Gerard's tactics

[Monty]

When your striker is Emile Hesley you need goal threats from elsewhere in the team, I can't see where the goals are going to come from the way we set up yesterday, especially as the set piece goals have dried up, must be all that practice they are doing.

Like I say, we shouldn't forget that when we signed Sidwell we thought we were getting a goal-scoring midfielder. The fact that he didn't get forward yesterday was indicative of how few ideas we had in deep midfield, but in a derby game I can see why he would select players who he knew for sure would work hard and hold their own defensively. I'm not trying to argue that he was particularly bold in his team selection, but I can see why he did what he did and, anyway, I don't think he was necessarily quite as negative as some have been saying.

[Bosco81]

To get the most of Sidwell, who can still be a useful player for us, he needs to be allowed the freedom to into the box and ahead of the play at times.

The midfield 5 yesterday very rarely ventured forward to link with Emile, playing Clark holding could be a good tactic if it allowed the others chance to bomb on, what worried me yesterday was how narrow Downing and Young played, if we worry about a functional team like Blues I fear for Gerard's sanity when we play the decent sides.

[KevinGage]

Agreed Monts.

I just didn't agree with you earlier assertion that playing on the break is the definition of negative tactics. It clearly isn't.

I'll clarify, I think. It's clearly not a negative thing to, if you go a goal up, sit back a bit and exploit space on the counter as the opposition come forward looking for an equaliser. It is, however, negative to go into a game and play this way from the beginning, as it is relying on the opposition making mistakes.

Negative to me would be the Italian way of playing -setting teams up first of all not to lose and anything after that is a bonus.

Playing on the counter, even from 0-0 is not necessarily negative.
Not an identical comparison, but a counter punching boxer is not seen as negative. He's seen as smart, exploiting the other guys weakness and picking his shots accordingly. Whereas the come forward slugger, walking onto jabs is seen as the more suspect.

[Monty]

He was hamstrung by absentees. With Petrov injured, we'd lost our best technical deep midfielder, and with Delph injured our best all-rounder. Add into this the absence of Albrighton and it's clear we had to make do as best we could, and his choice was between an inexperienced Bannan who might have been destroyed by starting in such a competitive game or Ireland whose problems are well-documented, and the vaguely competent but limited Sidwell who, if he had a good game, would have provided some impetus in the final third. He erred on the right side for me, especially when you consider the introduction of Bannan which was at the right time and had an impact on the game (what a change from under MON!).

Also, you mention the decent sides, but don't forget that we've already played the best team in the country, Chelsea, and played pretty adventurously when we could. We were penned back in the second half, but that's because they're the best team in the country, not because of GH's tactics.

KG, that is the Italian way of playing. Catenaccio was as much about counter-attacks as it was about defending deep and in numbers.

[KevinGage]

Catenaccio probably should have been like that, it's probably what Helenio Herrera envisaged at the time.

The reality was that when it became widespread and other sides imitated it, they got the defensive part down but largely forgot about the attacking part.

Hence, attritional safety first football with zero risks and close to zero entertainment.

[MoetVillan]

clean sheet is a good stat finally.  Although Brum never really looked like scoring.  Injuries are taking a big role in our play.  We played well enough to score against Chelsea, we played attacking football at Spurs and I think we were unlucky at Sunderland.  Derby's remain tough to rise above the competition, and I think its tough to make a call on that game with the absentees as well.  At least Brum didnt play right through our midfield like a lot of teams have over the recent 6 months.  Sidwell is veracious and hungry.  Coker is improving, but needs to grow up a bit, and use his head.  He likes running into trouble.  My biggest disappointment was bringing on Carew.  He has shown little for months.  At least the Fonz's pace asks different questions.

[pauliewalnuts]

Personally, I'd have taken 0-0 before the game, and that is the scoreline I thought we'd end up with.

We'd had a difficult 2 hour match 3 days before, we're struggling to find the net, they're hard to beat, it's their cup final so they lift their game etc etc.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

This is a season of transition, very much like O'Neill's first one where we finished 11th, patience is required until Gerard can bring some players in and stamp his mark on the team.

[kippaxvilla2]

I think people are underestimating the loss of Gabby to the side.  He gets slagged but he is our main goal threat and we have missed him no doubt about it.

On the negative side, I have to draw a comparison with MO'N and GH .  In the game at the Sty a year or so ago, MO'N bought on Carew after 70 minutes and it turned the game - that was someone going out to win the match.  If GH had been in the same position, he would no doubt have been bringing on someone with a view to not losing the game.  That is a notable difference.

[Clampy]

I think people are underestimating the loss of Gabby to the side.  He gets slagged but he is our main goal threat and we have missed him no doubt about it.

On the negative side, I have to draw a comparison with MO'N and GH .  In the game at the Sty a year or so ago, MO'N bought on Carew after 70 minutes and it turned the game - that was someone going out to win the match.  If GH had been in the same position, he would no doubt have been bringing on someone with a view to not losing the game.  That is a notable difference.

I would'nt say Gabby is our main goal threat, but we have missed his pace badly.

[Ads]

I don't think you've taken into account time and how different Carew is now from 12 months ago. He offers nothing, so bringing him on these days is a liability.

You’re right about Gabby and what he brings to the table. It will be a different game at the Sty with him leading the line and Albrighton out on the right!

[KevinGage]

Fingers crossed.

It says a lot about how far Albrighton has progressed that we missed him badly yesterday.

He's pretty much been at the heart of most of the good things we've done this season - even if he does tend to fade in the second half.

[ez]

We have a serious goal scoring problem so it was imperative we didn't concede. A single goal from them would probably have won them the game.

[Salsa Party Animal]

We also haven't done the business from set pieces ie scoring from corners and free kick enough that make the different between us now and 2 season ago. We still have not find a replacement for the Great Dane Martin Laursen and our team is lacking one important ingredient - Viking Spirit (See Martin Laursen / Olof Mellberg) Shame John Carew doesn't have it. His DNA didn't pick Viking Spirit from his Norwegian parent.

[Monty]

Catenaccio probably should have been like that, it's probably what Helenio Herrera envisaged at the time.

The reality was that when it became widespread and other sides imitated it, they got the defensive part down but largely forgot about the attacking part.

Hence, attritional safety first football with zero risks and close to zero entertainment.

Well, that's what Herrera says anyway. He always went on about Facchetti being an attacking full-back, making his system less defensive. Unfortunately Inter became a parody of themselves, and the imitators a parody of that.

It's actually a good point about the attacking full-back, because at the moment we're severely lacking in an attacking sense down our right full-back side. I'm not Luke Young's biggest fan, but he does at least get forward (not always to any great success, but he does get forward). Warnock can but has been out of sorts this season, though he's improving. The full-back who is good on the ball is a crucial part of either successful counter-attack systems, where he joins the attack late making a spare man, or the possession-based football which I'd favour, because teams will try and press the ball to your weakest area of the field, as happened to us with Carlos at right back far too often.