Popular Post Stevo985 Posted January 7 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted January 7 6 minutes ago, ChesterDad said: I don’t think anyone intends this to be a criticism of Unai at all, but equally I can understand that some people do not like the anxiety provoking moments that the high line induces at times The high line is literally the reason we do so well. We’re as good as we’ve been for decades, and it’s because of how we play. How anyone could be questioning it after a year of Emery and how well we’re doing is beyond me. It works. It works really really well. Why on earth would anyone want to change it? 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterDad Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Just now, Stevo985 said: The high line is literally the reason we do so well. We’re as good as we’ve been for decades, and it’s because of how we play. How anyone could be questioning it after a year of Emery and how well we’re doing is beyond me. It works. It works really really well. Why on earth would anyone want to change it? I’m not sure I know anyone who wishes to change - but you can’t deny it’s anxiety provoking at times. Bit like a rollercoaster - people know it’s gonna scare, but still enjoy the ride. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 12 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: The high line is literally the reason we do so well. We’re as good as we’ve been for decades, and it’s because of how we play. How anyone could be questioning it after a year of Emery and how well we’re doing is beyond me. It works. It works really really well. Why on earth would anyone want to change it? Because once a game the opposition get in behind and we might concede or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted January 7 VT Supporter Share Posted January 7 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: How anyone could be questioning it after a year of Emery and how well we’re doing is beyond me. Wow, first of all -- it's a football forum. Everyone questions everything, often ignorantly, sometimes brilliantly, but ... just saying. But you know that, I know. That said, being perplexed at people being like people on a football forum is also totally part of being on a football forum innit. Secondly, I'm fairly sure that High Line Good Because Emery vs. High Line Bad Or Something will never capture the complexity of our tactical challenges ahead. There's obviously so much to what makes a winning approach to a low block, for example, or what has led to some poor goal concessions on our part. I think the high line false debate is boring at this stage, but that's me, but the tactical stuff gets so complicated so it's difficult to discuss intelligently! It's not advanced calculus or quantum physics but it sort of is at this stage, too. I leave it to some of the brainiacs on here to educate me, tbh, because I can't keep up. I watched a lot of the Boro match today, and two new things stood out for me: 1) We're passing a lot midfield but really failing horribly to make those multiple linking set-piece-style precision passes across the goal mouth, if that makes any sense? We play a sort of half-arsed TikaTaka midfield but then just let it go near goal and take awful pot shots instead of making that last linking pass laterally that finds the split-second of space with a Villa player who knows how to shoot fast. 2) Shitty shots. We need long-range snipers but they need to do better. I'm thinking of Duran and Diaby here. It's really exciting to see Duran make his powerful shots but sometimes there's a Villa player to his right sitting there -- at least in how it looked to me from the telly -- and instead of passing for a tap-in he takes his powerful crap shot. And misses. He might have even been told to take some shots, so I don't want to jump to conclusions. But if you look at Citeh's way of dealing with the lower block, it involves snipers but also carefully choreographed multi-pass set pieces and of course a lot of individual skill we may not have at the moment. Edited January 7 by Marka Ragnos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anything11 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 7 hours ago, StefanAVFC said: Because once a game the opposition get in behind and we might concede or something It is by design. This is how we play. The high line is going nowhere. It is up to the opposition to try and break it which much more often than not ends up in us getting the ball back quite quickly as it is quite hard to do. This is what we want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 6 hours ago, Anything11 said: It is by design. This is how we play. The high line is going nowhere. It is up to the opposition to try and break it which much more often than not ends up in us getting the ball back quite quickly as it is quite hard to do. This is what we want. I know, that was the point of my comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 8 VT Supporter Share Posted January 8 14 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said: Wow, first of all -- it's a football forum. Everyone questions everything, often ignorantly, sometimes brilliantly, but ... just saying. But you know that, I know. That said, being perplexed at people being like people on a football forum is also totally part of being on a football forum innit. Secondly, I'm fairly sure that High Line Good Because Emery vs. High Line Bad Or Something will never capture the complexity of our tactical challenges ahead. There's obviously so much to what makes a winning approach to a low block, for example, or what has led to some poor goal concessions on our part. I think the high line false debate is boring at this stage, but that's me, but the tactical stuff gets so complicated so it's difficult to discuss intelligently! It's not advanced calculus or quantum physics but it sort of is at this stage, too. I leave it to some of the brainiacs on here to educate me, tbh, because I can't keep up. I watched a lot of the Boro match today, and two new things stood out for me: 1) We're passing a lot midfield but really failing horribly to make those multiple linking set-piece-style precision passes across the goal mouth, if that makes any sense? We play a sort of half-arsed TikaTaka midfield but then just let it go near goal and take awful pot shots instead of making that last linking pass laterally that finds the split-second of space with a Villa player who knows how to shoot fast. 2) Shitty shots. We need long-range snipers but they need to do better. I'm thinking of Duran and Diaby here. It's really exciting to see Duran make his powerful shots but sometimes there's a Villa player to his right sitting there -- at least in how it looked to me from the telly -- and instead of passing for a tap-in he takes his powerful crap shot. And misses. He might have even been told to take some shots, so I don't want to jump to conclusions. But if you look at Citeh's way of dealing with the lower block, it involves snipers but also carefully choreographed multi-pass set pieces and of course a lot of individual skill we may not have at the moment. But none of that is regarding the high line. We struggle against teams who play a low block. It's not unique for this to be a thing for good teams. Not playing a high line won't change that. The high line isn't just about the defence. It's so key to how we play with the ball as well. So yes, I do find it perplexing that people are questioning it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Linesmen must love us. I've never seen them so busy. Guy was flagging Boro nearly every attack late second half including free kicks lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPAngel Posted January 8 VT Supporter Share Posted January 8 One thing that truly annoys me about Emery's tactics, and reign in general, is that I cannot emulate it on Football Manager. It's the first time in my life I can't do any better than our current manager on a video game and that really grinds my gears. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 8 VT Supporter Share Posted January 8 5 hours ago, Kiwivillan said: Linesmen must love us. I've never seen them so busy. Guy was flagging Boro nearly every attack late second half including free kicks lol It was interesting to hear Konsa being interviewed after the game on Saturday saying that they had discussed that there was no VAR in the Boro game so they couldn’t play the offside trap as tightly as they normally would because they couldn’t rely on VAR ensuring the offside decision definitely got made correctly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 9 hours ago, JPAngel said: One thing that truly annoys me about Emery's tactics, and reign in general, is that I cannot emulate it on Football Manager. It's the first time in my life I can't do any better than our current manager on a video game and that really grinds my gears. So are you saying you want Steven back? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJCB Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 10 hours ago, Kiwivillan said: Linesmen must love us. I've never seen them so busy. Guy was flagging Boro nearly every attack late second half including free kicks lol We must make their lives easier. We’re so bloody good at the high line that they may as well flag whenever an opposition looks as if they’re in behind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 On 06/01/2024 at 19:26, Tom13 said: We don't have much depth when it comes to creativity. On the contrary....we have loads....probably more than any other position. Luiz, McGinn, Tielemans, Ramsey, Buendia ( when fit) Diaby, Bailey, Zaniolo Possibly Kamara too....who can do both. We also have defenders who are creative....Torres, Longlet, Cash, Moreno, Digne. more than a team full. Now if you said, we are short of players who can stop opponents, as their main attribute, I might agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 On 04/01/2024 at 18:12, MotoMkali said: I do think a large reason for not pressing is because we don't have the depth to absorb absences in midfield or even really the depth to be having to make subs at 60 minutes for Luiz or Kamara every game. I think if we had 1 more defensive midfielder who we trusted we'd probably be more willing to press high. Totally agree.....Hence some of the comments of having an alternative CDM to support our existing boys. Its not a criticism for the highline, but you make good observations of how we can improve it, further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 On 08/01/2024 at 14:39, Stevo985 said: It was interesting to hear Konsa being interviewed after the game on Saturday saying that they had discussed that there was no VAR in the Boro game so they couldn’t play the offside trap as tightly as they normally would because they couldn’t rely on VAR ensuring the offside decision definitely got made correctly I think the Boro game showed just how good we are at it, and in fairness to the assistant referees they were spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 I really don't understand the frustration, with the low block, are we barking up the wrong tree? We have failed to score in 2 games this season to date, both away at Liverpool and Forest. You can hang your hat on us scoring....we have the second highest scoring stats, scoring is not a problem for us. However, we still have a habit at times of conceding soft goals, this can make games, which would normally be under control, nervy. If we hadn't of conceded against Sheff Utd and Burnley, the low block, would possibly have been overlooked/dismissed. Despite all our free flowing stats going forward..... we have conceded 1 goal less than Everton, 2 less than Crystal Palace, as perspective. Creating and goal scoring is not a problem to us......Conceding does need tightening up. We have kept 4 clean sheets, in 20 games with one of the best keepers in world football in between the sticks....and we in second place in the league. this is not a criticism, that would be folly under the circumstances....but it is an observation of how we can improve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 On 06/01/2024 at 19:29, Farlz said: Unai needs to figure out a way of playing against a low block because we struggle. Things might be different if we had a Youri/Buendia fit but no one else in our squad fits that profile and it's rough. The answer is width. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 (edited) 56 minutes ago, TRO said: On the contrary....we have loads....probably more than any other position. Luiz, McGinn, Tielemans, Ramsey, Buendia ( when fit) Diaby, Bailey, Zaniolo Possibly Kamara too....who can do both. We also have defenders who are creative....Torres, Longlet, Cash, Moreno, Digne. more than a team full. Now if you said, we are short of players who can stop opponents, as their main attribute, I might agree. I don't agree that McGinn and Ramsey are great creators specifically against a low block. Diaby also hasn't showed he's great against a low block. Cash - creative? Pull the other one You can take your confused reaction to my post and have it straight back. Edited January 10 by Tom13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted January 10 VT Supporter Share Posted January 10 9 minutes ago, TRO said: I really don't understand the frustration, with the low block, are we barking up the wrong tree? I do think it gets to be a somewhat oversimplified criticism. We’re not simply encountering stupid teams that use some kind of idiotic, unstoppable tactic. We are sometimes conceding too many goals, as with Manchester United, and as importantly, to my mind, we are failing to make good short passes across the goal, and finishing badly with our longshots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 10 VT Supporter Share Posted January 10 13 minutes ago, TRO said: I really don't understand the frustration, with the low block, are we barking up the wrong tree? We have failed to score in 2 games this season to date, both away at Liverpool and Forest. You can hang your hat on us scoring....we have the second highest scoring stats, scoring is not a problem for us. However, we still have a habit at times of conceding soft goals, this can make games, which would normally be under control, nervy. If we hadn't of conceded against Sheff Utd and Burnley, the low block, would possibly have been overlooked/dismissed. Despite all our free flowing stats going forward..... we have conceded 1 goal less than Everton, 2 less than Crystal Palace, as perspective. Creating and goal scoring is not a problem to us......Conceding does need tightening up. We have kept 4 clean sheets, in 20 games with one of the best keepers in world football in between the sticks....and we in second place in the league. this is not a criticism, that would be folly under the circumstances....but it is an observation of how we can improve. It's very obvious we struggle against a low block, with the Sheffield Utd game being the most obvious example. It's not a dig, a lot of teams struggle against it. But even Emery has acknowledged it, so it shouldn't be dismissed as not being a thing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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