Great article Matt. I do however hope we don't just go down the direct option like your Evertons and Brentfords. We may struggle to outplay Man City and Arsenal, but let's be honest, that's not who we are really competing with. Ultimately, staying in the league is the priority and our style of play has been very good at getting results against teams lower down the table. Trying to imitate the direct sides (and probably doing a worse job) feels like a recipe for disaster. SCR will make life harder, but we have been able to find good, technical players within our price range like Oscar Bobb and Kevin, who are on lower salaries than your established players who we relied on in the early PL years under Marco. Of course, if Silva leaves - and Chelsea for me are the only realistic option - the question is whether we can find another manager who can replicate what Marco is doing, which feels unlikely.
Good points Sammy. The thing I would say is that I hope it is possible to play more direct football that is not boring and negative (i.e., lots of throws into the box). We will see. I agree that Bobb is awesome but I worry that we can just seem to afford the technical midfielders we need to play like Man City.
I wonder if some of our success under Silva has come because there's a market inefficiency around 'slow and control' players. We obv can't compete with City for the elite players of this style but it also means we (mostly) aren't competing against Bournemouth and Everton for transfers because they're looking for a different type of attacker. Thus, we can sign ESR for a fee that works for us - not many other teams are competing for his services bc he's *not quite* good enough for Arsenal and he isn't the style of player favored by our midtable peers.
None of this disputes the main points of this article - in fact, I think this piece is very insightful. But maybe some of the reason we've done as well with Marco as we have in the PL is because we aren't following the meta-trajectory - either of the league as whole (moving on from worship of Pep's approach) or of the teams in our financial strata (quick counters against the big boys).
I, too, wonder about our current roster and how well it would work with a new head coach who'd be trying something different. Jedi was our secret sauce in that he was a one-mand band of "here's a different style of build up - surprise!" That seems to be happening less of late.
Great article. The meat on the bones of why we’re so bleeding boring to watch. Today was painful. Refuse to shoot, refuse to take a man on, no crosses, often refuse to even swing a corner in.
Good article. My main gripe is that Marco very rarely or greatly adapts our style to the opposition or game situation, even for short pwriods / in exrreme circumstances, and that for me is a sign of a limited manager. Playing exactly the same way 99% of the time may help deliver a reasonably solid level of performance on average, but it's unilkely to ever acheive much beyond that, unless (as is pointed out) you have genuine star quality, game changing players. Seriously, how hard is it to spend a bit of time practicing some more direct tactics, so you have that in your pocket to mix it up when needed? Marco seems to relentlessly pursue the same approach in the belief it will eventually pay off, but 4 seasons of mid-table is compelling evidence that it will not take us any further.
I find it very frustrating when Wilson (in particular, though other players do it) receives the ball and immediately passes it back, usually to the man who passed it. Whether he is doing it under instruction or is just temperamentally risk-averse this must inevitably slow down our attacks giving our opponents time to regroup. That is why players like King and Kevin ( and Chukwueze in flashes) are so valuable to the team, as they are actually prepared to take on their opponent even it if it risks losing possession. Unlike Wilson Kevin is prepared to take on the defender on the outside as well as cutting in. We seem to rely too much on our full backs giving us width and getting crosses into the box. This is possible against the 'lesser' teams but against the top sides our full backs are too busy defending to get forward. Robinson's loss of form/confidence is a big factor too. How many assists did he provide for Mitrovic? Speaking of which, we have never replaced Mitro who was perfectly suited to Silva's style of play. Other teams in our financial situation manage to recruit centre forwards who can score on a regular basis eg Thiago why can'r we? We are also reliant on Iwobi to give us some creativity. It doesn't always come off and he sometimes gives the ball away as a result but at least he tries to be progressive, as does TC when his ageing legs allow!
Excellent article that explains a lot. I've felt for a good while that if we are to ever have a real chance of winning a cup for example we will not do it with Silva at the helm for the reasons you've shown. We need a team built on more power and resilience. It worries me that the Khans have already gone far down the road of trying to support Silva with bringing in players like Bobb and Smith Rowe. No coincidence that these players were bought from City and Arsenal as they were not up to playing the City and Arsenal way. Why would they be any better with us with less quality around them? We need a team set up more like an Everton. A team that the bigger clubs find a pain in the bum to play. Silva did a lot for us but I think he's taken us as far as he can.
Good to see the stats back up my "feel" for how we play. Too often playing "out from the back" in what seems to be a high risk manner. Too often losing the ball and handing the "faster action" team a chance. The pass back to the keeper is tedious and seems negative. And no we can't play like Man City. They have the resources to play slow and intricate and press and play faster when the opportunity arises.
Great article Matt. I do however hope we don't just go down the direct option like your Evertons and Brentfords. We may struggle to outplay Man City and Arsenal, but let's be honest, that's not who we are really competing with. Ultimately, staying in the league is the priority and our style of play has been very good at getting results against teams lower down the table. Trying to imitate the direct sides (and probably doing a worse job) feels like a recipe for disaster. SCR will make life harder, but we have been able to find good, technical players within our price range like Oscar Bobb and Kevin, who are on lower salaries than your established players who we relied on in the early PL years under Marco. Of course, if Silva leaves - and Chelsea for me are the only realistic option - the question is whether we can find another manager who can replicate what Marco is doing, which feels unlikely.
Good points Sammy. The thing I would say is that I hope it is possible to play more direct football that is not boring and negative (i.e., lots of throws into the box). We will see. I agree that Bobb is awesome but I worry that we can just seem to afford the technical midfielders we need to play like Man City.
I wonder if some of our success under Silva has come because there's a market inefficiency around 'slow and control' players. We obv can't compete with City for the elite players of this style but it also means we (mostly) aren't competing against Bournemouth and Everton for transfers because they're looking for a different type of attacker. Thus, we can sign ESR for a fee that works for us - not many other teams are competing for his services bc he's *not quite* good enough for Arsenal and he isn't the style of player favored by our midtable peers.
None of this disputes the main points of this article - in fact, I think this piece is very insightful. But maybe some of the reason we've done as well with Marco as we have in the PL is because we aren't following the meta-trajectory - either of the league as whole (moving on from worship of Pep's approach) or of the teams in our financial strata (quick counters against the big boys).
I, too, wonder about our current roster and how well it would work with a new head coach who'd be trying something different. Jedi was our secret sauce in that he was a one-mand band of "here's a different style of build up - surprise!" That seems to be happening less of late.
‘I don’t want to go to Chelsea’ was a bigger hit!😂
Great article. The meat on the bones of why we’re so bleeding boring to watch. Today was painful. Refuse to shoot, refuse to take a man on, no crosses, often refuse to even swing a corner in.
Good article. My main gripe is that Marco very rarely or greatly adapts our style to the opposition or game situation, even for short pwriods / in exrreme circumstances, and that for me is a sign of a limited manager. Playing exactly the same way 99% of the time may help deliver a reasonably solid level of performance on average, but it's unilkely to ever acheive much beyond that, unless (as is pointed out) you have genuine star quality, game changing players. Seriously, how hard is it to spend a bit of time practicing some more direct tactics, so you have that in your pocket to mix it up when needed? Marco seems to relentlessly pursue the same approach in the belief it will eventually pay off, but 4 seasons of mid-table is compelling evidence that it will not take us any further.
I find it very frustrating when Wilson (in particular, though other players do it) receives the ball and immediately passes it back, usually to the man who passed it. Whether he is doing it under instruction or is just temperamentally risk-averse this must inevitably slow down our attacks giving our opponents time to regroup. That is why players like King and Kevin ( and Chukwueze in flashes) are so valuable to the team, as they are actually prepared to take on their opponent even it if it risks losing possession. Unlike Wilson Kevin is prepared to take on the defender on the outside as well as cutting in. We seem to rely too much on our full backs giving us width and getting crosses into the box. This is possible against the 'lesser' teams but against the top sides our full backs are too busy defending to get forward. Robinson's loss of form/confidence is a big factor too. How many assists did he provide for Mitrovic? Speaking of which, we have never replaced Mitro who was perfectly suited to Silva's style of play. Other teams in our financial situation manage to recruit centre forwards who can score on a regular basis eg Thiago why can'r we? We are also reliant on Iwobi to give us some creativity. It doesn't always come off and he sometimes gives the ball away as a result but at least he tries to be progressive, as does TC when his ageing legs allow!
Excellent article that explains a lot. I've felt for a good while that if we are to ever have a real chance of winning a cup for example we will not do it with Silva at the helm for the reasons you've shown. We need a team built on more power and resilience. It worries me that the Khans have already gone far down the road of trying to support Silva with bringing in players like Bobb and Smith Rowe. No coincidence that these players were bought from City and Arsenal as they were not up to playing the City and Arsenal way. Why would they be any better with us with less quality around them? We need a team set up more like an Everton. A team that the bigger clubs find a pain in the bum to play. Silva did a lot for us but I think he's taken us as far as he can.
Very good analysis.
We do have the ability to stretch other teams with overloads on the wing. But we are tiki taki without the players.
I dont think this will work under SCR.
So time for a change.
Good to see the stats back up my "feel" for how we play. Too often playing "out from the back" in what seems to be a high risk manner. Too often losing the ball and handing the "faster action" team a chance. The pass back to the keeper is tedious and seems negative. And no we can't play like Man City. They have the resources to play slow and intricate and press and play faster when the opportunity arises.