Popular Post Tom13 Posted November 6, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2022 (edited) Loving that it's becoming crystal clear to everyone now what an absolute mess Gerrard made of this squad. Unbelievable. Edited November 6, 2022 by Tom13 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penguin Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 1 minute ago, sne said: This is what we have been banging on all this time. What a difference it makes to have a team with lines and structure. And that's after 3 days of coaching. Pretty much all of our players suddenly looks more competent, imagine that. It’s been so obvious that it wasn’t the players that were the problem. Emery gonna be dishing out humble pie to a few all season I think 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, TomC said: I thought it was sort of a 4-4-2 and sort of a 5-3-2 in defence. Very often the outside midfielders (Buendia and especially JJ) would drop into the backline to make it a 5, with the fullback being relatively narrow, but not always...mostly when the play was out wide. Also, sometimes if the fullback had to go wide early when we were in retreat, the outside midfielder would tuck into the back line inside of the fullback rather than outside. But if Man U played the ball back out near the centre line, it was back to a 4-4-2. Agreed. The first 10-15 minutes, I couldn't figure out why we were playing with the ball so much in our own last third when they were pressing hard, but Ronaldo was clearly the weak link in the press that negated everything else they did. Yeah it’s semantics really when it’s 4222 or 442. I would say it was more of a 4222 because when I think of a traditional 442, the wingers are hugging the line and making the pitch wide to create 1v1s. Buendia and Ramsay noticeably occupied more central positions. I think you’ll see a lot of different players used as Unai showed the clear defensive flexibility he will employ to counter the other team. Highly interchangeable players (Ramsay, Buendia, Watkins, Luiz, Dendocker, Kamara, McGinn) will be shuttled around and around so what was a weakness under Gerrard (too many players that play the same position) can be a strength under Unai (defensive flexibility while maintaining an attack). Edited November 6, 2022 by DJBOB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messi11 Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Counter attacking football is back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 1 minute ago, DJBOB said: Yeah it’s semantics really when it’s 4222 or 442. My point was not so much 4-4-2 vs 4-2-2-2 but that we weren't just a 5-3-2 when settled; sometimes it was a 4-4-2 when settled depending on the situation. At any rate, we saw essentially the same thing. From what I've read about Unai, it will probably be something completely different next week anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, penguin said: It’s been so obvious that it wasn’t the players that were the problem. Emery gonna be dishing out humble pie to a few all season I think You could see what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play straight away. Not gonna work perfect every time and no press Ronaldo certainly helped but this was a great first game. Players had cover when chasing the ball and pressing, they had options and movement when they had the ball and we had a clear idea (that wasn't moronic) in how we wanted to get the ball from Martinez and up the pitch. All this allowed us to be more patient both on and off the ball. It was night and day. Edited November 6, 2022 by sne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's Your Round Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Welcome back team-shape and tactics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalfTimePost Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Emi Martinez does it all 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Credit to the players for adapting, learning a game plan and smashing United within 4 days. Glad they’re listening, learning and applying themselves 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallisFrizz Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 So can we attack the Holte End first every match? Surely it should be under consideration? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 2 hours ago, WallisFrizz said: So can we attack the Holte End first every match? Surely it should be under consideration? Given that we won the toss and chose to switch ends today I’d imagine we’ll keep doing it while it’s working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 I'd imagine once Kamara is back, Dendoncker will be benched. Douglas and Kamara should have that double pivot nailed down. Where does Sanson fit in? I imagine he'll be fighting with Ramsey/Buendia for one of the wide(r) spots. Early days I know but I can envisage him getting plenty of minutes. Coutinho to also be fighting for one of those spots? Unless he plays him as one of the two up top. Either way, this system seems to thrive on high energy, so I do fear for him. I'm excited by this formation though, it feels fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepal_villan Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 2 hours ago, Tom13 said: I'd imagine once Kamara is back, Dendoncker will be benched. Douglas and Kamara should have that double pivot nailed down. Where does Sanson fit in? I imagine he'll be fighting with Ramsey/Buendia for one of the wide(r) spots. Early days I know but I can envisage him getting plenty of minutes. Coutinho to also be fighting for one of those spots? Unless he plays him as one of the two up top. Either way, this system seems to thrive on high energy, so I do fear for him. I'm excited by this formation though, it feels fresh. I heard Emery chops and changes a lot, so there is minutes for everyone if they earn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Everyone getting minutes they deserve. Emery celebrating goals with every single sub to make sure they know they are part of the win. Jacob being played in the right position to make the most of his strengths . Witchcraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallisFrizz Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 7 hours ago, tom_avfc said: Given that we won the toss and chose to switch ends today I’d imagine we’ll keep doing it while it’s working. Oh ok, someone said we lost and they switched us. Well that’s good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Does anybody know definitively who won the toss and chose what? I’d be very, very surprised if we decided to kick towards the Holte in the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 4 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Does anybody know definitively who won the toss and chose what? I’d be very, very surprised if we decided to kick towards the Holte in the first half. They took kick off which means we’ll have picked ends. If you win the toss you can either choose which end to attack first and then the opposition takes kick off or you can choose to take kick off and the opposition picks an end. So in any game of football the team not kicking off first will have picked the end to attack first. I wasn’t particularly surprised that we switched ends given how successful it was early doors against Brentford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 6 minutes ago, tom_avfc said: They took kick off which means we’ll have picked ends. If you win the toss you can either choose which end to attack first and then the opposition takes kick off or you can choose to take kick off and the opposition picks an end. So in any game of football the team not kicking off first will have picked the end to attack first. I wasn’t particularly surprised that we switched ends given how successful it was early doors against Brentford. We may have given them KO. Sky said Ronaldo won the toss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: We may have given them KO. Sky said Ronaldo won the toss. I’m pretty sure that’s not an option that you can do. FA rules seem to say that you have the option to take kick off or pick an end and that the team that decided which goal to attack in the first half takes the kick-off to start the second half If Ronaldo won the toss then this would suggest that he chose to take kick off and then we switched ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Average positions for anyone interested: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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