Thracian Posted 29 October 2012 Share Posted 29 October 2012 The problem we had yesterday - and for long stretches of the Brighton game too - is that no-one in our midfield knows how to put a tackle in. Barca have Busquets and/or Song, Man City have Yaya Toure, Chelsea have Mikel and Ramires. All of these sides are successful because they know that in order to pass the ball around, sometimes you have to win possession first. We had to chase the ball a lot in the Birmingham and Brighton games and the effects were clear to see against Palace. The manager observed that many of our players had an off day. i hope he's able to work out why. Knockaert is a young player still getting to grips with the physical demands of English football and playing his fifth game in a fortnight. No wonder he looked shattered. The depth of our squad is the envy of many in this division. Maybe it's time we started to make more use of it. Yes, Palace had a game plan. But they were helped in its execution by pub-team defending for both goals (how we missed SSL) and a referee who'd lose an eyesight test with Stevie Wonder. If the red card had been given and the penalty scored, who knows what may have happened in the last 20 minutes? We might have been able to step up a gear and rescue a point or maybe even all three. Instead, heads dropped, and when we finally managed a decent cross for the first time in the afternoon it was converted, but far too late. However we are still in the top two and as long as lessons are learned, we should be able to stay there. To some extent I agree about our tackling but I am sure there are statistics available to show we had plenty of the the ball overall - and it's what we did with it that needs examining. If we're going to panic and lose faith in our ability to pass the ball because a strong team closes us down quickly then we've not quite got the talent we thought we had. Surely we couldn't have been surprised by Palace. And yet in the first 10 minutes we couldn't pass wind and we couldn't trap a mouse in a goldfish bowl. And as our faith evaporated the broadly long-forgotten hoof returned - as the option which largely abdicated any responsibility for the consequences. A watched Van Persie's goal against Chelsea. It came from a position where it would have been so easy to loft a cross high across the edge of the six yard box. Instead the striker was purposely picked out with a hard, low, pinpoint pass and not even good defenders had chance to do anything about it because the ball arrived quickly and VP took just one touch to finish with style. We hardly ever pick out such a pass and, unfortunately, Knockaert will never take one touch when 10 will give him more fun. Put simply, if we are to remain the threat we've been then every player has to pass and move with one or two touches and that should be no different in the final third. Up front It's obvious we don't have much of an aerial threat so either we have to continue passing the ball along the floor - and with pace - or we need to pick out specific runners with our crosses. High and hopeful doesn't trouble anyone. It's a kop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Fatboyslow_ Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Yes I do. Quite possibly the easiest thing in the world...... Even easier than getting them to poo on the floor...... On a more serious note,if all is well with the squad, from your write up it sounds as if it was the inexperience with our players that was the main issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbelladave Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 On a more serious note,if all is well with the squad, from your write up it sounds as if it was the inexperience with our players that was the main issue That and our setup...... Our current style puts huge emphasis on the passing play of Drinkwater and King, close them out and you stop us playing as we have no other options. As I have said many times, changing our formation and playing with Knockaert or Marshall in the hole gives us options and on the odd occasion we have done that it has showed considerable promise. However we do need for our players to know how to play any such system, when we switched (to 4-3-3) on saturday our front players did not appear to have a clue....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 That and our setup...... Our current style puts huge emphasis on the passing play of Drinkwater and King, close them out and you stop us playing as we have no other options. As I have said many times, changing our formation and playing with Knockaert or Marshall in the hole gives us options and on the odd occasion we have done that it has showed considerable promise. However we do need for our players to know how to play any such system, when we switched (to 4-3-3) on saturday our front players did not appear to have a clue....... Morning Dave.. I'm tending to agree with Thrac here. We have to be careful that teams don't start to suss Knocky out. Palace seemed to have done....? He's a wonderfully talented little player but if everything goes through him he'll be stamped on. We have to mix it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deep blue Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Have not seen any footage but live it appeared that Schmeichel simply made no effort to come for the ball, if he was fouled then maybe I am wrong, I'll look out for the incident when i see the lowlights..... I can assure you that was the case. I was in line with the edge of the pen so had a fine view. Because Schmeichel messed up with the first goal, arriving too late & dropping the ball, I concentrated on watching him from before the corner was taken. He was definitely impeded and prevented from leaving his line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Fatboyslow_ Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 However we do need for our players to know how to play any such system, when we switched (to 4-3-3) on saturday our front players did not appear to have a clue....... Have to say that I do think that is the way forward 4-3 -? With James, Marshall and knocky we would appear to have enough options on how to implement a three man mid field and the same applies to our current strikers depending on how we want to line up 1-2 / 3 / 2-1 however if the players cannt play that way or NFP wont use it then there's not much we can do. That said with a young core of players I for one do think it is early days and we need to see how things work out. Any success this season has to be a bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbelladave Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Morning Dave.. I'm tending to agree with Thrac here. We have to be careful that teams don't start to suss Knocky out. Palace seemed to have done....? He's a wonderfully talented little player but if everything goes through him he'll be stamped on. We have to mix it up. On the odd occasion I have seen Knockaert play through the middle (for more than a minute or two at a time) I felt he mixes it up quite well. Thrac is being a little harsh on a player that does not fit his 'give and go ' style and I am sure that more work with Knockaert is needed, cutting out the tricks when he comes deep to pick up the ball, for example. That said if we are pushing for promotion, some teams will come and 'park the bus', so Knockaert's trickery might be what we need to unlock them. That said, I think Marshall can, if needed, play much the same role. His recent poor form has coincided with him being pushed wide left a role he does not appear to much like, so when given a more central role on saturday, however briefly, he looked quite lively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbelladave Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Have to say that I do think that is the way forward 4-3 -? With James, Marshall and knocky we would appear to have enough options on how to implement a three man mid field and the same applies to our current strikers depending on how we want to line up 1-2 / 3 / 2-1 however if the players cannt play that way or NFP wont use it then there's not much we can do. That said with a young core of players I for one do think it is early days and we need to see how things work out. Any success this season has to be a bonus. Right now (defending set pieces apart) I think our back 4 and our (holding) midfield 2 look pretty settled, the problem is in front of them where, quite frankly, there is little going on. The front two play well forward and the widemen are, well, wide, leaving King and Drinkwater huge spaces to cover going forward and if put under pressure few options as no one much comes short to help them out. Playing Knockaert or Marshall in the hole takes a huge amount of work off our central pairing and immediately gives them an option that they have rarely had this season. This really leaves us with just the one man up front, Nugent (probably) or Vardy and a choice of players for the wide positions. I am sure the players can play that way but I do wonder if we have the coaching expertise to step past 4-4-2 and play something a little more interesting and inventive...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artursteppe Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Like Dave, I have been banging on about 4-2-3-1 since pre- season. The squad we have is ideally suited to that system and has been from the start. Midfield holding duo, Drinkwater and James, ( maybe King at times ), forward three midfielders any from: King, Marshall, Knockaert, Vardy, Dyer and even Nugent if we got a new striker. Next game I'd play:- Drinkwater, James; Marshall, King, Vardy; Nugent - giving Anthony a rest to use off the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbelladave Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 Like Dave, I have been banging on about 4-2-3-1 since pre- season. The squad we have is ideally suited to that system and has been from the start. Midfield holding duo, Drinkwater and James, ( maybe King at times ), forward three midfielders any from: King, Marshall, Knockaert, Vardy, Dyer and even Nugent if we got a new striker. Next game I'd play:- Drinkwater, James; Marshall, King, Vardy; Nugent - giving Anthony a rest to use off the bench. I do not much like your suggested starting XI but it doesn't really matter, the key is flexibility, with the attacking trio available to receive the ball and a commitment to get forward and support the striker. A bit of pace and the ball played in to feet, far better than these long diagonal crosses that we have been using of late, driving at the box with the ball on the floor will worry big championship defenders who are used to winning the ball in the air. I hope we have the coaches to get us playing this way, far better than persisting with the long ball and and bringing in a 'big man' to try and get on the end of them........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 If you watch the Sky highlights ,the game could easily have been a high scoring draw http://www.skysports...8203155,00.html I've been away all weekend, so first chance I have got to see the highlights, apart from the typical brief goals on the FLS. After reading the comments on here and the BBC reports I was surprised on how many chances we carved out, great chance for Nugent at the start, then another one for Knocky, 2 headers cleared off the line, then the goal. I did have to laugh at the stats at the end of the video after 2 shots on target after just showing 5 shots on target BBC stats say the same 2 on target Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynamark Posted 30 October 2012 Share Posted 30 October 2012 First time Ive seen that,Both goals from inswinging pacey corners(note).Kasper was never quite getting to the first due to the pace but it looked like he had called it and the defenders expected him to get there.Second well worked move they managed to work a hole in the centre of our defence.But the handball on the line not given -incredible.Good reaction by the lad to get his hand to it.By comparison Knockys corners not so much pace on the ball more loft.Thought Ricardo was back at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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