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The Defence

I suspect that this is the reason why Wenger has tried to convert attacking ball players to playing deeper.

Yeah he has tried with quite a few and failed to some degree

It's understandable though as the likes of Ramsey, Wheelchair etc... Are too instinctively driven to attack
 
Hope you don't think I was having a go at you Pandy. It was a general comment.
We do need a DM, but the right one. Our squad is young enough, and our outlook should be far enough ahead that it won't kill us to wait until next year get the right one.
The next step in our evolution is top four and I don't see any single player getting us there with this squad AT THIS TIME.
If we can keep this squad of young players together and add in 2/3 key positions then I think in another two seasons we could be there.
 
Yeah he has tried with quite a few and failed to some degree

It's understandable though as the likes of Ramsey, Wheelchair etc... Are too instinctively driven to attack

Arteta is the one I had in mind. Mind you Keane was far more attacking at Forest and was arguably converted to a DM by Ferguson and he is one of the best that the Premier League has seen.
 

Not sure if already posted... TA shows some serious poise (that Verts doesn't always show) in 1v1 situations. Skip to the 3:05ish and 7:45ish mark. One of our defenders last year would've tried to pull the forwards pants down to get out of those situations but TA handles it well.

I think we might also see TA play DM at times against stronger opposition away from home.. Something like:

Kane
Chadli - Eriksen - Lamela
Toby - Bentaleb
Rose - Verts - Dier - Trippier
Lloris​
 
of course players can get better by playing games, however if we go into the new season with a CM made up of Mason and Bentaleb we will not stop the flow of goals. Bentaleb is fine but Mason has not got a defensive mind set and the chances of him getting one is very low, but we shall see.
 
An interesting article on controlling the midfield: http://statsbomb.com/2015/07/contro...milner-might-not-be-the-answer-for-liverpool/

One interesting quote:
"The longest passes allowed are generally all German teams (see below for more on league differences) and then some bad Spanish teams and then Tottenham, who are right besides Augsburg. Only Man United and strangely QPR are better at stopping passes through the midfield than Tottenham, the main problem with their defense was the passes that get through are long and dangerous, and are converted into shots at a higher rate than any other EPL team. This would suggest at first glance that the backline is more of a problem than the midfield. United had similar problems, though they were tougher to pass against and not near as susceptible to passes being converted to shots."
 
An interesting article on controlling the midfield: http://statsbomb.com/2015/07/contro...milner-might-not-be-the-answer-for-liverpool/

One interesting quote:
"The longest passes allowed are generally all German teams (see below for more on league differences) and then some bad Spanish teams and then Tottenham, who are right besides Augsburg. Only Man United and strangely QPR are better at stopping passes through the midfield than Tottenham, the main problem with their defense was the passes that get through are long and dangerous, and are converted into shots at a higher rate than any other EPL team. This would suggest at first glance that the backline is more of a problem than the midfield. United had similar problems, though they were tougher to pass against and not near as susceptible to passes being converted to shots."

Thanks for posting. A really interesting read in light of the frequent calls for a DM.
 
I don't think that changing formation regularly is a good thing, so I am pleased that we have a manager who does not do that. I think that we are still a work in progress and we are not yet consistently playing how Poch wants us to. Changing formation would delay this further.
I am not a football expert by any stretch of the imagination, but logic would suggest you can't use the same tactic against every team and expect to always be successful, especially when you have less than ideal resources. It's different for teams with world class players, but in our case we need more flexibility, because we don't have the Ronaldos or Messis that can ball us out. Just a thought...
 
I am not a football expert by any stretch of the imagination, but logic would suggest you can't use the same tactic against every team and expect to always be successful, especially when you have less than ideal resources. It's different for teams with world class players, but in our case we need more flexibility, because we don't have the Ronaldos or Messis that can ball us out. Just a thought...

I think that there is a difference between altering tactics and formation. We do the former but less of the latter. I think this is the right approach.

I would argue that consistency is even more important with a young squad of players who are a level or two below Ronaldo or Messi because they should have a better idea what their team mates will be doing.
 
I think that there is a difference between altering tactics and formation. We do the former but less of the latter. I think this is the right approach.

I would argue that consistency is even more important with a young squad of players who are a level or two below Ronaldo or Messi because they should have a better idea what their team mates will be doing.
So what would be an example of different tactics but same formation? Not sure I can picture it in my head.
 
So what would be an example of different tactics but same formation? Not sure I can picture it in my head.

I'm not sure we always played the same formation last season or tactics every game. For all people love to paint Poch as a slave to the high-press and 4-2-3-1, he played a flat 4-4-2 at the Emirates last season and we clearly had orders to sit deep and hit on the break. Almost worked a treat and got us a valuable point.

Poch isn't an idiot or a slave to formation or tactics. Everyone knows if you got for a high-press and open attacking game against the Goons at their joint, with that massive pitch, you are going to get murdered. We played them like a treat, frustrated them and almost nicked it.

It's just one example, but when he was Southampton manager, he often played with two up top too.
 
So if we played with a deeper back line, would we negate some of those chances created?

No doubt. But Poch has a philosophy, and that dictates that our forward players stop those long balls. They prevent teams having time on the ball to pick a long pass. And defenders also need to be quick and ready to defend. Last season we saw the team adapt when the press wasn't working and I think that is crucial. Strangle the game if you can, but if the opposition is simply passing around the press leaving our midfield all at sea out of position exposing our back line, or long balls are connecting, we have to go to plan B. Drop deeper, stay compact, break.

As in basket ball I don't think you can play a high line and press for 90 minutes every game. We have to mix it up. Don't basketball teams press only at the end of the game?
 
So what would be an example of different tactics but same formation? Not sure I can picture it in my head.

Chelsea did it a lot

Against more attacking side he would play the likes of Ramires with Matic and move Frabregas toward into oscars role

Against the lesser sides he would play Frabregas in the middle and Oscar at 10

It gave them a more defensive unit centrally
 
No doubt. But Poch has a philosophy, and that dictates that our forward players stop those long balls. They prevent teams having time on the ball to pick a long pass. And defenders also need to be quick and ready to defend. Last season we saw the team adapt when the press wasn't working and I think that is crucial. Strangle the game if you can, but if the opposition is simply passing around the press leaving our midfield all at sea out of position exposing our back line, or long balls are connecting, we have to go to plan B. Drop deeper, stay compact, break.

As in basket ball I don't think you can play a high line and press for 90 minutes every game. We have to mix it up. Don't basketball teams press only at the end of the game?
Not really. They press throughout the game, but not all the time. You have to pick your moments. In football I would think you'd want to press from the get go to unsettle your opponent, score quickly, and then tighten up. You can then employ the press at specific periods of the game to increase your advantage. I would think it would be more effective when you switch it on and off, especially when they least expect it. But of course this also means you have to be solid defensively and be able to protect a lead, something we struggled with last season. We shall see...
 
Chel53a did it a lot

Against more attacking side he would play the likes of Ramires with Matic and move Frabregas toward into oscars role

Against the lesser sides he would play Frabregas in the middle and Oscar at 10

It gave them a more defensive unit centrally
So employing different personnel in different positions would constitute a change in tactics. Fair enough. I always thought different tactics meant moving players to different parts of the field, which effectively would somewhat alter the formation. For example, playing Chadli more centrally which would result in a 4-2-2-2. I'm making this up, of course, but just trying to illustrate the point. And given that we are talking about changing tactics in-game, I would think it would be more what I outlined.
 
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