Defence must push higher up

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jono_t2000

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To me, one of the biggest issues I see is how deep our defensive line fits.

Part of Slavs plan I believe is for our defenders to sit closer to the half way line than our own box, keeping the opposition pinned in and quickly recycling the ball back into oppos half when its cleared.

However the crux of the issue is i don't believe Egan trusts himself to push too high up.

While his pace is ok, he's fairly slow on the turn, and has been turned by a striker leading to a goal or a booking several times in the past.

While Egan has been a great servant in the past, I'm again not sure he suits Slavs style tbh.
 

The reason we have conceded late goals at times is because we have pushed up too high, a long ball over the top has then done us.

We are a far better side in the first 60 minutes of games, then we start to disappear, need fresher legs up top to keep that intensity up and keep the opposing teams defence occupied. Currently we have moose who can barely manage 55 minutes and a young lad who is still adjusting to men’s football. The options off the bench are slower and not a threat in behind, which then means teams can press higher, we naturally drop deeper and are then punished, because a long ball to a striker who is short and not the quickest isn’t really giving him a chance of an out ball.
 
The reason we have conceded late goals at times is because we have pushed up too high, a long ball over the top has then done us.

We are a far better side in the first 60 minutes of games, then we start to disappear, need fresher legs up top to keep that intensity up and keep the opposing teams defence occupied. Currently we have moose who can barely manage 55 minutes and a young lad who is still adjusting to men’s football. The options off the bench are slower and not a threat in behind, which then means teams can press higher, we naturally drop deeper and are then punished, because a long ball to a striker who is short and not the quickest isn’t really giving him a chance of an out ball.

There's certainly seems to be a fitness issue or a concentration issue or both as we ship so many goals late on.
 
The reason we have conceded late goals at times is because we have pushed up too high, a long ball over the top has then done us.

We are a far better side in the first 60 minutes of games, then we start to disappear, need fresher legs up top to keep that intensity up and keep the opposing teams defence occupied. Currently we have moose who can barely manage 55 minutes and a young lad who is still adjusting to men’s football. The options off the bench are slower and not a threat in behind, which then means teams can press higher, we naturally drop deeper and are then punished, because a long ball to a striker who is short and not the quickest isn’t really giving him a chance of an out ball.
...so play Burke for the last 30 minutes ?
 
Playing that system relies heavily on having a keeper who is able to play almost as a sweeper and that allows the whole team to play higher up the pitch. The goalie squeezes the space available to opposition to play that ballover the top.
 
I'm no statistical expert but layman's observation is we still have the ingrained overload build up play down either wing, often our left. Osborne, Fleck and Stevens take up advanced positions but remain static in a triangle, there's some reasonable interplay but often due to, A. Lack of committed overlap (historically Jack or Bash) or B, lack of individual flair we end up rolling the ball centrally backwards rinse and repeat.Balls into the box often have few targets with no real committed attack minded central midfielders and we really miss that mercurial Duffy presence to unlock a defence. Somebody did mention the other day how we played a few mid table championship teams in the cup whilst in the Premier and it looked very comfortable on each occasion with a weakened team. Not sure how much of a benchmark that is but it's frustrating. Genuinely think we've got the players to be challenging towards the top six but feels a bit lost between old and new styles.
 
Defence must push higher up.......because we dont have a midfield

there thats better.
 
To me, one of the biggest issues I see is how deep our defensive line fits.

Part of Slavs plan I believe is for our defenders to sit closer to the half way line than our own box, keeping the opposition pinned in and quickly recycling the ball back into oppos half when its cleared.

However the crux of the issue is i don't believe Egan trusts himself to push too high up.

While his pace is ok, he's fairly slow on the turn, and has been turned by a striker leading to a goal or a booking several times in the past.

While Egan has been a great servant in the past, I'm again not sure he suits Slavs style tbh.
It would help the defence if the midfield also pressed the opposition more, preferably 20 yards further up the pitch...Instead of standing on Egan’s boot laces.
 
It would help the defence if the midfield also pressed the opposition more, preferably 20 yards further up the pitch...Instead of standing on Egan’s boot laces.
You're advocating Fleck and Norwood engaging higher up the pitch? With different midfielders maybe but not these two. So easy to get past and no recovery speed is partly the reason they sit so deep. At least Norwood offers himself in that deep lying position. Not sure what Fleck's been doing for 18 months.
 
To me, one of the biggest issues I see is how deep our defensive line fits.

Part of Slavs plan I believe is for our defenders to sit closer to the half way line than our own box, keeping the opposition pinned in and quickly recycling the ball back into oppos half when its cleared.

However the crux of the issue is i don't believe Egan trusts himself to push too high up.

While his pace is ok, he's fairly slow on the turn, and has been turned by a striker leading to a goal or a booking several times in the past.

While Egan has been a great servant in the past, I'm again not sure he suits Slavs style tbh.

In my opinion they must be more dynamic. Push up when they should, drop deep when they should, done with intensity and the backfour keeping a straight line. The team's pressure starts with the forward players and the rest of the departments must follow and keep the right distance.

Some of our pressure play has been decent, which has prevented many opposition teams to have much possession against us. But we struggle to keep it up for full games, and that's when we've been punished. I think we need certain personell changes, and it would help us if we more substitutions were allowed.
 
Best we get some quick and mobile defenders who can tackle strong and pass to our players before asking the ones we got to play above their capabilities.
 
Our problem is we have been defending too high a line
Have you seen the Blackpool goal ?
 

Part of the problem is starting Mousse and Ndiaye means after 60 or so minutes 2 subs will replace them, given another place on the bench is taken up by a sub keeper, the lack of cover/options from the bench to change the midfield and defensive 'cover' being limited to Bash, Bogle or Robinson,,its hard to change a game, or shore up the defence, apart from sending on Bash.
 

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