I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed - but under Sherwood recently the team ONLY attack down the flanks. The is no effort to pass it about in and around the center circle, win the midfield battle or play short pass and move football through the middle.
Every single time we get the ball, we shuffle it out wide and try to play around the opposition. The fact that we NEVEr mix up this tactic makes totally and utterly predictable and easy to defend against.
We only ever threaten through the middle when the ball happens, by chance, to break loose to a player in central midfield.
Today, against Benfica there were times when we were on the attack but didn't have single player within 30 yards of the centre circle. Even when we were running into dead ends out wide and Paulinho, in acres of space in the middle was begging for the ball, we chose not to play it to him centrally.
We did the exact same thing against Dnipro until they went a man down. The obsession with wide play is so extreme that rather than our CBs playing as a central unit - we actually have to pairings on either flank - the LB and left CB play as one unit, the Right CB and RB play as another unit and we leave a gaping hole down the middle.
You win football matches by gaining control of midfield, being willing to play it about in the middle under pressure from opponents - the opposition then have to commit players to the middle of the pitch to compete for the ball, that creates space out wide that can then be exploited. But unless you are willing to man-up and tell your players to pass it about in the middle of the pitch rather than shying away from the midfield battle and poking about predictably down the wings on EVERY possession there will never be any space to exploit on the flanks. In fact we were so "width obsessed" today that Benfica's central midfielders were able to come out wide when needed and help the wide players double up on us, as by 60 minutes in, it was obvious to them that even if there was space in the middle, we were simply not even going to try and play the ball through central midfield.
I fail to see how Sherwood can be so naive to, week after week, send the side out with instructions to only attempt to attack down the flanks and to make no attempt to play football in the middle of the park. I'm not a Sherwood hater, but the way he is sending the team out to play is tactical suicide and IMO shows he is massively tactically naive and not up to the job.
Every single time we get the ball, we shuffle it out wide and try to play around the opposition. The fact that we NEVEr mix up this tactic makes totally and utterly predictable and easy to defend against.
We only ever threaten through the middle when the ball happens, by chance, to break loose to a player in central midfield.
Today, against Benfica there were times when we were on the attack but didn't have single player within 30 yards of the centre circle. Even when we were running into dead ends out wide and Paulinho, in acres of space in the middle was begging for the ball, we chose not to play it to him centrally.
We did the exact same thing against Dnipro until they went a man down. The obsession with wide play is so extreme that rather than our CBs playing as a central unit - we actually have to pairings on either flank - the LB and left CB play as one unit, the Right CB and RB play as another unit and we leave a gaping hole down the middle.
You win football matches by gaining control of midfield, being willing to play it about in the middle under pressure from opponents - the opposition then have to commit players to the middle of the pitch to compete for the ball, that creates space out wide that can then be exploited. But unless you are willing to man-up and tell your players to pass it about in the middle of the pitch rather than shying away from the midfield battle and poking about predictably down the wings on EVERY possession there will never be any space to exploit on the flanks. In fact we were so "width obsessed" today that Benfica's central midfielders were able to come out wide when needed and help the wide players double up on us, as by 60 minutes in, it was obvious to them that even if there was space in the middle, we were simply not even going to try and play the ball through central midfield.
I fail to see how Sherwood can be so naive to, week after week, send the side out with instructions to only attempt to attack down the flanks and to make no attempt to play football in the middle of the park. I'm not a Sherwood hater, but the way he is sending the team out to play is tactical suicide and IMO shows he is massively tactically naive and not up to the job.
