Lush Vlad Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (edited) Just had that Michael Jordan clip in my head all night "...and I took that personally." It certainly feels like Howe did. After they battered us all over Villa park last season. We have since given them a hiding at SJP and then they didn't have many answers last night. Although granted, we did ride our luck a bit in that 10 minute spell around the Watkins goal. It was still a masterclass. To my very untrained eye. I don't do tactics, a bit like Bacon Bruce. There were quite a few noticeable differences to our game: Width - We seemed to play very wide and stretch their backline. Leaving plenty of gaps for runners, which we exploited all night. Left hand side - we really attacked Cash and Miley just strolled in behind time and again, with nobody bothering to track him from midfield. Usually a massive bias with attacking down the right with Longstaff doing the Miley role. Burn - he did get put in a spin cycle for 2 hours on 60 degrees when Bailey came on. But before that, he was incredible. Super aggressive and followed McGinn into that space every time. Winning it back a lot of the while, making it hard for him to turn and play out, or fouling him. Not sure he got pinged for fouling him, but he did a few times and it was clever play. Press - we were happy to go direct and get in behind with measured long balls. Turned them around a lot and then the cavalry would arrive and it was like a trigger for us to then push out. We'd often only have one player in their half, a long diagonal gets played into an area. Then we suddenly had 5 players in their half. They struggled playing out a lot of the while after this. The outball over the top of the first line to McGinn rarely worked because of the job Burn was doing. Watkins - seemed happy to follow him into the midfield and also in behind. Seemed like a concerted effort, mainly from Schar, to not try and play offside or high against him and always drop and follow his run. Got lucky with the offside, of course. But that was more to do with Miley turning it over in a shit area, from memory. Midfield - others have said it. We looked to have Miley and Longstaff much further forward and they covered shit loads of ground. Bruno seemed much more reserved and less involved in an attacking sense. But we kept more control because of it and there were only a handful of times when that dreaded 'ball into the space between defence and midfield' happened. Subs - Howe often gets criticised for not making them or being unable to change things. Tino coming on and going to a back 5 basically stopped their attacking threat. Bar a couple of times where Bailey was dribbling like a man possessed and would have beaten a prime Maldini I think their team selection helped. Konsa at right back and Bailey out wide, instead of Cash and Diaby, who were both atrocious. Would have made it a lot harder, I think. But how often when we get it right, does it get said that the other team are terrible and it's the worst they've played all season? This is another one of those games. Totally smothered them and Howe got his tactics right for basically the entire game. I just hope this is a season defining result. A lot of variables, Bruno's ban, how long Isak is out for and if Wilson, Barnes and Willock are actually close to returning. But you'd like to hope we can build on this now. Edited February 1 by Lush Vlad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikky Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 We basically man marked Kamara and Luiz - they could play through us due to that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 The downside of their midfield 2 is that a 3rd man can find great gaps from the lack of numbers. Miley played a really intelligent game until he gassed out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanji Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Give Howe time on the training ground and let our guys rest up a bit and see what happens here. I have no doubt at all that if we didn’t face a dozen first team injuries this season we’d have seen a consistent force with a different style here and there utilizing the best of the front 3’s abilities and our midfielders strengths. It’s sad we never saw it this season but Gordon/Isak/Murph and Barnes/Wilson/Miggy + 3 out of Bruno/JL/Willock/Tonali Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prophet Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Inflexible Eddie at it again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggys First Goal Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 EDDIEDOESNTKNOWHOWTOCHANGETHINGS!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pubteam Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 50 minutes ago, The Prophet said: Inflexible Eddie at it again. Also thought we looked solid when we went to a back five. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KetsbaiaIsBald Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 All I noticed is playing out from the back we play some short balls now that initially make me shit myself. Then they reach a player in massive amounts of space. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanji Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I said this in some other threads but it was a hybrid of Howe that back end of the takeover season and last season. I thought it was masterful and I think its the way we need to play against most sides until we get the injured lads back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lish007 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 On 28/01/2024 at 08:14, Izakaya said: I'll part my arse cheeks and pucker my cacky winker against Fenwick's window if we beat Villa. Has this happened yet? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouldy_uk Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 1 hour ago, Lish007 said: Has this happened yet? Maybe the police dealt with it quietly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 (edited) He is spot on Edited February 1 by duo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izakaya Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 3 hours ago, mouldy_uk said: Maybe the police dealt with it quietly 5 hours ago, Lish007 said: Has this happened yet? Pigs shut it down mate. Got locked up and posting this from Strangeways, where, ironically, my ham bangle is rather popular. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouldy_uk Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 1 hour ago, Izakaya said: Pigs shut it down mate. Got locked up and posting this from Strangeways, where, ironically, my ham bangle is rather popular. You have an impressive vocabulary when it comes to certain parts of the anatomy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERTOON Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRaspberryJam Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Tindall press conference. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
soyt Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 On 31/01/2024 at 18:56, The Prophet said: Inflexible Eddie at it again. It seems that he needed those extra days at training to make some much needed changes, and good for him. Great to see that he came trough the awful run of results. But also, it literally says on that twitter post that the pressing structure has remained unchanged. It is strange subject to gloat or get back on people, i think it almost underlines the point that we needed different ideas during the injury crisis but we largely tried the same thing. And to note, as all of us should be, i am a huge fan of Eddie. It is just that i think that even he can sometimes make mistakes. The great thing is that he always learns and moves forward eventually, but the does not seem to be the kind of manager who is quick to tinker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krabbe2 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Is so stubborn that he will never succeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 No excuse for not bringing Burn off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 mjpopcorn.gif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Aye. Eddie has given Luton another free hit with Burn as target Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilko Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 The "too loyal" argument is absolutely fair with Burn. He got away with it last week at Villa and got Livramento on in the nick of time, same thing has happened this week and we're on the cusp of losing to fucking Luton Town the second time this season. For someone supposedly into self-improvement and learning so much he loves making the same mistakes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiston Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Horror show from him today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronson333 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Forest all over again…Fucking ridiculous he hasn’t taken burn off too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagten Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I guess it turns out one good game wasn’t a low-variance predictor of our return to form Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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