The Shape Of Things To Come?

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

It was pleasing to hear Monk say that there's more to come from us in an attacking sense after yesterday's match, but the way we lined up was much more coherent, organised and disciplined than we've been in recent games.

 

Here are the average player positions from yesterday's game:

 

 

Each player occupies a different area of the pitch; none of the gaps between them are too big or too small; and despite clearly favouring attacks down the left flank, the team has a clear structure to it.

 

Contrast that with our previous game against QPR (it's in reverse compared to the above as we were the home team):

 

 

Our centre backs seem to be leaving a gaping hole at the heart  of our defence; Hutchinson is practically sat on Iorfa's knee, leaving Bannan and Forestieri to try and control the centre of midfield; Harris and Fletcher were completely isolated...quite frankly, the whole setup is a mess.

 

It's early days of course, but if Monk can improve our organisation, shape and tactical discipline that much in such a short space of time, then it certainly bodes well going forward.

Edited September 16, 2019 by areNOTwhatTHEYseem

[TheEnchanter]

Away from home we're going to have to play like yesterday in reality. The game before at Preston we were far too open and couldn't get any sort of control in the game. At home I'd obviously expect us to be more attacking like he states he wants. 

[daleblue]

Its a good job you said it was in reverse, thought we may have been playing goaly wag.

[ChapSmurf]

It was interesting to watch the game yesterday, home alone, without any real interuptions. I say real interuptions because I was on WhatsApp with some of the lads at the match during the game.

 

At first I was a little concerned about the lack of press and possession. It was being echo'd by those at the game. Then I started to look at the midfield shape, the gap (or lack of) between the midfield and defence (we were tight) and realised that whilst we weren't having much of the ball, we weren't even getting in to second gear. We just didn't need to. It was orchastrated movement by the entire team, which to be honest is exactly what it should be like at this level.

 

We gave them the flanks, because it exposed theirs. It was a gamble in my mind but both of our goals came from wide. Defensively, the wing backs tucked in when we were exposed on the opposite flank and Hutch and Bannan dropped deep to protect the centre. An example of this is when Westwood palmed the ball away, low to his right hand post and Palmer, playing on the opposite side cleared the ball from where you would expect the RB\RCB to be.

 

It was simple, smart football. Nothing fancy, forward together as a unit, and back the same way. Football is a results based business as we all know, and while that game won't stick in the mind for long, we went there to do the business and we did it very comfortably in the end.

[ZicoSterland2]

We looked much more of a threat in 2nd half. Pushed further up and basically nulified Huddersfield.

[oldishowl]

It will be interesting to see how the crowd cope on Saturday.

 

Fulham will have loads of possession and it probably ain’t sensible to try and press them as this is what they want you to do and leave gaps.

 

We will have to accept this 

 

[Dutch McLovin]

31 minutes ago, ZicoSterland2 said:

We looked much more of a threat in 2nd half. Pushed further up and basically nulified Huddersfield.

Which you have to do away from home, nullified them first half then grew and controlled the later part of the game.

[pazowl55]

18 minutes ago, oldishowl said:

It will be interesting to see how the crowd cope on Saturday.

 

Fulham will have loads of possession and it probably ain’t sensible to try and press them as this is what they want you to do and leave gaps.

 

We will have to accept this 

 

Basically Huddersfield haven't got an attack. Where as Fulham probably have the best in the division. Gonna be a real test this one.

[adelphi1867]

46 minutes ago, ChapSmurf said:

It was interesting to watch the game yesterday, home alone, without any real interuptions. I say real interuptions because I was on WhatsApp with some of the lads at the match during the game.

 

At first I was a little concerned about the lack of press and possession. It was being echo'd by those at the game. Then I started to look at the midfield shape, the gap (or lack of) between the midfield and defence (we were tight) and realised that whilst we weren't having much of the ball, we weren't even getting in to second gear. We just didn't need to. It was orchastrated movement by the entire team, which to be honest is exactly what it should be like at this level.

 

We gave them the flanks, because it exposed theirs. It was a gamble in my mind but both of our goals came from wide. Defensively, the wing backs tucked in when we were exposed on the opposite flank and Hutch and Bannan dropped deep to protect the centre. An example of this is when Westwood palmed the ball away, low to his right hand post and Palmer, playing on the opposite side cleared the ball from where you would expect the RB\RCB to be.

 

It was simple, smart football. Nothing fancy, forward together as a unit, and back the same way. Football is a results based business as we all know, and while that game won't stick in the mind for long, we went there to do the business and we did it very comfortably in the end.

Football is a SIMPLE game only made difficult by Coaches and Players.

The aim in any game is to WIN, not entertain, that comes later.

[oldishowl]

4 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

Basically Huddersfield haven't got an attack. Where as Fulham probably have the best in the division. Gonna be a real test this one.

 

Yep

Very tough game.

If we get pushed back we need people who can carry the ball forward and get us up the pitch.

 

Assuming Lees is fit I would move Iorfa to full back, play Reach on the right and start Luongo in midfield with Hutch and Bannan.

Luongo is competitive and carries the ball well.

We can always bring more forwards on for last 20 mins.

[Holmowl]

35 minutes ago, oldishowl said:

It will be interesting to see how the crowd cope on Saturday.

 

Fulham will have loads of possession and it probably ain’t sensible to try and press them as this is what they want you to do and leave gaps.

 

We will have to accept this 

 

 

Definitely.

 

I think we will be playing on the break on Saturday. Fulham will have lots of possession, but Monk cares little as long as it’s in unthreatening areas.

[pazowl55]

7 minutes ago, oldishowl said:

 

Yep

Very tough game.

If we get pushed back we need people who can carry the ball forward and get us up the pitch.

 

Assuming Lees is fit I would move Iorfa to full back, play Reach on the right and start Luongo in midfield with Hutch and Bannan.

Luongo is competitive and carries the ball well.

We can always bring more forwards on for last 20 mins.

I would go Palmer and Fox as Fullbacks need our two best defensive full backs against probably the two best wingers in the league.  Iorfa or Odubajo would all over the place against those two.

[Kanye West]

20 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

Basically Huddersfield haven't got an attack. Where as Fulham probably have the best in the division. Gonna be a real test this one.

 

They looked decent at best against West Brom on Saturday - they're a good side yes, but not enough for us to poo ourselves over.

[Hitcat]

“He could be the guy to find that missing link that we have missed in the last couple of years.”

 

Quote from Bannan yesterday. Seems he's made a decent first impression.

[pazowl55]

22 minutes ago, Kanye West said:

 

They looked decent at best against West Brom on Saturday - they're a good side yes, but not enough for us to poo ourselves over.

It's only their front three that scare me. Especially if we leave ourselves open down the flanks, which I fear we may do.

[ZicoSterland2]

49 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

It's only their front three that scare me. Especially if we leave ourselves open down the flanks, which I fear we may do.

They arent unbeatable the Dingles managed it. We often play better against the better sides and lose to the dross its the Wednesday way.

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

2 hours ago, ChapSmurf said:

It was interesting to watch the game yesterday, home alone, without any real interuptions. I say real interuptions because I was on WhatsApp with some of the lads at the match during the game.

 

At first I was a little concerned about the lack of press and possession. It was being echo'd by those at the game. Then I started to look at the midfield shape, the gap (or lack of) between the midfield and defence (we were tight) and realised that whilst we weren't having much of the ball, we weren't even getting in to second gear. We just didn't need to. It was orchastrated movement by the entire team, which to be honest is exactly what it should be like at this level.

 

We gave them the flanks, because it exposed theirs. It was a gamble in my mind but both of our goals came from wide. Defensively, the wing backs tucked in when we were exposed on the opposite flank and Hutch and Bannan dropped deep to protect the centre. An example of this is when Westwood palmed the ball away, low to his right hand post and Palmer, playing on the opposite side cleared the ball from where you would expect the RB\RCB to be.

 

It was simple, smart football. Nothing fancy, forward together as a unit, and back the same way. Football is a results based business as we all know, and while that game won't stick in the mind for long, we went there to do the business and we did it very comfortably in the end.

 

Great post.

 

It definitely felt like we had a plan yesterday, which I've not been able to say for a few games.

 

It wasn't breathtakingly pretty football, but against a home team trying to impress their new manager, we did what we needed to do.

[sonofbert2]

We bossed the game yesterday from start to finish.

[shezzas left peg]

3 hours ago, TheEnchanter said:

Away from home we're going to have to play like yesterday in reality. The game before at Preston we were far too open and couldn't get any sort of control in the game. At home I'd obviously expect us to be more attacking like he states he wants. 

Depends tactically on how the opposition set up and play. 

Obviously at home against a defensive team, we need to be much wider and pushed up to limit there countering space whilst maximising our width to create opportunities. 

Away from home being in a more revers manner by being more compact and tight, whilst when needed to stifle their attacks, just basic stuff really, but things we haven't been doing too well. 

[shezzas left peg]

I'm not sure who else picked up on a little snipit monk said in one of the interviews prior to the Huddersfield match. 

It made me think Bullens problem was getting them to coherently follow out his instructions. 

G. M quote "we need to get the players to listen" a very short statement, yet to me do make you think Bullen was having a problem organising us, hence why we seemed so sloppy and loose so often.