Shrewsbury analysis

[Bergen Blade]

Had a look at the Shrewsbury match on BP. There will be always players who have off days occasionally, but what we should aim for is that we get the organisation of the team right. Often poor player performances can be due to things that aren’t working tactically.


Two things that we should look to adjust:



1 Distance between defence and midfield. Defenders don’t like strikers getting in behind them. To prevent this they often drop down deeper to minimise the space behind them. What can happen then is that space can open up in front of them, and our midfielders get too much room to cover.


Shrewsbury took advantage of this, often they would hit it long to one of their strikers who met the ball, flicked it, or played it back to a midfield runner who could then advance on the ball with forward facing teammates available. Despite us not having wingers across midfield (normally means more solidity) our midfielders couldn’t manage. Photo below shows the gap between our backline and midfield and Shrewsbury taking advantage.




SOLUTIONS: More aggression and intesity from the back four. They need to push up when they can. Another solution is to play Monty and Doyle to chase, or even change the formation to 4-5-1, but I don’t think we want to go there.



2 Quick strikers not able to use pace. It’s a long time since we had so much pace up front, and Blackman and Cofie have some great individual attributes. So why couldn’t they get in behind the Shrewsbury defence?



I think the primary problem is that we became too one dimensional in our attack. With two so quick strikers we really wanted to play through balls for them to run onto. Which made us forget how to get attacks going in the first two thirds of the pitch. Shrewsbury’s excellent closing down high up the pitch should be mentioned here. But we lacked urgency, movement and tempo, failed to get any sort of rhythm into our build up play, continually being forced to pass it

a backwards​

b to a marked teammate facing his own goal​

c ultimately – long​

When the predictable long ball came, the big Shrewsbury defenders was able to drop off and attack the ball, winning almost every challenge against Blackman and Cofie. They were very rarely facing the opposition goal when they received the ball. Our build up was also so slow and random that it made it difficult for them to know when to initiate runs.



SOLUTIONS: If you can’t find/exploit space in behind defences, the next best thing is the space between the opposition defence and midfield – and wide. Better tempo, more urgency, more movement, having someone in the midfield positions who can advance on the ball with pace, someone with the ability to dribble. Alternatively, play a back to goal target man who can win high balls and hold it up in front of their defensive line. 4-4-1-1 is another option, as is moving one of the strikers to a wide position, to see if his pace can be better used from deeper.

 

[ZoneManWilf]

4-4-1-1 is another option, as is moving one of the strikers to a wide position, to see if his pace can be better used from deeper.

I think they tried this at least early on, certainly Cofie seemed behind Blackman at the start of the game. Problem is that the guy sat behind needs to work harder than either of them seemed to do on Saturday. Blackman especially looked good, but I didn't think either of them worked hard enough to create more problems for their defence.

 

[alcoblade]

Excellent stuff bergs. I nearly puked when you wrote "another solution is to play Monty and Doyle" , but overall it makes sense;

UTB

 

[Pinchy]

If Monty is the answer, it's a bloody daft question!

 

[frechyblade]

Whilst the photo shows there was a large gap between the back four and our midfield. When I was there Saturday I thought that the midfield (Doyle and McDonald in particular) were dropping to close to the back four, almost on the two CB's toes, so clearances made were dropping into a large gap left by them. Creating the same problem.

UTB

 

[Bergen Blade]

Whilst the photo shows there was a large gap between the back four and our midfield. When I was there Saturday I thought that the midfield (Doyle and McDonald in particular) were dropping to close to the back four, almost on the two CB's toes, so clearances made were dropping into a large gap left by them. Creating the same problem.

UTB

What you describe is a poor way of fixing the first problem and it's related to the intensity in the team's (not just the defenders') defensive work. Distances between each player and each department should be right at any time both when dropping deeper and when pushing up. I hope it's something that can be adjusted by stressing it, not that poor fitness is to blame.

 

[Bladesman]

We are in the shitter if a solution is to play Monty.

 

[Bergen Blade]

We are in the shitter if a solution is to play Monty.

For the record, it's not what I think we should do. It may have helped covering a bit more ground, but would give us even bigger problems, as seen in the derby at Hillsborough for example.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Just a quick update, having seen the Coventry match on BP:


Against Coventry Wilson let Doyle play as an anchor man, covering the space just in front of the back four.

If you compare the first photo in the original post you'll see that Shrewsbury played the ball up to a striker who played it back to a forward facing teammate who then had acres of spaces and several passing options.

An example from the Coventry shows the exact same type of opposition attack, a long ball is played from their left back up to a back to goal striker. But this time Doyle (red circle) is there to deny the chance to pass it back to a forward facing teammate.

Doyle doesn't put in a tackle, doesn't even come near the ball, but just by being in a good defensive postion, he limits the options of the opposition. In the end, our defenders outnumber the Coventry forwards and deal with the situation comfortably.