You only need to know where the goal is?
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Yes and no, some of the people you are quoting are great crossers of the ball who supplied to top quality strikers. Sometimes it is better to take on the man and cross if you need the bodies in the box, yet if you have a striker making a run off of one of the centre backs then an early cross is the most effective kind of cross in the game for me.
Successful teams used proper wingers. Italy 1982 - Conti England 1990 Waddle t
There are as many successful sides that use wingers. Getting behind the full back causes panic in defenders. Using wingers is not just getting crosses over its exposes the line of 4. WBA had 2 strong banks of 4 - we were never ever going to get through them. We needed to get down the flanks and behind, cause panic and disruption to the formation. Get the opposition facing their own goal? bring back the days of an old fashion winger.
I cant agree. You need to get behind the back 4. DB was effective and mixing the two is best i guess.
We've been competing in a bouncebackathon for a year now!
Sorry, no. The defence was essentially set, the crossing was a lost cause. In particular, it was useless with a striker (Adebayor) who is frequently 30 yards from goal, not in a position to make a run into the box. Our most dangerous, highest quality chances in both the WBA and Forest games came from either throughballs, or balls over the top in the centre. How many goals have we scored so far this year from crosses? How many have we scored this year from chipped balls over the top or throughballs? The numbers this year for us, and in general across England specifically and Europe in general are really clear. Crossing produces lower quality goal scoring chances which are converted less frequently. The most successfull teams (both points and goals scored) in England, Spain, Germany and in the Champions League last year all were the teams which played the most throughballs in comparison to crosses.
We didn't attempt any throughballs against Forest until Mason and Kane came on. Kane's header in the box, and his goal both came off balls through the middle. Soldado's goal did too, albeit unintentionally. We did not create a single goal scoring chance from a cross.
Pochettino prefers the ball to be played though the middle to the strikers. The players on the team are better when they do so as well (in particular all three strikers). We need to play to our strengths, and the numbers on all levels show that crossing is not a strength.
I agree we need to play through balls, it's the only way to break down two banks of four and so so many teams play like that against us now, have done for a while.
But we need to be braver and attack not this cautious approach where we don't take risks because what actually happens is that itself is risky as we pass so much without any penetration that eventually the opposition get the ball, break and score.
We're giving the opposition time to set their defence and then they can plan to counter, when we should be making them panic by putting them under immediate and constant forward pressure. It's so obvious.
If Poch can't see that then it's a worrying sign in my mind. I hope he corrects it. Woolwich will easily win if they set up like that against us and we don't change our tactics.
The problem seems to be we aren't quick enough passing the ball forward once we've won it. I think the CMs should be encouraged to release the ball sooner. Rather than taking 5-6 touches, maybe dribbling a bit, they should be told to take no more than 2 touches before passing to a more advanced attacking player. And the attackers should be moving around a lot more without the ball, both to provide options, and to unsettle the defence.
Pochettino already mentioned doing this a lot so far in his time in England. I think the issue is with the players themselves learning to always do this. It's demand a lot of adjustment from Dembele and Capoue. I think Bentaleb, Mason and Stambouli will pick this up faster.
Wio said crosses were the answer? Wingers take players out of the game be it wide on the flanks or coming inside. All the top sides in Europe play with pace out wide to push the FB back. Pace to get past people , disrupt formations. To play through teams you need to play football between the lines which is differcult if this space is squeezed. Take the full back out of the game , defensively the team opens up. Example - when Rose gets caught forward we look valuable at the back.
We look vulnerable when anyone is caught out. So does any other team, which is why you try to do that. We've spent a lot of the WBA and Forest games playing the ball wide. Total success? None whatsoever. When we play the ball through the middle, we score. The score is pretty clear, and it's not unusual, it's the same everwhere. More goals come from the centre of the box, and the most efficient way to create them are throughballs.
Lamela's no look pass was QUALITY. But to be fair, the Davis assist was kinda similar and went under the radar as he was not making the pass obvious.
Other players crane their heads, look where the pass is going, wind up and shape their body a certain way. Hudd, Lennon, Rose, Walker, Daws, Naughton, Townsend etc are guilty of it and it makes the destination of the ball obvious. Thats why Ade, VDV, Eriksen and now Lamela are just better at through balls because they dig the ball out quick and don't wind up like a ballet dancer with a flourish.
I'm not just picking on the English boys (even though I do think they are about as dumb on the ball that is humanly possible at this level)
Greats like Bale and Modric were actually guilty of that while at Spurs. Everything had a build up like a rugby kicker and they didnt get as many assists as they should have because of the obvious drop of the shoulder and three step run that came with a lot of their final balls. Like a fucking grand gesture before they make contact.
Other players crane their heads, look where the pass is going, wind up and shape their body a certain way. Hudd, Lennon, Rose, Walker, Daws, Naughton, Townsend etc are guilty of it and it makes the destination of the ball obvious. Thats why Ade, VDV, Eriksen and now Lamela are just better at through balls because they dig the ball out quick and don't wind up like a ballet dancer with a flourish.
I'm not just picking on the English boys (even though I do think they are about as dumb on the ball that is humanly possible at this level)
Greats like Bale and Modric were actually guilty of that while at Spurs. Everything had a build up like a rugby kicker and they didnt get as many assists as they should have because of the obvious drop of the shoulder and three step run that came with a lot of their final balls. Like a fucking grand gesture before they make contact.
watch when our FB are taken out of the game and struggle, At that moment we fall to bits at the back. It's a modem myth that you need to play through the middle to be successful . Ronaldo and Bale wide men. Robbins run at full backs.
some people call me outdated, but I am still more effective than 90% of my younger colleagues at work!
yeah - working out great for us, isn't it?
Your post makes sense on the same level as Gibbs criticism of Lennon, in that he doesn't win may headers.
You are either very new to football, or you don't play it much.
The only reason wing play is not good in our team is that we play wingers on the wrong wing so they have to cut inside, put Townsend and Lennon on the correct wings and tell them to spend all game slapping crosses in and we will start scoring from them - if they don't make use of their natural talents, then its a waste of time playing them.
You cannot justify your argument - or substantiate it's credibility by citing players playing where they are ineffective.
You might as well start slagging Loris off for being a lousy holding midfielder.
It's go nothing to do with the sides they are on. We don't play as a crossing team. Our strikers thrive on central passes. Our best attacking midfielders are very good at delivering them. Pochettino likes to set his whole team around delivering as many throughballs as possible.
Having Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon run into the corners to deliver crosses completely defeats the purpose of the rest of the team. We aren't a team built to play that way. Demanding more of something which does not work for us is just insanity. Pochettino has laid out his methods pretty clearly all along. He sets the team up to press and win the ball in midfield, with quick forward passes to the AM and strikers. He doesn't play with two wingers whipping in crosses. He plays with a LW that functions like a second striker and two AM's focused on creating throughballs. That's what he did at Soton, and he's sending out the same kind of line-ups for us in the League. The difference so far has been our central midfield hasn't adjusted fully set and isn't passing the ball fast enough, and Adebayor hasn't played his role in the system at all (instead frolicking around like he was a Togolese Bambi).
Pochettino likes his teams to play a particular way. So far several key players haven't done so properly. That doesn't mean the system doesn't work, it means the players need to adjust.
I know
shit isn't it?
why do you think that is? - would it have anything to do with not utilising the skills of the players at his disposal correctly?
its like knocking nails in with a spanner, if you can't see it my friend, I'm not going to waste space trying to explain it.
No, it's a matter of players learning to follow instructions, and Pochettino learning who are too whatever to bother. It's a process, and patience is required. I think we'll see a line-up though which will not be quite the same as the last few games. Townsend's comments implied a lot of guys were playing for a place against Woolwich, which would mean other guys were in danger of not starting. It's pretty clear Pochettino wants to build the team around Lamela-Eriksen and a LW who can also act as a striker (so far Chadli, or perhaps Kane). We know who the keeper will be, outside of that, the squad needs to show they can step up and deliver.