I thought it would be a good idea to start up a thread on this, for those like me that are interested in the tactical side of the game.
Noticed an interesting part of our game on Saturday where we were often using inverted full backs. Asiimwe did this most often, with Edun mostly staying wide on the left, but he did also come centrally on occasion. The best example of this was on our second goal, Asiimwe (circled) is in a central midfield position and passes to Edun, who is also quite narrow.
Lots of top teams have been using this tactic for a while with the likes of Cancelo, Partey, Zinchenko, Trent etc and there were even glimpses of it for us with Garnerball with Clare and Sessegnon. But I think Asiimwe on Saturday was the most extreme we’ve seen so far for us with the amount of times he came into central midfield.
A big reason for doing it is that it isolates your wide player 1v1, rather than traditionally you might see a 2v2 and less space for the wide player. So for city/arsenal they want the likes of Grealish, Saka, Martinelli getting 1v1 against full backs with as much space as possible. In the example above you can see how much space CBT has 1v1 against the full back, who is left in no man’s land deciding whether to get close to CBT or block the eventual pass from Edun. We have very good 1v1 dribblers in CBT and the Campbells so I think this was a good plan from Pearce, and particularly with Edun’s history as a central midfielder something we might see more of.
A further plus is that playing your full backs inverted narrower instead of wide supporting the winger is a much safer way to prevent counter attacks, which was a huge weakness of the side under Holden and something we looked a lot stronger against on Saturday
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and Asiimwe
The only reason to look forward to Asimwe being dropped is because we then have a damn good player to play in his position.
Then again a blind and stupid manager might drop him and play an unsuited player in that position.
You would assume this is where Pep first saw the possibility.
Not to be mixed up with inverted wingers/wide forwards who play on the opposite side to their stronger foot.
It will be helpful to assess tactics, formations and players. We've seen the back of 3-5-2 under Holden. Since then Scott nailed four new signings at the end of the window. And we have 2 x Campbell available.
Aside from four at the back (who is our best keeper and centre back pairing?) we are bound to see all manner of variations for the front six.
For their goal, Stockley did what he does best but we should also note that their no. 11 was head and shoulders above the rest. Easy to blame Edun, but replays show their 11 created the space and then put in a perfect cross. But that and the Stockley free kick were their only real chances all game.
One real difference for us was to see Chem Campbell as a No.10 behind the front players. Been a long time since we've seen that role played so well.
In your freeze frame where was Asiimwe 10 seconds earlier ? He might have just made a 30 yard lung busting run. He might have been tracking his man who dragged him out of position.
I think too much emphasis is put on formations. We've had 5 managers in less than 4 years, all supposedly with FIFA coaching badges, and yet none of them could get us into the top 6 with a coherent strategy.
Will be interesting to see how we set up tomorrow if Taylor is injured again and if Louis Watson comes back in.
Yeah I would expect a few changes, don't think Fraser will be ready to start but Chem Campbell I would expect to start wide if he wasn't left out due to injury and potentially Anderson in an advanced midfield role?
Was toying with going with May and Tedic up top but think you'd be asking for trouble going 442 even at home.
It did against Wycombe as well. People are just overreacting to his quiet performance at the weekend IMO.
You're right in that it's not all about formations. However choosing a basic approach that suits the squad as well as competing in the League is a given.
We have had more than one manager a year but Andy Scott who pulls all the strings on the football side might be with us for two or three years?
In his seven week stint at the start of the year plus his eight weeks since he returned he's managed to decommission 75% of the Matchday 18 from 12 months ago. And instill a clear four at the back approach.
Naturally players move around the pitch throughout games. In fact CAFC sides in previous seasons have been way too static! Last night we saw a solid 4-2-3-1 with two decent CDM pivots.
Some might criticise the choice of May as our latest candidate for No. 10. Chem Campbell might be technically better but who's gonna drop May.
Same at right wing where one might push a case for Tyreece Campbell. But he has to train hard and shine from the bench to displace Tedic.
So it's possible that CAFC has a coherent strategy but perhaps too early to call just yet. We still get turned over on occasion EG the Exeter goal last night. But we're creating far more these days.