Three games into the new campaign for all but Liverpool and ourselves and I think you’d have to have your head in the sand to not see the aggression, athleticism and intensity of the games played. Teams are playing like gangbusters; every ball is being contested; the amount of sprints and recovery runs all over the pitch are blindingly obvious. On top of that, the athleticism of the games is apparent. 100mph stuff.
Technique and technical acumen are by the by in this thread: purely, it’s about the speed and intensity of the league and the need to match that at all times to even earn the right to play. If you watched the games over the weekend, and particularly Newcastle vs City, you would have seen how flustered City were with Newcastle’s intensity and direct running - for solid portions of the game, City simply had to match fire with fire and even Kyle Walker was looking worse for wear jostling with the lively Saint Maximin. ‘Even’ Walker because he is City’s ace card for handling pace and power. Fulham, Leeds, Arsenal, Brighton to name just a few are going at teams combining all of the above. They are not the only ones, by any means, but the one constant, the running thread through the league thus far is that if you cannot hold your own in terms of physicality, stamina, aggression and appetite for the game, you’ll be swamped and smothered.
I do believe it’s only common sense to look at what’s going on around the league you are expected to compete in and the questions revolving around this subject matter should be a talking point for us. Overall we’re a lightweight team who do not have any of the prerequisites in abundance, wouldn’t you say? Our aggression is Fred (and supposedly Martinez); our physicality is McTominay; our pace is Rashford and possibly Malacia (caveat being AWB is toast and Shaw hasn’t the stamina or appetite for 90min+ of hard running); it’s a lightweight, frail side, which also cannot maintain intensity for any concerted periods of time, true or false?
Casemiro applies a large dollop of the prerequisite aggression and robustness, and next to Fred and his tireless running and aggression, we should be able to hold our own in midfield tussles, but at the moment, it’s fair to say we have the tenets of a team tilted towards more purer technique over the frighteners athleticism and the binary nature of: ‘you must match my physical attributes, or you’re toast’: Salah’s pace and acceleration; Haaland and his strength allied to speed; Son being one of the best athletes in the league, (even in lesser lights like Saint Maximin, it is abundantly clear) and so on and so forth make the point as before you deal with their actual ability as footballers, you have to cater to their physical attributes.
I really rate Sancho, but his game needs to be facilitated. At Dortmund, he had powerful runners overlapping from deep with engines that went all day - they were his speed, power and ceaseless runners that enabled him to focus on the intricate interplay he is famed for - a Hakimi bombing down the flank on the overlap has to be dealt with immediately, which draws men away. You’ll see similar at most clubs with full-backs that cannot be ignored; to the eye, full-backs are more engaging across the board at the opener to the season. If your flanking forwards aren’t quick, your full-backs need to have a lot about them to compensate and provide those powerful actions with a frequency that keeps the opposition honest, but most importantly, prevents the lesser athlete from being swamped or simply mobbed off the ball.
Continuing with the flank theme, so many teams have an outlet ball in their attack - someone who can collect a ball played into space and carry it a massive distance up the pitch. Ours is supposed to be Rashford; a couple of years ago, any one from Rashford, Martial or, to a lesser extent, Greenwood, could be expected to turn an innocuous pass over the top, 50-60 yards from goal into a very real opportunity to score, if not work the keeper. The point being that the same athleticism seen in other sides was abundant in our attack and terrified sides in isolation. Somewhere along a frontline, you need that threat - you’ll be hard-pressed to find a top side that doesn’t have at least one player who is their outlet ball:
Vinicius - RM
Mbappè - PSG
Salah & Díaz - Liverpool
Haaland - City
Sterling - Chelsea
Take your pick - Bayern
Common sense and no revelation (there isn’t a single side from our pomp that didn’t have an electrifying outlet), but how much does not having such an outlet ball affect us right now? How much easier does it make playing against, and containing us? I highlighted league/CL-challenging sides there, but it’s a thread that runs straight through the PL: which teams do not have an outlet ball? Is easier and quicker to answer than the reverse.
I hope the general gist of the thread is clear. What I want to know is whether you believe the current squad has the capability and capacity to handle the intensity and athleticism we’re seeing in these games; is it an Achilles heel at the moment that the transfer window has to address, or can we throw our hat in the ring as is and expect to be competitive enough to achieve our objectives (which I’m assuming is CL qualification)?
Technique and technical acumen are by the by in this thread: purely, it’s about the speed and intensity of the league and the need to match that at all times to even earn the right to play. If you watched the games over the weekend, and particularly Newcastle vs City, you would have seen how flustered City were with Newcastle’s intensity and direct running - for solid portions of the game, City simply had to match fire with fire and even Kyle Walker was looking worse for wear jostling with the lively Saint Maximin. ‘Even’ Walker because he is City’s ace card for handling pace and power. Fulham, Leeds, Arsenal, Brighton to name just a few are going at teams combining all of the above. They are not the only ones, by any means, but the one constant, the running thread through the league thus far is that if you cannot hold your own in terms of physicality, stamina, aggression and appetite for the game, you’ll be swamped and smothered.
I do believe it’s only common sense to look at what’s going on around the league you are expected to compete in and the questions revolving around this subject matter should be a talking point for us. Overall we’re a lightweight team who do not have any of the prerequisites in abundance, wouldn’t you say? Our aggression is Fred (and supposedly Martinez); our physicality is McTominay; our pace is Rashford and possibly Malacia (caveat being AWB is toast and Shaw hasn’t the stamina or appetite for 90min+ of hard running); it’s a lightweight, frail side, which also cannot maintain intensity for any concerted periods of time, true or false?
Casemiro applies a large dollop of the prerequisite aggression and robustness, and next to Fred and his tireless running and aggression, we should be able to hold our own in midfield tussles, but at the moment, it’s fair to say we have the tenets of a team tilted towards more purer technique over the frighteners athleticism and the binary nature of: ‘you must match my physical attributes, or you’re toast’: Salah’s pace and acceleration; Haaland and his strength allied to speed; Son being one of the best athletes in the league, (even in lesser lights like Saint Maximin, it is abundantly clear) and so on and so forth make the point as before you deal with their actual ability as footballers, you have to cater to their physical attributes.
I really rate Sancho, but his game needs to be facilitated. At Dortmund, he had powerful runners overlapping from deep with engines that went all day - they were his speed, power and ceaseless runners that enabled him to focus on the intricate interplay he is famed for - a Hakimi bombing down the flank on the overlap has to be dealt with immediately, which draws men away. You’ll see similar at most clubs with full-backs that cannot be ignored; to the eye, full-backs are more engaging across the board at the opener to the season. If your flanking forwards aren’t quick, your full-backs need to have a lot about them to compensate and provide those powerful actions with a frequency that keeps the opposition honest, but most importantly, prevents the lesser athlete from being swamped or simply mobbed off the ball.
Continuing with the flank theme, so many teams have an outlet ball in their attack - someone who can collect a ball played into space and carry it a massive distance up the pitch. Ours is supposed to be Rashford; a couple of years ago, any one from Rashford, Martial or, to a lesser extent, Greenwood, could be expected to turn an innocuous pass over the top, 50-60 yards from goal into a very real opportunity to score, if not work the keeper. The point being that the same athleticism seen in other sides was abundant in our attack and terrified sides in isolation. Somewhere along a frontline, you need that threat - you’ll be hard-pressed to find a top side that doesn’t have at least one player who is their outlet ball:
Vinicius - RM
Mbappè - PSG
Salah & Díaz - Liverpool
Haaland - City
Sterling - Chelsea
Take your pick - Bayern
Common sense and no revelation (there isn’t a single side from our pomp that didn’t have an electrifying outlet), but how much does not having such an outlet ball affect us right now? How much easier does it make playing against, and containing us? I highlighted league/CL-challenging sides there, but it’s a thread that runs straight through the PL: which teams do not have an outlet ball? Is easier and quicker to answer than the reverse.
I hope the general gist of the thread is clear. What I want to know is whether you believe the current squad has the capability and capacity to handle the intensity and athleticism we’re seeing in these games; is it an Achilles heel at the moment that the transfer window has to address, or can we throw our hat in the ring as is and expect to be competitive enough to achieve our objectives (which I’m assuming is CL qualification)?