StriderHiryu

Even though we are bossing it, this game does have "Football Manager: 75% possession, 30 shots on goal and lose 1-0" vibes to it

We might be behind, but we are playing well. Vardy should have scored! We are getting in behind and if we are clinical we will get goals.

I agree, and think these will be the targets set to them. In fact the targets might even be higher!

I thought Fatawu was away with Ghana, so if Mavididi and Fatawu have been working with Maresca all week, that's really exciting for me to hear. Those two are the two players who I think should be exploding at some point this season! Those are the two players that can turn 2-0 victories into 3's and 4's.

I went on a massive rant in another thread where someone was claiming that he wasn't being used properly. Too many fans just don't watch our games properly! He's been consistently great throughout the season. Players like Xavi, Iniesta and Kroos rarely get more than 5 G+A over the course of an entire season, yet are some of the best players to ever play the game. There are many battles all over the pitch in football, but the football war in every game is won or lost in midfield.

Bit unrelated, but on the left is the pass map for Uruguay's recent win over Brazil in the WCQ's, who are now managed by Marcelo Bielsa. That is a thing of absolute beauty!

^ That's a great article. This was taken from it, and is pretty unusual: If I had to guess, I would suggest that because Ricardo inverts from RB, we are a bit more cautious attacking down that side in case we face a turnover. However, it is also possible that it's not intentional and it's something we want our right forwards to work on. I guess we will find out in this next set of games!

As long as it’s not malicious, constructive criticism of KDH can be a good thing. He’s too good for this level, the stats show that. But with a few adjustments he could become a phenomenal player. There’s a reason why Liverpool were sniffing around. He’s got 5 goals so far, he could get 20 in a league like this! If Maresca keeps his magic up, KDH will be capped for England. He shouldn’t just be a Premier League player, he should be a top quality one. If he can fulfil his potential!

Swansea City vs Leicester City Pre-Match Swansea are definitely a team of two halves to their Championship start. They've gone from looking like a total disaster and an inevitable Manager sacking to 4 wins from 5, playing good football and looking upwardly mobile. ^ Their recent 3-1 away win. They played some really nice stuff in this one and were quite attacking and expansive. ^ One of the less impressive games earlier in the season where they slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Cardiff. So what's changed, and why are Swansea suddenly good? A few things: Russel Martin was their manager last season, where they were a possession heavy side. After he left they appointed Michael Duff who has a different style of play. Duff started the season with a 3142, with wingbacks and two men up top, including Jerry Yates who was linked with us in the summer. However, this wasn't working well, and they moved to a 4231 shape with a really technical double pivot of Charlie Patino and Matt Grimes, who is a really underrated player in this division. The most interesting thing to me is they sacrificed their possession style at the start of the season to go to more of a toe-to-toe approach. And they've got results in doing so. In general, they push their fullbacks up high to create the width as per a typical 4231. However, against Norwich (a game that they won), they sat back a little more. However, they did still have more possession, more shots and more shots on goal. ^ Swansea started the season off with a 3142 system with wingbacks and two men up top. It didn't work out too well. ^ But since shifting to a double pivot and 4231 shape, they've really turned the corner and looked like a good team. Given they are at home, I expect they will have a go, especially in the opening period, and I can see there being gaps behind their fullbacks if our high press does it's thing. However, more than any other team this season so far, including even Southampton and Norwich, I think Swansea have one of the more technical midfields in the division. Will this mean they dare to challenge us to a passing battle in midfield? They might have to because it's the primary way of playing. At the same time, if we win the midfield battle, they could be in trouble as the one thing I'd say they lack in midfield is a bit of bite. I can see a situation where we dominate the ball on their own turf, and they are caught chasing shadows as we have not only a man advantage in the middle of the park, but they lack someone to get it back off of us. With our squad being so much better than anyone else's in this division, it's hard not to see another win on the road, but given their recent form, this is more of a challenge than it looked 6 weeks ago.

Swansea City vs Leicester City Pre-Match Swansea are definitely a team of two halves to their Championship start. They've gone from looking like a total disaster and an inevitable Manager sacking to 4 wins from 5, playing good football and looking upwardly mobile. ^ Their recent 3-1 away win. They played some really nice stuff in this one and were quite attacking and expansive. ^ One of the less impressive games earlier in the season where they slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Cardiff. So what's changed, and why are Swansea suddenly good? A few things: Russel Martin was their manager last season, where they were a possession heavy side. After he left they appointed Michael Duff who has a different style of play. Duff started the season with a 3142, with wingbacks and two men up top, including Jerry Yates who was linked with us in the summer. However, this wasn't working well, and they moved to a 4231 shape with a really technical double pivot of Charlie Patino and Matt Grimes, who is a really underrated player in this division. The most interesting thing to me is they sacrificed their possession style at the start of the season to go to more of a toe-to-toe approach. And they've got results in doing so. In general, they push their fullbacks up high to create the width as per a typical 4231. However, against Norwich (a game that they won), they sat back a little more. However, they did still have more possession, more shots and more shots on goal. ^ Swansea started the season off with a 3142 system with wingbacks and two men up top. It didn't work out too well. ^ But since shifting to a double pivot and 4231 shape, they've really turned the corner and looked like a good team. Given they are at home, I expect they will have a go, especially in the opening period, and I can see there being gaps behind their fullbacks if our high press does its thing. However, more than any other team this season so far, including even Southampton and Norwich, I think Swansea have one of the more technical midfields in the division. Will this mean they dare to challenge us to a passing battle in midfield? They might have to because it's the primary way of playing. At the same time, if we win the midfield battle, they could be in trouble as the one thing I'd say they lack in midfield is a bit of bite. I can see a situation where we dominate the ball on their own turf, and they are caught chasing shadows as we have not only a man advantage in the middle of the park, but they lack someone to get it back off of us. With our squad being so much unfairly better than anyone else's in this division, it's hard not to see another win on the road, but given their recent form, this is more of a challenge than it looked 6 weeks ago.

Saw this thread on Twitter yesterday. Very nerdy but interesting to know what kind of analytics and data the big teams are using. It makes it really hard for people like us to use breakdowns and analysis in comparison, because we aren't privvy to this dataset. Arsenal supposedly have a system where they can pause play, then move players and the data model works out how that position change would statistically affect the game! When you see how effective they were at limiting Man City at the weekend, it makes me think a lot of this stuff is pretty effective.

I suspect that the idea was to rebuild extensively this season regardless, it was the start of a new cycle and many players were going to leave on free transfers. We have started that rebuild, but there's still money left in the kitty, plus assuming we go straight back up have that Premier League money again and a bit more wiggle room for wages. Everyone knocked Forest for signing 20+ players, but they stayed up and we didn't. Sure, Rodgers was a big issue, but far from the only one. Burnley went up, then strengthened quite strongly, but still look like they are in a relegation scrap. That's why I think we will make one or two "marquee" signings, because frankly we will need to. Already, it looks like one of Leeds or Southampton might miss out on promotion, which shows you what a gamble it is to assume you will piss the Championship upon relegation.

A player like that would definitely be useful. I expect us to make some quite high profile signings. When I see Zaniolo going to Villa, Sangare to Forest, Cunha to Wolves, Kluivert and Kerkez to Bournemouth... it makes me realise that the quality of the division has gone up massively, and was one reason why we went down - standing still whilst others added serious reinforcements. For that reason whilst we will sign players with resale value, I think for attacking positions they are likely to be more developed, so maybe players from France, Italy or Spain.

Looking at our squad and where it might be short, I suspect the positions we would sign are: New CAM New LCB to compete with Doyle One more winger to compete with Mavididi Striker who can link play CAM: James McAtee seems like the obvious choice. Blades get relegated, we sign him on a permanent. LCB: A position where I think we might spend a surprisingly large amount. Arthur Theate at Rennes or Pierro Hincapie at Leverkusen. These might seem far-fetched, but when you see some of the signings Forest, Bournemouth and Villa have pulled off, anything seems possible to me these days. Kristiansen leaves to make space. Winger: Ask @Ric Flair to spin his rolodex and pull someone out. I think it will be a right footer this time, which should make things a lot easier. Striker: Despite signing Cannon and having three other strikers to hand, I think Daka leaves and Vardy retires. We'd want someone that can press from the front, link play, drop deep, can finish and can stretch the play. Such a player will be pretty pricey. Maybe Evanilson from Porto, but would expect him to be in demand. I could also see us sign another ball playing CB, but think that will be low on priority. Vestergaard gets given a new contract I suspect.

I've watched a lot of Ipswich games. They are a great team, but that teams don't sit back against them, they have a go. If you watch Preston play them on the weekend, it was hard to believe it was the same Preston that showed up at the KP and parked the bus. When Southampton left space in behind, we destroyed them. We have plenty of fast and direct goals, but they tend to be in the last 20 minutes when teams get tired.

I couldn't find it. I think it's an actual dissertation so it must exist somewhere, but probably written in Italian and only available at educational facilities. TBH the Iheanacho goal against Stoke IS his philosophy. Move the opponent's pieces to develop an advantage for yourself. Iheanacho was the Knight that was pinning both the Queen and the King!

There was an interview with him post match where he said he had “to work hard in the middle of the pitch” so maybe you’re right. Personally I think it’s more that Enzo challenged him to get more involved in the game. I can’t think of a tactical reason for him to drop given the way Stoke played.

🐐 This is a textbook Man City / Guardiola goal. A cutback-from an inside-run from one of the attacking 8's. You see this type of goal scored by Man City, Arsenal, Burnley and now us. Compress play in one half of the field. Switch the ball out to the opposite winger who is totally free. They play the ball into the half-space. The 8 attacks the half-space and cuts it back. Either the striker, other 8, or other winger will be attacking the box to score. A great example of a well rehearsed attacking pattern of play. It's also a good showcase of how with system football you can make decision-making easy for players. Fatawu doesn't need to try to be a hero, neither does Ndidi, it's simple one touch football that is very hard to defend against. We will score many goals like this over the next few years.

This is a textbook Man City / Guardiola goal. A cutback-from an inside-run from one of the attacking 8's. You see this type of goal scored by Man City, Arsenal, Burnley and now us. Compress play in one half of the field. Switch the ball out to the opposite winger who is totally free. They play the ball into the half-space. The 8 attacks the half-space and cuts it back. Either the striker, other 8, or other winger will be attacking the box to score. A great example of a well rehearsed attacking pattern of play. It's also a good showcase of how with system football you can make decision-making easy for players. Fatawu doesn't need to try to be a hero, neither does Ndidi, it's simple one touch football that is very hard to defend against.

It was hilarious listening to those two

I feel sympathy for other fans in the division, because let's be honest it has felt like that at times for us in the Premier League when playing against the moneybag clubs. Even worse, in the Premier League you get commentary like in the recent Liverpool game where they ignore the fact that we were even playing. We are very good, but it's true that it's a piss take that we are in this division. If you ever wondered what would happen if you took a top 10 Premier League team and whacked them in the Championship for a season, well, you are getting your answer. But at the same time, why are Ipswich schooling the Championship where the likes of Stoke and Norwich aren't? Stoke have a good budget at this level, Norwich signed a lot of experienced players from the Premier League and have a manager that got promoted from this division. So whilst our squad is clearly unfair, a lot of these teams could be doing a lot better.

This would have been a class goal:

You mean THIS turn and through ball? Nacho has definitely found his form in the last few games, and has been playing great.

Enzo said he's quite happy for it! It's because players can rest, and given we play high intensity, that's important. Even from a mental point of view, it can be important. Maresca is superb at the rotation part of the game. If you look at Man City, you would be surprised at how many games some of their players actually start. Grealish only started 20 games last season, Foden the same. Because their team is always fresh, they get the best out of their players and they are very consistent. None of our players look gassed like Tielemans from last season, none of the usual suspects are breaking down with impact injuries, other than Doyle who up till that point had played a lot of games in a row. But for us fans it definitely comes at the wrong time! We are all loving watching our team play at the moment, not just because we are winning, but we are winning well.