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10 years of FIF
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Most Humorous MemberGoes without saying it was a super game, especially for the neutrals. Funny that I find myself annoyed at the Eriksen free kick. Christ, that would've been movie-like if that had gone in.
Not to break up the celebratory mood but for me, this is the best point made:
I find this to be absolutely true.
From the start of the season until Sensi's injury in October, we played some incredible football. Key features to that success included a high press, control of possession with crisp and creative passing, fantastic verticality and precise movements. Overall, we always looked to be the protagonist and play our brand of football.
When Sensi was injured from October, we suffered to replicate that natural and attractive efficiency that we previously played with. Even in his absence though, we played something resembling that original style. But that seems all but gone now.
While missing Sensi has made a huge difference in how we play, it doesn't and shouldn't equate to a complete 180 degree shift in footballing philosophy. From approx November to now, our football has changed. In fact, it's completely unrecognisable.
Since November or December, we've been sitting very deep and we look to play long balls to the forwards and play on the counter. Alarmingly, we even do this at home and against shit teams. This is pure garbage because we absolutely have the quality to play most Serie A teams off the park if we kept the ball on the ground and played as we did at the start of the season.
There was this whole thing about our team gassing out in the 2nd halves of games. Perhaps this is some 4D tactic to conserve energy in the first half and make sure there's gas in the tank for the second half. But I don't buy that shit. Maybe it truly is purely down to losing Sensi/Asamoah.
Let's be honest, we can't defend for shit. We've seen time and time again that we are not a team or a tactic that can just bunker down and withstand consistent pressure. In fact, part of what made our defensive record so good (ON PAPER) is (or was) our ability to control the ball and hold possession. They can't fucken score if they don't have the ball.
They can however, score if you keep wasting possession with long balls, and giving up possession in the middle of the park, sitting so deep that opponents can encroach on your goal with complete impunity.
IMO, in addition to players playing out of position (Skriniar/Godin), there are system faults which should prevent us from playing like this.
We don't have skilled or pacy fullbacks, wingers or forwards, we don't have any kind of DM. There is always way too big gaps between defence and midfield, midfield and attack. Just look at the space Calhanoglu hit the post from today. Brozovic is our only screening player in that zone and he's not even a defensive player by nature.
Either way, it's not about aesthetics but I'm concerned with how significant this change is. The way we've regressed is horrendous. Super happy for the game as an experience but in footballing terms, we're yet to truly improve or even return to previous levels. As far as I'm concerned, we're still yet to break free of the December/January slump.
Not to break up the celebratory mood but for me, this is the best point made:
I find this to be absolutely true.
From the start of the season until Sensi's injury in October, we played some incredible football. Key features to that success included a high press, control of possession with crisp and creative passing, fantastic verticality and precise movements. Overall, we always looked to be the protagonist and play our brand of football.
When Sensi was injured from October, we suffered to replicate that natural and attractive efficiency that we previously played with. Even in his absence though, we played something resembling that original style. But that seems all but gone now.
While missing Sensi has made a huge difference in how we play, it doesn't and shouldn't equate to a complete 180 degree shift in footballing philosophy. From approx November to now, our football has changed. In fact, it's completely unrecognisable.
Since November or December, we've been sitting very deep and we look to play long balls to the forwards and play on the counter. Alarmingly, we even do this at home and against shit teams. This is pure garbage because we absolutely have the quality to play most Serie A teams off the park if we kept the ball on the ground and played as we did at the start of the season.
There was this whole thing about our team gassing out in the 2nd halves of games. Perhaps this is some 4D tactic to conserve energy in the first half and make sure there's gas in the tank for the second half. But I don't buy that shit. Maybe it truly is purely down to losing Sensi/Asamoah.
Let's be honest, we can't defend for shit. We've seen time and time again that we are not a team or a tactic that can just bunker down and withstand consistent pressure. In fact, part of what made our defensive record so good (ON PAPER) is (or was) our ability to control the ball and hold possession. They can't fucken score if they don't have the ball.
They can however, score if you keep wasting possession with long balls, and giving up possession in the middle of the park, sitting so deep that opponents can encroach on your goal with complete impunity.
IMO, in addition to players playing out of position (Skriniar/Godin), there are system faults which should prevent us from playing like this.
We don't have skilled or pacy fullbacks, wingers or forwards, we don't have any kind of DM. There is always way too big gaps between defence and midfield, midfield and attack. Just look at the space Calhanoglu hit the post from today. Brozovic is our only screening player in that zone and he's not even a defensive player by nature.
Either way, it's not about aesthetics but I'm concerned with how significant this change is. The way we've regressed is horrendous. Super happy for the game as an experience but in footballing terms, we're yet to truly improve or even return to previous levels. As far as I'm concerned, we're still yet to break free of the December/January slump.
