Guardian: key tactical trends of the current season

[davek]

No.

Defo that's the case. Era dominant teams own the ball. 60% to 70% possession in most games.

 

[Goat]

Defo that's the case. Era dominant teams own the ball. 60% to 70% possession in most games.

 

[davek]

What does that mean?

 

[hallamblue]

Defo that's the case. Era dominant teams own the ball. 60% to 70% possession in most games.

Leicester won the league last year with about 35% possession. It's what you do with it that counts.

 

[davek]

Leicester won the league last year with about 35% possession. It's what you do with it that counts.

Era dominant? Leicester?

They got away with ripping the shirts off the oppositions backs and receiving pens for f.a.

A horrendous outfit now getting found out for what they are: the worst champions since Blackburn.

 

[TheBigIguana]

All the great teams have huge levels of possession. If you're that good, you dominate the ball and control the game. Nothing troubles you.

This would be true if Atletico didn't exist. But they do. They dominate when they can but possession isn't their focus at all

 

[Khalekan]

The way to beat the pressing game is long ball. If you are a defender and you are not getting any time then you hoof it forward. You need two up to try and get the ball to stick.
I can see the Premiership going back into a phase of teams pressing and others with six at the back and leaving two up and just thumping long balls to ensure they are not shut down in their own half.

Harry Bassett's Wimbledon team would shred these "pressing teams".

Pressing and the Long Ball are made for one another

 

[degsy]

Better, well coached and motivated players, negates fancy systems.
These teams play a fluid, flexible, adaptive system that at any time...if you really have to have a numerically labeled 'title'... will vary from 9 - 0. to 0 - 9. dependent on the requirement of the moment.
Short version: better players, not fancy systems.

Systems need to 'fit' the players strengths. You shouldn't shoehorn you players into the 'system de jour'

If Koeman hasn't got the players to do 100% of whatever system he believes is best, then he should find a hybrid that makes the most of what he has...aka real world Ronny.

Sq. Pegs and inflexibility were for O2FM's

If that's your game then 'Koff.

 

[brieverton]

Pressing isn't the be all and end all, but its an effective tactic, particularly for a side with less playing quality up against so-called better opponents.

When the best players are unaffordable/unavailable, the only way to try and counter that is with pressing based on fitness that can sustain it for as near 90 minutes as possible. Having an element of pace in the side particularly on the flanks is a great bonus to play an out-ball and turn the opposition. Working on set-pieces is the other ace in the pack.

Problem is, the top sides also work extremely hard. Trying to out-gun them with effort will normally fail, but sometimes its the only feasible card a manager has.

 

[MikeH72]

The only problem is that era-dominant teams also spend shed loads of money and have world class players everywhere so of course they're going to have most of the ball.

 

[GwladysPhil]

I much prefer watching counter attacking / aggressive pressing over the complete jazz fest that was watching teams make about 120 passes and calling it total football.

 

[davek]

Article in today's Guardian crediting Gnasher Brodgers with inventing the 3421 formation currently finding favour.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...4-2-1-chelsea-manchester-city-basel-liverpool

So that's tiki taka, pressing football, and now the two playmaker system he's either British-adapted or plain old invented.

How come he's still a no mark then?

Hmmm.

 

[49ers]

Hardly a ground breaking piece, not sure of the point of it. This should be full of statistical analysis that would support the approaches being used by different teams, seems more to be just stating the bleedin obvious.

Welcome to 21st century journalism. Any idiot with a laptop can do it....sadly most of them are .

 

[SerenityNigh]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/12/premier-league-key-trends-of-season-so-far

1 Pressing
A few years ago possession was the most discussed concept in football. Since then there has been a shift from a possession-based approach and more attention paid to pressing. Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton and Tottenham sides pressed in advanced positions to win the ball quickly, Klopp popularised counter-pressing, winning the ball immediately after it has been lost, and Guardiola also emphasises the importance of closing down in advanced positions.

Matches involving these sides have been frantic. Tottenham’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City was notable as a contest where the sides were determined to shut one another down, and in their 1-1 draw at Arsenal last weekend both teams were more focused on disrupting the other side’s play than on playing incisive passing combinations.

Matches boasting heavy pressing and technical quality can be enthralling but there is a danger Premier League games are becoming too based around spoiling rather than creating.

2 False nines
An impressive start to 2016-17 by Liverpool and Arsenal owes much to the use of unusual centre-forwards.

Roberto Firmino arrived in English football two summers ago as an attacking midfielder, set to provide Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge with service. But Jürgen Klopp sold Benteke, has not taken to Sturridge and has used Firmino as Liverpool’s regular No9. The Brazilian is a different beast: more dynamic, more selfless, better at starting the press and increasingly a goalscorer too.

Arsenal, similarly, have deployed Alexis Sánchez up front. Although the Chilean was sometimes used in that position upon his arrival in 2014, he spent the past two seasons as an attacking midfielder, generally starting from the left. But Arsène Wenger’s use of Sánchez up front has provided another dimension to Arsenal’s attack – he stretches the play more than Olivier Giroud, drops deep to link play cleverly and demonstrated traditional centre-forward skills with a powerful headed goal against Sunderland.

3 Three-man defences
Antonio Conte achieved great success with Juventus by deploying a three-man defence, a system he replicated with Italy. When Chelsea struggled with the 4-1-4-1 shape Conte used at the start of the season, the solution was obvious – switch to a back three.

Initially trialled when Chelsea were 3-0 down at the Emirates with little hope of a comeback, Conte has used a 3-4-3 in Chelsea’s subsequent five league games, with an aggregate score of 16-0. Eden Hazard is freed from defensive responsibilities, David Luiz can operate as a spare man and Marco Alonso’s purchase makes sense, as he is a natural wing-back.

Last weekend two sides followed suit: Ronald Koeman surprisingly attempted to match Chelsea’s system at Stamford Bridge, although this backfired spectacularly with a 5-0 defeat. Tottenham also utilised a three-man defence the following day in a 1-1 draw at Arsenal. With Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City sometimes subtly shifting into a three-man defence, that system has been more visible than usual.

4 Set-piece goals
This season there has been a concerted effort by officials to clamp down on shirt-pulling by defenders at set pieces. This appears to have particularly affected some teams. Last season’s champions Leicester City, whose centre-backs Robert Huth and Wes Morgan were somewhat reliant on grappling when defending set pieces, have found themselves penalised for that behaviour.

“They have changed the rules and it’s something we have to learn to adapt to as players,” said the Leicester defender Danny Simpson, shortly after they conceded three goals from set pieces at Manchester United. “The way it was last season, I thought we were very good at defending set pieces and we made it tough for the opponents. You have been doing that all your career and suddenly you’ve got to change – but it’s the same for everyone.” Across the league, there have been 0.65 set-piece goals per game, up from 0.59 last season.

5 Fewer free roles
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Overall, the Premier League’s top sides feel particularly structured and systemised this season, thanks to the appointment of managers with very strict philosophies. Playmakers who like playing in a free role have found themselves in stricter roles, or out of the team.

The most obvious loser has been Cesc Fàbregas, the league’s most creative midfielder two seasons ago but a player who required freedom from tactical responsibilities to thrive. Conte cannot find a place for him and the Spaniard has started only one league game.

Elsewhere, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva have continued as Manchester City regulars but in much deeper, more disciplined roles than they have been accustomed to, and Adam Lallana has been excellent at Liverpool – again, with stricter positional instructions. Henrikh Mkhitaryan cannot get a look-in at Manchester United, however, which arguably leaves Arsenal’s Mesut Özil as the only top-level No10 allowed freedom to drift where he pleases.

Fair comment or tosh?

1. Pochettino was the only manager pressing. Then Klopp joined last year and now Pep makes 3 managers who press.
2. 2 teams operate False 9s? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3. So Conte does this for 5 matches and Koemen tried it once?
4. Ok, so calling shirt pulling on set pieces is an actual change/trend. +1 for the guardian.
5. Fewer free roles? See point #2.

The good news is there's one less terrible article to be written in the future because it's already here.

 

[GueyeBhoy]

Klopp knvented pressing, it had never been done before in the history of Football.
This is why the RS will win the Wirld Cup and be chosen as the Earths representatives if we ever have to play an Alien team Space Jam style for our survival