Good analysis. With both wing backs pushed forward and both Souza and Brooks pushing up at the same time is leaving players in space in front of our 3 CBs. Then either Trusty or Holdgate are moving out to that space and getting caught in no man's land when a pass is played. Watkins goes for a run and Anel is scrambling. 3 CBs and wing backs does not work for us any more. Attacking wise we are predictable just going down the sides and when we lose the ball we are too open to get back in shape quickly.I think Wilder is a bit ambitious about how he wants us to play. He's said before he wants us to go after teams. When he came here he reduced the size of the pitch to help us chase more effectively, giving them less space to hide, less space on the ball. If you're going to press high, the rest of the team has to follow, or else we'll be stretched. Having seen us struggle to get up the pitch under Heckingbottom I think he's also been determined to make us more of a threat, so he's been keen to get more attack-minded players included in the line ups.
As the slide started in the second PL season under him Wilder didn't change much. We became stuck in the 5-3-2 and looked awful. Heckingbottom came in, changed to a 5-2-3, which improved our pressing and we actually improved.
This was sort of what he tried yesterday. We didn't want Villa to come to our place and pass it about! We are Sheffield United, we're aggressive and strong and we decide how things are done at BL! But after the first few minutes, Villa managed to calm down their build up play and started playing through our press. So here we are, pressing high. Our forward three ready to press their defenders, our 2 man midfield of Souza and Brooks are on their central midfielders:
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But it's not enough to prevent a forward pass. Their defender chips it up to the roaming McGinn who has loads of space:
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When teams get past your midfield this easily the defence are in trouble. They have to decide who breaks out to challenge McGinn, and the rest have to decide if they're going to stay high (as the high press requires and as was probably the planned tactic), or drop deeper to prevent space in behind.
I think Wilder hoped we'd manage to get this right. And he hoped a more mobile defence (JR dropped) would help us cope with Villa's pace if they did manage to play through us. But this happened too many times and the defence just couldn't cope in that 20 minute spell of the first half.
I felt the extra defender wasn't doing much for us, and an extra body in midfield would have been more useful. When excellent passers get the time and space to play through balls to fast forwards it is very difficult for defenders.
Enda and Baldock weren't the best wing backs going forward but they were much better defensively. Bogle is a poor defender with poor positional sense. Going forward he is too tippy tappy. RND is limited but the best we have in that position.
Anel Holgate and Trusty were continually dragged about. No organisation and no communication. My biggest fear was that any manager brought in to replace Hecky would struggle for the rest of the season which could lead to players being disillusioned which makes sorting things out harder.