• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Tactics Thread

Thought I’d scan this thread to see what it had about playing 3 at the back
The trend is to play 3-4-3 rather than 3-5-2
For us though apart form Brennan out wide players don’t score goals which would make the 3-4-3 a bit static
I do think a 3-5-2 could work if the wide players in the 5 play up rather than play in a defensive 5
We don’t have that flexibility in the squad currently but I did say in the signings thread signing someone like Alex Grimaldo would add that on the left (he is 30 🤬)
The reason why I like 3 at the back is because we do have decent CBs who can play most of the time and we will have another returning from loan
We don’t however have many options in that DM type role

I could see a set up like this

Vic

Danso. Romero VDV

Palhina/bentacur/gray

Porro/spence. Destiny /spence

Gray/sarr/berg/xavi/kudus/kulu/madds

Richy/RKM/Dom/Tel/johsnon

We could always play kudus and Odobert as wing backs or as 10s in midfield

It’s me spit balling an ideas but based around how Frank has Brentford playing with 2 up top
 
metalgear said:
i think TF needs to be decisive now and be clear who his first eleven are.
all this chopping and changing is not doing the players any good.
rotate by all means - but less in the starting line up, more in terms of tactics and early subs

then he can start to be a ruthless bastard and drop/promote players by their performance.
Click to expand...
It’s what’s killed him
No one knows what the hell our best team is or how we are meant to play most the polar opposite of the recent managers who played one way
So everyone looks at the team sheet, including the media and thinks.. okay what are we being asked to support today
 
metalgear said:
i think TF needs to be decisive now and be clear who his first eleven are.
all this chopping and changing is not doing the players any good.
rotate by all means - but less in the starting line up, more in terms of tactics and early subs

then he can start to be a ruthless bastard and drop/promote players by their performance.
Click to expand...
I think he has to rotate the starting 11 as long as we have two games a week. Not doing so seems very likely to result in fatigue and injuries.

I want us to have some kind of identity though, regardless of who starts any given game. And regardless of what kind of formation and strategy we use for a given game (games against the very best teams maybe excluded from that).

To the extent we have an identity at the moment it seems to be: Play it safe and try to progress the ball down the wings ending with a cross or set piece. Failing that we play it long.

If that's the identity we have (even if it's just for now) be honest about it. I know different people have different opinions on the "it's who we are" quote. I know that's not what everyone wanted. But it was who we were at the time, it was clear.
 
braineclipse said:
If that's the identity we have (even if it's just for now) be honest about it. I know different people have different opinions on the "it's who we are" quote. I know that's not what everyone wanted. But it was who we were at the time, it was clear.
Click to expand...
Personally I think it's a weird concept (or probably just modern life) that people require labels or soundbites to make them more comfortable with a situation/concept.

And even moreso if you are actually outside the group it matters too.
 
metalgear said:
i think TF needs to be decisive now and be clear who his first eleven are.
all this chopping and changing is not doing the players any good.
rotate by all means - but less in the starting line up, more in terms of tactics and early subs

then he can start to be a ruthless bastard and drop/promote players by their performance.
Click to expand...
He's probably not clear on his 11 because it's not really working. We did try a fairly set approach at the start of the season with mixed results. I think that's subsequently led on to him trying various things to try and get the choir to sing in tune which comes across as incessant tinkering.

I think with a decently balanced squad then a coach can have more confidence in the players and system they are choosing.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
Personally I think it's a weird concept (or probably just modern life) that people require labels or soundbites to make them more comfortable with a situation/concept.

And even moreso if you are actually outside the group it matters too.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I'm weird 😊

I would be reasonably satisfied just seeing an identity too. But more so if it was an identity I like and agree with.
 
braineclipse said:
Perhaps I'm weird 😊

I would be reasonably satisfied just seeing an identity too. But more so if it was an identity I like and agree with.
Click to expand...
I would too....but I don't need it communicated to me.

Its probably because I find labels/soundbites a trap for the people saying them. Held against them and then used to bash them. On balance they serve no purpose for them.

I don't remember Poch communicating in such a manner (perhaps because his English wasn't very good), his plan just unfolded week to week on the field.
 
braineclipse said:
I think he has to rotate the starting 11 as long as we have two games a week. Not doing so seems very likely to result in fatigue and injuries.

I want us to have some kind of identity though, regardless of who starts any given game. And regardless of what kind of formation and strategy we use for a given game (games against the very best teams maybe excluded from that).

To the extent we have an identity at the moment it seems to be: Play it safe and try to progress the ball down the wings ending with a cross or set piece. Failing that we play it long.

If that's the identity we have (even if it's just for now) be honest about it. I know different people have different opinions on the "it's who we are" quote. I know that's not what everyone wanted. But it was who we were at the time, it was clear.
Click to expand...
yeah but maybe 1 or 2 players and then early subs.
at least start the game with some solid consistency and also for the subs to watch and learn
currently everyone seems to not understand how to play together and it makes it harder to see who deserves more game time
 
Bishop said:
He's probably not clear on his 11 because it's not really working. We did try a fairly set approach at the start of the season with mixed results. I think that's subsequently led on to him trying various things to try and get the choir to sing in tune which comes across as incessant tinkering.

I think with a decently balanced squad then a coach can have more confidence in the players and system they are choosing.
Click to expand...

Based on his presser this week, it does feel like he is looking to establish 7-9 first team choices that the others can rotate around. It doesn't feel like he's looking for a best eleven unless I interpreted it incorrectly.

When I think about it more, our defence is about a mini-squad of 6 players of which only 4 will play in most games. The things that are dynamically changing are losing the left-footedness of Udogie, plus the passing of Romero and Porro. After 22 games we should be mostly assimilated to these subtle changes.

In midfield and attack it is clearly different. Have we really established a pattern yet that we can anchor on? We've tried the double pivot anchor and we've seen some different combos and tactics. Frank seems stuck between the dog wagging the tail, and the tail wagging the dog i.e. he changes the tactics based on the players versus making players stick to set tactics. Who knows which is the best approach but it's clearly not working.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
I would too....but I don't need it communicated to me.

Its probably because I find labels/soundbites a trap for the people saying them. Held against them and then used to bash them. On balance they serve no purpose for them.

I don't remember Poch communicating in such a manner (perhaps because his English wasn't very good), his plan just unfolded week to week on the field.
Click to expand...
In general I do think the importance of what's being said in press conferences to be way overstated.

I wouldn't mind nothing being said about it. But I would prefer some honesty.

Pochettino was continually going on about bravery, IIRC both in and out of possession. And for sure we were brave. I don't expect a detailed description of our tactical plans, but overall approach/philosophy I think is good to get communicated with some clarity.

You make a good point that people in these situations are essentially unable to be wrong. It does get used against them and I don't think there's a great way to say "that was our plan, but circumstances changed" without that too being used against them.
 
metalgear said:
yeah but maybe 1 or 2 players and then early subs.
at least start the game with some solid consistency and also for the subs to watch and learn
currently everyone seems to not understand how to play together and it makes it harder to see who deserves more game time
Click to expand...
1 or 2 could be fine.

I think our issues with not understanding how to play run deeper than rotation. Part of it confidence too.

We seem to me to be trying to play with more risk now, more through a press, more through midfield. But we're struggling to execute it for various reasons.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back