Tactics Under Maresca

[Tuna]

2 hours ago, Stadt said:

I hate when playing well, being a constant threat, going ahead and then throwing it away trying to conserve the lead. Do what was working in the first place.

 

Sitting deep trying to see the game out just invites pressure and mistakes. Sheffield Wednesday A and Ipswich A were prime examples, go for the throat.

The worry is he doesn't learn and doesn't try anything different

[Les-TA-Jon]

2 hours ago, Stadt said:

I hate when playing well, being a constant threat, going ahead and then throwing it away trying to conserve the lead. Do what was working in the first place.

 

Sitting deep trying to see the game out just invites pressure and mistakes. Sheffield Wednesday A and Ipswich A were prime examples, go for the throat.

Literally only happened 4 times this season and I think in all those it'd be irrelevant if we'd take 1-2 more chances. 

[Chelmofox]

57 minutes ago, Tuna said:

The worry is he doesn't learn and doesn't try anything different

I see this time and time again and i still don't get it. Taking all the stats into consideration (actual goals for and against, and the expected numbers) nothing jumps out as having to change anything. Over the course of the season it's worked far more times than it hasn't. And this is a league where any title winning team draws and loses a lot of matches. Some balance in the overall thinking is needed.

 

Is it not fair to expect that lots gets worked on in training, and the team work together to try and improve everything? You get better at things by training, trying and sometimes failing.  I still don't think Enzo has (or will get this window) the team he really wants, and so is likely willing to work within some of the frailties as long as we still edge towards the end goal.

 

Ipswich always likely had a goal in them. We should have put one of our golden chances away, of which we had a few. Thats the bit that needs to improve, and i presume is being worked on.

[Dames]

1 hour ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

Literally only happened 4 times this season and I think in all those it'd be irrelevant if we'd take 1-2 more chances. 

If we’d taken just 1-2 more chances last season we’d still be a Premier League team.

 

I’m not overly worried at the minute theres been enough progress considering the state the team and club was in when Enzo arrived but its concerning that many weaknesses from last season are still apparent. 

[Les-TA-Jon]

36 minutes ago, Dames said:

If we’d taken just 1-2 more chances last season we’d still be a Premier League team.

 

I’m not overly worried at the minute theres been enough progress considering the state the team and club was in when Enzo arrived but its concerning that many weaknesses from last season are still apparent. 

I mean, given that we’re comfortably top I’m not sure what kind of counter argument that is? 
 

the claim was “we play well and then we stop playing well and drop points” 

 

but that’s only happened 4 times. And in each instance it was as much about missing chances whilst on top than it was about dropping points later in the game. 
 

and yes, we also missed chances last season. So what? Last season it made the difference between staying up or going down - so it was relevant. 
 

it’s not particularly relevant this season given that we’re top anyhow? 
 

(for what it’s worth, the main reason we went down last season was our terrible defence anyway) 

[FosseSpark]

my issues with tactics:

love winning, but would be happy to lose 1 or 2 more if the style were more entertaining / dynamic.

games this season are roughly 80% watching vestegaard, faes, hermansen and justin with their foot on the ball (which is boring as ****) 20% watching KDH, Mavididi, Fatawu try to score or progress up the pitch (which is really exciting). 

so the tactics ensure about 15-20 mins of excitment per game for about £50-60 invested which is worse value than the granny gram that Rooney used to visit back in the day. 

Put simply i'd rather us try and play more like a Klopp team than a Pep team. Heavy Metal, not Heavy Going.

That would mean playing Coady/Faes (who can both pass and can turn marginally quicker than a glacier), still have the chance to invert Ricardo / Justin when we are on the ball, but importantly try to get Mavi, Fatawu, Yunus, Cannon, Daka, Vardy, KDH on to the ball a higher proportion of the time. 

 

Winning is great and all that, but watching the post formation formations at work in the Ipswich game was just plain ridiculous at times. Faes stood at LB, Choudhury stood at CB, Vest stood at RB, Ricardo in midfield. KDH inside right when he's one legged. It was no wonder Ipswich eventually became more bold and took hold of the game.

 

I understand Vestegaard is a flat track bully in terms of his ability to pick a pass over 10 yds in the championship. But everyone KNOWS that he won't be able to fulfil that role in the Prem and so giving him 30 odd % of our time on the ball means the fans know we aren't really building the spine of a new prem team. It will have to be completely recast when we go up as the lynchpin of the system will get torn a 3rd arsehole by prem forwards who are fast and can finish. 

 

 

[lcfc_forever]

Analysis of the game for all us tactic geeks and nerds: 

 

 

[lcfc_forever]

2 hours ago, lcfc_forever said:

Analysis of the game for all us tactic geeks and nerds: 

 

 

Oops, seen it’s been posted already. 

[fuchsntf]

11 hours ago, Tuna said:

The worry is he doesn't learn and doesn't try anything different

Rebuild ,developement and within any progress,mistakes

and flaws within descisions are part of the squad & System evolving.

Enzo learn process,I would say so far is more balanced,than those fans shitting

themselves everytime they perceive to recognise instability within the process & progress of Enzo’s ideology implementation & growth of his system.

[Muzzy_no7]

Replication of Enzo-Ball on FM24 for all those interested 👍🏼

[Mickyblueeyes]

Watched the Pep Guardiola documentary that was on BBC 1 a few days ago (on Iplayer, highly recommended watch). There is a segment where Guardiola’s first season in the PL is assessed and it includes snippets of Man C fans have the same concerns and complaints that we hear with Leicester fans now. 

[HarryDee8]

Only one thing I would like from maresca is to give the fringe players the last 10 mins of dead games were ahead in. 

 

This game time will help, so we don't have the inexperience of the 1st half today

[Lionator]

Wasn’t at the game but it’s nice that we clearly improved as a result of Enzo’s management, when you compare to Mondays comments.

[fuchsntf]

On 24/01/2024 at 16:01, Tuna said:

The worry is he doesn't learn and doesn't try anything different

Sorry..have you been mixed up and hidden in a Sardine tin,these last 20 games

[Muzzy_no7]

On 27/01/2024 at 10:33, Muzzy_no7 said:

Replication of Enzo-Ball on FM24 for all those interested 👍🏼

Must admit this is the best replication yet and hasn’t for once had me completely running away with the league. It’s a lot more realistic and is coming with the problems of the odd late goal and not killing teams off.

 

KDH as a Roaming playmaker, Ricardo as IWB and Cannon as a proper pressing forward really make the difference. 

[Nod.E]

A couple of things I noticed tonight. Keen to understand from some of the more tactically astute among us whether they share my views.

 

I think teams have twigged how important Winks is to our system. We aren't really getting pressed as a team, but Harry is afforded absolutely no time. The ball goes into him, and he's shut down in an instant. Worse, he's often man-marked. Earlier in the season we'd play the ball into him and he'd have the time to ping a first time pass on the angle to our right back or left back, who would proceed to find a winger or an 8. 

 

I think this is largely why we look more ponderous at times recently. There's no out ball. This isn't helped by the fact that KDH doesn't show short (because he's not great at taking the ball under pressure), and (tonight) Praet simply isn't dynamic enough to offer that option even if he wanted to.

 

It felt tonight as though it was defence + Winks in our defensive third, then everyone else either too far up the pitch to influence play, or completely crowded out in the middle.

 

I actually thought KDH was our MOTM today, but it's games like these that do make me wonder about next season. If Winks is going to be our Pivot, and Sensi our ball-playing 8, where does KDH feature for us? It feels like we need a physical presence in there, but a player who is equally adept at offering for the ball deep to take the ball from Mads or our centre halves. It's too easy to mark Winks out of the game and leave us looking confused otherwise.

 

Going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out because KDH is brilliant at pressing and doing all of the things we probably need from a midfielder if we were going to play for the counter attack against the better teams (or even competent teams away from home.) You get the feeling that's not going to be the plan under Enzo, though. 

 

He was fantastic tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see us cash in on him in the summer so that Enzo can build a team more bespoke to his idea of football.

 

Or, I dunno, FORRRRRWAAAAAAARD 🙄

[Aleksz]

2 minutes ago, Nod.E said:

A couple of things I noticed tonight. Keen to understand from some of the more tactically astute among us whether they share my views.

 

I think teams have twigged how important Winks is to our system. We aren't really getting pressed as a team, but Harry is afforded absolutely no time. The ball goes into him, and he's shut down in an instant. Worse, he's often man-marked. Earlier in the season we'd play the ball into him and he'd have the time to ping a first time pass on the angle to our right back or left back, who would proceed to find a winger or an 8. 

 

I think this is largely why we look more ponderous at times recently. There's no out ball. This isn't helped by the fact that KDH doesn't show short (because he's not great at taking the ball under pressure), and (tonight) Praet simply isn't dynamic enough to offer that option even if he wanted to.

 

It felt tonight as though it was defence + Winks in our defensive third, then everyone else either too far up the pitch to influence play, or completely crowded out in the middle.

 

I actually thought KDH was our MOTM today, but it's games like these that do make me wonder about next season. If Winks is going to be our Pivot, and Sensi our ball-playing 8, where does KDH feature for us? It feels like we need a physical presence in there, but a player who is equally adept at offering for the ball deep to take the ball from Mads or our centre halves. It's too easy to mark Winks out of the game and leave us looking confused otherwise.

 

Going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out because KDH is brilliant at pressing and doing all of the things we probably need from a midfielder if we were going to play for the counter attack against the better teams (or even competent teams away from home.) You get the feeling that's not going to be the plan under Enzo, though. 

 

He was fantastic tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see us cash in on him in the summer so that Enzo can build a team more bespoke to his idea of football.

 

Or, I dunno, FORRRRRWAAAAAAARD 🙄

You’re spot on mate. Winks has been identified as our main threat in build up, and I think that’s why we’ve seen a drop off in how effective he was at the start of the season. I do think that’s highlighted Ricardo’s quality when he steps into midfield though - hard work shutting both of them down. 
 

Ultimately it’s not KDH’s job to drop too deep, the purpose of having Ricardo in there is to supplement the numbers we push higher up the pitch. On occasion we’ve seen the striker drop 10-15 yards to offer an out ball but that didn’t happen too much tonight. Hold up play isn’t Daka’s forte at all. 

[CosbehFox]

11 hours ago, Nod.E said:

A couple of things I noticed tonight. Keen to understand from some of the more tactically astute among us whether they share my views.

 

I think teams have twigged how important Winks is to our system. We aren't really getting pressed as a team, but Harry is afforded absolutely no time. The ball goes into him, and he's shut down in an instant. Worse, he's often man-marked. Earlier in the season we'd play the ball into him and he'd have the time to ping a first time pass on the angle to our right back or left back, who would proceed to find a winger or an 8. 

 

I think this is largely why we look more ponderous at times recently. There's no out ball. This isn't helped by the fact that KDH doesn't show short (because he's not great at taking the ball under pressure), and (tonight) Praet simply isn't dynamic enough to offer that option even if he wanted to.

 

It felt tonight as though it was defence + Winks in our defensive third, then everyone else either too far up the pitch to influence play, or completely crowded out in the middle.

 

I actually thought KDH was our MOTM today, but it's games like these that do make me wonder about next season. If Winks is going to be our Pivot, and Sensi our ball-playing 8, where does KDH feature for us? It feels like we need a physical presence in there, but a player who is equally adept at offering for the ball deep to take the ball from Mads or our centre halves. It's too easy to mark Winks out of the game and leave us looking confused otherwise.

 

Going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out because KDH is brilliant at pressing and doing all of the things we probably need from a midfielder if we were going to play for the counter attack against the better teams (or even competent teams away from home.) You get the feeling that's not going to be the plan under Enzo, though. 

 

He was fantastic tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see us cash in on him in the summer so that Enzo can build a team more bespoke to his idea of football.

 

Or, I dunno, FORRRRRWAAAAAAARD 🙄

You've got it bang on. 

 

We are at our best - when this happens (Winks pinpointed) and we choose the Plan B to distribute more to the wingers. Fatawu getting suspended has cut this off a little bit. Works even better than you then have Wilf and KDH bombing on in the channels. 

[Aleksz]

 

BORING, BORING LEICESTER, BORING, BORING LEICESTER! 

Edited 31 January by Aleksz

[StriderHiryu]

This is from Pep Lijnders, Klopp's assistant. One thing I really want to note from this is that they coached the same style of play and principles since day one till this match, which was on their way to winning the Champions League.

 

"We have one way to play and we only play that way"

"We practised these principles for 4 YEARS, that's why we got so good at it"

 

 

Stoke were laughably bad today, and will write-up why we slaughtered them in just a bit. But look at the progression of the team from game 1 to game 30. From minute 1 to minute 95 that game was under complete and utter control, and at no time did it look like we would leave with anything other than 3 points and a hatful of goals. One striker scored 2 goals, we put another one on, and that striker scored 2 goals. McAteer played "out of position" and scored, JJ came on as a winger and assisted.

 

Practice makes perfect!

[Daggers]

“But if we were in the Prem we’d never get away with this”

“But if we were in the Champions League we’d never get away with this”

 

”But if we were playing in the World Cup Final we’d never get away with this”

[StriderHiryu]

Stoke 0 - 5 Leicester City

 

 

This was a ruthless demolition of Stoke and the type of result that has "Champions" written all over Leicester. That said it must be said this was a naive tactical setup from Stephen Schumacher of Stoke who decided to go man-to-man and press a team that was far superior to his in every single department. Here is my artist's rendition of Stoke trying to take on Leicester at their own game, showcasing the expected result such an approach would have:

 

 

Schumacher plays an attacking style of football, which has a lot to like about it. In the offensive phase, they committed a lot of men forwards, often having a numerical superiority in the attacking phase. Here's a still shot of one of thier better chances where we see that they have 7 players in shot and a 4 on 4 situation when getting into our box.

 

 

However, this comes at a cost, and that cost is that to work around the lack of pace and athleticism in the Stoke line-up, they have two blocks that are often too far away from one another. Here we see their centre back trying to play a pass forwards. The distance required is way too great and means the pass is susceptible to being intercepted. In this move, Mavididi gets to the ball first, and the move ends with Kase McAteer netting for Leicester.

 

 

 

The problem with Stoke's setup is that they lack a good way to play back-to-front other than smashing the ball downfield, which they attempted over 30 times. In this shot we see that they have only one central midfielder to find, and it was too easy for us to block the passing lanes to this player. Compare this to our setup that has both Harry Winks and Ricardo in the double pivot in the offensive phase, meaning we are able to play smoothly from back to front with both control and threat.

 

 

^ Here's our fourth goal, which actually starts with a Stoke attack. Their press actually works here as they rob the ball from Faes, but we are able to quickly recover the ball, then play out and find Winks, who is in acres of space. He has the freedom of the Potteries, meaning he can turn, drive and pick out a fantastic pass to James Justin. Here we see serious work from Ricardo who drops from the double pivot into defence to help win the ball back, before finding his midfield partner in crime Winks to do serious damage. That was the biggest difference in this game. Leicester were able to connect attacks from back-to-front, whereas there was way too much space in behind the attacking block from Stoke, which Leicester were only too happy to exploit. Interestingly, Man United under Ten Hag have a similar sort of problem.

 

Though Stoke's setup made it easy for us, this was a complete performance from Leicester. From minute one to minute 95, it only ever looked like a battering being handed out. Probably for the first time this season, we maintained our rhythm and momentum throughout the entire match. Subs didn't break our flow and neither did putting players in positions they weren't so familiar with like McAteer as an 8 or Justin as a wide winger. Usually Leicester also score most of our goals from our attacking 8's or our wingers, but today neither Mavididi or KDH scored, despite scoring 5. Today we were able to find our strikers through clever attacking play, and they made the difference.

 

We were likely to hand out a tonking to someone this season, and if teams dare setup in as naive a manner as this against us, it won't be the last time!

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 February by StriderHiryu

[davieG]

[Les-TA-Jon]

On 03/02/2024 at 23:13, StriderHiryu said:

This is from Pep Lijnders, Klopp's assistant. One thing I really want to note from this is that they coached the same style of play and principles since day one till this match, which was on their way to winning the Champions League.

 

"We have one way to play and we only play that way"

"We practised these principles for 4 YEARS, that's why we got so good at it"

 

 

Stoke were laughably bad today, and will write-up why we slaughtered them in just a bit. But look at the progression of the team from game 1 to game 30. From minute 1 to minute 95 that game was under complete and utter control, and at no time did it look like we would leave with anything other than 3 points and a hatful of goals. One striker scored 2 goals, we put another one on, and that striker scored 2 goals. McAteer played "out of position" and scored, JJ came on as a winger and assisted.

 

Practice makes perfect!

Yeah but Enzo doesn't have a Plan B. 

[Matt]

We're getting a few more penalties in recent weeks, obviously a good thing!

 

5 in the last 5 games.

 

Coincidence? Chance? Opportunity?

 

Or are we playing higher, getting into the box more often, driving into the box more often, giving ourselves more chance and opportunities?