After all the half-heated attempts to explain our tactics, I'vs put together a conclusive report using my coaching knowledge on Cloughies way of playing. It took ages so please respect it.
Defensive:
Firstly Defensively. People talk about playing in Triangles when you have the ball but we play in triangles when we're defending. This is extremely effective as we always have at least 2 outlets when we win the ball back. Because we can keep the ball when we get it back we can break quickly and in numbers, so far counter-attacking has been the best football we have played and has provided us with many goals.
Closing Down:
In the triangles every man has somebody to close down, In the photo below (credit to Bergen Blade) Scougall is closing down the Forest player while Coady is in the best position possibe to close down the other player when the inevitable sideways pass happens.
Then when the pass does come in the above does happen and Scougs and Coady swap roles, Therefore they are trapped through the middle (the way which Notts forest like to pay). Notice how Doyle is at the rear of the triangle as an anchor. He is useful in that place for three reasons, No 1, If they do manage to get through he is an extra layer of protection before the defence No 2, If Scougs of Coady get dragged out then he can cover them and reason 3, if he wins it back Coady and Scougall can break and he can play either of them in on goal or play out to Flynn, Murphy, or Baxter...
Counter Attacking/breaking:
Moving on from that, Counter attacking has been our main threat in recent weeks and has brought goals. We counter attack mainly down the wings with the flying scots-men or with tricky Scougall and Baxter, and with Coady just behind. Because we attack with such high numbers the defenders are caught in a situation, Commit or Back off, usually the defenders back off giving us space to engineer a move and get in on goal from a through ball or a ball lifted over the top leading to a shot or goal.
Fullbacks getting forward:
From the Wingers perspective: Brayford and Harris go on the overlap around Flynn and Murphy, which catches the defender in two minds, follow the full back or stay with the wingers or even try to do both and end up doing neither.
Option 1: Follow the full Back: If the defender does this it leaves all the space inside open for the wingers to attack, something which Flynn is really good at. From the position inside the defender the winger now has 3 options, Have a shot, Lay it off for somebody more central to have a shot, or lob it into the box.
Option 2: Go with the Winger: Now the winger can try to take on the player himself, but why would you when you've got a free player behind you. Play it back to them and get it in the box. simple.
Option 3: Player tries to cover both: He's caught in between now the winger and full back can do what ever they like, Get a cross in, shoot, lay it off, make a run, play a through ball...
With this tactic it's the sheer quantity of options which does it, not the quality of chance or player though if it were with the form of Flynniesta and Murphy at the moment i'm sure we could still get good chances and even goals out of it.
Defending Set Pieces:
No much too say here but a clever piece of Clough's set piece set up is the player on the front post. The player is positioned at the front of the 6 yard box waiting for a miss-hit corner/freekick or one with a low trajectory. If any of the before mentioned happen then he rushes out and clears it like so.
Or, if the corner is a good one and goes over his head the player backs-on to the front post and covers it from any shots.
Attacking set pieces is basically just putting the big lads at the back and smaller ones at the front, a perfect example of this is the Shaun Miller goal against Fulham away.
These examples are some of the reasons the reign of NIGEL has been more successful at the lane than the reign David Weir when in my opinion it looked like there was minimal game plan, minimal leadership and a he massively less skilled manager tactics wise.
If you've managed to take all that in then well done you. Thoughts??? Any additional tactics welcome
I'd also like to add Scougs, Flynniesta, Murphy and The Beard are all brilliant players among a good bunch and are particularly suited to this frmation
Defensive:
Firstly Defensively. People talk about playing in Triangles when you have the ball but we play in triangles when we're defending. This is extremely effective as we always have at least 2 outlets when we win the ball back. Because we can keep the ball when we get it back we can break quickly and in numbers, so far counter-attacking has been the best football we have played and has provided us with many goals.
Closing Down:
In the triangles every man has somebody to close down, In the photo below (credit to Bergen Blade) Scougall is closing down the Forest player while Coady is in the best position possibe to close down the other player when the inevitable sideways pass happens.
Then when the pass does come in the above does happen and Scougs and Coady swap roles, Therefore they are trapped through the middle (the way which Notts forest like to pay). Notice how Doyle is at the rear of the triangle as an anchor. He is useful in that place for three reasons, No 1, If they do manage to get through he is an extra layer of protection before the defence No 2, If Scougs of Coady get dragged out then he can cover them and reason 3, if he wins it back Coady and Scougall can break and he can play either of them in on goal or play out to Flynn, Murphy, or Baxter...
Counter Attacking/breaking:
Moving on from that, Counter attacking has been our main threat in recent weeks and has brought goals. We counter attack mainly down the wings with the flying scots-men or with tricky Scougall and Baxter, and with Coady just behind. Because we attack with such high numbers the defenders are caught in a situation, Commit or Back off, usually the defenders back off giving us space to engineer a move and get in on goal from a through ball or a ball lifted over the top leading to a shot or goal.
Fullbacks getting forward:
From the Wingers perspective: Brayford and Harris go on the overlap around Flynn and Murphy, which catches the defender in two minds, follow the full back or stay with the wingers or even try to do both and end up doing neither.
Option 1: Follow the full Back: If the defender does this it leaves all the space inside open for the wingers to attack, something which Flynn is really good at. From the position inside the defender the winger now has 3 options, Have a shot, Lay it off for somebody more central to have a shot, or lob it into the box.
Option 2: Go with the Winger: Now the winger can try to take on the player himself, but why would you when you've got a free player behind you. Play it back to them and get it in the box. simple.
Option 3: Player tries to cover both: He's caught in between now the winger and full back can do what ever they like, Get a cross in, shoot, lay it off, make a run, play a through ball...
With this tactic it's the sheer quantity of options which does it, not the quality of chance or player though if it were with the form of Flynniesta and Murphy at the moment i'm sure we could still get good chances and even goals out of it.
Defending Set Pieces:
No much too say here but a clever piece of Clough's set piece set up is the player on the front post. The player is positioned at the front of the 6 yard box waiting for a miss-hit corner/freekick or one with a low trajectory. If any of the before mentioned happen then he rushes out and clears it like so.
Or, if the corner is a good one and goes over his head the player backs-on to the front post and covers it from any shots.
Attacking set pieces is basically just putting the big lads at the back and smaller ones at the front, a perfect example of this is the Shaun Miller goal against Fulham away.
These examples are some of the reasons the reign of NIGEL has been more successful at the lane than the reign David Weir when in my opinion it looked like there was minimal game plan, minimal leadership and a he massively less skilled manager tactics wise.
If you've managed to take all that in then well done you. Thoughts??? Any additional tactics welcome
I'd also like to add Scougs, Flynniesta, Murphy and The Beard are all brilliant players among a good bunch and are particularly suited to this frmation
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Anyway that's only the base. Clough likes to make changes to the tactics to suit different styles of play from different teams.
