Tactics Under Maresca

[adejo92]

2 minutes ago, glasgowfox said:

So not offensive when he has scored????

As an attacking player, the law of averages says he'll get in goal scoring positions.

 

My frustration comes from the fact that when he has the ball out wide, his first thought is always to pass backwards. He seems to only ever attempt to take on his man when he has absolutely no other option. Again, perhaps its a confidence thing.

 

Anyway, that's my 10 pence put in anyway, can't be getting involved in pointless childish arguments, i'll have that in a few hours time when my daughter wakes up.

[LCFCCKEANO]

10 minutes ago, Blue and white said:

I've never understood why are we allowed to take risks in our own third, but as soon as we approach the half way line or god forbid pass the half way line we must turn into such a risk-averse team.

Think the plan is break teams down high up the pitch so it’s open when we attack to create easy openings and one on ones for our attackers, mainly the wingers. Do worry how sustainable it’d be once we are able to get back up, does seem to be an approach based on outclassing your opponent, and resultantly when we play a decent side on good form we tend to struggle a bit (Hull at home, Cov away, Ipswich twice, Leeds away). Big Enzo fan but could see a world where he doesn’t last all too long in the prem, especially with our apparently never ending financial situation

[Guest glasgowfox]

2 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

As an attacking player, the law of averages says he'll get in goal scoring positions.

 

My frustration comes from the fact that when he has the ball out wide, his first thought is always to pass backwards. He seems to only ever attempt to take on his man when he has absolutely no other option. Again, perhaps its a confidence thing.

 

Anyway, that's my 10 pence put in anyway, can't be getting involved in pointless childish arguments, i'll have that in a few hours time when my daughter wakes up.

Omg....listen to yourself.   Your suggesting that our wingers in front of him never pass the ball back....give your head a shake and go to specsavers

[Matt]

On 14/01/2024 at 12:53, Aleksz said:

Becoming a bit of a meme I think, this one.

Yes, yes it is.

[Aleksz]

4 minutes ago, Matt said:

Yes, yes it is.

I think in a game where you’re two absolute goalkeeping worldies away from it being a 3-0 game… the absolutely silly throwaway take of “no plan B” makes even less sense than it did in the first place.

Edited 22 January by Aleksz

[Blanchflower78]

46 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

Without getting carried away, i genuinely think i could replace McAteer and offer more for the team offensively.

 

Not sure if it's a lack of confidence, or a lack of ability, but how he manages to halt almost every attack is remarkable.

Following instructions almost certainly. 

[HybridFox]

Ipswich made 4 changes before we decided to act. Far too passive in the second half of games

[Deeg67]

Much of these frantic labour pains are surely overblown - we’re still atop the league fairly comfortably.  But the one ongoing trend that worries me is how slow Enzo is to make subs, and how often he leaves multiple subs unused.  This was (yes, I know, but it’s true) a major Rodgers issue as well.

 

Enzo is very pragmatically taking an approach that’s probably good enough to win us automatic promotion with our squad’s talent level.  He’s not naive enough to believe it will work in the PL, surely, but he’s been pretty inflexible this season.  Is that because circumstances have allowed it, or because that’s his nature as a manager?  I don’t think we’ll know until next season.

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, adejo92 said:

As an attacking player, the law of averages says he'll get in goal scoring positions.

 

My frustration comes from the fact that when he has the ball out wide, his first thought is always to pass backwards. He seems to only ever attempt to take on his man when he has absolutely no other option. Again, perhaps its a confidence thing.

 

Anyway, that's my 10 pence put in anyway, can't be getting involved in pointless childish arguments, i'll have that in a few hours time when my daughter wakes up.

But all our wingers have that tendency,so it’s not a Mcateer problem.

Our players play to a system’I believe it’s a squad that,is also learning its strengths,

and all its problems in detail.

I don’t disagree with any comments that point out our inbalances or weakness,so long has they appreciate it’s a squad and system is in its infancy and still in its developing stage. The club and Enzo has not brought nor bought a ready made

Package or system. Also doubts were being offered also into the 9-12th game period….

We has a squad and manager introducing a base and early blue prints of a system,can’t be compared as though after half a season,and also at the end are

anywhere near the finished product. Choosing Enzo and his ideas,with his backing

sport coaches,offered us a base and future,to stop the rot,and a catastrophic future running away from us…

 

Ipswich on the other hand are in their 2nd season and coming from the other direction. Also with a more set idea with potential to develope within their system

Twice we have met in the middle,showing through our performances,that we are on even keel to compete and challenge for those 2 automatic promotion spots in the

championship,both having the credentials to go further and develope their not so perfect but developing systems with potential but also rightly so up for scrutiny..

Ipswich though interesting,and our nearest worthy  competitor are not relevant to any of my emotional concern of their seasons destination,

All our fans have that right,to judge analyse and criticise how the system and manager are performing even at this early stage,but also at the same time give thought and space it takes more than a season to even start to mold the idea,and we are fortunate to experience and be part of the moulding phases.We could of been like many relegated clubs, devoyed of any future self or rekindled potential.

Today we proved that the want and the motivation is still there,every single player put in a shift,no one was lagging…

 

We are still not confident to move the ball quicker up the field and hold the ball further up the field for longer periods…Thats why at present we let our defence hold the ball in a false comfort zone far too long. We at present due to this mindset automatically creates,from players showing being comfortable on the ball periods of sloppyness in play and mental discipline.

IMO even within this system,towards the end of the game one has to be prudent in game management and mix up playing long ball,and not always playing triangles,in your own backyard when opposition with their press are countering those triangles.

One has to pick n mix,releasing the ball earlier.

No use fans chastising individuals,they are playing to the system ethics,which produced for example Faes,Choudhury,Vestergaard through 40-70 minute returning great moments and performances,being sharpe when required,then the team suddenly  pushing the line in sloppyness and not keeping their discipline in the Bline or movement through midfield interfaces.

In the last 15 minutes,we played it too close with our defensive triangles and forced the issue ourselves,by playing around the Bline for too long a periods. We had Mavididi often alone in some potential great space,and loss of opportunity in creating n building our own press. We are lacking in confidence in defending through and with our midfield line We offer up late in the game far too often far too much of the last 3rd of the field…

And often it’s not the opposition taking it,but we simply give it up….

 

So I bet through the rest of the season,we will scream and shout at all those frustrating moments,and purr at those succulent movements and moments..

 

 

[Bptiger]

Well again we give away a win , I think the manager has done a good job , but worry every time we get the lead we go into a team that doesn’t want to score , we want to sit back and hope we don’t concede a goal . I wonder if the manager thinks he is still coaching at Manchester city with a talented side , who can hold the ball and play out all the time . Did everyone notice that cannon never had a ball played to his feet , he has a wicked shoot but we don’t give him much ball. 

[STUHILL]

54 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

Much of these frantic labour pains are surely overblown - we’re still atop the league fairly comfortably.  But the one ongoing trend that worries me is how slow Enzo is to make subs, and how often he leaves multiple subs unused.  This was (yes, I know, but it’s true) a major Rodgers issue as well.

 

Enzo is very pragmatically taking an approach that’s probably good enough to win us automatic promotion with our squad’s talent level.  He’s not naive enough to believe it will work in the PL, surely, but he’s been pretty inflexible this season.  Is that because circumstances have allowed it, or because that’s his nature as a manager?  I don’t think we’ll know until next season.

It is incredible to be on a record breaking season and sitting clear at the top of the league but still see potential red flags for the future with Enzo, but if you pay enough attention, they are there in the background. 
 

I don’t really doubt how talented Enzo is. You only have to listen to the players to know how good he is, and despite tonight and some other iffy performances, we really are flying under his control.

 

My growing concern is his stubbornness and potential lack of flexibility even if things start to go wrong. This may get tested more in the coming months and I just hope he is able to recognise this himself and adjust, which is something Bodgers never did and sorely cost us. 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

Not certain why, but we recently look knackered in games once the 2nd half kicks in, especially at the back, and I don't think you could say we play at a blistering pace like a Liverpool or we've had an unusually packed schedule of late compared to others. Is it simply we fail to use subs well or is our conditioning not as good as it could be? (I would be surprised in light of Enzo's ethos). Am I missing something obvious here? (feel free to lay in to me! 😂) 

[tsintskaro]

On 27/12/2023 at 01:39, tsintskaro said:

He is not gonna survive 15 games in PL

I think i gave him too much time

[Pliskin]

Absolutely honking yesterday. The more I reflect the worse it gets. 
 

It was a tactical Frankenstein, and I don’t think Enzo will ever learn. There was zero midfield yesterday, Winks was chasing shadows in there by himself. Fair enough, Ricardo is probably a good enough footballer to play where he did, but Hamza isn’t, any that combination meant there was a gaping hole in our midfield. Faes at points was almost pushing into a CAM position because that’s the amount of space he had in front of him. 
 

Was Doyle not on the bench? Or Coady? Why on earth did Hamza play? And how on earth did he stay on? The substitutions were awful, we needed to sort out the defence and midfield, the striker was feeding off scraps, so changing him wasn’t going to improve anything….

 

Ive been fighting for Enzo all season when thinks when tits up, but that was a cluster **** yesterday, and it’s hard to defend something as tactical abhorrent as that was. 
 

Carry on like this, and we will be finding ourselves in the play offs. 

[goose2010]

1 hour ago, Pliskin said:

Absolutely honking yesterday. The more I reflect the worse it gets. 
 

It was a tactical Frankenstein, and I don’t think Enzo will ever learn. There was zero midfield yesterday, Winks was chasing shadows in there by himself. Fair enough, Ricardo is probably a good enough footballer to play where he did, but Hamza isn’t, any that combination meant there was a gaping hole in our midfield. Faes at points was almost pushing into a CAM position because that’s the amount of space he had in front of him. 
 

Was Doyle not on the bench? Or Coady? Why on earth did Hamza play? And how on earth did he stay on? The substitutions were awful, we needed to sort out the defence and midfield, the striker was feeding off scraps, so changing him wasn’t going to improve anything….

 

Ive been fighting for Enzo all season when thinks when tits up, but that was a cluster **** yesterday, and it’s hard to defend something as tactical abhorrent as that was. 
 

Carry on like this, and we will be finding ourselves in the play offs. 

Honestly you must watch a different game to me. There is an over reaction and then there is this. 

 

 

[Marshall Cockney Fox]

Given the fresh legs Ipswich were piling on to chase the game. And us getting more and more overrun. It is criminal that we didn't add more legs to our own midfield until after the 80mins mark. Totally odd use or in fact 'non' use of a bench. 

[Aleksz]

3 hours ago, Pliskin said:

Absolutely honking yesterday. The more I reflect the worse it gets. 
 

It was a tactical Frankenstein, and I don’t think Enzo will ever learn. There was zero midfield yesterday, Winks was chasing shadows in there by himself. Fair enough, Ricardo is probably a good enough footballer to play where he did, but Hamza isn’t, any that combination meant there was a gaping hole in our midfield. Faes at points was almost pushing into a CAM position because that’s the amount of space he had in front of him. 
 

Was Doyle not on the bench? Or Coady? Why on earth did Hamza play? And how on earth did he stay on? The substitutions were awful, we needed to sort out the defence and midfield, the striker was feeding off scraps, so changing him wasn’t going to improve anything….

 

Ive been fighting for Enzo all season when thinks when tits up, but that was a cluster **** yesterday, and it’s hard to defend something as tactical abhorrent as that was. 
 

Carry on like this, and we will be finding ourselves in the play offs. 

Sorry but this post couldn’t be any more wrong if it tried.

 

Maresca absolutely out thought McKenna last night and got it spot on. They created next to nothing. Couldn’t get out for the whole of the first half thanks to our best pressing this season. Keeper has kept them in it for 2 or 3 big chances. And they’ve got yet another equaliser from a pot-shot. If anyone deserved to win it last night, it was Enzo.

 

If you wanna criticise subs, then fair enough I could maybe see an argument. But for overall set up of the game? No.

Edited 23 January by Aleksz

[BenTheFox]

It's become clear to me that Enzo doesn't trust many of his squad players. I feel as though that game against Wednesay at the end of November where he made those changes and we were dreadful has sown the side in his mind. Hopefully things will be better when Abdul and Ndidi are back. 

[Ric Flair]

It's hard to envisage the majority of this squad, with Enzo's philosophies prospering in the PL. We'll be taught some harsh lessons.

 

For all the possession we have, we sacrifice chance creation at both ends of the pitch. However, as the games wear on, rather than us get stronger like we did in the early parts of the season with energy and confidence and a willingness to use subs, we are vulnerable to gifting teams goals and points.

 

There's plenty to like about what we've done this season but without serious financial investment or some herculean recruitment strategy in the summer, I fear for us if we do go up (that is by no means a certainty).

 

The things we need to get better at is creating patterns of play to get our best finishers in on goal. Everyone raves about the spread of goals in this team but I actually look at it that we are hugely wasteful in front of goal because our attacking patterns gift our players who aren't good finishers more opportunities than our strikers or wide forwards. 

 

How many times are we too casual in the final Thurs from KDH, Mavididi, Ricardo, Fatawu etc. Their final ball or concentration is infuriating, it happened so much last night. KDH on the face of it looked like he had a good game, I can't recall many other games where he was as dominant at picking up the ball and finding space from both deep or in advanced areas. Yet, his execution in to Cannon or others to get in on goal was really poor.

 

McAteer was even worse, he found himself in positions that Ipswich couldn't deal with and not once did he create an opening for others, just some horrendous shots once he'd ran out of ideas.

 

Got to improve our set pieces both in defence and attack. Got to maintain the desire to press (this has improved in recent months) and got to have more aggression and bravery in the closing stages of games. 

[OriginalRobboFOX]

It’s time for some perspective. Had anyone given me even a 3 point lead at the top of the table at this stage pre-season I’d have been bowled over. 
 

We are 7 points clear. We look destined to wrap up promotion earlier than the most optimistic Leicester fan could have imagined. 
 

Enzo has my complete support - he’s worked wonders on this team, cut some deadwood, continues to work on the squad and build up confidence after that horrible 6 month downfall overseen by Brendan. 
 

If you’re doubting him take a step back, breathe, give yourself a shake and take comfort that we will be done and dusted come April whether that’s with Ricky in centre mid, McAteer out wide, or Yunus drafted in off the bench. 
 

In Enzo we trust. 🦊🦊

[Pliskin]

13 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Sorry but this post couldn’t be any more wrong if it tried.

 

Maresca absolutely out thought McKenna last night and got it spot on. They created next to nothing. Couldn’t get out for the whole of the first half thanks to our best pressing this season. Keeper has kept them in it for 2 or 3 big chances. And they’ve got yet another equaliser from a pot-shot. If anyone deserved to win it last night, it was Enzo.

 

If you wanna criticise subs, then fair enough I could maybe see an argument. But for overall set up of the game? No.

Really? The second half was abysmal. I didn’t see the benefit of Hamza playing where he did, he really struggled, and Ricardo was far too high leaving Winks exposed. Ipswich lacked any kind of quality at all, it was all effort but we handed the game to them. 
 

I thought he completely over complicated the selection, and by the second half they were at sixes and sevens. I’ve been a stout defender of his tactics, but yesterday I just felt he completely threw it by trying too hard and it backfired… the problem I now have is we’re probably going to chuck games we shouldn’t because of Enzo’s philosophy, whilst you’ve got Southampton who are currently steamrolling towards us, and likely to encounter less issues than we are. 
 

I just wasn’t happy at all with yesterday, we threw away two points in my opinion.

[Aleksz]

2 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Really? The second half was abysmal. I didn’t see the benefit of Hamza playing where he did, he really struggled, and Ricardo was far too high leaving Winks exposed. Ipswich lacked any kind of quality at all, it was all effort but we handed the game to them. 
 

I thought he completely over complicated the selection, and by the second half they were at sixes and sevens. I’ve been a stout defender of his tactics, but yesterday I just felt he completely threw it by trying too hard and it backfired… the problem I now have is we’re probably going to chuck games we shouldn’t because of Enzo’s philosophy, whilst you’ve got Southampton who are currently steamrolling towards us, and likely to encounter less issues than we are. 
 

I just wasn’t happy at all with yesterday, we threw away two points in my opinion.

I’ve watched the first half back and the out of possession work and press was genuinely the best it has been this season. It might have appeared a bit like people were getting dragged all over the place to you because we were going man to man without the ball.

 

Faes was following Chaplin (Which was why you might have seen him pop up in midfield). Justin following Harness. Cannon on Travis. And Dewsbury-Hall on Luongo. Leaving Mavididi and McAteer making the choice on when to engage the keeper and centre backs.

It really really worked. They didn’t get out for the whole of the first half and McKenna never really found a solution to getting out and creating chances.

 

Let’s be honest they created next to nothing. But they're a very good organised side. We deserved to win the game but that’s football.

[pmcla26]

I think there's 2 things that hinder us from playing at max potential currently. 

 

One is an advanced playmaker (hopefully Sensi solves this, if he comes in) and the other is having a left footed defender on that side. Seems that this slows our attacks and allows opposition to get back in to shape. 

 

I'd like to see Doyle back in the starting line up soon, even though I do think Hamza did ok last night. 

[Chelmofox]

29 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

the problem I now have is we’re probably going to chuck games we shouldn’t because of Enzo’s philosophy,

I always appreciate your posts, but I can almost hear your heart pounding as you are putting that together. Enzos system (or philosophy- whatever people call it) has won us far more than we have drawn or lost. We need to get back to winning ways, but there is nothing right now that suggests to me we are throwing anything away. 
 

Look at any team who got automatic promotion from the championship. There are lots of draws and defeats. Teams at the top of the table take points from each other.  It happens. Some are pissed off by Enzo brushing off dropped points, but the worst thing we can do right now is panic. 
 

Im pissed about yesterday too, but still think we got enough right to have won it. The thing really frustrating me is we are not being clinical with our chances. We should have been at least 2 up before they get lucky. Ipswich as a team always have a goal in them. 
 

 

[fuchsntf]

53 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

It's hard to envisage the majority of this squad, with Enzo's philosophies prospering in the PL. We'll be taught some harsh lessons.

 

For all the possession we have, we sacrifice chance creation at both ends of the pitch. However, as the games wear on, rather than us get stronger like we did in the early parts of the season with energy and confidence and a willingness to use subs, we are vulnerable to gifting teams goals and points.

 

There's plenty to like about what we've done this season but without serious financial investment or some herculean recruitment strategy in the summer, I fear for us if we do go up (that is by no means a certainty).

 

The things we need to get better at is creating patterns of play to get our best finishers in on goal. Everyone raves about the spread of goals in this team but I actually look at it that we are hugely wasteful in front of goal because our attacking patterns gift our players who aren't good finishers more opportunities than our strikers or wide forwards. 

 

How many times are we too casual in the final Thurs from KDH, Mavididi, Ricardo, Fatawu etc. Their final ball or concentration is infuriating, it happened so much last night. KDH on the face of it looked like he had a good game, I can't recall many other games where he was as dominant at picking up the ball and finding space from both deep or in advanced areas. Yet, his execution in to Cannon or others to get in on goal was really poor.

 

McAteer was even worse, he found himself in positions that Ipswich couldn't deal with and not once did he create an opening for others, just some horrendous shots once he'd ran out of ideas.

 

Got to improve our set pieces both in defence and attack. Got to maintain the desire to press (this has improved in recent months) and got to have more aggression and bravery in the closing stages of games. 

I wouldn't disagree on the whole, but one has to take into account.. New potentially top class manager with "his" new version of a system.. Not a season old.. Go a melting pot of players to integrate and play together within a totally new system.. It's obvious every week there will be flaws, but they are well outweighed, by all positive points of progress. Summised weak spots have not materialized, not one player has been the weak spot, all have had in these 28 games, regularly great moments and responsible for our best movements.. 

Think yo are spot on, with our natural goalscorer es not being on the end of our Best chances.. Ricardo though adding some top goals has even missed the target in several chances where one wished Cannon, DAKA, KdH were there.. 

But again We Really are splitting hairs, because despite the frustration on valid points from many posters, we are deservedly out in front. Too much dawdling at the back, putting ourselves under the press from the opposition, creating a sloppyness all around that really isn't necessary, we are not timing our shrewd defence, with knowing when to release the ball forward, where the get out is available.. 

Maybe Enzo want to create that pressure, so we start to feel more confident on the ball & between two OPPO players, he too has a responsibility in a or that belief of confidence on the ball, even if occasionally, we put ourselves up shift street, of late our fire power has subsided somewhat.. Chances are there, but not expected conversion rate. Last night & a their caff, we could of easily have already been  3 up, before

the 60-70th minute. I don't think for instance Akgun even understood why he had to play Vardy in last night, if he had there wouldn't of been a dropped 2 points.. But even this we are in a rebuilding project and no blue-papers drawn where fans can say we should be doing this or that, no matter how to

the fans eye it's obvious. The journey still has a long way to go