Tactics Under Maresca

[Supergray22]

6 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I don't agree with your tactical take. Just because you lose a game, doesn't mean the tactics were wrong. In-game management I do agree with though!

 

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!

 

 

Spot on. Ampadeu and kamara won that midfield battle far too often. They looked sharper and more intense particularly at the start of each half. Cesare sadly just wasn’t quite at the races and this was a game where we really missed Wilf. An area we may need to address in the January window along with more cover for full back and possibly in attack.  Kamara in particular looks like an astute buy for Leeds. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Up until Swansea we were improving each week and playing well. The last three have been a bit crap despite picking up wins against Sunderland and QPR. 

 

Work to do.

[MGLCFC]

When you have two decent managers at this level trying to outsmart each other, sometimes you don't come out on top. When we beat Man City 5 - 2 a few years back, Rodgers got his tactics spot on that day, it doesn't make him a better manager than Pep. Enzo and the players appear to believe in the system and the odd defeat here and there isn't going to change things. We weren't battered last night, just a team who played to their full potential against one that didn't. I do agree with other posters though that in certain areas of the pitch we have players who struggle to play the system effectively and that includes Vardy.

Edited 4 November 2023 by MGLCFC

[Sunbury Fox]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I don't agree with your tactical take. Just because you lose a game, doesn't mean the tactics were wrong. In-game management I do agree with though!

 

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!

 

 

Great analysis as always but I would welcome your take on the lack of threat from our wingers in the second half.

 

In the first half, as I expected, both wingers were beating their full backs with ease; it was clear full back is Leeds' biggest weakness (at least with Spence out injured). But in the second half they seemed far less direct. You say that Leeds doubled up on them but I'm not sure about that. They did starve the ball from Mavididi but Fatawu repeatedly had acres of space to get at Byram, a right back playing out of position at left back, who he'd taken apart in the first half and who was already on a booking. Summerville didn't really track back to help that much from what I could see either. And yet Fatawu turned into Rachid Ghezzal for most of the second half, playing simple passes inside or back to the defence, or pinging lofted passes to the other wing. I was imploring him to attack Byram more but it's like he was told to play differently and with more caution. We saw none of his usual chaos. 

 

Another big issue for me was that we had nowhere near enough people in the box when attacking towards the end. Nacho came so deep he was rarely in there, so even when the wingers did attack the full backs there were few options for them to hit in the middle. The guy behind me getting yelling for us to "get it in the box" but that would have been pointless as they had 5 defenders in there against 1 attacker. I'm not saying we should be booting it long but surely we need to pack the box with more bodies when we're a goal down towards the end of a game?

Edited 4 November 2023 by Sunbury Fox

[CosbehFox]

The lack of attacking threat from the wingers came in part because Byram had worked out that Fatawu’s preferred angle and how he favours coming inside. Once they scored, James and Summerville played notably deeper. 
 

For Leeds fan cocking on about some great cracking performance, as soon as they scored they went in Hull mode against us and thankfully had a ref who allowed them to exploit timewasting 

[Ric Flair]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I don't agree with your tactical take. Just because you lose a game, doesn't mean the tactics were wrong. In-game management I do agree with though!

 

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!

 

 

This is one of the best assessments I've read in a long while. 

[VictorFox]

He’s a young and inexperienced manager, last night he got it all wrong but hopefully it’s a lesson learnt for him, otherwise his management career will be short lived

[winteriscoming]

It does look like Maresca like a lot of modern managers will only change personnel rather than tactically change the formation/shape. Obviously so far it’s working but I’d rather see change in the tactical formation when like yesterday we had 1 shot on target. 

[dmayne7]

8 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I don't agree with your tactical take. Just because you lose a game, doesn't mean the tactics were wrong. In-game management I do agree with though!

 

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!

 

 

As per usual, your write it is very well thought out and balanced but I would challenge a few takeaways.

 

The fact that individuals played well and apart from Vardy (completely disagree that Iheanacho was worse than Vardy; might not have been amazing but was a million miles more involved and was an odd decision to not start him) and Casadei, shows it wasn't one of those games were the players were just off it. The means it's either one of those days where you don't get the luck, which wasn't the case because we created so little, or, as was the case, you've lost the tactical battle. You're right that this system needs a lot of time to bed in but there needs to be more adaptability. It doesn't mean we have to starting lumping the ball or always go 2 up top but there needs to be subtle tweaks. The fact that the wingers didn't touch the ball for 15 mins and somebody like KDH was barely involved shows that it wasn't working, nor was it going to work, yet nothing changed?

 

With the quality of the squad, we can't cry about not having the options to change it, even with injuries. Not Enzo's fault at all but still more than enough players to make a difference against teams at this level. You've praised his sub of Casadei but also said he should have been hooked much earlier which is true. Doesn't deserve praise for taking too long to rectify the situation.

 

Thought Leeds were decent but Sunderland played much better. So not a game I think we should look at and hold our hands up that the opposition were much better than us. We deserved to lose, or at best grab a point but not because of the excellence of the opposition.

 

I've got 0 concerns about this season as we've already shown that even nowhere near our best, we'll win games. Like most people I generally love how Enzo speaks, the fact that he has reset the culture of the club, given the team an identity but the one big concern for me will be his ego/stubbornness. I'm not suggesting you abandon your game plan after 10 mins but he takes too long to change things around at times. Half-time at the latest we should have seen a tactical tweak and it never happened. QPR, he waited far too long to make a sub and it's glossed over because of a wonder strike. We've struggled against anything like decent teams so far by playing this style. I don't think he should give up on his principles but he needs to show a willingness to adapt against tougher opposition. It's a worry if that doesn't happen as we'll struggle in the PL where we're not so much better than everyone else. We didn't really deserve anything and I hope that him saying we did was just for show and not what he actually thinks. I also think the style is going to be painful to watch when we are trailing and in need of goal (standing on the ball and passing around the back in the 97th min is brain dead).

 

To be clear, I really rate him and think he's doing a great job but he'll need to make some changes if he's going to become a top manager.

[RowlattsFox]

The lack of a consistent striker, not necessarily in terms of goals, but just offering a focal point for our attacks is noticeable and area we would have to improve if we go up. 

 

Midfield was poor, and we should've outnumbered them in that area comfortable. 

[foxfanazer]

13 wins from 15 games. I reckon he's tactically sound

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, winteriscoming said:

I couldn’t understand why Fatawu second half didn’t take the full back on instead it was cutting inside and either passing it sideways or long ball over to Mavididi. I could be completely wrong but it’s as if he’d been told to do that. Strange tactics when the better attacking option is to try and beat the fb. 

Because at the analysis above said, they were doubling, even tripling up on him. Leeds realised our only goal threats last night were Fatawu and Stephy, so they marked them out of the game and our midfield, strikers couldn’t fill in the gaps. 

[Dahnsouff]

Disappointed by last night, but certainly not worried, we won’t play many teams often who have as many quality players, who were clearly on a good night and tbf were well drilled by Farke. Cannot help but think Enzo will use this as a learning experience.

 

Actually, I lied, I am worried from a striker perspective, but we may well have the answers in house.

[coolhandfox]

I alway find it interesting whenever a team win the is alway an assumption that a manager tactically got one over opposite number.

 

Sometimes it's as simple as players under performed, or then odd moment went the other teams way.

[foxfanazer]

2 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I alway find it interesting whenever a team win the is alway an assumption that a manager tactically got one over opposite number.

 

Sometimes it's as simple as players under performed, or then odd moment went the other teams way.

Exactly. If the ref sends Byram off or Fatawu's strike is a couple of inches lower we're not even talking about Enzo

[Fox92]

9 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Wouldn’t say we were particularly that lucky in either of those 2 game overall, I think we deserved to win both

 

If anything we were unlucky to only score 1 against Sunderland

Sunderland had a fair few chances which better/more composed players would have scored. This has been my issue all season, our opponents do have good chances against us. 

[filbertway]

I doubt they have those stats to the minute. However im pretty sure leeds had the lions share of possession in the game until they scored and elected to let us have the ball.

 

Not sure that constitutes as controlling the game.

 

The number of times we had to chase back or make last ditch interceptions or challenges. I think Leeds were rarely in thay position.

 

We created very few decent chances.

 

Im just not sure how we come away from that trying to paint it as a decent display. Especially at home.

 

Been very underwhelmed by the last 2 performances. 

 

The amount of time and effort we put into chasing Casadei is wild as well. The lad looks so far off what we need.

[drofmor55]

Once again putting Vardy at the front edge ofthe 6 yard box at a corner has cost us a goal, he hasnt the height to carry out this role...this happened reguarly under BR and now under the new manager...it makes me wonder who is in charge of team tactics and do they even watch the replays of matches

[UniFox21]

4 minutes ago, drofmor55 said:

Once again putting Vardy at the front edge ofthe 6 yard box at a corner has cost us a goal, he hasnt the height to carry out this role...this happened reguarly under BR and now under the new manager...it makes me wonder who is in charge of team tactics and do they even watch the replays of matches

Disagree.

He has a decent leap on him and covers a lot of the medium to low balls into the box. 

 

Wouldn't want one of our taller guys their, leaving a defender or tall mid with someone like Vardy marking him. We've conceded a couple at most from set pieces this year, it isn't the issue it was last year and people need to realise this.

[tickler28]

Against teams that press us like Leeds did last night and Liverpool did in the cup and pre season we have to seriously rethink our approach. I'm not saying we just punt it long but we need to find ways to break out in our triangles effectively. What I saw last night was us panicking in posession and not finding the space behind the press....we to often played it out wide when in matches like that the space should be through the middle....Casadei and KDH were completely ineffective in being found and exploiting that space.

[Ric Flair]

19 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I doubt they have those stats to the minute. However im pretty sure leeds had the lions share of possession in the game until they scored and elected to let us have the ball.

 

Not sure that constitutes as controlling the game.

 

The number of times we had to chase back or make last ditch interceptions or challenges. I think Leeds were rarely in thay position.

 

We created very few decent chances.

 

Im just not sure how we come away from that trying to paint it as a decent display. Especially at home.

 

Been very underwhelmed by the last 2 performances. 

 

The amount of time and effort we put into chasing Casadei is wild as well. The lad looks so far off what we need.

We had far more of the possession after the opening 15 mins through to half time and again after the first 15 mins of the 2nd half.

 

Leeds won this game based on starting both halves well. It took us too long to get control and then it was too late in the 2nd half as we just didn't seem to have the answers.

[coolhandfox]

23 minutes ago, filbertway said:

I doubt they have those stats to the minute. However im pretty sure leeds had the lions share of possession in the game until they scored and elected to let us have the ball.

 

Not sure that constitutes as controlling the game.

 

The number of times we had to chase back or make last ditch interceptions or challenges. I think Leeds were rarely in thay position.

 

We created very few decent chances.

 

Im just not sure how we come away from that trying to paint it as a decent display. Especially at home.

 

Been very underwhelmed by the last 2 performances. 

 

The amount of time and effort we put into chasing Casadei is wild as well. The lad looks so far off what we need.

Thy really didn't it was around 65% us even before they scored.

 

 

Edited 4 November 2023 by coolhandfox

[tickler28]

I'm starting to wonder if when Praet, Ndidi and Akgun are fit we should play with a false 9....that would give us ultimate control in midfield and Mavididi and Fattawu are then the goal threats. 

[coolhandfox]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

We had far more of the possession after the opening 15 mins through to half time and again after the first 15 mins of the 2nd half.

 

Leeds won this game based on starting both halves well. It took us too long to get control and then it was too late in the 2nd half as we just didn't seem to have the answers.

Though we were a little passive, felt like we went out not to lose rather then go for the knock out punch.

[coolhandfox]

Just now, tickler28 said:

I'm starting to wonder if when Praet, Ndidi and Akgun are fit we should play with a false 9....that would give us ultimate control in midfield and Mavididi and Fattawu are then the goal threats. 

No, were do the goals come from? 

 

Nacho and Vardy have contibuted 9 goals around 30% of what we have scored.

 

Do you see those 3 getting 9 between in 15 games from false 9.