Bergen Blade
Well-Known Member
People will have different thoughts on why we looked so poor today, but for me it starts with our pressing play. If we can't make things difficult for the opposition when they start to build attacks, it's going to be a struggle coping. Stuttgart were comfortable on the ball and seemed to pass through us with ease.
I've seen a few people point out that having two strikers is a bit of a luxury. Not too many PL teams play with two strikers and it is difficult for two players to put pressure on a defence where each player is comfortable on the ball.
So although there's nothing wrong with the work rate of Osula and Traore, they rarely managed to get close to their players, i.e. a lot of their running was in vain. One central striker isn't better in itself, but the one is then usually backed up by two wide-ish players, so you effectively have a three man strong first line of defence.
Our midfield were also criticised, but people tend to target the individuals, not the failed organisation. I think they are encouraged to press high up the pitch when we can.
The above is an example. But they don't chase in packs. Here, the forwards haven't managed to do much to restrict the forward passing options. Our midfield three are quite isolated, not helped at all by the back five. This means the three of them have too much space to cover.
Although Berge, traditionally the deepest, goes forward to mark/press their midfielder, it is all half-hearted. Osborn and Slimani are both on their heels:
So Berge's ambitious pressing attempt achieves nothing. In fact, we get in trouble. Their LCM turns and plays forward to his partner, who's got acres of space to run into. To improve this attempt at pressing, Berge needs to be helped by his fellow midfielders. If the LCM manages to pass forwards, Osborn and/or Slimani should be all over the receiver.
To simplify - we had two ineffective lines of defence, usually achieving very little.
Where was the defence?
They were at the back, after all they are defenders, aren't they?
Our wing backs were pushed back by Stuttgart's wide men. Stuttgart played a 5-4-1, which meant Baldock and Larouci had two wide men each to keep an eye on. This made it difficult for them to join in with the midfield three when they tried to press high.
When the midfield including Berge is given licence to go forward and press I think Hecky wants our wide centre backs to push forward to avoid the gap being too big - see AA in the second photo. But this isn't always easy. Defenders traditionally like to stay in line at the back, but they are now being forced more often to decide between going and staying. The danger is that we get pulled all over the place. But if they just hang around at the back we'll also have three centre halves marking their one central striker. Also a waste.
So Stuttgart had few problems getting past two strikers. Our midfield three struggled to cover enough space, let alone win the ball, and our back five were pegged back.
I think this suggests our organisation failed today, and this is before going into things like the individual pressing abilities of each player, i.e. do our players have the tenacity, stamina, aggression, tackling, etc to play this sort of game, did we have the right mix of attributes.
A lot to fix in a week, but not impossible. Some tweaks, a couple of changes in personell, and maybe even formation, may see improvements.
I've seen a few people point out that having two strikers is a bit of a luxury. Not too many PL teams play with two strikers and it is difficult for two players to put pressure on a defence where each player is comfortable on the ball.
So although there's nothing wrong with the work rate of Osula and Traore, they rarely managed to get close to their players, i.e. a lot of their running was in vain. One central striker isn't better in itself, but the one is then usually backed up by two wide-ish players, so you effectively have a three man strong first line of defence.
Our midfield were also criticised, but people tend to target the individuals, not the failed organisation. I think they are encouraged to press high up the pitch when we can.
The above is an example. But they don't chase in packs. Here, the forwards haven't managed to do much to restrict the forward passing options. Our midfield three are quite isolated, not helped at all by the back five. This means the three of them have too much space to cover.
Although Berge, traditionally the deepest, goes forward to mark/press their midfielder, it is all half-hearted. Osborn and Slimani are both on their heels:
So Berge's ambitious pressing attempt achieves nothing. In fact, we get in trouble. Their LCM turns and plays forward to his partner, who's got acres of space to run into. To improve this attempt at pressing, Berge needs to be helped by his fellow midfielders. If the LCM manages to pass forwards, Osborn and/or Slimani should be all over the receiver.
To simplify - we had two ineffective lines of defence, usually achieving very little.
Where was the defence?
They were at the back, after all they are defenders, aren't they?
Our wing backs were pushed back by Stuttgart's wide men. Stuttgart played a 5-4-1, which meant Baldock and Larouci had two wide men each to keep an eye on. This made it difficult for them to join in with the midfield three when they tried to press high.
When the midfield including Berge is given licence to go forward and press I think Hecky wants our wide centre backs to push forward to avoid the gap being too big - see AA in the second photo. But this isn't always easy. Defenders traditionally like to stay in line at the back, but they are now being forced more often to decide between going and staying. The danger is that we get pulled all over the place. But if they just hang around at the back we'll also have three centre halves marking their one central striker. Also a waste.
So Stuttgart had few problems getting past two strikers. Our midfield three struggled to cover enough space, let alone win the ball, and our back five were pegged back.
I think this suggests our organisation failed today, and this is before going into things like the individual pressing abilities of each player, i.e. do our players have the tenacity, stamina, aggression, tackling, etc to play this sort of game, did we have the right mix of attributes.
A lot to fix in a week, but not impossible. Some tweaks, a couple of changes in personell, and maybe even formation, may see improvements.
