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Reply | Wagner won the tactical battle I am afraid
at 22:04 7 Apr 2024
"My point is, we don't adapt to opponents tactics"
We do though. Every single game. Every one. This is a strength of McKenna and his staff. If we didn't, we'd lose.
Changing tactics does not have to be as drastic as a change in formation. In the modern game it almost always takes the form of small changes to details, with the principles remaining the same.
You are never going to see McK decide to go 4-4-2 and lump it long in any situation outside of it being the final moments and we're chasing a lead desperately. It isn't how the game works anymore. You change details, but keep your principles. This is nearly universal now. It isn't FIFA or FM. You can't just completely change the way you play on a dime when it's not working. It needs hours and hours and hours on a training ground to become even moderately competent in any system at this level.
To describe our build up as "slow, pedestrian" misses the entire point of it by the way. I'd be far more concerned by a manager who abandons his principles based on a scoreline. [Post edited 7 Apr 22:09]
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Reply | Wagner won the tactical battle I am afraid
at 21:56 7 Apr 2024
McKenna is tremendously adaptable and is one of the best managers when it comes to in-game tactical changes I've seen at this level.
Just because the shape doesn't change doesn't mean the tactics don't change.
Wagner got the better of us yesterday no doubt. But it annoys me to see this "he doesn't adapt" nonsense pulled out every time he gets bettered. Which, by the way, happens so, so rarely it's remarkable - due in large point to his ability to adapt to the ways teams try to cope with us.
There are countless examples from this season but I would refer to Milwall for a very clear and obvious example of McKenna changing a game on 20ish minutes with his ability to adapt. |
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Reply | Haaland
at 15:54 1 Apr 2024
He absolutely is. You don't need the ball to affect the game. He makes space for his teammates to play in literally just by being on the field. The combination of movement, pace, and power mean you just can't leave spaces/step out like you could with basically any other striker. |
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Reply | Haaland
at 15:50 1 Apr 2024
Haaland affects the game massively when he is not on the ball. His speed and strength drop the oppo backline out of pure fear. He alone can pin a defence in a way many strike partnerships couldn't. He could get 0 touches in a game and still have a huge influence just based on the space he makes for teammates.
Finishing a chance is football by the way. This take is  . He's probably the best pure striker of his generation and you just called him "quite rubbish" hahaha. [Post edited 1 Apr 15:51]
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Reply | Stuart Webber
at 02:41 25 Mar 2024
Just tried to find the comments RE: women's footy and was reminded of this truly bizarre comment:
“I’ve been in the city centre three times in my life, two of them to feed homeless people.
“As we know, the abuse towards people like me is completely OK because I’m in a privileged position. Obviously, abuse towards a black person or a woman is not OK. I’ve got my head round that and I’m completely cool with that.”
I get the sense he may not be completely cool with that. |
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Reply | Stuart Webber
at 02:32 25 Mar 2024
This guy has form for this. He admitted to not having any interest in even watching women's football while actively being the Director of Football of a club with a women's team. Not at all surprised to him expose himself as a bigoted t**t again given the chance to open his mouth in public. Disgusting comments. |
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Reply | Hladky
at 03:02 11 Mar 2024
This is nonsense. It is much, much easier to accurately start a counter attack from a held ball than a punch, and only marginally slower if the release is quick. No one is punching the ball as a means of distribution. The ball is still in play if the keeper is holding it, and they have much, much greater control over starting the counter. |
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Reply | Hladky
at 02:59 11 Mar 2024
When it comes to out of possession, Walton is absolutely a material improvement. It just depends which you value more. |
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Reply | Hladky
at 02:58 11 Mar 2024
FWIW I coach goalkeepers on a daily basis as (part of) a living - I largely agree with you. He is very rough to watch when it comes to shot stopping/aerial technique. At the beginning of the year, I put it aside as it worked consistently. But it doesn't now, and I think we're reaching a point where another error or two may see a change.
I'm in a weird spot where I STRONGLY believe Walton is the better keeper, but from a managerial point of view, I wouldn't make a change right now. |
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Reply | Omari vs Gio
at 03:01 28 Feb 2024
I love this comment because Omari is actually a player who was instrumental in making me realize - starts as a statistic are nearly obsolete in a well build squad in the 5 substitute era.
You don't have starters and subs anymore if the squad is well built - you have openers and closers.
McK makes nearly the same subs at nearly the same time every game. We have been successful in part because we haven't tried to put Burns, Broady, Sarmiento, Hutch into a hierarchy or "depth chart" - we've recognized that it's brilliant depth and found legitimate roles for each of them in a basketball-like rotation.
Hutch rarely starts, but it's not because he isn't as good as Broadhead or Burns (in fact I think he's reaching a level that will make it hard to argue he isn't better than both). It's because he is devastatingly effective when legs are tired and teams are clinging on and denying space. If you have a surplus of options in his role, it would be stupid if you DID start him given this skillset.
I don't think you can easily say he's the best. But only Fraser and Lawrence can touch him at this point, in my opinion. Lawrence arguably kept us up, and Fraser was key in driving a very average team to 7th. Hutch has been absolutely essential (I know that sounds exaggerated, but it isn't - he's done so so much to keep this side where we are) to getting an only-just-promoted team to 3rd in February. I'd listen to anyone who'd argue for Gio, because he was magic - almost like a blessing. But the actual impact isn't the same. [Post edited 28 Feb 3:04]
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Reply | Could Edmundson play in Woolfenden's position, or
at 15:49 23 Feb 2024
Woolf is the best of the CBs in my opinion, and is statistically one of the better CBs in the division. People underrate him because he's been here and been so steady for so long. I see no reason to drop him.
Burgess and Woolf are our clear best pairing and should be given the trust to be allowed to get on with it. Edmundson is a good deputy but we shouldn't change until we can upgrade IMO. |
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Reply | Will we ever start with our 2 best strikers. ?
at 22:10 20 Feb 2024
Yes/no/yes
We're 4th in the Championship way ahead of schedule. It would be nuts to change how we set up to accomodate one player. He'll have to be patient.
Edit - holy s**t didn't notice we are 3rd [Post edited 20 Feb 22:11]
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Thread | McKenna's adjustments on 15'
at 18:02 15 Feb 2024
My dad and I were discussing the use of Hutchinson as a 10 yesterday. I made these to visualize what we saw - I figured some of the football perverts on this board might enjoy having a look. You could see Hutchinson try the movement a couple of times before the "injury" on 15', but after that it became basically automatic and Millwall had no answer for it.
We effectively end up playing with two right wingers to overload that side and give them the choice of allowing us the overload or opening up central passing lanes. What I love so much is not only did we have this as a plan, but also had a ready-made fix for what they might try and do to prevent it. We are so so lucky to have this manager and this team - enjoy it. |
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Reply | After the three PL referees.
at 01:59 15 Feb 2024
Sam Barratt is now a PL referee, but yes I think he is generally very good and will go to the top. |
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Reply | Body Language
at 21:58 11 Feb 2024
While most people have covered this here, I just thought I'd add -
The technique of using this body language is so commonplace in coaching these days that it actually has a name - "la pausa". You can see it in pretty well any top level match now.
Not only is not Woolf's choice, it is fundamental to the way we play. Inviting players to press the defence isn't a drawback - it is the whole purpose. I promise you, the midfielders are not deflated by it - quite the opposite. It is what gives them the time and space behind the first line of the opposition press to play on the half turn.
If Woolf didn't do it, Woolf would be dropped and someone else would do it. |
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Reply | I still don't understand XGf so could someone explain..
at 19:23 5 Feb 2024
You have the right idea. Blocked shots are accounted for in xG models though. xG does not account for anything that happens after the shot is taken - at it's most basic, it is a pure measure of how likely a shot from a specific location is to result in a goal, based on a massive database of similar shots in past matches. xG does not care if the shot is blocked, saved, scored, or missed.
There is a 2nd metric, post-shot xG (or xGOT on fotmob) that does account for what happens after the shot. In this metric, any shot that is blocked/missed would register 0. |
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Reply | I still don't understand XGf so could someone explain..
at 19:19 5 Feb 2024
It really depends on how sophisticated the model you are looking at is. I just checked Fotmob and it had the 3rd goal with an xG of .17. I would have expected it to be higher. I don't think many models would account for the fact that the ball has just been given away, but good models would take into account the positioning of our defenders and goalkeeper at the moment the shot is taken. |
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Reply | I still don't understand XGf so could someone explain..
at 19:15 5 Feb 2024
Spot on - you point out a very common misconception of xG. There are models that would attribute both instances to the players individual tallies, but only the higher one to the team total, but I'm not sure how Fotmob functions.
I wouldn't say it is overstated, I'd just say it is misunderstood. You can't really directly correlate xG to goals. If you think about it, a chance with an xG of .51 is a chance that should be scored more often than not by a good finisher. So an xG total of 2 should actually result in more than two goals if finishing is up to snuff. This is all theoretical of course, and not really how it always works out in reality. |
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Reply | I don't usually resort to this, but that was FKN AWFUL from the officials.
at 14:08 5 Feb 2024
I see what you are saying, but if it isn't them, it's League One refs coming up. Is that much better? There isn't really a stable of great Championship referees just sitting around waiting for games while we give them to Premier League refs.
The real issue here is 20+ years of declining referee numbers due to abuse. We are feeling the effects this more every year as the standards drop. And it will only get worse with the way people like Klopp/Arteta etc. normalize it more and more each week. But that is a much much larger conversation. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 208 | | Comment Votes: | 10 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 218 |
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