- Jan 18, 2011
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I've been thinking about this a bit, especially re-watching the Everton game, but I think I'm beginning to understand why AVB didn't want a lot of the players we bought in summer. It also came about from watching Dortmund today and thinking about how they play.
Dortmund's style of play seems to be very direct, they get the ball and they immediately attack. Almost every pass they play is forward. I think they are probably the best team in the world at doing that. So I thought that may be why Kagawa and Sahin never looked as good at United/Madrid/Liverpool as they did in the Dortmund team. Perhaps players find it easier to express their ability in that sort of system. That doesn't necessarily make a direct, counter-attacking style better, but perhaps it is an easier system for players to slot into.
I'd say our style of play under AVB is quite the opposite. For the most part, we are more slow in the build up, we play a high line and we press up the pitch. Not always, but this is usually how we play. We try to control the game in the other team's half. And I've noticed that under AVB that one of the areas that we look significantly better in is pressing. But playing this way means that our players have less space to play in, and so in order to be successful the play has to be more intricate, intelligent and skillful. Imo you need players who are tricky and creative in attack, sort of like David Silva. None of our players really have both of those qualities, and I think to play the possession game you need at least one of those players to unlock defenses. I think some of the players we've signed recently (Holtby, Siggy, Dembele, Walker etc) can be successful in this system and probably just need time to adjust. Others like Dempsey I think just can't succeed with limited time and space. I think that's the only way to explain how he scored 17 goals for Fulham but barely looks like a footballer here. He just doesn't have the skills to thrive in the style that AVB wants to play.
Another observation is I would say that we kind of remind me of Man City in the 2010-11 season, before they won the title. I don't think they became comfortable in Mancini's style until the next year when they won the title, so I'm wondering if it's kind of the same with us this season, and AVB is preparing the team to play in the possession style next season after we sign players who are appropriate for it.
Is my interpretation totally off or is there something to it?
Dortmund's style of play seems to be very direct, they get the ball and they immediately attack. Almost every pass they play is forward. I think they are probably the best team in the world at doing that. So I thought that may be why Kagawa and Sahin never looked as good at United/Madrid/Liverpool as they did in the Dortmund team. Perhaps players find it easier to express their ability in that sort of system. That doesn't necessarily make a direct, counter-attacking style better, but perhaps it is an easier system for players to slot into.
I'd say our style of play under AVB is quite the opposite. For the most part, we are more slow in the build up, we play a high line and we press up the pitch. Not always, but this is usually how we play. We try to control the game in the other team's half. And I've noticed that under AVB that one of the areas that we look significantly better in is pressing. But playing this way means that our players have less space to play in, and so in order to be successful the play has to be more intricate, intelligent and skillful. Imo you need players who are tricky and creative in attack, sort of like David Silva. None of our players really have both of those qualities, and I think to play the possession game you need at least one of those players to unlock defenses. I think some of the players we've signed recently (Holtby, Siggy, Dembele, Walker etc) can be successful in this system and probably just need time to adjust. Others like Dempsey I think just can't succeed with limited time and space. I think that's the only way to explain how he scored 17 goals for Fulham but barely looks like a footballer here. He just doesn't have the skills to thrive in the style that AVB wants to play.
Another observation is I would say that we kind of remind me of Man City in the 2010-11 season, before they won the title. I don't think they became comfortable in Mancini's style until the next year when they won the title, so I'm wondering if it's kind of the same with us this season, and AVB is preparing the team to play in the possession style next season after we sign players who are appropriate for it.
Is my interpretation totally off or is there something to it?