost getting into the automatics, he didn't need a lot of time to change their style of play or results. I have to say that a lot of the teams in the Championship have pleasantly surprised me. I know a lot of our fans think the lack of quality here is eye-opening, and it is! But there's a lot of young managers trying to play attractive and possession based football, and I think that bodes really well for the national team in the future.

Middlesborough vs Leicester Pre-Match Preview Boro are a really decent team and have a player I really admire in Michael Carrick in charge who has done an excellent job. He took over when they were in the relegation zone, changed their style of play and took them to the play-offs! I had them down as potential automatic promotion contenders when we first went down, but they got gutted by losing many of their star players such as last season's Championship player of the year Chuba Apkom and started the season badly as a result. However, recent form has picked up a lot and have only dropped points in 2 of their last 10 games. Boro are an attacking team and average a high number of xG in all their games/ Even when their results were bad, the underlying data suggested they were unlucky. They play 4231, but function somewhat similar to Ange Postecoglou's teams, where they go for a back 3 in possession. However, unlike us, the spare fullback doesn't play as an extra midfielder, but as a wide player. This allows them to play a support striker / number 10, and this is the position where Chuba Akpom last season was so deadly from. They maintain a double pivot throughout the match to give them midfield control, and they are a high possession team most of the time. Boro are a modern team; they build from the back and press high up the pitch. However, some of their players aren't as good as last season. Senny Dieng isn't as good with his feet as Zack Steffen was, Emannuel Latteh Lah is no Cameron Archer up front for them. Boro are a fun team to watch because whilst they offer a lot in attack, they take chances at the back and have a lot of space in behind. The 3-3 game I posted above in their last match against Plymouth attesting to that opinion! On paper I'd expect us to win this game. They will create problems, but like we've done in pretty much every away game this season, we should be able to kill them with our quality and especially on the transition. Stephy Mavididi in particular could have a lot of space to work with if we find him. That said, energy levels are important. This is a team that at home especially, will take the game to us, and they like to start fast. We must match their workrate right from the off, and this would be my one concern. as to me it's looked like the players have needed some time off for quite a while, and we could really do with players like Ndidi and Praet back, as well as being able to use Yunus Akgun and Kasey McAteer more often from the bench. ^ An example of Boro in possession. ^ The passing network from the same game. Look how high one of their fullbacks (number 2) gets in their build-up!

Middlesborough vs Leicester Pre-Match Preview Boro are a really decent team and have a player I really admire in Michael Carrick in charge who has done an excellent job. He took over when they were in the relegation zone, changed their style of play and took them to the play-offs! I had them down as potential automatic promotion contenders when we first went down, but they got gutted by losing many of their star players such as last season's Championship player of the year Chuba Apkom and started the season badly as a result. However, recent form has picked up a lot and have only dropped points in 2 of their last 10 games. Boro are an attacking team and average a high number of xG in all their games/ Even when their results were bad, the underlying data suggested they were unlucky. They play 4231, but function somewhat similar to Ange Postecoglou's teams, where they go for a back 3 in possession. However, unlike us, the spare fullback doesn't play as an extra midfielder, but as a wide player. This allows them to play a support striker / number 10, and this is the position where Chuba Akpom last season was so deadly from. They maintain a double pivot throughout the match to give them midfield control, and they are a high possession team most of the time. Boro are a modern team; they build from the back and press high up the pitch. However, some of their players aren't as good as last season. Senny Dieng isn't as good with his feet as Zack Steffen was, Emannuel Latteh Lah is no Cameron Archer up front for them. Boro are a fun team to watch because whilst they offer a lot in attack, they take chances at the back and have a lot of space in behind. The 3-3 game I posted above in their last match against Plymouth attesting to that opinion! On paper I'd expect us to win this game. They will create problems, but like we've done in pretty much every away game this season, we should be able to kill them with our quality and especially on the transition. Stephy Mavididi in particular could have a lot of space to work with if we find him. That said, energy levels are important. This is a team that at home especially, will take the game to us, and they like to start fast. We must match their workrate right from the off, and this would be my one concern. as to me it's looked like the players have needed some time off for quite a while, and we could really do with players like Ndidi and Praet back, as well as being able to use Yunus Akgun and Kasey McAteer more often from the bench. ^ An example of Boro in possession. ^ The passing network from the same game. Look how high one of their fullbacks (number 2) gets in their build-up!

We need him back. We laughed at Ndidi being moved to a CAM, but he's been great there. But we don't have good cover and Casadei is a bit too raw still. Praet and Ndidi rotating will piss the division. I know Yunus and McAteer have been tried there, but Praet has a lot more experience as a CAM.

There's also a learning process. It might take many games, even the full season to get used to it, and I am talking about being in the Premier League. Roberto Di Zerbi managed to get Brighton playing his style very quickly, inside just a few months. So it can be done! But he did say that Graham Potter did amazing work before he got there, because every single player in the team was good at playing the ball out from the back, as that's what Potter instructed them to do. The difference was that RDZ turned that into a weapon by luring teams onto them. If we want to do the same thing, we need to get used to playing teams who get right up in our faces. We definitely showed we could do it on occasion, even in this game:

Super cool video from the guy that makes the Football Meta videos I post here sometimes. Shows you how training sessions are devised to try to create patterns of play and defensive blocks. Regarding the talks of cut-backs and patterns of play. You can't learn them all at once! Take a look at this break down of the chance creation methods used by Man City: https://spielverlagerung.com/2020/09/21/analysing-manchester-citys-attack-chance-creation-methods/ Look how many there are! And they have since added more to their arsenal with new players being added to the squad. You have to give Enzo time, his way of working has a huge ceiling and potential, but might be a bit lacklustre early doors. That we have already made such a great start under his tenure is amazing. Look at the length of time it took Pep, Klopp and Arteta before their teams really started to get good... these things don't happen overnight.

Their press was really impressive. Half time gave them time to get their breath and they came out with as strong a press at the start of the second half. Farke's game management was great, making subs to keep the momentum going, or taking off Summerville when it looked like he might get sent off. Imagine how you'd be feeling if in your pre-match analysis, you called this out as one of the weak links of the Leeds midfield To me it felt like Farke recognised the wingers were the dangermen so asked his players to slow them down rather than commit to win the ball back quickly, forcing them to turn back and go inside. Not attacking the box, I think that's down to the superb job both of the Leeds double pivot did, but also because our players have been overused in recent weeks. Ndidi's injury means we can't bring him on, and the role of the 8's is one of the most up and down in the team. I think it's fair criticism to say that neither were good enough in that game. High praise from one of the legendary Big Strong Leicester Boys! Fair enough, I never claim to be the font of wisdom on here! I encourage people to put their own notes here too and get the discussion going! Regarding subs and rotating the squad, I agree with you. In the video we go through this and do say that the lack of rotation and game management is a big criticism we can rightly have of Maresca. Saying Leeds weren't as good as Sunderland does Leeds a disservice, though. Sunderland only had one really good opportunity in the whole match, Leeds had 6 shots on target compared to our 1. Other than the possession stats, all of the other underlying data shows us that this was the first team other than Liverpool this season that truly outplayed us. It could be inexperience, it could be coming up with a solution to a problem that we haven't really encountered before. You're right, we stopped being able to connect passes through the team in that second half. This team needs to figure out how to maintain the passing under pressure and controlling the game. If you can do it, you can totally open up teams that try to press you, but if you get it wrong you are under pressure. It's a fine line, and makes for some exciting games.

I suspect because we didn't want to push so many players forwards that there were even more gaps in behind. Plus these players have played almost all of the games recently and were probably quite leggy. Our players need a rest, hopefully we can bounce back against Boro, then there's another break.

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video: Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique. The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition. This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline. I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall. The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there. However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game. In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal. Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet. Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar. Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match. I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game. Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed. Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it. Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier. The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break. Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game. That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make. That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game. I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too. Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback. One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way! Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!