Playing from the back

[Groucho]

Whenever they pass it forward, it's back with Howard after a few seconds.

May as well have a kick about between themselves for 90 minutes

This is the crux of the matter.

You can pass all you like, if you've nothing at the end of it, what's the point?

I don't want 50 passes, I want an attacking threat.

 

[Zatara]

Its the spine:

Keeper
2 centre backs
2 centre mids
Attacking mid
Striker

Stones/McCarthy/Barkley/Lukaku -- strong spine.

Then what do we have in the other positions? Thats the problem.

 

[toffeejack]

howard, jagielka and distin are all terrible distributors of a ball. we have two centre backs who are good on the ball, both are bloody injured. can martinez ditch a style that brought us so much success last season? i'm not too sure he can, we haven't got the personnel to do that now. getting those three to pump it long to lukaku all day long aint going to work sadly.

to be honest, when these 3 don't try and pass it around the back they do seem to gift the ball straight back to the opposition. how they always seem to find an unmarked oppo centre mid is beyond me.

with regards to attacking, our players are too reluctant to play one touch passes. you see so many players making the run into an offside position because players keep taking a touch then look for the pass. by that time, the player has gone offside so they turn back inside and pass the ball sideways. they just need to take those 1 touch passing risks, those are the plays that seperate the very best from the rest.

 

[GoatJR]

and were boss in attack

 

[hullefc]

at last thanks matt, people on here quoting there dream team forward unit and not one of them can be arsed to press. Funny thing is I have seen a change in lukaku in the last 2 games he seems to be carrying the fight a bit more, winning headers and trying to lead from the front, though many wouldn't agree with that .

You are right that we need to defend from the front but the closing down is slipshod. Again you are right that Lukaku seems a bit more up for the fight. But winning headers. Sorry he has improved but by very little. And when the ball comes to him and he does not win headers, shield the ball with his body or slack control means we lose the ball and it comes back putting more pressure on the defence. Naismith is good at closing down and moving into space. By pressing from the front we force teams to go long, like some are doing against us, and our defenders we would hope would win the ball.

Lukaku has many good attributes and I think he wants to improve. He has 2 very good strikers to work with in big Dunc and Eto'o.

Teams are pressing us higher up the pitch, so playing from the back will require us to work in triangles doing one twos pass and move. Our movement is quite poor at the moment so the quick slickness of playing the ball into space, so we don't get caught on the ball, is not there.

Teams are able to commit 6 players forward, marking our and push their defence up Hull and Spurs, to force us back to Howard because they know we will not go long quick. And if the front man keeps losing it then there is a reluctance to go long by the defenders and they get caught on the ball or pass it back to Howard who launches it and by that time the opposition is in place. And the ball comes back because Lukaku is still learning how to win the ball in the air, shielding the ball and getting it under control.

 

[banno]

It only works if you have the midfielders and attackers making themselves available. Even when Barry drops back to collect the movement ahead is not very good so it mainly goes sideways.

 

[hullefc]

It only works if you have the midfielders and attackers making themselves available. Even when Barry drops back to collect the movement ahead is not very good so it mainly goes sideways.

Exactly. It is about players being aware/coached that they need to move into space. The ball goes from Howard to jags to barry who looks up and there is no one there to pass to so he either gives it back to Jags or Distin and by that time the opposition is in place. When Barry gets it he should have at least 4 options and players within 15 yards of him. Swamp the midfield and work it out from back to front with quick one/twos. In a way the way Baines and Pienaar play down the left side.