nopigfansintown
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I believe our away form was around sixth with the majority of favourable away games already behind us. The tactical change came in the Norwich game. Our run off fixtures was Norwich, Villa, West Brom, Pigs and Leeds. Logic would dictate that it was likely to get worse rather than better if we continued to play the same way. I think that objectively speaking we were the better side in all those games with the possible exception of the Wednesday game; and definitely the Leeds game. We've got another tough game this weekend so we'll be able to test this theory out again. Pre Madine and Dowell we lost away to Derby, Bristol City, Forest and Boro. The highest placed team we beat away was Brentford. That's the empirical evidence.We currently have the best home form in the league and the fourth best away form.
Everything is different under Wilder compared to Weir. Wilder has accumulated a squad of players who are all comfortable on the ball. We don't pass the ball square across our backline for the sake of it. We carry the ball and pass it forwards relying on dynamic overlaps and overloads. Not ponderous horizontal passing that results in the opposition getting eleven players back in position, and winning the ball close to our goal. Keeping possession is a means to an end in a Wilder side; not the other way around. Our distribution from the back is a case in point: if we're pressed high, we often go diagnally into the wingbacks or toward the half way line as a means to take a host of players out of the game.Under Weir, they could have five players stood on the edge of our box and we'd still try to play out from the back with inept footballers. If an opponent doesn't press us high, or only risk a few players in our half we will keep the ball and work our way through a team The overloads come from the wide centre backs (in tandem with the deepest lying midfielder); from the attacking midfielder and this season with the deepest lying striker Mcgoldrick (both working in tandem with the wing backs). The squad is also incredibly fit and has physical demands placed on it both in and out of possession (see Wilder's comments re Sharp this season for evidence of his thinking). Sharp had to adapt to Wilder's strategy, not the other way round. If we play our pressing system - no passengers out of possession. Getting the personel that Weir had to play the style he wanted to incorporate was a suicide note.They simply couldn't do it. To compound this, his players had no game plan out of possession. No high press, no counter attack starting on the half way line; nothing.
The biggest change in modern football is not the emphasis on possession. That's always been there in various guises throughout the generations.It's the emphasis on how you win the ball back and, more specifically, where you win the ball back. The United team of the previous two years was especially compelling in this aspects because we had a playmaker, par excellence, who was absolutely brilliant at pressing from the front in Mark Duffy. There's nothing more exciting in the game to me than winning the ball in the opponents goal and then slicing through them with incisive passing football to score a goal. It relies on speed,vision, endurance, positional sense, technical ability and team structure. The best example of that this season was the Villa home game. Sadly Duffy's become an increasingly peripheral figure (probably due to age and the physical demands we require) and we don't have an alternative in order to make plan A better (if we exclude Mcgoldrick). On Saturday, I would have played Sharp and Hogan and one of Duffy and and Mcgoldrick as the attacking midfielder to exploit the high line of Bristol. That was the way to win that game imo. I would have looked to stop their football at source with our high press and then exploited their pretty poor backline with Hogan running in behind them all game.
A lot of teams have the two S's you earmark, but lack the third S. I would offer up Reading, Brentford, Wigan and Swansea as examples of that. They play a high defensive line, press you high, and have youthful players that are all technically proficient. They all play an expansive possession based game to boot. Put a ball in their box in the air or press them high and they crap themselves more often than not. We could include Bristol in that lot. They were pressed for 20 minutes on Saturday and proceeded to give us the ball back or launch it in John Street or the South Stand. We looked like scoring from every set piece.I think you need a balance between all three S's. If you have players like Egan, O'Connell, Duffy, Stevens, Fleck etc then you're onto something. Its not an either or situation then.
I thought their no. 9 had a very good game. He looked raw, which for a 25 yr old perhaps isn’t a good sign. He did have a knack of doing something well and then having the control of a pub player. He’s exactly the type of player that I believe that we needed this season; mobile, strong, willing runner & competes for everything. He showed more than I’ve seen offered from Hogan, Washington and Madine combined. He’s got a 2 in 7 ratio in the championship, so he’s certainly not shit. And £5m is great value.
I suspect that I’ve totally over estimated his benefit to Bristol City, but I thought this domination, stifled some of our players and allowed space for some of his team mates players. Similar to Madine’s performance at BDTBL for Bolton last season. If one player had the effect of occupying two of the opposition players, that allows the opportunity for an overload elsewhere, and that’s a plus in my limited, Luddite footballing view.
