Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

Tucker said:

Mason does the attacking and Jedinak does the defending set pieces. They both need to up their game a bit. It’s such an important part of the game.

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idontgetit said:

So yesterday I thought we actually played reasonably well and the pattern was more like some of our early season games. We had an excellent first 25-30mins of the game and then the opposition came back into it. That's attributed to West Ham getting a lucky goal but I think the goal (which sure did have an affect) really hides the point that teams do adjust to our style of play.

There's something about the style that can cause problems for teams set-up in the wrong way, or who aren't used to having fullbacks popping up as 10's in the midfield. Some teams are not bothered by it, take the recent Fulham game for an example. Others really struggle and never get a hang of it e.g the recent Villa game. The majority though are like West Ham, we get 30 minute periods in the game where it clicks for us before the opposition adapts. Sure other factors come into it like goals or fitness, but this factor of 'adaption' seems very obvious.

Initially we were playing through their midfield with ease, Bentacur and Maddison playing on the turn. Wingers getting early ball, Udogie and Porro popping up here and there. But 30 mins into the game it became a slugfest in the middle. I doubt that's related to a managerial tactical change, just West Ham midfielders and defenders slowly realising where are players are and where they aren't.

So to go up another gear, I think it requires up being able to change up the style of play slightly. Can we start hitting the wingers with earlier ball when the midfield jams up? Switch the wingers, have Son drop deep and Maddison move around more. I have no idea what but being able to rotate to a second variety of Ange's style of football would be really handy.

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idontgetit said:

So yesterday I thought we actually played reasonably well and the pattern was more like some of our early season games. We had an excellent first 25-30mins of the game and then the opposition came back into it. That's attributed to West Ham getting a lucky goal but I think the goal (which sure did have an affect) really hides the point that teams do adjust to our style of play.

There's something about the style that can cause problems for teams set-up in the wrong way, or who aren't used to having fullbacks popping up as 10's in the midfield. Some teams are not bothered by it, take the recent Fulham game for an example. Others really struggle and never get a hang of it e.g the recent Villa game. The majority though are like West Ham, we get 30 minute periods in the game where it clicks for us before the opposition adapts. Sure other factors come into it like goals or fitness, but this factor of 'adaption' seems very obvious.

Initially we were playing through their midfield with ease, Bentacur and Maddison playing on the turn. Wingers getting early ball, Udogie and Porro popping up here and there. But 30 mins into the game it became a slugfest in the middle. I doubt that's related to a managerial tactical change, just West Ham midfielders and defenders slowly realising where are players are and where they aren't.

So to go up another gear, I think it requires up being able to change up the style of play slightly. Can we start hitting the wingers with earlier ball when the midfield jams up? Switch the wingers, have Son drop deep and Maddison move around more. I have no idea what but being able to rotate to a second variety of Ange's style of football would be really handy.

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Tucker said:

Mason does the attacking and Jedinak does the defending set pieces. They both need to up their game a bit. It’s such an important part of the game.

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mpickard2087 said:

What was interesting yesterday was that for me we changed our build-up shape to try and correct certain problems, such as that the opposition has stuck a man on Bissouma for weeks on end. Bentancur sat alongside him in a more pronounced double pivot as we progressed the ball and the fullbacks would station themselves higher in the attacking midfield line. Obviously we see these patterns happen every game, but this shape had a much more rigid/permanent structure to it, and this box of players allowed Maddison to then float around and join in where he could and made knocking the ball about a bit easier than it has been.

However I still think the tempo and zip to it all is in general still laboured compared to the early season. And you have to say that if we’re going to play this way then we’re going to face a lot of parked buses and unfortunately too many of the squad, including some of the supposed better players, just aren’t good enough technically/tactically to take and do something with the ball in tight spaces against packed defences (whether that be control it successfully, get their head up and see options, or make a composed choice). Over the next year or two we have to be ruthless in composing the squad, and technique and craft have to be at forefront of player acquisitions.

As for set pieces, unfortunately I think if the goalkeeper is struggling then that usually means the team struggles. I think defenders must start to have one eye on the keeper and what he is going to do rather than focus on their own jobs and apprehension starts to set in rather than people decisively taking command of situations.

It’s not going to be popular observation, but Vicario is an indecisive flapper (his footwork is pretty poor and he does the “hokey cokey” a lot, wondering whether to go get involved) and teams sniff blood and will load the pressure on thinking they can get at him. The last few games we’ve stopped marking the man around him – obviously the coaching team and I’d suspect Vicario himself have said that he wants the area around him as clear as possible. Ok, but that means you’re taking the responsibility around the goalmouth yourself and you have to deal with it. Defenders know you don’t want them in there. If you take the goal last night, Zouma has headed it in slap bang in front from about three yards out, yeah a better job could have been done blocking him off in the first place but it’s dropped in the area your goalkeeper has cleared of players and said stay out of here I’m dominating… instead he’s stuck behind his own line (again) having got totally blocked off.

There are things as a team we can do better, we don’t defend the back post very well at set pieces at the best of times, we tend to give away too many cheap needless ones, and controlling the ball/game/territory means you give away less opportunities and we could improve in this aspect, but the goalkeeper has to quite frankly get better at dealing with them, otherwise this continues.

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DannyNZ said:

Antonio was the blocker on Vicario, yet we had five or six Spurs players around Zouma. Not one of them challenged him and only VDV went for the ball. This looked to me to be a totally unorganised defensive pattern which seemed like a static zonal defence which would be suicidal and was. Not the first time and until they set up better won’t be the last, Vicario is a marked man and we need to support him better, that is down to coaching and attitude.

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Frozen_Waffles said:

We've not been entertaining or good in the last few months and each match seems to fall into a similar pattern.

People will see this as a negative but the reason is because teams are setting up to combat our system. That means teams are generally no longer playing their own game against us. In the short term we will struggle, but in the long term this is what we want.

Bar City, Arsenal and Liverpool if any team try to play expansive football against us they will get torn apart.

It's now about playing through these teams, we haven't got to that stage yet. When you don't have space in the final third you rely on your attackers to create something. That's where we are at our weakest.

Give Son, Kulusevski, Johnson and Werner space and we'll create a lot more chances. However if we don't get that space then we will need more quality.

Maddison is the only player who can consistently create, but when you have just one it's pretty easy to stop. If we had another creative attacking midfielder and a winger who can dribble we are suddenly much more of a threat.

One of the things that has been overlooked in the last few weeks is missing Richarlison, having that aerial threat and physical presence in the box is a must. It's actually baffling why we let Veliz go as he could have offered us something different.

Richarlison back in the side, Johnson coming good and having Son with Werner and Kulusevski off the bench will make us so much more of a threat.
Keep the faith in Ange, we are going in the right direction, if Richy stays fit I think we'll have a strong end to the season and get top 4. If we invest in quality up top in the Summer then we will be a real force next season.

We are not too far away from having a squad that can compete on all fronts as well.

So to sum up, Richy back, investment up top in the Summer and patience.

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Stamford said:

He's done well at times with his subs to change the game. Today he got it wrong. We started so well and just faded as the game went on.

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whenstevewentup said:

I love Vicario but I have the same issue with him as I did with Lloris , neither leave their line for corners , nothing better than seeing your keeper come out and catch a cross .

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Tucker said:

Surprised at you both.

Fickle.

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Bluto Blutarsky said:

Fair.

But, I think it's just a realization that we are not really as good as I thought we were. Probably spoiled by the start to the season.

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