MWARLEY2 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Pep and Klopp are the 2 managers that have been able to buy the best players for their philosphy and tactics with zero compromise. They have also been in their position for 8 years meaning that the youtb have been learning their systems for many years now. As shown by the players they have brought through their academy and into the first team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Even Pep and Klopp have adjusted over the years, which is what I think Unai does. Pep used to be far closer to his Barcelona possession style but has gone more vertical with Haaland and the increased adoption of the high press. Klopp used to do bomb forward with both fullbacks overlapping when Robertson was in full flight but uses something closer to the 235 these days to compensate for his different fullbacks and no Mane and Firmino. Unai started Bailey as the second striker but he really struggled until he was turned into and out and out winger with no one behind him so he could focus solely on beating his marker. Youri started out at LM and in the pivot but until injuries, Unai put him at second striker to compensate his lack of athleticism. Konsa RB became more prominent this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Thought this was interesting. No Pau is a surprise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 24 minutes ago, Tom13 said: Thought this was interesting. No Pau is a surprise! Diego Carlos is more of a surprise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 1 minute ago, TomC said: Diego Carlos is more of a surprise! His passing is quite underrated IMO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Just now, Tom13 said: His passing is quite underrated IMO. Fair enough. He hasn't played all that much, so maybe I just don't appreciate it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 (edited) 4 minutes ago, TomC said: Fair enough. He hasn't played all that much, so maybe I just don't appreciate it. Tbf though, although I think it's underrated, I'd never have expected him to be in that (twice!). Edited March 20 by Tom13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Strange company to be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 6 hours ago, DJBOB said: Strange company to be in. "Immediately" ...."45th-60th" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 (edited) The Guardian figured out the most common centre back partnership for each club in the PL this season. The good news is that Konsa-Pau is the most successful of the partnerships, winning 7 of 8 for 87.5%. The bad news is that 8 matches together is towards the bottom of the list...three teams have had their most common partnership start only 6 matches, while Arsenal and Everton have had the same partnership for 24 matches. Let's hope to see a health Konsa and Pau at CB for the rest of the season. With Cash hurt, though, we will probably see Konsa at RB. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/27/central-defence-premier-league-arsenal-manchester-united Edited March 28 by TomC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggy_333 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 1 minute ago, TomC said: The Guardian figured out the most common centre back partnership for each club in the PL this season. The good news is that Konsa-Pau is the most successful of the partnerships, winning 7 of 8 for 87.5%. The bad news is that 8 matches together is towards the bottom of the list...three teams have had their most common partnership start only 6 matches, while Arsenal and Everton have had the same partnership for 24 matches. Let's hope to see a health Konsa and Pau at CB for the rest of the season. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/27/central-defence-premier-league-arsenal-manchester-united Cash being out will probably mean we don't see Pau and Konsa as a CB partnership for a while. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Just now, daggy_333 said: Cash being out will probably mean we don't see Pau and Konsa as a CB partnership for a while. Agreed...I edited my post just before you posted yours... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayEm Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 2 minutes ago, Jareth said: I just think back to that first european game where he put in our other squad members and expected them to perform. They didn't, but that is what he expected, and he has never changed. Had he not done that then I am convinced we'd have 6-9 less points in the league due to fatigue. Such a pro manager. Absolutely, I've wondered why he's persisted with Zaniolo and even Diaby at times this season but he knows we need all these players to achieve our goals this season, and now they're coming through. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 One thing that was pretty different than what I had seen before against Wolves was the way we changed our pressing shape after the first 20 minutes. Wolves had a pretty good spell to start off the match and we struggled to close them down in the first 20 minutes. We were playing our typical 442 mid block but Ollie and Diaby were getting nowhere near their CB's and the switch was on several times. Rogers and Bailey were struggling against Semedo and Alt-Nouri (not the first time he's impressed me). After the Watkins miss from the Tielemans through ball, we then shifted towards Diaby, Watkins, and Bailey pressing their 3 CB's and then Konsa jumping on Alt-Nouri with Tielemans dropping behind him to track Lemina. Nominally that's a mismatch but Tielemans did a good job cutting the pass into Lemina's feet and had Diego covering behind him. We started pressing them to the side and cutting off the switch which led to them playing 50/50 balls towards their young striker. Pau and Diego did a good job winning these duels and mopping up the second ball. The aggressive man to man switch paid off and was very proactive from Unai to wrestle control of the match. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 1 hour ago, Xela said: Posted in another thread, but worth mentioning here as to confirm what an amazing job Unai has done BuT HE piCkEd bAilEy oN ThE beNcH 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post andym Posted April 3 Popular Post Share Posted April 3 2 hours ago, jayEm said: We hate it, but we can't fight every game at full power with our injuries. It's a mad achievement that we're in 4th place with 8 to go with the absences we've had throughout the season, and Unai takes credit for the way he has managed the players. Can't get too upset about rotations tonight even if we end up losing by four because Emery is just continuing the strategy that has gotten us to this point against all odds Yep, there's a reason why managers like Emery, Klopp, Pep etc are able to get teams deeper into European competitions while not severely compromising league form - because they look at the long term, overall picture, and they know that sometimes you have to take a short term hit to benefit in the long run. Whether that's lineups, tactics etc, they can all have teams throw in bad results e.g. a few years ago Klopp persisted with his high line setup even with injuries meaning he had to play Nat Phillips who was wholly unsuited to that setup, and it cost them at times. But he was looking at the overall picture of how the whole team worked and developed long term. Pep does weird stuff at times, and its cost him on the biggest stage (his strikerless line up when he lost the champions league final to chelsea), but has the squad to get away with it more often. In contrast you look at the effect Europe had on West Ham last season finishing 14th in the league, because Moyes doesn't know how to control games to manage player workload (actively cedes control meaning lots of chasing defensively and for the forwards chasing down long balls) and the impact the extra European games has had on Newcastle's league form this season because Howe doesn't seem to know anything but going all out in every single game. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 (edited) 14 minutes ago, andym said: Yep, there's a reason why managers like Emery, Klopp, Pep etc are able to get teams deeper into European competitions while not severely compromising league form - because they look at the long term, overall picture, and they know that sometimes you have to take a short term hit to benefit in the long run. Whether that's lineups, tactics etc, they can all have teams throw in bad results e.g. a few years ago Klopp persisted with his high line setup even with injuries meaning he had to play Nat Phillips who was wholly unsuited to that setup, and it cost them at times. But he was looking at the overall picture of how the whole team worked and developed long term. Pep does weird stuff at times, and its cost him on the biggest stage (his strikerless line up when he lost the champions league final to chelsea), but has the squad to get away with it more often. In contrast you look at the effect Europe had on West Ham last season finishing 14th in the league, because Moyes doesn't know how to control games to manage player workload (actively cedes control meaning lots of chasing defensively and for the forwards chasing down long balls) and the impact the extra European games has had on Newcastle's league form this season because Howe doesn't seem to know anything but going all out in every single game. Well said. I’ve given Unai pelters over some quirky decisions (Cash RM should be mercifully retired and the Spurs 5 at the back will haunt me) but consistency and control over 38 league matches + Europe + cups means we’ve played well when everyone is healthy, have generally won the matches against lesser competition and have some important scalps and doubles this season. When I watch West Ham, Newcastle, and United, I see that helter skelter unstructured chaos that provides entertainment but lacks consistency. Unai isn’t immune to cranking the pressure up for a few key matches but it is a long campaign. And next year, even tougher. Edited April 3 by DJBOB 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdman Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 4 hours ago, jayEm said: We hate it, but we can't fight every game at full power with our injuries. It's a mad achievement that we're in 4th place with 8 to go with the absences we've had throughout the season, and Unai takes credit for the way he has managed the players. Can't get too upset about rotations tonight even if we end up losing by four because Emery is just continuing the strategy that has gotten us to this point against all odds We could have played a full strength team and still lost the game and maybe pick up injuries. Unai knows this and made the right calls. And yes It's absolutely ludicrous we're still in 4th place given our injury struggles. Give the man manager of the season immediately imo!!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pinebro Posted April 4 Popular Post Share Posted April 4 Was very sensible to do what he did last night. People won't like to hear it but we were very likely to lose regardless if Bailey and Pau started. It was a free hit and an ideal game to rest some players. Have to prioritize Brentford. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 3 minutes ago, Pinebro said: Was very sensible to do what he did last night. People won't like to hear it but we were very likely to lose regardless if Bailey and Pau started. It was a free hit and an ideal game to rest some players. Have to prioritize Brentford. It's a narrative that makes us feel better, not sure it's really one that works. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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