Post match: Cobblers 0-1 Foxes (friendly)

[lee7]

Only seen glimpses of yesterdays performance but a few things really impressed me from the first half. 

 

-Coadys leadership

-Players being happy to receive the ball anywhere on the pitch even when under pressure. 

-Winks looks extremely comfortable on the ball 

 

I watched the Cobblers a lot last season. They don't create many chances so it was never going to be a really tough test for us but like others have said it is about getting players the  minutes in their legs. 

 

[Beachyboy]

On the surface yesterday's possession based performance looked a lot like the previous guy in much the same way 2 identical cars look the same. Unless you look under the bonnet, an look at the engine condition- the movement patterns, ideas of attacking crowd the box with bodies, urgency to get the ball back once it was lost it. Only time will tell when this Car starts driving off, what's significantly different between the 2 teams. After 6 months of one car being neglected and allowed to rust, an not driven, while another car gets 6 months of day to day maintenance, upgrades to parts (players) and a new driver in the car, even the most uneducated observer notices the difference.

Edited 16 July 2023 by Beachyboy

[Matt]

I liked some of the balls over the top too.

 

Diag pings. 
 

Not long ball, route one, lump it up that people associate with balls over the top - it’s just terminology.

 

Which proves it’s not one or the other, there are many ways to play football but it the modern game there seems to only be one perceived and acceptable way.

 

Ultimately they didn’t come to much but our lack of wingers/creativity might be something to do with that, plus we’ve not done that near enough (or at all) for 2 years+ so it’s something pretty new and alien to them having had it coached out of them.

[whoareyaaa]

4 minutes ago, Matt said:

I liked some of the balls over the top too.

 

Diag pings. 
 

Not long ball, route one, lump it up that people associate with balls over the top - it’s just terminology.

 

Which proves it’s not one or the other, there are many ways to play football but it the modern game there seems to only be one perceived and acceptable way.

 

Ultimately they didn’t come to much but our lack of wingers/creativity might be something to do with that, plus we’ve not done that near enough (or at all) for 2 years+ so it’s something pretty new and alien to them having had it coached out of them.

The amount of times Wayna got into some good positions yesterday shows how important Barnes could be in this system from diagonals and the patterns of play we was creating.

Edited 16 July 2023 by whoareyaaa

[Lillehamring]

2 hours ago, Whys it always me said:

Yes I am. 
 

it seems I’ve upset a fair few with my take on the game but never mind. 
 

I think they went through trialiest A-H and we still struggled to create much. It’s ok though we have Spurs and Liverpool to build up some momentum and confidence. 

but we actually created a lot considering we were playing a team sitting very deep - that the chances didn't very often result in finishes or at least decent finishes, doesn't make the game boring or the performance inadequate, it just means we've started well, but have to iron out some of the issues in attack - remember we're adjusting to a new system and to being without maddison, barnes and tielemans....

[ashfosse]

Why was Doyle playing left back? Wasn’t he brilliant for chaventry last year at CB??

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

See that terrifies me because it backs up my assumption that we actually aren't going to do much more business. 

 

Total Football worked as a philosophy because clubs like Ajax and Barcelona historically had academies that would sculpt young players from the moment they first signed up to be skilled and versatile. 

 

You can't just turn Patson Daka in to a winger or Wilfred Ndidi in to a box to box creator. That kinda hubris gets managers fired. 

 

I love the basic ideas of Enzo, I love the quick combinations of play, the off the ball movement, the runs from deep. There's a lot to be optimistic about. But he has to be pragmatic and work with the squad he's got. It's not even a major adjustment to shift to 352, especially with your 8s drifting out in to those "mezzala" channels the way KDH does. 

But he has to try these thing to see if it can work - i'm sure none of us expected to see ndidi creating some of our best chances and popping up andy king style for a shot.  It's always going to be that the 2nd XI are a bit more catch as catch can than the first XI.  I don't think he would be planning to play daka as a winger, but to give him game time he had to put him somewhere - thanks to a sloppy offside call we'll neve know how effective he might have been attacking an open box from out wide.

 

There's a long time left before the window closes and we know there're still a few players likely to leave, and we don't seem like we're scared of splashing the cash, so there's reason to be optimistic that we'll end up with a more balanced squad.

[Lillehamring]

11 minutes ago, ashfosse said:

Why was Doyle playing left back? Wasn’t he brilliant for chaventry last year at CB??

Because the system, especially when we're going to have 70+% possession, is designed to switch to a back 3, so he's only at "LB" out of possession, so that we effectively can play with 4 CBs.

[whoareyaaa]

37 minutes ago, ashfosse said:

Why was Doyle playing left back? Wasn’t he brilliant for chaventry last year at CB??

we was playing 3 CBs and 2 wing backs one inverted I think?

[Whys it always me]

55 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

but we actually created a lot considering we were playing a team sitting very deep - that the chances didn't very often result in finishes or at least decent finishes, doesn't make the game boring or the performance inadequate, it just means we've started well, but have to iron out some of the issues in attack - remember we're adjusting to a new system and to being without maddison, barnes and tielemans....

I like your take on it but disagree. This is football though and opinions differ. 
 

We had an abundance of internationals on display who in my opinion struggled to break down a poor side. In my opinion we have more than enough creative players to sweep aside teams like that but we failed to do so. 
 

I accept it’s early days and will take time to adjust but I stand by my original comments. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

 

Vards needs to work on his running technique if he wants double figures this season. 

[MrsJohnMurphy]

3 hours ago, Beachyboy said:

For those that aren't happy for perspective, Newcastle who will be playing in the CL, went 2-0 down against Gateshead before scraping a narrow 3-2 win.

Yeah but Leeds beat Barnsley 9-1 

[HankMarvin]

2 minutes ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

 

Vards needs to work on his running technique if he wants double figures this season. 

Practicing his new M3gan celebration if he scores 

[HankMarvin]

2 minutes ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

Yeah but Leeds beat Barnsley 9-1 

Farking hell

[Simmo86]

1 hour ago, ashfosse said:

Why was Doyle playing left back? Wasn’t he brilliant for chaventry last year at CB??

He was playing LB out of possession and LCB in possession 

[sacreblueits442]

4 hours ago, whoareyaaa said:

Did you watch the game yesterday?

...yes I did, he seemed to be someone who appeared not to want to be here!!!

With Ricardo in the midfield, he became the Right-sided Centre Back, sometimes attempting to break the lines by transitioning the play himself but seemed to be ambivalent in his play defensively. Did you notice the poor touch, which allowed the opposition to win the ball outside of the box and he had to lunge to make a tackle where it appeared that he had injured himself?

 

[foxinsocks]

Can someone explain where we are with barnes and nacho... expected both to.play

Edited 16 July 2023 by foxinsocks

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

Can someone explain where we are with barnes and nacho... expected both to.play

Nacho came on 2nd half. 

 

Barnes most likely to leave. 

[foxinsocks]

Just now, StanSP said:

Nacho came on 2nd half. 

 

Barnes most likely to leave. 

If we have ambition we should keep him.

Frankly barnes is akobg way from the finished article... he seems to ho inside when he should donut sude and he passes when he should shoot and vice versa.  He might benefit from enzo

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

If we have ambition we should keep him.

Frankly barnes is akobg way from the finished article... he seems to ho inside when he should donut sude and he passes when he should shoot and vice versa.  He might benefit from enzo

I don't think selling him equates to not having ambition. 

Don't forget there's the players ambitions too. He might want to leave and if we can get a good price for him, I'd rather that than he stay and be unhappy here because he wanted to leave. 

 

Finished article or not, he's way too good for the Championship and he would deserve to stay in the PL. 

[Matt]

41 minutes ago, StanSP said:

I don't think selling him equates to not having ambition. 

Don't forget there's the players ambitions too. He might want to leave and if we can get a good price for him, I'd rather that than he stay and be unhappy here because he wanted to leave. 

 

Finished article or not, he's way too good for the Championship and he would deserve to stay in the PL. 

This may come across bitter and if so, so be it, footballs a team game, but even when you break it down individually, not one single individual part of last seasons team deserves to stay in the PL on last seasons showing, not one.

 

That said, I'm very open to anyone associated with last seasons team going, allowing us to clear the decks.

 

Edited 16 July 2023 by Matt

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, Matt said:

This may come across bitter and if so, so be it, footballs a team game, but even when you break it down individually, not one single individual part of last seasons team deserves to stay in the PL on last seasons showing, not one.

Yeah fair. I see where you're coming from but when you're putting in the numbers he has in PL for the past 4 seasons, he should be at a PL club. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

7 hours ago, Beachyboy said:

On the surface yesterday's possession based performance looked a lot like the previous guy in much the same way 2 identical cars look the same. Unless you look under the bonnet, an look at the engine condition- the movement patterns, ideas of attacking crowd the box with bodies, urgency to get the ball back once it was lost it. Only time will tell when this Car starts driving off, what's significantly different between the 2 teams. After 6 months of one car being neglected and allowed to rust, an not driven, while another car gets 6 months of day to day maintenance, upgrades to parts (players) and a new driver in the car, even the most uneducated observer notices the difference.

 Is this you trying to say you’ve got a new car recently 🤷🏻‍♂️

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Watched the highlights - obviously not the greatest thing to go on, but I thought we looked alright.

 

Postives:

 

• Doyle looks a player

• Praet might do a bit this year - equally KDH looked good in this system

• Lots of players looked comfortable on the ball

• We were getting Vardy in down the channels

• We had bodies in the box

• Academy players did alright

• Could, with a bit of coaching, Enzo turn Ndidi into peak Yaya Toure (rather than Kolo, which was what Brendan tried)? 
 

Things we could do with still;

 

• Physical striker with a presence

• Not sold on our goalkeeper options as yet

• Focal point advanced playmaker - be it a 10 or an inverted Left winger

• Shifting some of the dead wood / players that are clearly going to leave anyway.

[Daggers]

9 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

See that terrifies me because it backs up my assumption that we actually aren't going to do much more business. 

 

Total Football worked as a philosophy because clubs like Ajax and Barcelona historically had academies that would sculpt young players from the moment they first signed up to be skilled and versatile. 

 

You can't just turn Patson Daka in to a winger or Wilfred Ndidi in to a box to box creator. That kinda hubris gets managers fired. 

 

I love the basic ideas of Enzo, I love the quick combinations of play, the off the ball movement, the runs from deep. There's a lot to be optimistic about. But he has to be pragmatic and work with the squad he's got. It's not even a major adjustment to shift to 352, especially with your 8s drifting out in to those "mezzala" channels the way KDH does.