- Jul 19, 2015
- 6,647
- 27,841
Interesting to hear Jose moaning about the lack of pressing on Sunday, especially when he sets the defence up in such a low block and the players are clearly not match fit yet. Pressing is not simple and needs to be coordinated and requires high energy levels. I think there are a number reasons why our highly effective press under Poch tailed off:
1. We moved to a bigger pitch. The old WHL pitch was small, and when we moved to Wembley it was simply too easy for good teams to pass around the press. New WHL is also a bigger pitch making pressing harder.
2. Lack of pace in defence. Collectively our defence has got slower since 2015/16/17. Verts and Toby got older. Walker left. Rose got injured. This resulted in the defence dropping deeper meaning if the forwards pressed there was too much space behind them for teams to pass their way out.
3. Lack of athleticism in CM. Dembele and Wanyama were beasts. When the defence squeezed up it gave them a small area to totally dominate physically and they were happy to search and destroy in support of the press. Winks and Sissoko are just nowhere near the same in terms of proactive athleticism. Hojbjerg showed signs in pre-season that he is willing to do this, but he needs a partner who is also happy to put a shift in.
4. Stale squad. A lack of investment meant Poch had the same players for 4 or 5 consecutive pre-seasons. There are only so many times the players will do the same double running sessions to enable a high-energy press. The likes of Kane and Dele have significantly dropped their work ethic off the ball in the last 18 months. Moura and Son can press all they like in isolation but unless all 5 forward players 'go as one' it will be a waste of effort.
Quite simply we do not have the energy levels or the personnel to press well so we need to keep the ball better. Mourinho has set us up as a low block counter attacking team but without a press or a progressive playmaker I do not see how we can have any success unless teams fall for Toby's long ball over the top to Son or Dele.
1. We moved to a bigger pitch. The old WHL pitch was small, and when we moved to Wembley it was simply too easy for good teams to pass around the press. New WHL is also a bigger pitch making pressing harder.
2. Lack of pace in defence. Collectively our defence has got slower since 2015/16/17. Verts and Toby got older. Walker left. Rose got injured. This resulted in the defence dropping deeper meaning if the forwards pressed there was too much space behind them for teams to pass their way out.
3. Lack of athleticism in CM. Dembele and Wanyama were beasts. When the defence squeezed up it gave them a small area to totally dominate physically and they were happy to search and destroy in support of the press. Winks and Sissoko are just nowhere near the same in terms of proactive athleticism. Hojbjerg showed signs in pre-season that he is willing to do this, but he needs a partner who is also happy to put a shift in.
4. Stale squad. A lack of investment meant Poch had the same players for 4 or 5 consecutive pre-seasons. There are only so many times the players will do the same double running sessions to enable a high-energy press. The likes of Kane and Dele have significantly dropped their work ethic off the ball in the last 18 months. Moura and Son can press all they like in isolation but unless all 5 forward players 'go as one' it will be a waste of effort.
Quite simply we do not have the energy levels or the personnel to press well so we need to keep the ball better. Mourinho has set us up as a low block counter attacking team but without a press or a progressive playmaker I do not see how we can have any success unless teams fall for Toby's long ball over the top to Son or Dele.