Tactics Under Maresca

[lcfc_forever]

9 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

How to tell everyone you're a dinosaur without telling them you're a dinosaur.

 

How do you get better at playing out from the back? By actually doing it! Who cares if the score today was 4-0, 40-0 or 400-0? It was worth the same amount of points - zero. The manager has said multiple times, it's about how the team understands the idea rather than the result at this point in time.

 

Who are the current best club team in the world? Manchester City, for whom Enzo Maresca helped guide to a treble. Who play exactly the same way. Yeah they have better players, but even for them it took time. Do you remember us beating them 4-2 at a rain soaked King Power early in Guardiola's reign where we counter-attacked them to death and Vardy scored a hat-trick? It takes time and practice to get a system like to work, but the results are there when it does.

 

Let's look at the Premier League last season:

1. Man City. Play out from the back.

2. Arsenal. Play out from the back.

3. Manchester United. Played out from the back, but badly, which is why they brought a new goalkeeper for 50M.

4. Newcastle United. Play out from the back.

5. Liverpool. Play out from the back.

6. Brighton. The best team at playing out from the back in Europe.

7. Aston Villa. Play out from the back.

8. Spurs. Didn't play out from the back, but just hired a manager that does.

 

This is modern football. The days of playing a direct 442 and winning the physical battle are over. The days of trying to have 70% possession and suffocate the opposition to death like the Spanish world cup winning team are over. The days of playing a deep block and hitting teams on the counter can work for individual games, but the days of it winning a title are also over. The modern game is about being comfortable on the ball, counter-pressing and lightning fast transitions. In fact if you think about it, it's a combination of all of the other styles merged into one.

 

I am so glad we hired a manager like this. It could completely go tits up and backfire and we end up midtable as it all goes wrong. But it could also lead to creating a state of the art, modern team, that can compete with the very best like Brighton proved this season. The gamble is we take one step back to go two forwards, and playing this way with this manager gives us a chance of doing that.
 

 

I’ve been waiting for your post to get some sensible input into this discussion! 
 

So much comment here that has no context.  

Edited 30 July 2023 by lcfc_forever

[davieG]

I'm no tactician but it seem to me that we had a free run of the game until Klopp decided to focus his front 3 players on closing down Winks and Ricardo when we had the ball leaving our back 3 under little  or no pressure with the option of going long or trying to get to Winks & Ricardo which they  failed to do so many times thus giving the ball away.

 

That and our inability to take our chances.

 

Let's hope the Championship teams don't realize that if they close our mid 2 down they'll force numerous errors out of us.

[StriderHiryu]

2 minutes ago, davieG said:

I'm no tactician but it seem to me that we had a free run of the game until Klopp decided to focus his front 3 players on closing down Winks and Ricardo when we had the ball leaving our back 3 under little  no pressure with the option of going long or trying to get to Winks & Ricardo which they  failed to do so many times thus giving the ball away.

 

That and our inability to take or chances.

 

Let's hope the Championship teams don't realize that if they close our mid 2 down they'll force numerous errors out of us.

Hired as my assistant manager.

 

Have that dossier and a compilation of the clips for where it wrong for each player on my desk by 08:30 tomorrow please, ready for the post-match analysis with the players.

 

 

Edited 30 July 2023 by StriderHiryu

[davieG]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

Hired as my assistant manager.

 

Have that dossier and a compilation of the clips for where it wrong for each player on my desk by 08:30 tomorrow please for the post-match analysis with the players.

Ha not me, I'm just a fan who likes to watch the game without too much thought into where things are good or bad, well I was until you started posting your analysis of games. 

[leicesterseddon]

Personally I'm not buying this line that playing out from the back is a "new style of play" that these players need to be given time to learn.

 

Playing out from the back is what we did under Rodgers (albeit not under Smith), and in any case how most PL teams play these days.

 

Hard to summarise given the lack of game time, but these things have jumped out at me during pre-season:

 

1. Maresca seems to prefer Vestergaard over Souttar (can't really see why)

2. Winks, Ricardo, KDH, Coady are probably the nearest thing we have to guaranteed starters

3. We really need to buy some wingers

4. I've been surprised by how much Castagne has played given the likelihood he goes

[lcfc_forever]

4 minutes ago, davieG said:

I'm no tactician but it seem to me that we had a free run of the game until Klopp decided to focus his front 3 players on closing down Winks and Ricardo when we had the ball leaving our back 3 under little  or no pressure with the option of going long or trying to get to Winks & Ricardo which they  failed to do so many times thus giving the ball away.

 

That and our inability to take our chances.

 

Let's hope the Championship teams don't realize that if they close our mid 2 down they'll force numerous errors out of us.

Spot on! Missing the good chances meant Liverpool were able to change the flow of the game more easily.
 

The players kind of reacted to the closing down of Winks/Ricardo with trying more diagonal/over the top passes but they didn’t do it enough. Maybe the lack of quality out wide was a problem here so the passing options weren’t there? They also need to find a way to protect Winks if other sides try to do this. 
 

Most of Liverpool’s goals came through silly mistakes rather than high quality creativity, so we can work on that. They were also far more ruthless than us.
 

Not surprised he used Castagne as a winger in previous games given how he defended today! 

[lee7]

If Ndidi could finish he would of bagged himself 5 or 6 goals in pre season. 

Literally the last player you want infront of goal yet he keeps ending up in great positions and fluffing each chance!

 

[Matt]

48 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

How to tell everyone you're a dinosaur without telling them you're a dinosaur.

 

How do you get better at playing out from the back? By actually doing it! Who cares if the score today was 4-0, 40-0 or 400-0? It was worth the same amount of points - zero. The manager has said multiple times, it's about how the team understands the idea rather than the result at this point in time.

 

Who are the current best club team in the world? Manchester City, for whom Enzo Maresca helped guide to a treble. Who play exactly the same way. Yeah they have better players, but even for them it took time. Do you remember us beating them 4-2 at a rain soaked King Power early in Guardiola's reign where we counter-attacked them to death and Vardy scored a hat-trick? It takes time and practice to get a system like to work, but the results are there when it does.

 

Let's look at the Premier League last season:

1. Man City. Play out from the back.

2. Arsenal. Play out from the back.

3. Manchester United. Played out from the back, but badly, which is why they brought a new goalkeeper for 50M.

4. Newcastle United. Play out from the back.

5. Liverpool. Play out from the back.

6. Brighton. The best team at playing out from the back in Europe.

7. Aston Villa. Play out from the back.

8. Spurs. Didn't play out from the back, but just hired a manager that does.

 

This is modern football. The days of playing a direct 442 and winning the physical battle are over. The days of trying to have 70% possession and suffocate the opposition to death like the Spanish world cup winning team are over. The days of playing a deep block and hitting teams on the counter can work for individual games, but the days of it winning a title are also over. The modern game is about being comfortable on the ball, counter-pressing and lightning fast transitions. In fact if you think about it, it's a combination of all of the other styles merged into one.

 

I am so glad we hired a manager like this. It could completely go tits up and backfire and we end up midtable as it all goes wrong. But it could also lead to creating a state of the art, modern team, that can compete with the very best like Brighton proved this season. The gamble is we take one step back to go two forwards, and playing this way with this manager gives us a chance of doing that.
 

 

I respect your posts, you're always willing to have adult conversation and discussion and I appreciate you go in depth explaining, but I don't agree.

 

Couple of points to pick up on;

"How do you get better at playing out from the back? By actually doing it!" - We've been doing it, since circa 17/18, it's poor.

 

I do remember that game, it was ****ing glorious, incredibly fun to watch and worked for us very often and again at their place (A very un-Rodgers like performance)

 

I wouldn't say Liverpool play out from the back, at all.

 

I'd say Man Utd, Arsenal and Brighton have a form of possession based football but wouldn't necessarily agree they play out from the back, exclusively, they're far more exciting to watch than Man City, put it that way.

 

Villa, can't say i've watched them, likewise Postecoglou, but everything I hear him say sounds totally opposite to possession based football or playing out from the back - I stand corrected.

 

I'd say the days of trying to have 70% possession and suffocate the opposition to death like the Spanish world cup winning team are very much here - They are literally what we're seeing from a majority, usually the 'lesser' teams, whether they're good at it or not. You mention a combination of other styles - That is exactly what i've been crying out for, for years, yet it's exclusive possession, out from the back, possession, out from the back, possession, out from the back, we're constantly told "It's the way to play football", "That's how you play football", it's grinding.

 

Brighton did prove it this season, although as I've said above i'm not sure they do it exclusively, they're a fun, exciting team to watch for a start, we have been the anti-christ to that and it remains to be seen if it changes, however don't forget we had a couple of successful (in terms of finishes - I still found it a hard watch, certainly the 2nd half of both seasons) and now look where we are.

 

What I will say is some of the pinged diag balls in the Northampton game very entertaining, but what the difference between a "diag ball over the top" and "hoof ball, route one", it's terminology of which one is accepted and the other isn't, it's ultimately the same thing.

 

Edited 30 July 2023 by Matt

[StriderHiryu]

Just now, davieG said:

Ha not me, I'm just a fan who likes to watch the game without too much thought into where things are good or bad, well I was until you started posting your analysis of games. 

 

Being harsh on yourself, you called it perfectly with that analysis.

 

10 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

Let's hope the Championship teams don't realize that if they close our mid 2 down they'll force numerous errors out of us.

 

This is the big thing, but this can come down to the 1v1 duels and quality of players. If we beat that press, spaces will open up everywhere. What I would say is that we don't ALWAYS have to play the ball into those two, if players are attracted to them, we should be playing it to our wide men. Problem is those wide men right now aren't the best either. 

 

It can all be solved, but it's going to take time and effort to fix. Will it work against the very best teams in the world, that's a bigger question, but I would argue that Brighton have proved it does.

[Dan LCFC]

I think there are lots of positive signs in what he's trying to do, but I can also see a bit of an iceberg in the distance as well. He wants a very specific type of player for his football and you need technical quality all over the pitch. We are playing this game with too many square pegs and round holes. I wouldn't mind this so much but this club has repeatedly shown itself to be unable to properly set itself up in the last few years and if we were going with Maresca, we needed a pretty radical transfer window. I'm talking literally 10-15 in and 10-15 out

 

Well it's pretty obvious to me unless something changes we're going to be left with plenty of residue that won't be suited to the way he's playing.

[FLAN]

11 minutes ago, leicesterseddon said:

Personally I'm not buying this line that playing out from the back is a "new style of play" that these players need to be given time to learn.

 

Playing out from the back is what we did under Rodgers (albeit not under Smith), and in any case how most PL teams play these days.

 

Hard to summarise given the lack of game time, but these things have jumped out at me during pre-season:

 

1. Maresca seems to prefer Vestergaard over Souttar (can't really see why)

2. Winks, Ricardo, KDH, Coady are probably the nearest thing we have to guaranteed starters

3. We really need to buy some wingers

4. I've been surprised by how much Castagne has played given the likelihood he goes

Charlie Carmichael? Called the Vestegaard thing out on twitter. Souttar doesn’t excel in any key ability for Maresca eg pace flexibility or passing. 

[okie fox]

Playing out from the back doesn't work if the other team is high pressing and has the better technical players.  Then you have to play the ball over the top and outrun them like we did with Man City when we beat them away 5-2.

[Guest Mee-9]

Wait until next week and you'll all see we're being managed by Louie Spence rather than the next coming of Guardiola. 

Edited 30 July 2023 by Mee-9

[Lillehamring]

3 hours ago, Scotch said:

I said that in my initial post. We're not going to come up against the quality of Liverpool much but we will come up against teams who press high and we need to be able to play through it. 

Almost all the instances you're referring to came in the first 20 minutes when we were playing long sweeping balls that switched play and generally found Mcateer. We can't go in to the season with one game plan. We need an alternative and that alternative is to be able to play through the press which we didn't do well enough today. 

Not all teams will punish us by scoring 4 when the catch us out but to be fair, they only need to punish us once to win the game. 

 

I do understand it was a friendly and won't read too much into it but at this stage, I think the sharpness should be starting to show in players who've played most games so far and that wasn't there today with Winks and Ricardo wo we will rely on to make this style of play work. 

We don't have much to go on, but against northampton northampton were sitting pretty deep and so we drew them into the press , standing on the ball and forcing them to overcommit and then played through that reluctant press; liverpool pressed fully and overwhelmed us in the middle so, as you say, we shifted to a plan of trying to break over their high line, which worked to a degree - so, effectively, that's two game plans from the same set up.   And i'm sure Maresca has said that this is only just the start.  Already we've seen him play in two very different ways and to be happy to move players around, i thinks it's fair to say that, if nothing else, the board, by hiring maresca, have given us the antidote to rodger's rigidity!

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

That’s literally the downside of our system. The “weakness” is that if you force a turnover, especially in the double pivot / base of the box area, then there are big gaps on either side that can be exploited. Fortunately there aren’t many teams with as effective a high press as Liverpool or wide forwards as good as Salah, but if you were Mark Robbins at Coventry, this is the area you would target.  Teams that are great at fast transitions can exploit our setup. 
 

At the end of the day this is the Jekyll and Hyde of this system.
 

Pros:

- If you beat the press you can create tons of chances.

- Versus deep blocks you have an additional man to construct / build attacks with. 
 

Cons

- Play tends to be focused centrally. 
- Vulnerable on the transition as the team shape is not ideal at this point. 
 

You’ll note that earlier I said “even if we get battered, I’m excited.” That’s because you could see it coming, Liverpool started to control the game and we were turning the ball over more frequently. But should we be surprised? If you said a Championship team who has had a manager in charge for 4 weeks is going to try and play out from the back against a Jurgen Klopp Liverpool team, how do you think the Championship team would fare? 
 

Judgement should be reserved for a lot later on, when the manager has his squad and we’ve played the system for a while. Remember this is a friendly, so if you are going to dare to try something, now is the time to do so. 
 

 

Yes, this is what i was thinking.  But i would add that, although we did concede (and to be fair, from what i can remember, they were really well constructed goals), there were numerous other times where we conceded possession BUT i though that the reaction and recovery was far better than last year, so this has to be applauded, something in the players' attitude has switched.

[RowlattsFox]

Can't wait to hear Gary Birtles commentate on one of our games. 

Especially Hermansen. 

 

"Just get rid of it".....

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, weller54 said:

Surely whether it's a friendly or a league game you don't just keep getting caught in possession time and time again... We can't play possession based football, it was as clear as day in that game today!... Whether you're playing Liverpool or Coventry you can't just keep giving the ball away!.. Play like that next Saturday and we lose!! 

we aren't playing a top 6 PL side next week, so if there are times we give the ball away we are less likely to be punished.  Also, as i've just mentioned in another post, our reaction and recovery was far better today than last year - there's no question that nerves got to us and we were sloppy on the ball and in passing, but, equally, our response to those situations saw us win the ball straight back numerous times.

[Lillehamring]

55 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

I am so glad we hired a manager like this. It could completely go tits up and backfire and we end up midtable as it all goes wrong. But it could also lead to creating a state of the art, modern team, that can compete with the very best like Brighton proved this season. The gamble is we take one step back to go two forwards, and playing this way with this manager gives us a chance of doing that.
 

 

Echoes of my (lambasted) suggestion that relegation was a measured, tactical retreat by the club   As we proved with the Pearson team, incredible things can happen when you start away from the pressure of the top flight!

[StriderHiryu]

34 minutes ago, Matt said:

I wouldn't say Liverpool play out from the back, at all.

 

 

 

Wrong. Here are Alisson Becker's stats in terms of distance he kicks the ball over the entirety of last season. Same with their defenders. Liverpool also changed their system over the last few years, moving away from exclusive gegenpressing to more of a control-based nature (possession), hence signing Thiago and this summer Macallister. Because their games were descending into clown fiesta's of murderball where the ball was switching sides more often than a basketball match. They also moved Trent into the middle of the park as an inverted fullback, mainly because he was a liability from a defensive standpoint, but also to get more possession and control of games.

 

For some reason, you absolutely hate possession football. Fair enough, everyone has their own tastes. That Spanish national team at times sent me to sleep! But you find me a TOP team in Europe that isn't playing the way that has been described here? I can think of only two, PSG who get by with individual brilliance but shit the bed in the Champions League against good teams, and Inter who reached the Champions League final but only because Napoli shit the bed in the quarter-finals against Inter's city rivals. They were 18 points off Napoli in Serie A and finished behind Lazio who have Sarri in charge and also play this way. Barcelona play out from the back, Bayern Munich do, even Real Madrid do, though not nearly as much as other teams, but have two of the best midfielders of the last 20 years in their ranks in Kroos and Modric. Maybe RB Leipzig could count, but even their style is adapting, and it's proved to be an abject failure over here with Hassenhutl, Ragnick and Marsch all failing spectacularly with it.

 

There are so many people on this forum that have some romanticised version of football in their heads that is totally and utterly deluded from the reality of the modern game. I'm not saying that's you, but it definitely applies to many on here. I would encourage you all to be open-minded and open to change. Because if you are stuck in the past, you're never going to move forwards. Though coaching appointment aside, you could argue that a lot about Leicester City is stuck in the past. The shameless PR shots of trophies won the same season we got relegated is testament to that.

 

 

 

Edited 30 July 2023 by StriderHiryu

[Lillehamring]

42 minutes ago, davieG said:

I'm no tactician but it seem to me that we had a free run of the game until Klopp decided to focus his front 3 players on closing down Winks and Ricardo when we had the ball leaving our back 3 under little  or no pressure with the option of going long or trying to get to Winks & Ricardo which they  failed to do so many times thus giving the ball away.

 

That and our inability to take our chances.

 

Let's hope the Championship teams don't realize that if they close our mid 2 down they'll force numerous errors out of us.

But we still created three (four if you can't the shocking offside against daka) really good chances in the midst of that pressure - as you say, then it falls to our inability to take those chances.

I'm inclined to think the mistakes were more a result of a combination of nerves, fear of injury, not having quite the team out we would have liked and, by the end, fatigue (remember klopp brought on fresh legs, we stayed with the same squad for most of the game) - most of the championship games are more likely to be like the northampton game, where we were very good in possession.

[Double Decker]

33 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

Being harsh on yourself, you called it perfectly with that analysis.

 

 

This is the big thing, but this can come down to the 1v1 duels and quality of players. If we beat that press, spaces will open up everywhere. What I would say is that we don't ALWAYS have to play the ball into those two, if players are attracted to them, we should be playing it to our wide men. Problem is those wide men right now aren't the best either. 

 

It can all be solved, but it's going to take time and effort to fix. Will it work against the very best teams in the world, that's a bigger question, but I would argue that Brighton have proved it does.

Playing out from the back is about decision making and options off the ball. The back three splitting should encourage the press taking 2 players away. The first option tends to be in to one of your holding players (we've played with 2), if that's not on you have to look wide then inside to our midfield. If none of this is on and the defenders can't keep the ball, you then look more direct. Rehearsal in pre-season with many errors is ok, just a shame they haven't had more games.

[Lillehamring]

38 minutes ago, leicesterseddon said:

Personally I'm not buying this line that playing out from the back is a "new style of play" that these players need to be given time to learn.

 

Playing out from the back is what we did under Rodgers (albeit not under Smith), and in any case how most PL teams play these days.

 

Hard to summarise given the lack of game time, but these things have jumped out at me during pre-season:

 

1. Maresca seems to prefer Vestergaard over Souttar (can't really see why)

2. Winks, Ricardo, KDH, Coady are probably the nearest thing we have to guaranteed starters

3. We really need to buy some wingers

4. I've been surprised by how much Castagne has played given the likelihood he goes

I think it's more that it's an entirely different way of playing it out from the back - Strider made the comparison earlier in the thread about how the set up of keeper and defence is totally different under maresca tro under rodgers.

 

I personally thought that, bar a few sloppy passes late on, vestergaard had possibly his best game in a leicester shirt -  i though he protected the ball well and played the long ball at the right time and recirculated the ball well (arguably better than winks, today)

Yes we need wingers, but i thought mcateer looked very bright, especially down the right, hopefully Mavididi can take the left wing spot - which, at least for the time being, could be adequate at this level.

I thought Castagne was the worst player on the field.

[Matt]

29 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

Couldn't be more wrong. Here are Alisson Becker's stats in terms of distance he kicks the ball over the entirety of last season. Same with their defenders. Liverpool also changed their system over the last few years, moving away from exclusive gegenpressing to more of a control-based nature (possession), hence signing Thiago and this summer Macallister. Because their games were descending into clown fiesta's of murderball where the ball was switching sides more often than a basketball match. They also moved Trent into the middle of the park as an inverted fullback, mainly because he was a liability from a defensive standpoint, but also to get more possession and control of games.

 

For some reason, you absolutely hate possession football. Fair enough, everyone has their own tastes. That Spanish national team at times sent me to sleep! But you find me a TOP team in Europe that isn't playing the way that has been described here? I can think of only two, PSG who get by with individual brilliance but shit the bed in the Champions League against good teams, and Inter who reached the Champions League final but only because Napoli shit the bed in the quarter-finals against their city rivals. They were 18 points off Napoli in Serie A and finished behind Lazio who have Sarri in charge and also play this way. Barcelona play out from the back, Bayern Munich do, even Real Madrid do, though not nearly as much as other teams, but have two of the best midfielders of the last 20 years in their ranks in Kroos and Modric. Maybe RB Leipzig could count, but even their style is adapting, and it's proved to be an abject failure over here with Hassenhutl, Ragnick and Marsch all failing spectacularly with it.

 

There are so many people on this forum that have some romanticised version of football in their heads that is totally and utterly deluded from the reality of the modern game. I'm not saying that's you, but it definitely applies to many on here. I would encourage you all to be open-minded and open to change. Because if you are stuck in the past, you're never going to move forwards. Though coaching appointment aside, you could argue that a lot about Leicester City is stuck in the past. The shameless PR shots of trophies won the same season we got relegated is testament to that.

 

Again terminology, Alisson may technically play it out from the back, but they're straight on it, they're moving it forward, fast and exciting, not tippy tappy in front of their own 18 yard box like so many teams, us (last season) being the worst offenders.

 

Perhaps there needs to be different words or terms between that and tippy tappy, likewise my point about pinged diag balls and hoof ball/route one - one being accepted, the other not despite ultimately being the same thing.

 

Atletico. You're right I can't think of many, doesn't mean it's right when many teams are so poor at it - The same teams are usually at the top they always are and always have been, football comes in cycles in terms of style, I'm not sure that's any glowing indictment that it works or truly is the way to play football when not top teams do it so badly, its certainly not exciting or 'pretty' in my eyes, we got relegated last season imo because of playing in that way and were on the decline for a year or 2 before, does anyone take note of that.

 

I don't absolutely hate possession football, i've noted Arsenal, Brighton (And Liverpool if you're claiming they are) are exciting and I enjoy watching them, they're fast, exciting, possession with purpose, I do, absolutely hate this nonsense of tippy tappy, slowly playing it side to side your own 18 yard box, with the logic that "It'll draw the opposition onto you", it's bollocks.

 

Not sure if anyones watching the Villa v Brentford friendly but Brentford keep getting themselves wrapped up, playing out from the back, it's hilarious (in a banging your head against the wall way), the Brentford keeper literally keeps passing it to Villa players. It's nonsense.

 

Edited 30 July 2023 by Matt

[messerschmitt]

5 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

I think it's more that it's an entirely different way of playing it out from the back - Strider made the comparison earlier in the thread about how the set up of keeper and defence is totally different under maresca tro under rodgers.

 

I personally thought that, bar a few sloppy passes late on, vestergaard had possibly his best game in a leicester shirt -  i though he protected the ball well and played the long ball at the right time and recirculated the ball well (arguably better than winks, today)

Yes we need wingers, but i thought mcateer looked very bright, especially down the right, hopefully Mavididi can take the left wing spot - which, at least for the time being, could be adequate at this level.

I thought Castagne was the worst player on the field.

I think Castagne has more than an eye on not being here. I'm actually hoping that we give Macateer a chance this season and Marcel-Madivadua has looked good.

[messerschmitt]

27 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

Wrong. Here are Alisson Becker's stats in terms of distance he kicks the ball over the entirety of last season. Same with their defenders. Liverpool also changed their system over the last few years, moving away from exclusive gegenpressing to more of a control-based nature (possession), hence signing Thiago and this summer Macallister. Because their games were descending into clown fiesta's of murderball where the ball was switching sides more often than a basketball match. They also moved Trent into the middle of the park as an inverted fullback, mainly because he was a liability from a defensive standpoint, but also to get more possession and control of games.

 

For some reason, you absolutely hate possession football. Fair enough, everyone has their own tastes. That Spanish national team at times sent me to sleep! But you find me a TOP team in Europe that isn't playing the way that has been described here? I can think of only two, PSG who get by with individual brilliance but shit the bed in the Champions League against good teams, and Inter who reached the Champions League final but only because Napoli shit the bed in the quarter-finals against Inter's city rivals. They were 18 points off Napoli in Serie A and finished behind Lazio who have Sarri in charge and also play this way. Barcelona play out from the back, Bayern Munich do, even Real Madrid do, though not nearly as much as other teams, but have two of the best midfielders of the last 20 years in their ranks in Kroos and Modric. Maybe RB Leipzig could count, but even their style is adapting, and it's proved to be an abject failure over here with Hassenhutl, Ragnick and Marsch all failing spectacularly with it.

 

There are so many people on this forum that have some romanticised version of football in their heads that is totally and utterly deluded from the reality of the modern game. I'm not saying that's you, but it definitely applies to many on here. I would encourage you all to be open-minded and open to change. Because if you are stuck in the past, you're never going to move forwards. Though coaching appointment aside, you could argue that a lot about Leicester City is stuck in the past. The shameless PR shots of trophies won the same season we got relegated is testament to that.

 

 

 

Excellent as usual. out of interest what do you think changed after the first 30 minutes? Was it down to us changing, losing confidence, fitness or something Liverpool did?