Thomas Frank - Head Coach

[Yiddo]

No, Villarreal themselvesminimised their shots on target. We were fortunate in many ways, including VDVs foul at the end. If you want to bring Ange back into this if he was managing last night people on here would be going on about how poor the football was and how lucky we were.

Let's not try and dress it up differently because we have a different manager....

Not trying to dress up differently, just stating a fact, we look better defensively this season than last season. If you are going to have a meltdown every time someone compares this season to last season then i’m afraid you are going to be in for a bumpy ride.

 

[carl]

No, Villarreal themselvesminimised their shots on target. We were fortunate in many ways, including VDVs foul at the end. If you want to bring Ange back into this if he was managing last night people on here would be going on about how poor the football was and how lucky we were.

Let's not try and dress it up differently because we have a different manager....

I think after 2 years fans would've been entitled to moan about how poor the football was (and it was bad).

Frank will need a while yet before we can start judging.

 

[braineclipse]

Containing to me is pretty much playing in a low block with limited outlets, beyond set plays and stringing together 3 or 4 passes for a decent counter.

You could argue a high press is a type of containment, as you are containing your opponent in their defensive third. But the real aim of a high press is to force a mistake from your opponent nearer to their goal, and so, limiting the number of players they have to then rectify losing the ball to you. It's an offensive move by nature, due to a team commiting 3-4 players to the high press (ie further up the field), doesn't feel like containment at all.

It didn't feel or look like Bournemouth were containing us...it felt and looked like they were bearing down on us constantly and suffocating us. Flipping things to their advantage constantly. Winning possession and making good use of it.

Playing teams that do this extremely well is difficult. It's almost like you are better off NOT having the ball, and playing them at their own game.

Maybe we'll put them, Brighton, Fulham, Palace, Forest etc in a 'Smart' or 'PATW' (punching above their weight) category.

Yeah, many different and useful ways of categorising these things. For me there's a difference with what Bournemouth do (high press, look to get those high turnovers) and City/Guardiola as another example (also pressing, but looking to dominate possession overall).

Guess the difference is in part club size and expectations. Bournemouth I think would take a 0-0 against us, whereas City would look to take increasingly more risk on the ball at 0-0. So Bournemouth more about containment than overall domination of the ball and game.

In the Bournemouth game it certainly felt like us having the ball at the back was better for them than them having the ball at the back.

I like that PATW description. Often a clear plan, well drilled, but different ways of going about it. If we can get consistent performances in those games (too) we'd have come a long way.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

I’m just reading things that right now Frank is concentrating on getting us defensively solid (which seems to be working although there are bigger tests to come) and perhaps the attacking element hasn’t been as much of the focus. I’m sure it will be as we progress.

 

[Legohamster]

I’m just reading things that right now Frank is concentrating on getting us defensively solid (which seems to be working although there are bigger tests to come) and perhaps the attacking element hasn’t been as much of the focus. I’m sure it will be as we progress.

Beat me to it.

We were a complete mess all over the place last year. It makes most sense to make us tougher to beat and defend properly before moving further up the field to address the other issues, some of which I imagine can't be resolved in house and require players moved on and in