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Katie Borkins

How do you counter a high tempo pressing strategy?

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In my opinion, the most notable thing the commentators said in the Boro/Brentford 2nd leg was that "Middlesborough are the most effective side at stopping the opposition from playing - they are the hardest team to play against in this league."
It''s been a highly successful strategy for them and I see no reason why they would change.
So knowing we are going to be pressed and harrassed every time we have the ball, from centre-back to centre-forward, what are the tactical or strategic options available to try and nullify this approach?
The Binners showed in the first half yesterday that although a pressing game might not be pretty and might not win many opportunities except set pieces etc., it is highly effective in breaking the game''s rhythm and making the game scrappy, high paced and with possession swapped with alarming regularity.
The first goal and extra man yesterday allowed us to settle and dominate possession and control the tempo.  What would you do if you were Alex Neil, and how would you set the team up?

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In my opinion, Boro are not much different to 1p5wich, apart from a good left winger, we haven''t been as forceful in our pressing recently, i think we need to use the width of Wembley, and probably put Elliott Bennet in at RB, him and Redderz linked up really well the other week, and maybe even start with Grabban, and not let their defence have an easy afternoon. If i was Alex Neil i would tell them to let Boro worry about us, and not other way around ?.

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You have to respect what Middlesboro have done to reach the position they did. Effective? Yes, pretty on the eye at times? Not a chance

When we are on it, our passing game is a match for anyone in this division, so let''s work on keeping Boro watching out for us.

Let them have to think about, and commit numbers to our forward players, therefore restricting their midfielders helping out with the pressing game near our defence.

They are a good team, but so are we.............

Over to you AN

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http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/tactics/countering-a-team-that-press-high-up-the-pitch

There''s your answer Bor, from a tactical genius.😳

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You can beat a high tempo pressing team by either passing the ball quicker this then means they are chasing shadows which would mean they are working harder and then the openings will come or let them get tight marking and play a direct ball in the space behind them if you were standing next to Redmond and the ball went over your head into the space behind there is only going to be one winner so let them press high if you have pace upfront a direct style is the way to make them drop back !!!!

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[quote user="Mr Jenkins"]http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/tactics/countering-a-team-that-press-high-up-the-pitch

There''s your answer Bor, from a tactical genius.😳[/quote]

Jenkins, wrong link, i went to it and had to kill it, it was horror movie, though dracula looked like Hooton !

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Great find Mr J!

Although that bloke doing the talking, had obviously predicted a Boro/Binner final with his Red and Blue counters. Or were there no Yellow or Green ones?

Ha! We showed him.What does he know.....................

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It''s a long time since I''ve looked at that, and certainly can''t be bothered again, but I do seem to recall that the old duffer got his counters mixed up during the presentation and ended up attacking his own goal.😄

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Christ, you''d think Norwich were Barcelona the way you sanctimonious sore losers are banging on. We thumped you at our place, then played you off the park for 20 minutes at yours until we got our goal and then we quite easily defended it.

For all the possession you had, I didn''t see much of a "passing game". Just a load of disorganised, technically deficient cloggers thumping cross after cross in for our centre backs to head away. Did you even have a shot on target in the second half?

Obviously that''s what you did when your thuggish defenders weren''t kicking lumps out of us, you pack of dirty gets.

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Nearest you lot will get to Barcelona, is copying Palace''s kit and considering it new and in the style of the catalans........ what was the score this season, remind us ? toss pot.

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Eh? The score when we played? 4-0 and 1-0 to Boro. That''s a weird thing to bring up as an insult.

It''s odd how bitter Norwich fans are. We weren''t really troubled when we played you over two games. Maybe you''ve been unbelievable in every other game this season, and just didn''t turn up against us. Is that what the problem is?

We were coming off two awful away performances when we played you at Carrow Road, but completely controlled the game. Your players had lots of the ball, but got frustrated they weren''t breaking us down and started booting our forwards. We didn''t come and have 70% of possession because we didn''t need to. Why should we?

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''We didn''t come and have 70% of possession because we didn''t need to. Why should we? ''.....maybe because you cant. Football, when played correctly, is a beautiful game, the likes of you and the blue scum are playing a different game altogether, and it will get you results, sometimes.

I understand that a deflected own goal gave you the lead, effectively a two goal lead as it looked very much like you came for a draw, but hey the 4 nil was a good result for ye but i dont think we are the same team we were then.

the final has to be won, so are you gonna come out and play?

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Genuine question, what would you Boro fans be thinking if you had to play against Watford or Bournemouth in the final. What exactly did they do well to in your away games? The scores would suggest routine home wins.

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Well even though they took 6 pts off us, we still finished a point above them, scored more goals and had a much better goal difference.

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I personally thought Brentford were mightily unlucky in the first leg. They stuck to their slick, quick, passing style and I honestly thought that Boro would get a red card or two in that game as they kept catching players late in challenges, which is bound to happen with the way they press.

I''d just encourage our guys to be quick, but calm and press hard ourselves too. We need the likes of Hoolahan and Redmond on from the start in my opinion as they can make things happen and once they get a player or two on an early yellow card, you want them facing those kinds of players really. I just hope we start well as the first 10-15mins are going to be epic

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Jack Flash wrote the following post at 17/05/2015 7:45 PM:

Well even though they took 6 pts off us, we still finished a point above them, scored more goals and had a much better goal difference.

SHHH don''t mention that Jack, we don''t want to burst the bubble of complacency.

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Sterike possession for possession sake isnt beautiful either. In fact it''s much more boring than counter attacking. We played expansive football and thumped four past you at the Riverside, and then won with a perfect away performance at your place. We ceded possession after the first 20 minutes because you were never going to do anything with it.

If we were playing Bournemouth or Watford I''d be worried. They were better than us, and we played badly away from home. Bournemouth were explosive going forward, while Watford were strong defensively and had outstanding forwards.

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''Sterike possession for possession sake isnt beautiful either. In fact it''s much more boring than counter attacking. We played expansive football and thumped four past you at the Riverside, and then won with a perfect away performance at your place. We ceded possession after the first 20 minutes because you were never going to do anything with it.

If we were playing Bournemouth or Watford I''d be worried. They were better than us, and we played badly away from home. Bournemouth were explosive going forward, while Watford were strong defensively and had outstanding forwards. ''

That would be the Watford we beat home and away, and the bournmouth we beat and drew with, the ones you said were better than you. if you beat us fair and square at wembley, fair enough, meanwhile, put a lid on the bombast , cos my dads tougher than yours.

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Aye but we''re not playing Bournemouth or Watford are we? Who cares what you did against them? If you''re using that pathetic argument, we beat Man City at the Etihad so we''re unbeatable? Don''t be daft.

The only thing that matters is how we completely bossed Norwich 5-0 over two games, despite getting kicked off the park by your thuggish centre backs.

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Don''t get rattled, eh lads? You beat Bournemouth didn''t you?

Unreal, you must be nailed on for promotion. I wouldn''t get wound up about Boro.

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You beat Man City didn''t you? You must be nailed on for promotion. Dont get wound up over Norwich. After all Karanka has said you deserve it.

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Hopefully at Wembley we won''t have to counter a Ref who has invented a new rule of stopping the game every time one of the Middlesboro players falls over with a pretend leg injury...

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I''m going to chip in to make it more than DB vs NCFC.

Brentford play very pretty passing football outside the box, put in a few decent skimming crosses, but frankly didn''t trouble us apart from one daft goal. The fancy stuff was mostly for show, and maybe it''s dazzled a few sides over the course of the season who let them play.

So, let''s write off the 4-0 at the Riverside, because you accept that you were rubbish then, and we know that you''re better than that now. Let''s accept the Carrow Road match for what it was -- an April must-win where the result mattered more than the performance. There are no style points away from home in April and May. There''s not much point talking about Watford and Bournemouth because taking points off them got you to the playoffs and dropping points to them got Boro to the playoffs. Callum Wilson won''t dive his way to a penalty / red card combo every week in the Premier League.

So, there are two obvious options for you to deal with the tempo and pressing:

- spend all week talking about how Boro''s a dirty side, hold the ball in the middle early on, act like you''ve been shot when someone gets near you, and hope that the ref reads the papers and is short-sighted and card-happy.

- quick one-touch possession to force Clayton and Leadbitter back towards the box and then try dragging the back line out of position with the short angled balls you managed in the first half at Carrow Road.

One of those options probably earns you a bit more respect than the other.

Neutral ground, two teams with pace and creativity (i.e. no Binners), ought to be a classic.

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Ok BobE

Nice that you want to come on here and talk football as opposed to a couple of your fellow Boro supporters wanting to pick a fight.

We didn''t do well against you this season, due to a combination of you playing well (the first 15 mins here was the best football I have seen from a team all season, that includes the 2 promoted teams), us playing carp (not all down to how you played) and the weakest ref I have seen here for decades.

Take the 6 points from your total and we would be a stretch away from you, and favourites for next week, but as you HAVE taken 6 points from us, the masses will probably think you guys are

We will have learned from the 2 games against you and will improve. That isn''t cocky, as one of your lot said this morning, that is just how we believe our canny Manager will be. Cockiness could be aimed at your Manager perhaps, or some of your fans who visited here back in April, and we have yet to see how Bamfords injury will turn out, haven''t we?

It should be a corker of a game, and I pray that whoever wins, does so by ''conventional'' methods!

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I know you were answering this particular question BobE, but is there anything you fear about us, and our players, or are you very confident (not cocky obviously!) that you will win

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