view from Copenhagen

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

CopenhagenBlade

CopenhagenBlade

Active Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Messages
1,255
Reaction score
2,137
Location
Copenhagen
Well not being a regular I thought that I would give a qui k summary of my trip over.
Crawley is a hole and having arrived at 8.00 in the morning I had plenty of time to confirm this. After walking around the centre finally found a proper cafe, not good. Went to Ladbrokes and had a bet on the football and a horse called McCabes Creek (came in 4th). Found a pub, stood at the bar, next to a twat who unbelievably said to the barmaid, 'if you were my Mum I'd still be breastfeeding'...the silence was deafening.
Met a few from here, nice to meet you all.
The game itself has been described pretty well in other threads but it is hard to believe that we didn't win but just goes to show how hard it is to beat a team that parks the bus. They were a poor side but disciplined and had a plan. The pitch was small and their forwards worked hard. Done was constantly making runs but we were missing Baxter to thread the ball through to him and space was very limited with21 players in 1 half. Can't really say anyone played badly. If we'd got the first goal we would have won 2 or 3 nil.
 

Moved out there. Whether it was Baxter or maybe even Reed playing in the advanced midfielder role, it juust needed somebody to find the runs of Done. He must be a nightmare for defenders at this level with his constant movement.
 
CopenhagenBlade said:
Moved out there. Whether it was Baxter or maybe even Reed playing in the advanced midfielder role, it juust needed somebody to find the runs of Done. He must be a nightmare for defenders at this level with his constant movement.
Click to expand...
Yeah the gap between forwards and midfield was huge, just needed that third midfielder in the space in between.
 
Crawley is a well known soul less place with no real character. The Swan being the only pub worth my custom. Yesterday, took a punt and went 10minutes further on the train to Horsham. Decent cafe next to station. Town centre had at least four pubs better than anything Crawley has, got some Dark Star, Harvey's, Badger and some other local ale offering. Premier Inn next to station for overnights and would be cheaper than Crawley as further from Gatwick. Even a few delis and secret chippies, depending on what you want. If you're in a car there is a world class off licence. Redhill on the way back was like a posh Rotherham, concrete, no soul, vacant humans and not somewhere to be after dark, though beer was over four quid a pint everywhere and I mean beer not fizzy yellow liquids!
 
MBoreman said:
Yeah the gap between forwards and midfield was huge, just needed that third midfielder in the space in between.
Click to expand...

I would have thought that Coutts would have stepped up to support Done and leave Doyle and Basham to mop up the midfield. As it was, they were in a line abreast across the centre circle with no one moving forward. The only way up in the first half was via Murphy and via the right wing trio in the second half.

Reed or even (a fit) Scougall in place of Coutts

------------------------------Turner--------------------------------

Brayford--------Kennedy--------McEveley-----------Harris

-------------------Doyle--------------Basham--------------------

Flynn-----------Reed/Scougall/Adams----------------Murphy

-----------------------------Done-------------------------------------


Would have caused them far more problems. Even with Kennedy going off and Basham dropping into the CB role, Reed/Scougall and later on Adams would keep the pressure on which would have resulted in far more attempts on goal.

pommpey
 
We started in a 4-2-3-1 like this:

Turner
Brayford Kennedy McEveley Harris
Coutts Doyle
Flynn - - - Basham - - - Murphy
Done​

Interestingly Basham was more advanced than normal, obviously instructed to support Done in the box and give us some sort of aerial threat in the box. First 20 minutes wasn't great, but gradually Crawley dropped deeper and let us have a lot of the possession.

After Kennedy went of it was mostly:

Turner
Brayford Basham McEveley Harris
Coutts
Flynn Freeman Doyle Murphy
Done
​
Flynn and Freeman swapped positions after the break. Coutts and Doyle also swapped a few times, I think Clough's instruction may be that the holding midfielder should also take turns in chasing/making forward runs occasionally. Flynn was occasionally more advanced and tried to find pockets of space in between their midfield and defence, but was ineffective overall and didn't have a good game.

We switched to 4-4-2 after they scored:

Turner
Brayford Basham McEveley Harris
Freeman Doyle Coutts Flynn
Done Murphy​

Then McNulty came on for Flynn and pushed Murphy back to left wing again.




We had a lot of possession, but didn't create a lot of chances. I counted four chances and four half chances. On average a team needs three or four real chances to score a goal, so if we'd scored twice we should have been quite happy. It's not easy when a team drops so deep and forces us to carve through them. It often takes great movement, vision and a team that has gelled.

Especially as our line up has changed quite a bit, we are not great at creating space, pulling defenders out of position and punishing them. An example here, where we have isolated their right back, the centre halves are miles away, but there's nobody running into the space as shown by the arrow:

Lack of movement at Crawley.jpg

Instead we played the ball backwards, then sideways and allowed them to plug the gap.


We created openings on the other side through some neat play involving mainly Brayford and Freeman, but Done in the box was always outnumbered. Done is working his socks off, but we haven't quite managed to integrate him in the way we attack, and he's often offside or making runs in vain as our build up is sometimes slow.

I think Clough wants us to play 4-2-3-1 as we started with, but with Baxter suspended we are struggling to find the right player in the hole behind the striker. Basham didn't really get into the game before he was moved to centre half.

Yesterday we played 4-1-4-1 most of the game, the system that worked so well with Coady and Scougall in box to box roles last season. Reed and Cuvelier have also played these key roles within that system effectively, but they're out of favour at the moment. So yesterday we were left with Doyle, Freeman and Flynn trying to fill those roles. Maybe they shouldn't be expected to make the type of runs described in the photo above. I think we'll see something different vs Peterborough.
 
Bergen Blade said:
It's not easy when a team drops so deep and forces us to carve through them.
Click to expand...

(Wasn't at the game)

When a team parks the bus do you have to carve through them? Isn't that playing into their hands?

Would an alternative be to play in a kind of short-range Charles Hughes* style? By this I mean focus less on quality and more on quantity: get the ball in the box enough times, and something's bound to give. I'm not suggesting going aerially, we could just drive the ball in low and/or awkwardly, get it pinging around for handballs, mishit clearances into the roof of your own net, deflections, bobbles, scraps.

It's very hard to pick your way surgically through ten hardworking defenders - so why not try something different, if slightly less elegant?

Just a thought.

And, as always, thanks for the eye-opening analysis.

*Apologies
 
Yesterday we played 4-1-4-1 most of the game, the system that worked so well with Coady and Scougall in box to box roles last season. Reed and Cuvelier have also played these key roles within that system effectively, but they're out of favour at the moment. [/QUOTE]​
I'm hopeful Cuvelier can get fit and make that role his own, he looked promising in the few games he played. He and Wallace are both quality options in that formation, sadly they've had little luck with injuries.

Regarding formation, there were also large periods yesterday where Coutts drifted wide leaving Doyle alone in midfield, where he'd pick it up and have no one anywhere near him. We either need a player in between, or the players mentioned who can drive forward from midfield as McDonald and Coady have done in the past, McDonald's were rarer excursions, slightly like Maguire's runs rather than the constant running, but still effective.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom