A wise piece about pace

[2bearis2do]

He's not wrong.
Though I don't think it is simply a Rose & Walker issue. (And he does address the later in the article).

Read the full article at The Guardian

For me it's always been that we have needed pace to get behind opposing full backs - be it on the counter (Rose/Walker) or in general play. (Lamela? N'Kou?) We have no pace in the final third - we need a Martial or a Zaha .
Without this pace - we are, nice to watch....but predictable. (which, though it does stick in my gut - to say - Conte had has sussed on Sunday...Grr!)

 

[dominguezmonkey]

A lot of truth here but a fully fit Son does cause teams loads of problems. One more out and out pace merchant is all we need on that front.

 

[tcyrus]

that game was screaming out for a tricky player with pace, someone like Mane for Liverpool,
Know matter who the defender, your never going to be able to stop him.

 

[pavvychenks]

This piece is basically saying why aren't we trying to buy Mahrez, which is a good point, but it requires us accepting Lamela will not become as good as Mahrez. And therefore requires us writing of Lamela which I'd be surprised if we did, even if it appears he may be unable, or disinterested, to play football again.

Sidebar - please let's not allow more stadium-boosting mic'd up drums. It's such an Arsenal move of naff attempts to manipulate the crowd artificially. Wembley is crap for atmosphere, but you could feel on Sunday that if we were at it, the crowd would create a good vibe, it just won't ever feel like a home game for obvious reasons of it not being our stadium, not being in Tottenham, and the stadium itself being rubbish. I found the 'shelf side/paxton' chants quite instructive for learning where the noisy fans are and where the songs will come from. Getting our physical bearings will be important to know where the lead comes from in chants.

 

[Mullers]

I think we need more skilful players than pace. Zidane wasn't blessed with pace, sherIngham wasn't blessed with pace. We need two or 3 really too notch creative players.

 

[2bearis2do]

This piece is basically saying why aren't we trying to buy Mahrez, which is a good point, but it requires us accepting Lamela will not become as good as Mahrez. And therefore requires us writing of Lamela which I'd be surprised if we did, even if it appears he may be unable, or disinterested, to play football again.

Sidebar - please let's not allow more stadium-boosting mic'd up drums. It's such an Arsenal move of naff attempts to manipulate the crowd artificially. Wembley is crap for atmosphere, but you could feel on Sunday that if we were at it, the crowd would create a good vibe, it just won't ever feel like a home game for obvious reasons of it not being our stadium, not being in Tottenham, and the stadium itself being rubbish. I found the 'shelf side/paxton' chants quite instructive for learning where the noisy fans are and where the songs will come from. Getting our physical bearings will be important to know where the lead comes from in chants.

Mahrez is tricky - but he ain't no speed merchant!

 

[2bearis2do]

I think we need more skilful players than pace. Zidane wasn't blessed with pace, sherIngham wasn't blessed with pace. We need two or 3 really too notch creative players.

Bit excessive Mullers!
Son, Allí, Eriksen - could all be called tricky players - throw in Lamela and we're not doing too bad in that final third.
But Pace? Who do we have that can turn the after-burners on to create space? That (IMO) is the missing piece of the jigsaw. Note how Jose Mo & Conte bring on the speed with 15 minutes to go when the opposition is tiring. We do not have that in our locker and it will cost us. Or we have N'Kou but MoPo doesn't trust him.

 

[mil1lion]

I do wish people would shut up about pace. It is far more important for counter attacking teams. Not so much for teams that play a possession game against teams that sit deep, We need to unlock teams with intelligence. We did that well last season. It's still too early this season to really hit that level where everyone is sharp mentally as well as physically.

My biggest concern is how we do without Eriksen. That would be my first priority in attack. Another option to cover the Golazo. All this talk about pace comes up every window and it's bloody boring. We're already far better than we were with Bale and Lennon.

 

[2bearis2do]

I do wish people would shut up about pace. It is far more important for counter attacking teams. Not so much for teams that play a possession game against teams that sit deep, We need to unlock teams with intelligence. We did that well last season. It's still too early this season to really hit that level where everyone is sharp mentally as well as physically.

My biggest concern is how we do without Eriksen. That would be my first priority in attack. Another option to cover the Golazo. All this talk about pace comes up every window and it's bloody boring. We're already far better than we were with Bale and Lennon.

The point about pace is that you need it as a weapon in your armoury - or you remain one-dimensional and have no options off of the bench. We should be prepared for more than one strategy - and frankly....we have no pace...at all, whatsoever!
So we tippy happy and play nice stuff and the opposition know how we're going to attack. Check out the stats against Chelski - 29 laboured crosses with the whole of Chelsea's back 8 already in position to clear. Tippy happy will only get you so far and yup you need to cleverly pry them open.
With 15minutes to go the "pace" strategy of both JM & Conte are already paying dividends.
I'd love both Bale & Lennon in this current team as options! ;-)

 

[mil1lion]

The point about pace is that you need it as a weapon in your armoury - or you remain one-dimensional and have no options off of the bench. We should be prepared for more than one strategy - and frankly....we have no pace...at all, whatsoever!
So we tippy happy and play nice stuff and the opposition know how we're going to attack. Check out the stats against Chelski - 29 laboured crosses with the whole of Chelsea's back 8 already in position to clear. Tippy happy will only get you so far and yup you need to cleverly pry them open.
With 15minutes to go the "pace" strategy of both JM & Conte are already paying dividends.
I'd love both Bale & Lennon in this current team as options! ;-)

It just takes one defeat for it to suddenly become a problem. It's not a problem and I wish people could see that. I'm sorry but I just can't agree with it. Everyone has their opinions and I respect that but I'm bloody bored hearing it all the time whenver we lose a game. Besides surely the points you make are more to do with quickness of passing and movement, less about pace.

 

[2bearis2do]

It just takes one defeat for it to suddenly become a problem. It's not a problem and I wish people could see that. I'm sorry but I just can't agree with it. Everyone has their opinions and I respect that but I'm bloody bored hearing it all the time whenver we lose a game. Besides surely the points you make are more to do with quickness of passing and movement, less about pace.

That's a fair point - As my old coach said - "no one can move as quickly as the ball."
I like what we are - but I would also like pacy options. We've lost pace in the WB positions. And IMO with so many games Home and Away against top teams we need more options.

 

[Chris_D]

It just takes one defeat for it to suddenly become a problem. It's not a problem and I wish people could see that. I'm sorry but I just can't agree with it. Everyone has their opinions and I respect that but I'm bloody bored hearing it all the time whenver we lose a game. Besides surely the points you make are more to do with quickness of passing and movement, less about pace.

The reaction to the Chelsea game is over the top, we were the better team against the champions. However the point about pace is valid, quicker players just give the opposition something else to worry about. Lennon rarely put great crosses in but caused full backs all sorts of problems because they knew they couldn't match his speed. One or two faster players wouldn't hurt.

 

[parj]

Let's put things into perspective... We lost to 2 goals from a full back. You know it's not your day when that happens.

Our deficiencies are clear... When a team plays deep we struggle. let's not forget Davies and Trippier featured quite regularly in the last 10 games last season and Trippier was brilliant. We need that bit of guile to force the opposition out, even some long range shots from 25-30 yards will force some mind set change from opposition to close earlier and open space.

Son being injured is a huge miss but we need is to somehow start fast out of the blocks. Every season we only get going after 4-6 games regardless of opposition.
For me nothing to worry about until 10 game mark. Let's the team get used to new surroundings.

 

[Cinemattis]

A really good read. Thanks to @2bearis2do for the pointer.

 

[Mullers]

Bit excessive Mullers!
Son, Allí, Eriksen - could all be called tricky players - throw in Lamela and we're not doing too bad in that final third.
But Pace? Who do we have that can turn the after-burners on to create space? That (IMO) is the missing piece of the jigsaw. Note how Jose Mo & Conte bring on the speed with 15 minutes to go when the opposition is tiring. We do not have that in our locker and it will cost us. Or we have N'Kou but MoPo doesn't trust him.

They are very good players no doubt Im definitely glad to have them but none of these are a Gazza, a Hoddle, a Bale.
N'Kou surely proves that just having pace is not enough.

 

[Sweetsman]

On reflection, apart from the comments about Wanyama and Lloris, I'm not sure it was an enlightening article.