Did they sit comfortably higher up the pitch against teams who transition play quickly with quick players in attack? Any CB can play high up the pitch if there's no threat in return.
And the rest like Leicester, Liverpool and City, who we fell miles behind with a outdated approach.So we’ve finally caught up with the famed Everton data science backed transfer approach!
I think it's fair to say City, Chelsea and Spurs all have quick players who transition defence to attack quickly yeah. Villa & Leeds were heralded all season for their fast paced attacking too.
It's absolutely fair and City and Leeds under Guardiola and Bielsa have consistently played a higher line both on the ball and off the ball to compress the pitch which also helps when it comes to pressing high/counter pressing.
I don't think you've understood my point at all. I'm fully aware of the benefits of it which is why I strongly advocate one of our goalkeepers over the other.
It's not just a sweeping issue if your CBs can't defend the channels in 1v1s high up the pitch. It's the reason we play reactive football with the space between the backline, double pivot and the forwards being too vast.
I literally gave 5 examples of games against teams with fast attackers who transition quickly where we were bold, went 1v1 high up the pitch at times and defended well. We can do it and playing deep was a bigger reflection on the goalkeeper than the centre backs. That's not to say we shouldn't improve on Lindelof because we should but my point is if we sign Varane but play DDG we'll end up defending deep again whereas if we sign Varane and play Henderson we will continue with the higher line and pressing onto teams more.
Did we maintain a high line off the ball? The only game I remember where we did that was against Leeds at home, where we could've scored 8 or 9, but could've conceded 4 or 5 easily too. It's why Solskjaer is reported to want a CB who can dominate the wide spaces solo, without midfield/fullback assistance.
In those games? Mostly yes, we were a good 10-15 yards further up the pitch than we had been previously and taking more risks in and out possession, pressing considerably better and winning the ball higher up the pitch. There were spells, notably last 25 minutes or so at City where we dropped back but that was pretty natural in the circumstances.
Ajax played a possession based style which required players to be strong at recycling the ball and dominant in both defensive and offensive zones with a heavy emphasis on positional play. The battle was to create space by unhinging opposition defensive lines which would then open up space to exploit.
"wazza mate, you want pick up in the morning? - Woody"
Of course they played a high line in 70s, which is well documented under Rinus Michels who laid the foundations for that team with his total football concept, hence the keeper was heavily involved in the build up phase.
Michels laid the foundations for the Ajax team in 70s, and his team's played a very fluid brand of football which had heavy emphasis on positional play. Stefan Kovac's brought more freedom to Michels's work but the concept remained the same. He enjoyed his best moments at Ajax after the foundation was laid by Michels but couldn't replicate that success anywhere else. Him giving the team more freedom was also said to be the destruction of that team.
Fred actually looks pretty good here. Wtf.I don't see McTominay's passing being any more of an issue that Fred's or any of the other in vogue midfielders people talk about. His long range passing needs a bit of work maybe, and I'd have questions about him switching off in defensive situations sometimes, but his regular passing is pretty decent.
That's why it's hard to like stats. Fred looks better than Kante is just criminal.
A administrator/executive can head up efforts but can't lead in the actual process hence Murtough being described as a 'innovator' in the field.
