Four fundamentals of the game | Which ones are we good at?

[Walters_19_MuFc]

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:

• 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

 

[E-mal]

• In Possession- 3/10, teams like Bournemouth, Brighton and even Forrest look more assured on the ball than us, we are very uncultured, always on the edge of giving the ball away.
• Out of possession- 5/10, this has been average, we are easily bullied, we don’t bully opponents
• Defensive Transition- 3/10, terrible, very very bad, looks Sunday league level
• Attacking Transition-7/10, I agree, we are quite good at this aspect, as good as the best teams

 

[didz]

The four are very strongly tied together. Our defensive transition is, in some respects, okay. But because of how we play in possession, we don't have a solid basis from which to counter press effectively. Casemiro, Mainoo, and Amrabat have all been the victims of journalist screenshots showing them in two minds about where to go precisely because when we lose the ball, nobody is close to them to share the load and cut off options.

I know some people hate the numerical notation of in possession/out of possession structures, but I feel it's the easiest way to get the point across here. We often try to play in a 316 shape on the ball to stretch the opposition backline. I'm not entirely sure why, but we also play that frontline of 6 very wide across the pitch, and often unstaggered. It's very difficult to win the ball back straight away with that as your starting point.

We do manage it sometimes to good effect, but it leaves that lonely 1 with no idea which threat to cover when it doesn't work. Add to that, both of our fullbacks tend to go forward at the same time and not make it back to reinforce that rest defence when needed. This is something Luke Shaw is extremely good at, but he's been out. Dalot clearly tries to do this in his stead, but I've seen Ten Hag yelling at him to get right up the pitch and onto the frontline, even as the farthest player forward, on numerous occasions, which basically leaves us with the two CBs and an isolated midfielder to protect against counters.

So for me, the porous defensive transition side is a direct result of an overly ambition in possession setup. City are pretty tethered to a 325 buildout, with the front 5 staggered. Liverpool tend to narrow the play to make counter pressing easier, again in a 325. Arsenal switch up their build up between a 325 and a 235 this season, usually with width and some staggering in the forward line. The common denominator is that they don't need a superhuman in front of the backline to defend a transition.

When you add to that the players we've had in defence don't really want to gamble on winning a challenge high up the pitch (as much to do with confidence as ability in my opinion), the team end up being cut in two, and it's very easy to work quick 3v3s or similar against us.

 

[Borys]

1 is the relegation team, 10 is title contenter/best in class

• In possession - 5/10, mid table. Our whole game relies on individuals doing something with the ball.
• Out of possession - 8/10. I trust this team not to concede in low block. We've been on the lucky side but we have a lot of players very good at "last ditch tackles".
• Defensive transition - 1/10. Not only we're bad at it but also the tactics expose that to the opposition. We're genuinely an example how not to play in defensive transition.
• Attacking transition - 7/10. We have a number of players who are good at counter attacking, it isn't something ETH invented.

All in all 6th position is flattering, 7th/8th would reflect this season better.

 

[Raoul]

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:

• 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

A bit reminiscent of Rangnick's talk a few years back. Except he adds a 5th dimension of set pieces into the mix.

 

[FootballHQ]

Blocking shots.

 

[NoLogo]

Like most have said, the only thing we are good at, not the best but still good, are fast attacking transitions. The rest I would say we are barely mid table to relegation candidate level.

 

[11101]

Interesting thread. For me:

In possession - 5/10.
We can keep the ball with the simple passes but our precision is poor when we try to up the tempo.

Out of possession - 7/10.
Our shape is generally good once we get into it.

Defensive transition - 2/10.
Our weakest area. We are horrible at regaining possession, tracking runners and getting back into position. Look at how many goals we concede are from counters and cut backs to runners into our box.

Attacking transition - 7/10.
Our strongest area. We are very quick to get the ball moving forward and have quick players to break with. However if we don't cut through defensive lines with the first couple of passes we get bogged down easily.

 

[El Jefe]

Interesting thread. For me:

In possession - 5/10.
We can keep the ball with the simple passes but our precision is poor when we try to up the tempo.

Out of possession - 7/10.
Our shape is generally good once we get into it.

Defensive transition - 2/10.
Our weakest area. We are horrible at regaining possession, tracking runners and getting back into position. Look at how many goals we concede are from counters and cut backs to runners into our box.

Attacking transition - 7/10.
Our strongest area. We are very quick to get the ball moving forward and have quick players to break with. However if we don't cut through defensive lines with the first couple of passes we get bogged down easily.

Agree with this.

Some of these link with others but I think the worst thing for me is that we are average in possession and so poor in defensive transitions. Some side are really good in possession but susceptible to counters but they mitigate this by being really good in possession. As an average possession side we open ourselves up to more defensive transitions than we should do.

All in all, unfortunately the main strengths of this team still involve sitting deeper and hitting on the break which is what we did under Ole and most of last season.

 

[Desert Eagle]

In possession - 4/10 Not only do our players lack intelligence and patience for this type of football but the coaching has also been lacking

Out of possession - 6/10 Supposedly the easiest thing to drill and train a team in. We are decent but some players don't work hard and a lot of time the effort isn't as coordinated as it should be

Defensive transition - 3/10 Suicidal. Like didz said though this is linked to how ETH sets us up and the players he picks.

Attacking transition - 6/10 At our peak with Rashford in form we can be an 8 but currently I think we are slightly above average here too.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

A bit reminiscent of Rangnick's talk a few years back. Except he adds a 5th dimension of set pieces into the mix.

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fortitude]

In - 3
Out - 3
Def trans - 2
Att trans - 5
Moments of individual brilliance - 7

 

[Grande]

I think the answers are very different looking at last season..

In possession: 22/23 We started up having trouble with possesion in our own third. Maguire out and Martinez in corresponded with the team getting the pre-season drills to slowly gel in matches, and we built play better than under our three previous coaches, but not as good as City or Arsenal. In midfield it depended on Eriksen playing, and in attack it was not all that. This year, building from the back started ok, but crashed during autumn, probably due to defensive rotation. Midfield possesion has been an issue throughout, with a (shaky) uplift seeing Mainoo and Eriksen together lately. In attack it has been worse. Antony and Rashford being off form has cost us alot in that respect, creating many losses of the ball. Garnacho is inconsistent in that respect, but it is also a natural effect of playing direct more often this season. LS: 7, TS 5

Out of possession: Last year saw a rapid improvement in high press, and it became a strength of ours relative to most other teams. Getting Ronaldo off the pich helped. The fact we played better with Wout Weghorst than with him shows how important yhis aspect was. It weakened towards the end of the season, possibly due to over-exertion of the players able to play this way. Eriksen was just one of many who struggled with the proactive pressing/interception game this demanded. Fred to undisciplined and McTominay positionally variable. Casemiro
did it well, but faltered mid season. Our low press play was fairly ok with Varane and Martinez working as a lock in defense and Casemiro reading play and shielding well, De Gea having his (wiltering) strength in that part of play. This season, high press typically starts of quite ok, but is picked holes in early and then dissolves. Rotation, inexperienced players and carrying Rashford makes a unison press difficult. Our low press is uncertain, and looking at the mishmash we’ve had for CB’s, CMs (Casemiro faltered) and LB it pretty much explains why we are always more vulnerable than last season. New keeper also unsettled us, even if Onana has now turned into a great help in our low press, which has increased massively due particularily to the weakness in high press IMO. LS: 8, TS: 6

Defnsive transition: Last season, our Achilles heel for a long time (remember Villa), but was stopgapped by getting the high press more and more coordinated, particularily by helping a nervous back line dare to go higher. This unhinged vs Liverpool when the coordanation between Bruno at the front and Varane at the back went south, but otherwise was ok. This season, it’s been a sickening roller-coaster. The combo of counter-horny (We go again!!!) attacking quarter and insecure/slow back four/DM has led to a new style: Vacuumball. There is no compactness and a blackbhole in the middle. The only way I make sense of it, is that Ten Hag sees both consistent high press and consistent low press-transition as untenable with the players at hand, and prefers us to slog through the craziness with next season in mind. I don’t really know, tbh. LS: 6, TS: 3

Attacking transition: Last year, Rashford was happy, Bruno was Bruno, Eriksen and Martial contributed, Antony was ok-ish and made the right runs, Shaw always dangerous and Malacia bold, Garnacho was on top, not the be-all-end-all. We also got a lot of transition opportunities through good press, Casemiro interception a constant mare for opponents moving up the pitch only to get caught out. This season, we struggle to break play, we struggle with the first passes through midfield, and we have attacking players who have speed, but are young, lacks relations and overworked. Plus Rashford and Antony both plummeted, Martial disappeared, and let’s not talk about Sancho or Fred’s crippled upgrade. Still we are more dangerous than most teams in this phase, that is unless they play against our defensive transition … LS: 8, TS: 7.

In total, It’s clear I think we have most to gain in high press (key strength last season) and defensive transition (weakest area still).

 

[DevilRed]

In - 3.5
Out - 1
Def trans - 1
Att trans - 5.5
Moments of individual brilliance - 8 (99% Bruno/Garnacho/Amad)

 

[Oranges038]

In possession: 4 - technically poor
Out of possession: 6 - pressing is good
Def Transition: 4 - too many slow players
Attacking Transition: 6 - give the ball away too cheaply.

 

[tomaldinho1]

This kind of depends on what the plan is surely? We’re seemingly deliberately not bothered about midfield but we do create chances these days at a good rate. Does that make us ‘bad’ in possession when the plan itself seems to be about ceding possession for the maximum chance of high turnovers (hence why at a glance our rows sing stats look ok but in reality they’re rubbish)?

 

[Yakuza_devils]

We are one of the most entertaining and dynamic teams in the league!

 

[SER19]

I think the answers are very different looking at last season..

In possession: 22/23 We started up having trouble with possesion in our own third. Maguire out and Martinez in corresponded with the team getting the pre-season drills to slowly gel in matches, and we built play better than under our three previous coaches, but not as good as City or Arsenal. In midfield it depended on Eriksen playing, and in attack it was not all that. This year, building from the back started ok, but crashed during autumn, probably due to defensive rotation. Midfield possesion has been an issue throughout, with a (shaky) uplift seeing Mainoo and Eriksen together lately. In attack it has been worse. Antony and Rashford being off form has cost us alot in that respect, creating many losses of the ball. Garnacho is inconsistent in that respect, but it is also a natural effect of playing direct more often this season. LS: 7, TS 5

Out of possession: Last year saw a rapid improvement in high press, and it became a strength of ours relative to most other teams. Getting Ronaldo off the pich helped. The fact we played better with Wout Weghorst than with him shows how important yhis aspect was. It weakened towards the end of the season, possibly due to over-exertion of the players able to play this way. Eriksen was just one of many who struggled with the proactive pressing/interception game this demanded. Fred to undisciplined and McTominay positionally variable. Casemiro
did it well, but faltered mid season. Our low press play was fairly ok with Varane and Martinez working as a lock in defense and Casemiro reading play and shielding well, De Gea having his (wiltering) strength in that part of play. This season, high press typically starts of quite ok, but is picked holes in early and then dissolves. Rotation, inexperienced players and carrying Rashford makes a unison press difficult. Our low press is uncertain, and looking at the mishmash we’ve had for CB’s, CMs (Casemiro faltered) and LB it pretty much explains why we are always more vulnerable than last season. New keeper also unsettled us, even if Onana has now turned into a great help in our low press, which has increased massively due particularily to the weakness in high press IMO. LS: 8, TS: 6

Defnsive transition: Last season, our Achilles heel for a long time (remember Villa), but was stopgapped by getting the high press more and more coordinated, particularily by helping a nervous back line dare to go higher. This unhinged vs Liverpool when the coordanation between Bruno at the front and Varane at the back went south, but otherwise was ok. This season, it’s been a sickening roller-coaster. The combo of counter-horny (We go again!!!) attacking quarter and insecure/slow back four/DM has led to a new style: Vacuumball. There is no compactness and a blackbhole in the middle. The only way I make sense of it, is that Ten Hag sees both consistent high press and consistent low press-transition as untenable with the players at hand, and prefers us to slog through the craziness with next season in mind. I don’t really know, tbh. LS: 6, TS: 3

Attacking transition: Last year, Rashford was happy, Bruno was Bruno, Eriksen and Martial contributed, Antony was ok-ish and made the right runs, Shaw always dangerous and Malacia bold, Garnacho was on top, not the be-all-end-all. We also got a lot of transition opportunities through good press, Casemiro interception a constant mare for opponents moving up the pitch only to get caught out. This season, we struggle to break play, we struggle with the first passes through midfield, and we have attacking players who have speed, but are young, lacks relations and overworked. Plus Rashford and Antony both plummeted, Martial disappeared, and let’s not talk about Sancho or Fred’s crippled upgrade. Still we are more dangerous than most teams in this phase, that is unless they play against our defensive transition … LS: 8, TS: 7.

In total, It’s clear I think we have most to gain in high press (key strength last season) and defensive transition (weakest area still).

This is a very good and fair summary I think.

Its a good way to breakdown play when assessnig where we're at and what we need. I think last season we definitely had some sense of style and identity emerging and its rewriting history to pretend we didn't. I cant explain why its gone so far south this year, but my best guess is largely due to four really key players last year being shadows this year - Martinez has missed most of the season. Shaw has too. And while we all anticipated eriksen and casemiro slowing with age I dont think any of us saw them dropping as quickly as they have. They were really good to watch last season and theyve both been very poor this season. There is also the rashford element but we only have ourselves to blame for thinking he can deliver consistently. So all in all, I think we went into the transfer market, bought what we thought we needed, only to find that 5 key areas we thought were safe for another year, had in fact fallen off a cliff.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

• In Possession - 5/6 (work to be done here)
• Out of possession - 7 (once in shape we are well above average)
• Defensive Transition - 3/4 (this is where we’re getting killed)
• Attacking Transition - 8 (we are getting better and better at this)

 

[Grande]

This is a very good and fair summary I think.

Its a good way to breakdown play when assessnig where we're at and what we need. I think last season we definitely had some sense of style and identity emerging and its rewriting history to pretend we didn't. I cant explain why its gone so far south this year, but my best guess is largely due to four really key players last year being shadows this year - Martinez has missed most of the season. Shaw has too. And while we all anticipated eriksen and casemiro slowing with age I dont think any of us saw them dropping as quickly as they have. They were really good to watch last season and theyve both been very poor this season. There is also the rashford element but we only have ourselves to blame for thinking he can deliver consistently. So all in all, I think we went into the transfer market, bought what we thought we needed, only to find that 5 key areas we thought were safe for another year, had in fact fallen off a cliff.

Yea, I’m hoping the new boardroom brooms will do a good and thorough evaluation and keep their heads cool. We’ve seen more than enough short-termism under the ‘previous’ leadership.

 

[OldTrevil]

In possession: we have had a clear improvement in our build up, especially when we have our best back four and Mainoo as our primary progression into midfield. A far cry from the day of DDG booting the ball upfield into Lukaku's first touch radius. Our main issues stem from the inconsistencies in decision making, erratic and lackadaisical passing from some of our regular starters. The biggest culprits from worst to least being Casemiro, Bruno and Rashford. This instantly kills our momentum and shape particulary when Case does it, or Bruno when he's playing further back into midfield, and this also becomes our main achilles heel for the next phase. 6

Defense transition: definitely our worst area, but a large part of it due to our indiscipline in possession as mentioned and having quite a number of player that can barely hold onto the ball under pressure. We rarely give ourselves, and our rest defence, a chance to defend from higher up the pitch. 4.5

Out of possession: We're okay when we decide to stay in shape and defend, but we usually tend to break it through moments of madness from the likes of Casemiro, AWB and Bruno deciding to leave his position and go on hail marry pressing adventures. Also, Rashford's pressing which has always been one of his worst weaknesses so the least said about it the better. 5.5

Attacking transition: Our best trait as others have said, but here as well we end up not being as good or efficient as we can be due to terrible decison making from the likes of Rashy, Garna and Bruno. 6.5

Mourinho definitely forgot set pieces as a key part of the game. We have also improved here, mainly in defending them, primarily from having a keeper who is not perrenially glued to his line fearing any sort of physical challenge. Attacking wise we're more or less the same, we have tall players that can relatively easily get onto crosses but are below average in converting their headers into goals. 6

 

[BazzaBear]

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.

It's noticeable that when we are 'completely controlling' a game, we still have to probe and probe and probe to find a route through to a meaningful attack. And then we make one mistake, and it's absolute panic stations. Our opponents seem to be able to turn every piece of possession they get into a threatening attack.
And there's definitely an element of blame there for this weird tactic we're playing where we completely vacate the middle of the park.

But...
I distinctly remember having this feeling for a very long time. Probably since SAF left. It's not solely a ETH issue by any means.

 

[BazzaBear]

we have tall players that can relatively easily get onto crosses but are below average in converting their headers into goals.

Or, to put it another way, Maguire has a head like a 50p piece.

 

[Desert Eagle]

It's noticeable that when we are 'completely controlling' a game, we still have to probe and probe and probe to find a route through to a meaningful attack. And then we make one mistake, and it's absolute panic stations. Our opponents seem to be able to turn every piece of possession they get into a threatening attack.
And there's definitely an element of blame there for this weird tactic we're playing where we completely vacate the middle of the park.

But...
I distinctly remember having this feeling for a very long time. Probably since SAF left. It's not solely a ETH issue by any means.

It's also a midfield issue. We've been stuck with years of Mcfred and now Bruno who are rarely calm and disciplined.

 

[Fortitude]

These numbers people are giving are delusional. We battle tooth and nail with fodder and have a goal difference of minus; we cannot keep the ball to literally save points and we are always vulnerable, even from our own offensive corners.

Individual brilliance carries this team and without it, we'd not even be top 10.

 

[Desert Eagle]

These numbers people are giving are delusional. We battle tooth and nail with fodder and have a goal difference of minus; we cannot keep the ball to literally save points and we are always vulnerable, even from our own offensive corners.

Individual brilliance carries this team and without it, we'd not even be top 10.

What numbers are you looking at? I think it's been pretty fair with no 9s or 10s in any category and most people in the 4-6 range

 

[Fortitude]

What numbers are you looking at? I think it's been pretty fair with no 9s or 10s in any category and most people in the 4-6 range

We aren't 4's and 6's across any board. We consider literal relegated or soon to be, fodder as peers in all but the quality of our players and the ability to pull off moments that are decisive because of that and that alone.

Ask when's the last time we had a genuine, good and cohesive game and there's crickets because we don't, or at least not enough to count beyond a hand, which, at five would be average.

 

[Scandi Red]

Defensive transition is our weakest area. And we are very average in possession.

But we are also not clinical at all in front of goal, so our biggest strength is almost nullified. If I was the manager of the opposing team then I would just allow us the occasional counter.

 

[Fortitude]

Defensive transition is our weakest area. And we are very average in possession.

But we are also not clinical at all in front of goal, so our biggest strength is almost nullified. If I was the manager of the opposing team then I would just allow us the occasional counter.

Exactly. There's no point where oppo should be genuinely fearful of us, and even when we score, it is likely to be chaotic and either individual brilliance out of nowhere or some mad scramble that can barely be accounted for. Ironically, our biggest strength is that we're totally random and unpredictable, not in any concerted or discernible playing schemes.

Further still, our ratio of goal of the season contenders to goals scored is highly likely to be the best in the league by miles.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Defensive transition is genuinely a 1/10. So easy to score against us on the break or a cut back goal.

 

[Bondi77]

Not good at passing.
Not fit enough.
Bad finishing
No cohesion as a team.

These get corrected and then we will start getting somewhere.

 

[golden_blunder]

Interesting thread. For me:

In possession - 5/10.
We can keep the ball with the simple passes but our precision is poor when we try to up the tempo.

Out of possession - 7/10.
Our shape is generally good once we get into it.

Defensive transition - 2/10.
Our weakest area. We are horrible at regaining possession, tracking runners and getting back into position. Look at how many goals we concede are from counters and cut backs to runners into our box.

Attacking transition - 7/10.
Our strongest area. We are very quick to get the ball moving forward and have quick players to break with. However if we don't cut through defensive lines with the first couple of passes we get bogged down easily.

For me giving a 7 to “out of possession” (our shape is generally good once we get into it) and a rating of 2 for “defensive transition” (We are horrible at regaining possession, tracking runners and getting back into position.) is contradictory. They are both joined.

 

[Fortitude]

We collectively wow when we manage to string upwards of 5 progressive passes in conjuction. It's a feat when we get the ball from our keeper to the oppo's one whilst keeping everything on the deck.

These are never a good sign.

 

[Kylar Stern]

You can boil a lot of this down to the team not being all that good at passing - both knowing the best time to pass and being inventive with passes.

Our defenders (especially with Martinez out) slowly pass sideways to each other and the goalkeeper before eventually making a short pass into the DM space, or knock it out to a winger and either takes so much time in doing it that the winger is double marked already, or the defender hits it too long and it goes out of play or to the opposition. Onana is the only defensive player that looks to make fast, incisive passes up the field regularly, however the opposition know that now and a lot of his passes end up as 50/50s in midfield as its so predictable.

Midfield plays basic, low risk passes, and takes an age to do it, until it hits Bruno who then if anything tries to be too clever and makes a high risk, low percentage pass. When it comes off it looks brilliant, but more than likely it goes too long and out of play, goes to an oppo player, or we fumble it. When Mainoo first came in he looked incredible as he seemed to actually try something different and looked to make quick incisive forward passes but even that seems to have dried up somewhat now.

For me, the attack is the worst offender here, where the wingers take an age to do anything after receiving the ball and either run into dead ends with it, hold on to it far too long, or fail to spot anyone in the box and instead run at goal and have a shot themselves. When they do look to pass it, you can see that a lot of the time they choose to pass to someone relatively close to them in the hope they will receive it back (and seem visibly annoyed if they don't) and very rarely look to play risky balls into the box looking for tap ins, or try direct through balls unless they have no other option. Quite often what we see is a winger getting the ball, and if challenged and a situation comes up where they might actually have to try to go past someone, they instead put their foot on the ball and look to play backwards and recycle possession instead of making a move to attack. I cant comment too much on Hojlunds passing as our wingers very rarely pass to him, so we never see what he is capable of. Instead he spends most of the game tussling with defenders trying to make something happen, or getting forced into those positions of making quick one twos by the wingers.

All of these areas would improve significantly if we improved our passing capability in my opinion.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

We aren't 4's and 6's across any board. We consider literal relegated or soon to be, fodder as peers in all but the quality of our players and the ability to pull off moments that are decisive because of that and that alone.

Ask when's the last time we had a genuine, good and cohesive game and there's crickets because we don't, or at least not enough to count beyond a hand, which, at five would be average.

I agree with you, our team is far too weak in all aspects that many teams in the lower end of the table outplay us, we are 6th simply because we get lucky and our players tend to pull off worldies every now and then, and Newcastle aren't doing as well as they did last season.

 

[RoyH1]

When I compare ourselves against other big clubs, passing, specially from the back seems a level or two below the big guns. And our defensive transitions need a lot of work too.

 

[OldTrevil]

Or, to put it another way, Maguire has a head like a 50p piece.

 

[11101]

For me giving a 7 to “out of possession” (our shape is generally good once we get into it) and a rating of 2 for “defensive transition” (We are horrible at regaining possession, tracking runners and getting back into position.) is contradictory. They are both joined.

Defensive transition is the phase before out of possession. Once we find our shape we are tough to break down but we take forever to get into our shape.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

These numbers people are giving are delusional. We battle tooth and nail with fodder and have a goal difference of minus; we cannot keep the ball to literally save points and we are always vulnerable, even from our own offensive corners.

Individual brilliance carries this team and without it, we'd not even be top 10.

Thank you. When I see people giving us 7's and 8's in attacking transitions I'm bewildered considering we essentially build our entire gameplan around endless direct transitions and still score/create pretty little compared to numerous other teams. We were far more efficient and dangerous looking on the break with the older Ole teams, this team currently fecks it up constantly.

Personally would go something like:

In possession- 4

OOP- 5 (people are overrating how good we are in a low block, probably because we so rarely do it apart from a couple of Liverpool games and City. We are decent but hardly excellent at it)

Def Transition- 1

Attacking transition- 4

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

These numbers people are giving are delusional. We battle tooth and nail with fodder and have a goal difference of minus; we cannot keep the ball to literally save points and we are always vulnerable, even from our own offensive corners.

Individual brilliance carries this team and without it, we'd not even be top 10.

It would be nice to see what numbers you'd give the team.