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Tetteys Jig

Decision making in the final third

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I saw G Nev pipe up with his comments about last nights 7-1 and he was keen to highlight the lesson Germany gave on this last night.

For me, this was our key failing (and coincidentally Englands as well) this season.

A lot of the time, we tapped it about the middle third pretty well, looked like we were about to get into some good areas and then wasted it (don''t get me started on our throw ins!).

I therefore think this needs to be our main focus in summers training. If Adams is to succeed, we are going to be in that final third a lot and so we need some German like efficiency in there to make sure we get the most out of our attacking spells.

I just wonder what sort of coaching they will do to sort this out. I actually think if Redmond in particular could sort this part of his game out, he''d be Raheem Sterling the second (or first as he''s older?) and we''d have a potential £20m player on our hands. If he can''t sort it, he''ll be in danger of drifting down the leagues.

I hope given the variety of forwards we''ve brought in, we now have a plan B, C,..., Z of attack and if we come up against a team that is say strong at defending lofted balls into the area, we''ll get at them through the middle or switch wingers or have the number 9 drop deep and the wingers cut in and be more like inside forwards. More or less every defender at this level will have a weakness be it pace, height, mentality, technique, composure and we need to have the ingredients to exploit that.

It''s no good having a really fit squad if they haven''t got a clue what to do with the ball in good areas.

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I''ll probably get slaughtered for saying this, but the problem last season was the wide areas, the main culprit being Snodgrass.  Redmond too although he has the excuse of youth and inexperience - but I agree at some stage he has to improve (like Snodgrass didn''t).    Yes, you can blame the manager too, but these two wide players, because of injuries, were played too much.  

Snodgrass has gone, so whoever is out wide needs to be able to do as you say - intricate passing and link up play - such as Wes is capable of - in fact if Wes is still with us and on form, I would like to see him in the team - but only if he is consistent.  

A midfield of - Bennett Fer Wes  Howson Redmond looks strong to me with either Lafferty or Grabban or RVW up front, sometimes going 442 alternating the extra striker with Wes.  No holding midfielder, but I would rather have passers and reliable ones at that, than cloggers.  We will win the league by playing good football, not by sitting back and defending. 

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Good post, JS. This was a definite weakness last year but things should improve this year. For a start, there''s more pace to unsettle defenders and get to the by-line. Pace isn''t everything, but it allows players to get that step ahead against defenders who aren''t as good as those we faced last year. Decision-making in the final third will still be the key though.

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England''s problem was also an inability to take chances from a failure in shooting or heading. Come to think of it, that was our problem as well. Sometimes the failure was due to poor service or crossing - poor old RvW kept finding himself in receipt of passes which were behind him, and gave him little chance.

I agree, however, that England failed mainly because we lacked the killer pass. (Germany didn''t against Brazil, because the attacks were so quick and accurate in passing that there were few defenders to deal with when they reached the goal.) I hope that our wingers, and we have potentially a very good set, are encouraged to get rapidly forward and are trained on how and where to cross. And Fer, if still with us, should be encouraged to play the defence-splitting passes he showed once or twice last year, and others should copy him.

The last thing we need is hopeful long and high diagonal crosses to either RvW or Hooper, or even to Lafferty, who despite his height is not the greatest header of the ball. Defences will gobble up these crosses as they did last season. With the ball arriving over their shoulders from behind, strikers are at a disadvantage to defenders, who are facing the oncoming ball.

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Germany attacked in numbers and passed their way through the fragile Brazilian defence.  I don''t recall any of the Germany goals coming from one of their players taking on a beating their man, it was all about the movement of those off the ball into space.

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I agree with Matt, it''s movement off the ball, that''s what we lacked last season.

Too often players were standing around waiting for something to happen, rather than running in to space or pulling defenders out of position with a run.

You can have all the attacking flair in the World but if those around you don''t move, make intelligent runs & make space for you, chances are you won''t score very many goals or make many opportunities for your team mates.

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[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]I saw G Nev pipe up with his comments about last nights 7-1 and he was keen to highlight the lesson Germany gave on this last night. For me, this was our key failing (and coincidentally Englands as well) this season. A lot of the time, we tapped it about the middle third pretty well, looked like we were about to get into some good areas and then wasted it (don''t get me started on our throw ins!). I therefore think this needs to be our main focus in summers training. If Adams is to succeed, we are going to be in that final third a lot and so we need some German like efficiency in there to make sure we get the most out of our attacking spells. I just wonder what sort of coaching they will do to sort this out. I actually think if Redmond in particular could sort this part of his game out, he''d be Raheem Sterling the second (or first as he''s older?) and we''d have a potential £20m player on our hands. If he can''t sort it, he''ll be in danger of drifting down the leagues. I hope given the variety of forwards we''ve brought in, we now have a plan B, C,..., Z of attack and if we come up against a team that is say strong at defending lofted balls into the area, we''ll get at them through the middle or switch wingers or have the number 9 drop deep and the wingers cut in and be more like inside forwards. More or less every defender at this level will have a weakness be it pace, height, mentality, technique, composure and we need to have the ingredients to exploit that. It''s no good having a really fit squad if they haven''t got a clue what to do with the ball in good areas.[/quote]

 

a good post! I can remember watching a stream (yeh.. yeh.. ok.. before anyone starts) of one our away games (might have been Newcastle.. not sure) and Dean Sturridge commented that through the first 2 thirds we looked like a top 6 side... and that our movement and transition was better than most other sides in the division... it was once we made the final third we fell apart! he said how players liked invention, courage and creativity and said if we could have backed up our play in the first parts of the pitch we''d be realistically staring at a top half finish.

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For me the problem was also the centre of midfield not supplying the right ball....as well as the wingers of course not driving at the defence or the by line or making the runs inside....as well as the strikers when given the chance not scoring...wingers were a big problem, but we also don''t have a proper number 10 (we didn''t use wes)

--------------Tettey-----------------

--Fer----------------------Howson

(BJ a lot also played when either Fer or Howson were injured which didn''t help)

the midfield trio didn''t have enough drive tactically when we had both BJ and Tettey in the same team. Even when we had Tettey, Howson and Fer together, tactically we were very conservative and played without drive going through the middle on many occasions. As players they can do it, but we were very conservative last season, especially in this area I thought, compared to what we could have done with this trio.

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I''m also of the view that the key problem was the movement off the ball, and not just the forward players.

That said for the money we spent, the two players we used most up front simply didnt cut it enough and, like me, I reckon many on here could see the basics of good forward play not happening so often.......also, work rate just wasnt good enough.

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I agree with those saying not enough movement off the ball- too often Snodgrass would carry the ball forward and then have to turn around because the strikers were not moving or the midfield wasn''t supporting.

For large parts of last season it felt like the team were put in little boxes and told not to move out of them. The full backs would get into the oppositions half and not overlap, the central midfielders never supported or got beyond the strikers and the center forwards never worked the channels.

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[quote user="lake district canary"]the problem last season was the wide areas, the main culprit being Snodgrass. Snodgrass has gone......[/quote]Yep....so get over it. On and on and on and on and on and on and on.........[:''(]

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[quote user="lappinitup"][quote user="lake district canary"]the problem last season was the wide areas, the main culprit being Snodgrass. Snodgrass has gone......[/quote]Yep....so get over it. On and on and on and on and on and on and on.........[:''(][/quote]

Yadayada......oh, and well done for highlighting a bit about the past and ignoring the rest of the post which was showing a way forward.

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I cannot make my mind up as to whether Germany were that good, or Brazil that bad.

It seems to me that even a Hughton side would have struggled to not score against a side with no left back and reckless centre backs.

On last nights form Brazil were one of the worst sides in the tournament. I have really enjoyed watching some of the lesser sides which were so well organised as to give the big fish a run for their money - Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica to name but a few..

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It was both.

Every team has calamatous moments where you are either punished or you arent. Remember WBA missing a sitter when we were 1-0 up then won 2-0? That changed the whole game.

Countless times in the premiership, we missed great opportunities to punish teams through both lack of pace, confidence and ideas. Other teams more often than not didn''t let us get away with it so easily.

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Most of our forays into the final third took way to long to develop and so were quickly turned back. When we did hold the ball in the final third, the opposition clogged up the middle of the 18 yard box and we rarely got a decent shot on goal.

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