The point is the whole club has to be geared up towards it. Everyone at the club has to want to play passing football. It takes time to instigate in the first place, and then you have to stick by it. To use Swansea as an example, again, they have had a succession of managers now that have tried to play that way, starting with Martinez, through Sousa, Rodgers and now Monk. Brighton seem to be trying to do the same, but they have lost their way a bit and look a shadow of the zippy side that played with such freedom and demolished Parky's Charlton at the Valley under Poyet.
Fans have their part to play in it too, of course. I seem to recall hearing a piece on 5Live a while back where Swansea fans had said they had to learn that sometimes the ball would go backwards in order to retain possession at times when more traditional British sides would probably try a hopeful, but low percentage, ball into the box. IIRC, the man being interviewed intimated that at first you would get a lot of grumbles from the crowd when the team were less than direct, but over time (aided by a lot of positive results breeding belief in what they were doing) they grew to expect and accept the recycling of the ball, safe in the knowledge that chances would come.
And that's where we lie at a cross roads. The early season signs were positive and fans were climbing on board left, right and centre, but the purple patch didn't last long enough to convert us all into devout followers. Now our faith is being tested before we even really had true faith.
I think Bob needs to tweak his approach a bit, but the fans need to stay with it. It's worth remembering that there was a period when Swansea stalled somewhat under Sousa, a period when they were draw specialists held back by a lack of goals, albeit I believe they did still finish top 6 that season.
Some very insightful posts, especially those from Mundell & Exiled .
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
Some very insightful posts, especially those from Mundell & Exiled .
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
Yeh but I bet you can make a better bread pudding than they can FF. :-)
Some very insightful posts, especially those from Mundell & Exiled .
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
Yeh but I bet you can make a better bread pudding than they can FF. :-)
The great thing about being an arm chair football pundit is no one will ever be able to prove, or more importantly, disprove your ideas.
If you make a bad Bread Pudding someone is bound to tell you.
Some very insightful posts, especially those from Mundell & Exiled .
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
Yeh but I bet you can make a better bread pudding than they can FF. :-)
The great thing about being an arm chair football pundit is no one will ever be able to prove, or more importantly, disprove your ideas.
If you make a bad Bread Pudding someone is bound to tell you.
Its not "passing football", that you want. It's not "long ball football". Its a mixture of both that is most effective. "Up,back and through". When the front players win the ball and link up with the central midfielders, to set up the forward pass or through ball inside the last third, you are in business and will cause the opposition defence problems. At the moment, there is no hold up play, no link up play and no opportunity to play through the opposition defence. We are relying on combination play along the flanks.
The Forest game was a perfect example. We produced some good build up play along the flanks, scored a good goal and dominated the first half. When Pearce re-organised at half-time to stop our combination play along the flanks at source, it all broke down. BP moved Harriott wide, because he kept losing the ball in the middle, and put Gudmundsson in behind Vetokele. Which left Vetokele to try and win the ball in the front line against both Forest Centre Backs. No chance.
I can't comment on Blackburn away, as I swerved that one.
Looking forward to seeing who comes in to fill the role.
Some very insightful posts, especially those from Mundell & Exiled .
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
Yeh but I bet you can make a better bread pudding than they can FF. :-)
The great thing about being an arm chair football pundit is no one will ever be able to prove, or more importantly, disprove your ideas.
If you make a bad Bread Pudding someone is bound to tell you.
Either that or your stomach will!
I agree. The "art" is doing the opposition assessment before you play the game and getting it right. That's the value of it and why every team in the league covers their opponents in the two games previous to playing them. What you could have done and should of done is irrelevant after the event.
Indeed. The F A Cup has regularly been a welcome distraction from the League. Some years it's lasted as long as 90 minutes ;-(
Well I was distracted for a whole eight minutes. Four before Blackburn scored and another four after we equalised.
I really don't know why we bother entering the Cup. Why run of the risk of our creative influences and top goal scorers getting suspended or injured? Anything could have happened in that 90 minutes - apart from us winning that is.
Comments
Fans have their part to play in it too, of course. I seem to recall hearing a piece on 5Live a while back where Swansea fans had said they had to learn that sometimes the ball would go backwards in order to retain possession at times when more traditional British sides would probably try a hopeful, but low percentage, ball into the box. IIRC, the man being interviewed intimated that at first you would get a lot of grumbles from the crowd when the team were less than direct, but over time (aided by a lot of positive results breeding belief in what they were doing) they grew to expect and accept the recycling of the ball, safe in the knowledge that chances would come.
And that's where we lie at a cross roads. The early season signs were positive and fans were climbing on board left, right and centre, but the purple patch didn't last long enough to convert us all into devout followers. Now our faith is being tested before we even really had true faith.
I think Bob needs to tweak his approach a bit, but the fans need to stay with it. It's worth remembering that there was a period when Swansea stalled somewhat under Sousa, a period when they were draw specialists held back by a lack of goals, albeit I believe they did still finish top 6 that season.
I've always made it clear that I am NO expert regarding tactics, formations etc - as with art, I just know what I like.
So, words of wisdom from Lifers such as those posted by the above help us lesser mortals to understand where Big Bob is coming from & why his methods are encountering problems at this stage of the season. And, in turn, have given me some optimism that winning ways may not be too far away....courtesy of a few tweakings and the addition of a striking partner for Igor.
Thanks, guys. Sharing your knowledge is much appreciated.
If you make a bad Bread Pudding someone is bound to tell you.
The Forest game was a perfect example. We produced some good build up play along the flanks, scored a good goal and dominated the first half. When Pearce re-organised at half-time to stop our combination play along the flanks at source, it all broke down. BP moved Harriott wide, because he kept losing the ball in the middle, and put Gudmundsson in behind Vetokele. Which left Vetokele to try and win the ball in the front line against both Forest Centre Backs. No chance.
I can't comment on Blackburn away, as I swerved that one.
Looking forward to seeing who comes in to fill the role.
I really don't know why we bother entering the Cup. Why run of the risk of our creative influences and top goal scorers getting suspended or injured? Anything could have happened in that 90 minutes - apart from us winning that is.