Walters_19_MuFc
Full Member
I remember listening to a post-match analysis by Mourinho a few years ago that has continued to stick with me.
He gave a really good analysis about the fundamentals of football, and how the basics will never change. He put those fundamentals into four categories:
If you look at the top teams around Europe, I think it’s fair to say they’re pretty sound at all the above.
My question is, if you were to rate these four areas of our game, what would it be?
For me, I’d go with:
In Possession – We’re inconsistent, but not as bad as people say, in my opinion. At times, we play at out of the back quite nicely, but I think where we struggle is coming up against organised teams. We sometimes lack the creativity and ideas to break teams down, which often results in our play being slow and predictable, thus losing the ball. Therefore, I’d give us a 6.
Out of Possession – We’ve showed a couple of times this season that we can set up defensively and make it quite hard for teams to break us down. The game that comes to mind is Liverpool away and Bayern at home (despite the loss). Unfortunately, as is the case with us in possession, we are inconsistent off the ball, and often don’t do the basics right. We are quite ragged off the ball and its quite rare you see us in a solid shape. As a result, we are quite easy to play against. I’d give us a 5.
Defensive Transition – This is what we’re really bad at, and I think a large reason is due to the man to man press that ten Hag goes with, but also goes hand in hand with how inconsistent we are out of possession. All it takes is for one of our players to be a yard off, which allows teams to beat the press. Once they do that, our players, due to pressing up the pitch so high, need to sprint back 50/60 yards to get back into shape. We have players that haven’t the dynamism to do so, but at the same time, pretty much every player would struggle if they have to make those types of recovery runs on a consistent basis throughout the game. Based on what I see; however, I would give us a 4.
Attacking Transition – This is our strength. It was our strength under Jose, Ole and ten Hag last year. Ten Hag was quoted saying he wants us to become “the best transition team in the world”. This year, due to our attacking players being less clinical in the final third, I don’t think we’ve been as good when compared to other years, but I still think we are dangerous on the counter. Therefore, I’d give us a 7.
Thoughts?
Skip to 11:50
He gave a really good analysis about the fundamentals of football, and how the basics will never change. He put those fundamentals into four categories:
- In Possession
- Out of possession
- Defensive Transition
- Attacking Transition
If you look at the top teams around Europe, I think it’s fair to say they’re pretty sound at all the above.
My question is, if you were to rate these four areas of our game, what would it be?
For me, I’d go with:
In Possession – We’re inconsistent, but not as bad as people say, in my opinion. At times, we play at out of the back quite nicely, but I think where we struggle is coming up against organised teams. We sometimes lack the creativity and ideas to break teams down, which often results in our play being slow and predictable, thus losing the ball. Therefore, I’d give us a 6.
Out of Possession – We’ve showed a couple of times this season that we can set up defensively and make it quite hard for teams to break us down. The game that comes to mind is Liverpool away and Bayern at home (despite the loss). Unfortunately, as is the case with us in possession, we are inconsistent off the ball, and often don’t do the basics right. We are quite ragged off the ball and its quite rare you see us in a solid shape. As a result, we are quite easy to play against. I’d give us a 5.
Defensive Transition – This is what we’re really bad at, and I think a large reason is due to the man to man press that ten Hag goes with, but also goes hand in hand with how inconsistent we are out of possession. All it takes is for one of our players to be a yard off, which allows teams to beat the press. Once they do that, our players, due to pressing up the pitch so high, need to sprint back 50/60 yards to get back into shape. We have players that haven’t the dynamism to do so, but at the same time, pretty much every player would struggle if they have to make those types of recovery runs on a consistent basis throughout the game. Based on what I see; however, I would give us a 4.
Attacking Transition – This is our strength. It was our strength under Jose, Ole and ten Hag last year. Ten Hag was quoted saying he wants us to become “the best transition team in the world”. This year, due to our attacking players being less clinical in the final third, I don’t think we’ve been as good when compared to other years, but I still think we are dangerous on the counter. Therefore, I’d give us a 7.
Thoughts?
Skip to 11:50