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Welcome Ange: To Dare is to Didgeridoo

Lilbaz said:
Our poor performances in the prem have coincided with playing after the europa game midweek.
Thurs to sun is a killer for us. Not just tiredness but minimal prep time.
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This
Scary how it’s not recognised more that the turnaround in europa is toxic compared to other comps
Said it before but I’ve heard a couple of ex pros being honest about it and say the lack of home time hurt them, the lack of rest time hurt them and the travel was a killer
You don’t have the same scale, or didn’t, with the CL because you typically played teams more Central Europe and could be home that night if things aligned
After our Gala game the team got home lunchtime next day
I don’t know the routine after that but at best the prep time for the next game would have been one session I assume
It’s nuts but that’s progress
 
Unbelievable result. A real feather in Ange's cap!

For those who watched the game, can you detail how the game went tactically and whether we were lucky to keep a clean sheet (the part that most surprised me).
 
I genuinely think that what would help Ange the most is turning those defeats into draws. Imagine the difference between LWLWLW and DWDWDW to the psychology of the squad. It's not as if the losses are by more than the odd goal. Just with the 3 points in the last 6 games, we would be in the top 4.
 
glorygloryeze said:
Unbelievable result. A real feather in Ange's cap!

For those who watched the game, can you detail how the game went tactically and whether we were lucky to keep a clean sheet (the part that most surprised me).
Click to expand...
We struggled at first, but improved. Weathered the storm a bit. We ran more, sprinted more (source: some podcast), battled really well. Contained them reasonably well though they easily could have scored a couple, yes we were lucky with that.

We counter attacked really well, but also did well to play through their pressing as Ange also highlighted post game. I think that was key. Maddison was really important including dropping deep quite a bit to help us play through pressure - in addition to the goal. Not a poor performance in sight from our players. Kulusevski was awesome. Bissouma playing on a yellow for close to 90 minutes really impressive. Another really strong performance from Sarr. Our full backs looked energetic particularly defensively.

Gvardiol must have listened to Modric telling us what a wonderful club we are because he really helped us out for a couple of the goals.
 
Muttley said:
I genuinely think that what would help Ange the most is turning those defeats into draws. Imagine the difference between LWLWLW and DWDWDW to the psychology of the squad. It's not as if the losses are by more than the odd goal. Just with the 3 points in the last 6 games, we would be in the top 4.
Click to expand...
I too think losing once every two games is not great 😉 (hope some kind of humour gets across).

Some fine margins there that stack up. Don't think Ange will adjust at all to play for draws just about ever. But another 3 points definitely would have been super useful.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
This
Scary how it’s not recognised more that the turnaround in europa is toxic compared to other comps
Said it before but I’ve heard a couple of ex pros being honest about it and say the lack of home time hurt them, the lack of rest time hurt them and the travel was a killer
You don’t have the same scale, or didn’t, with the CL because you typically played teams more Central Europe and could be home that night if things aligned
After our Gala game the team got home lunchtime next day
I don’t know the routine after that but at best the prep time for the next game would have been one session I assume
It’s nuts but that’s progress
Click to expand...
Agreed. Though I think some of that is a bit extra with the EL I also think some of it is the players getting used to having the extra fixtures and less time on the training ground and at home.

Hopefully we'll see some progress on that as the season progresses. If we get into the knockouts we probably can't rotate quite as heavily either so the problems won't lessen.
 
braineclipse said:
I too think losing once every two games is not great 😉 (hope some kind of humour gets across).

Some fine margins there that stack up. Don't think Ange will adjust at all to play for draws just about ever. But another 3 points definitely would have been super useful.
Click to expand...
Very fine margins
We have had some poor results that were fully deserved IMO (Ipswich and palace)
Others that really could have gone either way (Arsenal, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Brighton)
Then Lestah stings because they are really really bad
 
Bedfordspurs said:
This
Scary how it’s not recognised more that the turnaround in europa is toxic compared to other comps
Said it before but I’ve heard a couple of ex pros being honest about it and say the lack of home time hurt them, the lack of rest time hurt them and the travel was a killer
You don’t have the same scale, or didn’t, with the CL because you typically played teams more Central Europe and could be home that night if things aligned
After our Gala game the team got home lunchtime next day
I don’t know the routine after that but at best the prep time for the next game would have been one session I assume
It’s nuts but that’s progress
Click to expand...
But we change most the team.

It's not an excuse.
 
Bless their little cotton socks.

Their work-life balance has changed a little since we re-entered the UEFA comps that we've also been in for the last decade.

I think they'll be just fine.
 
braineclipse said:
We struggled at first, but improved. Weathered the storm a bit. We ran more, sprinted more (source: some podcast), battled really well. Contained them reasonably well though they easily could have scored a couple, yes we were lucky with that.

We counter attacked really well, but also did well to play through their pressing as Ange also highlighted post game. I think that was key. Maddison was really important including dropping deep quite a bit to help us play through pressure - in addition to the goal. Not a poor performance in sight from our players. Kulusevski was awesome. Bissouma playing on a yellow for close to 90 minutes really impressive. Another really strong performance from Sarr. Our full backs looked energetic particularly defensively.

Gvardiol must have listened to Modric telling us what a wonderful club we are because he really helped us out for a couple of the goals.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply. That bit about Bissouma is simply unbelievable...will have to check out some more reflections in Podcasts etc
 
Lilbaz said:
Our players still have to travel. We also only get one day to focus on the next game.
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It's an excuse as our consistency is no different from the last 2/3's of last season, when we had no midweek games at all.

We have lost our last 5 games before breaks... That's not a midweek game thing.

That is just a weak mentality and shyte attitude problem.

We have been out of Europe, what twice in 10-15 years or so...

It's an excuse.
 
Our consistency is par for the course in the league bar Liverpool, we might not like it but the leagues far more competitive every year now.

I am not saying its a good thing to give up leads to Brighton away, its not, but this forums been one of the biggest fans of Brighton, their players and their coaches in the last years, so although the way the game went might be an issue, losing to Brighton is not like its a massive shock or mark in some respects.
 
glorygloryeze said:
Unbelievable result. A real feather in Ange's cap!

For those who watched the game, can you detail how the game went tactically and whether we were lucky to keep a clean sheet (the part that most surprised me).
Click to expand...

Not luck

- City came out the blocks really hard (to be expected) but after the goal we managed the match (they had probably two good spells, first 12 minutes then a bit in 2nd half)
- Ange setup to expose their FBs, especially Decki on Gvardiol
- Our FBs did come in but didn't push up as much
- Maddison's heat map is super interesting, basically (first 20 minutes aside), he spent a lot of time offering a pass option in front of the LCB, part of a broader (in my opinion) view to ensure Dragusin wasn't pressured on the ball too much (he does look better at RCB than LCB)
- A lot of City shots were rushed shots from edge/outside box.
- We pressed well and almost all the chances were from us wining the ball back off of them
- Son was used to pull a lot of City players out of position time and time again, created room for everyone else (and Son's passing was insane)
- All three subs contributed to final goal

Summary, we exposed their weaknesses (in midfield at at FB), covered ours (Dragusin & Davies), everyone worked their nuts off and we actually could have scored more (Solanke had a good chance, Edison had two good saves, one against a classic Son curler, one in 2nd half that was elite)

More importantly, City (x2), United, Villa show Ange's system can work at top level.
 
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