07 Jan 2024 15:53:37
Is there any on here that think, having seen the struggles to beat Sheffield, Burnley Bournemouth with the slow build up from the back and teams clogging midfield that tactics should be amended against teams that adopt this style. I found watching all these games frustrating and boring and we could quite easily have had different outcomes. Teams will obviously now not play attacking football against us, because of our record at home so something has to adapt, Emery is obviously a class act, hope he shows us he can adapt to change if necessary and when things obviously aren't working, change has to be a lot quicker.

1.) 07 Jan 2024
07 Jan 2024 16:17:20
Scott, I watched the Sunderland vs Newcastle game yesterday sat next to a Newcastle fan (who I didn’t know) he kept banging on about the slow build up and was getting more frustrated up until the own goal.
I pointed out to him it seemed more productive to press teams in their own third rather than build quickly. Sure enough that’s exactly how the 2nd goal came about.
Last night was only frustrating because we didn’t win by 2 or 3. VAR gives that penalty all day long and then we go 1-0 up after 60 minutes.
It is frustrating but teams, the top teams, don’t want to give the ball away.
The only thing about last night was our press. I felt we could have pressed higher.
Konsa was spot on about playing the highline without the safety net of VAR. That is something we need to be wary of if we draw a non EPL team in round 4.

2.) 07 Jan 2024
07 Jan 2024 17:00:38
What tactic magically allows you to create 20+ easy chances against these teams?
Aimlessly lumping in crosses or taking pot shots from 25-30 yards is what they want as you're just giving them the ball back easier.
Throw on an extra striker just to make the counter attack easier?
Bring on a big man to attack those crosses? We don't have one and they're dying out.

There are 2 ingredients to beating these blocks.
The passing - needs to be quicker and more accurate from the defenders when opponents are caught higher up the pitch. Cash never does it and Konsa is capable but turns it down too often. Mcginn and Luiz try clever balls behind but their execution is miles off a Tielemans or Buendia.

The movement - the players off the ball need to do more individually and collectively to move the defenders into the spaces they want them. This is where Ramsey is a big problem, his off the ball runs almost always take defenders to the dangerous areas rather than away.

Both of those ingredients take time and practice. We are not an experienced team at dealing with these situations so it will take time to look consistently dangerous against them but we are still winning most of the time and it's only Forest we lost against.