Britton's position

[Cassius Kray]

Good to hear the reports on Britton and that Speed actually played him in his best position. (Why did KB never play players in their best positin and why when it is obvious that Speed can see these things did he not tell KB?)

I might be in a minority here but I think Britton was played out of position against Preston. He showed that he's a quality player and had a good game, but I felt he was succeeding despite rather than because of our setup.

He was played in a defensive midfield position (sitting practically on top of the back 4) and is clearly not a defensive midfielder. He can't tackle, giving away a number of freekicks the few times Preson pushed forward, and it's daft having your most creative player always constantly harrying and running back when he's not particuarly good at it.

Even more bizzarely, we had two defensive midfielders hanging around in front of him who were too often watching Britton doing what should have been their job, and not doing much when they got the ball.

It's hardly surprising that we created so few chances when out playmaker was functioning simply as a link between defence and midfield. What would you rather see:

Defender gets the ball, short pass to monty, short pass to Britton, defence splitting pass...

or

Defender gets the ball, short pass to Britton, short pass to monty....

?

 

[Houso]

Yeah, I'd say you're definitely in the minority mate.

I thought Britton was played perfectly - orchestrating play by being close to the back four, and then getting forward whenever he could. He wasn't deep enough against Boro and that showed in how he played.

I also thought he tackled extremely well and it was the perfect central midfield performance.

 

[ZoneManWilf]

Being an attacking minded midfielder does not mean you have to camp the attacking 3rd of the pitch. United fans are so indoctrinated that the ball has to go forward at all opportunites, and that creative play has to be only in the final 3rd with balls coming off the strikers to the attacking midfielders. I honestly think this mindset is difficult to shift because of what we got used to in the Bassett and Warnock eras.

The fact that Britton is our best passer, allows him to dictate the pattern of play and the shape of a move when he picks the ball up deep. It's exactly what Xabi Alonso did for Liverpool and got no credit for, but look what happened to them last season after they lost him.

Ideally you want more players in your team with the ability to pass accurately from deep in the pitch, but we don't have any, so Britton did it. A midfield of Willo and Britton is something I'd love to see though.

That's not to say you can afford to pass the ball the death with no creativity on goal and it was a long way from perfect yesterday, the players need to get used to the system, and we need much more penetration and more incisive passing in the attacking part of the pitch. But it was the first time we changed the system, it can't be expected to be an immediate success.

The change mindset to pass the ball and keep possession instead of getting the ball in 'areas', direct to the striker or in a channel was stark. People have moaned and moaned and moaned about Blackwell's playstyle, surely people don't then expect a new system to be perfect the second we change that mindset???

 

[Wards]

We've been crying out for a midfielder to take the pass off the defence. As much as they'd like to, Ertl and Monty aren't technically able to receive a pass, look up and pick the 'right' pass and do this over and over again.

Ideally, I'd have Britton sitting with two playing in front i.e. one of either Ertl/Monty and paired with a more attacking player (Williamson/Quinn?)

 

[SteelCity Blade]

I would say you're in the minority as well cassius, with all due respect. Thats not to say you are wrong at all, I just think more people recognise Britton's strengths as carrying the ball from deep. There is no reason why a "defensive midfielder" (anchor role - my preferred terminology) should have to be a strong tackler, or defensively minded. It depends how you set your stall out. If you want to play with Ertl or Monty in front of the back four then expect to spend most of your time defending and seeing the ball come back into your half....if you play someone like Leon Britton, then you can build from the 18 yard box and take a more positive approach....

The idea behind Leon Britton playing the deeper role (as he did with Swansea) is that he will encourage the defenders to play the ball short instead of hoofing it long. It then allows Britton to pick the ball up just in front of the back four and dictate play. Someone with his vision and passing ability can then carry the ball into the opposing half and allow other players to make runs forward, instead of them either having to come back seeking the ball or see it punted over their heads.

I tend to think Leon Britton could play any type of central midfield role, but it is better for the team that he collects the ball from deep as it will encourage a more thoughtul approach going forward. Lots of Premier League sides use their more technically gifted midfielders in this way. You often see Lampard dropping deep for larger portions of Chelsea games in order to dictate play from the defensive half.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I think Blackwell thought exactly the same as Cassius Kray and thought that with his good touch and clever head Britton would be able to shine in a role just behind the striker(s). It's not neccessarily a rubbish idea, but judging by the Middlesbrough and Cardiff games he's just not ideal for the role, and indeed his passes (while fairly accurate) were just sideways and backwards, something that from a holding position can make a team tick, but from an advanced midfield position just sees attacks break down.

Who knows, maybe he could adapt given time and the right players around him, but given the games so far I think we should use him as a holding midfield playmaker, and look to get the right combination of players around him. Speed seems as keen as Blackwell on him as a player, but hopefully has a better idea of how to use him effectively.

Monty and Ertl as partners aren't ideal though.

 

[Cassius Kray]

Seems I'm not onto a winner with this one! I'm very happy to give the team more time to gel, and hope this is the way forward. I just find it a slight cause for concern that despite the emergence of our new much-heralded creative midfielder we created absolutely nothing.

United fans are so indoctrinated that the ball has to go forward at all opportunites, and that creative play has to be only in the final 3rd with balls coming off the strikers to the attacking midfielders.

I'd actually argue the opposite. I think that Unitedites are so singlemindedly against 'hoofball' that they're more interested in pretty short passes than getting results. United are not Liverpool - we have to work with what we've got and I'd rather see football that plays to the strengths of the team - whatever the tactic - than lots of passing and no chances. I'm certainly not saying that what we're doing is wrong, but I feel comparing Britton to Alonso is disingenuous.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Seems I'm not onto a winner with this one! I'm very happy to give the team more time to gel, and hope this is the way forward. I just find it a slight cause for concern that despite the emergence of our new much-heralded creative midfielder we created absolutely nothing.



I'd actually argue the opposite. I think that Unitedites are so singlemindedly against 'hoofball' that they're more interested in pretty short passes than getting results. United are not Liverpool - we have to work with what we've got and I'd rather see football that plays to the strengths of the team - whatever the tactic - than lots of passing and no chances. I'm certainly not saying that what we're doing is wrong, but I feel comparing Britton to Alonso is disingenuous.

Britton shouldn't have been heralded as our new creative midfielder, because he's not been that type of player at Swansea. I read somewhere that he had one assist last season. His goal record is worse than Monty's.

I think you're spot on in that our playing style is a big problem if we don't create chances. And, something to consider:

Playing possession football, keeping the ball within the team is not very difficult against teams who are reasonably happy with the current score. The difficult part is creating chances.

So to those who say we're doing great, just needs a little more work in the final third, keep in mind that we're doing the EASY part now. To make the team good enough for promotion we must work tremendously hard, add exactly the right players and get the tactics spot on if we're also going to be good at the DIFFICULT part.