Krafty
Well-Known Member
- May 26, 2004
- 4,785
- 2,122
They say the best way to defend is from the front. It can also be said that you have to attack from the back. Watching Spurs this season, one thing strikes me: just how deep are we?
When Harry joined the club he said he was pleased with the way we kept the ball, but it’s easy to keep the ball when you are passing it along a back four that is not threatening the centre circle, never mind the halfway line. It’s easy to keep the ball when both central midfielders come into your own half to get a touch, and facilitate the meaningless passing across the back line.
I can see why the defence wants to be deep. Dawson and Woodgate don’t really have any pace, and the midfield is terrible at pressing the play. If we pushed up we would get sliced apart and anyone with pace would be able to get in easily. But dropping onto the edge of your penalty area invites pressure. It allows the opposition to press us higher up the pitch, and when we inevitably make mistakes they are right on goal. On the flip side, we are so deep that when the opposition makes a mistake we can rarely capitalise on it.
Watching Manchester United yesterday you could not fail to be impressed by the way the full backs were not just in the opponents half, but going all the way to the by-line. How the centre backs held a high line when their team was in possession, how the wingers pushed right up to make a 4-4-2 into a 4-2-4. How the strikers stretched the play then came deep to get involved in build up play. Apart from the first ten minutes, we did not do this at all.
As soon as the defence gets the ball, a midfield man drops deep. The ball is passed on and the defence offers a deeper option. Other midfielders are drawn deeper as the ball is played back. The play is slow, it doesn’t get anywhere, and when some half arsed pressure is applied by the opposition we end up playing the ball long to strikers who will not win much in the air.
Typically in football you can either play a short, passing game, which requires pushing up the field to move play forward, or you go direct, from deep, normally quickly on a counter attack. At the moment we are playing short, passing football too deep, and then hitting the ball long when we panic that we are not getting anywhere. It’s the worst of both worlds. One player getting lost in this is Modric. He is exactly the kind of player you want on the ball in the opposition’s half, but with our play being so deep it drags him into the wrong areas, and on the rare occasions when he does get the ball in the attacking half of the pitch everyone else is behind him.
I think we are missing Huddlestone massively. His range of passing would at least mean we could play good, long balls quicker. No one else has the ability to pass the ball as accurately as him, and he has also added forward runs to his game. I think the strikers will continue to struggle for service while he is not in the starting eleven.
Maybe it’s a case of a lack of pace at the back, lack of confidence, creativity, or simply the fact that the team has not had time under one manager or one system, but I do not think it is a coincide we have struggled against teams that are well organised and largely defensive in the past month.
When Harry joined the club he said he was pleased with the way we kept the ball, but it’s easy to keep the ball when you are passing it along a back four that is not threatening the centre circle, never mind the halfway line. It’s easy to keep the ball when both central midfielders come into your own half to get a touch, and facilitate the meaningless passing across the back line.
I can see why the defence wants to be deep. Dawson and Woodgate don’t really have any pace, and the midfield is terrible at pressing the play. If we pushed up we would get sliced apart and anyone with pace would be able to get in easily. But dropping onto the edge of your penalty area invites pressure. It allows the opposition to press us higher up the pitch, and when we inevitably make mistakes they are right on goal. On the flip side, we are so deep that when the opposition makes a mistake we can rarely capitalise on it.
Watching Manchester United yesterday you could not fail to be impressed by the way the full backs were not just in the opponents half, but going all the way to the by-line. How the centre backs held a high line when their team was in possession, how the wingers pushed right up to make a 4-4-2 into a 4-2-4. How the strikers stretched the play then came deep to get involved in build up play. Apart from the first ten minutes, we did not do this at all.
As soon as the defence gets the ball, a midfield man drops deep. The ball is passed on and the defence offers a deeper option. Other midfielders are drawn deeper as the ball is played back. The play is slow, it doesn’t get anywhere, and when some half arsed pressure is applied by the opposition we end up playing the ball long to strikers who will not win much in the air.
Typically in football you can either play a short, passing game, which requires pushing up the field to move play forward, or you go direct, from deep, normally quickly on a counter attack. At the moment we are playing short, passing football too deep, and then hitting the ball long when we panic that we are not getting anywhere. It’s the worst of both worlds. One player getting lost in this is Modric. He is exactly the kind of player you want on the ball in the opposition’s half, but with our play being so deep it drags him into the wrong areas, and on the rare occasions when he does get the ball in the attacking half of the pitch everyone else is behind him.
I think we are missing Huddlestone massively. His range of passing would at least mean we could play good, long balls quicker. No one else has the ability to pass the ball as accurately as him, and he has also added forward runs to his game. I think the strikers will continue to struggle for service while he is not in the starting eleven.
Maybe it’s a case of a lack of pace at the back, lack of confidence, creativity, or simply the fact that the team has not had time under one manager or one system, but I do not think it is a coincide we have struggled against teams that are well organised and largely defensive in the past month.
