I'm slightly baffled by the assertion that Maguire "put us in a position where defensive plays had to be made" with no specific reference to any individual incidents or at least a context for that statement that wouldn't put Maguire front and centre of everything that went wrong defensively. As a general statement I don't think that is remotely accurate as a reading of the game. It seems like a misrepresentation, perhaps designed for dramatic effect given Maguire is at a low ebb.
Yes, he made some mistakes, especially in the first half that put us in a position where we had to react. So it's true he made errors. But he also made key contributions to defend our lead towards the end of the match. I also don't think it is fair to pin the momentum in the game changing to the extent we started conceding territory and chances on Maguire when the whole side started giving the ball away for fun and not exploiting counters. West Ham didn't have a lot in the game until our midfield and forwards began to malfunction.
Definitely a fair question and I understand how the statement I made could be seen as a dramatic statement -- but it really is not.
The goal of ETH ball is to play like this in the last 1/3 of the field if say the ball is on the
right side (with the wingbacks/wingers shifting between inverting):
--------------------------------------------------I--------Net--------I---------------------------------------
ball->--------------------
--------------------------------------------------I_____________I---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaw-----------Rashford---------------------Ronaldo------------------------------Darlot-----------------------Antony
--------------------------------------Eriksen------------------------------Casemiro-----------------Fernandes-------------
------------------------------------------------------------Martinez-------------------------RCB------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------(*)------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To defend against this, you often end up with a 6-7 man line, 2-3 players in the lap of that line, and a striker a bit up field. Right? To get up field from that position, it basically requires
two steps. You must (1) gain some ground, win a set piece or whatever, (2) move the team up and go from there. Or (1) pass the ball up field, hold it there, pass back to gain time, (2) move up the team, and then pass the ball up field again. Roughly.
Result of game-plan: When we get into this situation, we can create offense -- perhaps not be super dangerous all the time because we will face a collected defense -- but you have opportunities to create offense. And we are "safe" defensively. We have every opportunity to shut down a counter attack by 1-2 players starting fairly deep in their own end.
So how do we get up into that position if say DDG has the ball? There are of course different ways depending on what the opponent does. But the by far most common way is the play described below or some versions of it:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----^run^---------------------------------------------------^run^------------------------------------------------------------------------
(7)
Rashford-----------------------------------------------
Ronaldo----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------(*)----------------^run^---------------------------------(6)
Antony-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruno-------------------------------------
>holds<
----------------------^run^------------------------------------------------------------------^run^----------------------------------------
---------------------
Shaw-----------------------------------------------------------------
Darlot----------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
*ball*-----------------------------^run^--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------(5)
Eriksen------------------------(4)
Casemiro----------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------(2)
Martinez----------------------(3)
Maguire-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------___________------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------I--(1)
DDG----I-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------I------net-------I-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. When DDG, Martinez and Maguire has the ball, West Ham will not let us pass the ball up to Rashford, Ronaldo or Antony without putting serious pressure on them instantly. Simply, to get the ball under control up field, we must stir the pot pretty good.
2. The most common way to do that is to:
(a) break the first line of pressure and get the ball up to a Eriksen or Casemiro with time,
(b) pressure the center of the field very hard with a ton of runs forcing West Ham to fall deep with several players to control everyone.
(c) have a winger who is licking the line get open by not taking that run everyone else is doing, and hold his position or even drop down a bit.
(d) have Eriksen/Casemiro cross the ball out to one of the wingers.
3. Once we have been able to achieve the above, or some version of it -- West Ham won't have many means to prevent us from pushing them down very deep into the lap of their GK.
4. So how do we achieve (a) above? This is what West Ham is focusing on to shut down. Once Eriksen or Casemiro get the ball facing up field with some time, its more or less in our own hands. So when you like play City, this is what you train endlessly on. And remember, the upside is huuge for West Ham, because if they win the ball when we try to beat the first line of pressure -- you don't get much better scoring chances than from those situations.
Above I set out a simplistic version of it with Martinez - Casemiro - Maguire setting up a triangle with DDG passing to Martinez who pass to Maguire who pass to Casemiro who finds Eriksen who cross the ball to Antony who cross the ball to Rashford on the other side, while everyone else taking centralized runs. We are taking 5-6 centralized runs, and passing the ball at the perimeter of the field when we have gained parts of the field. This is on page 1 of like Pep's school book and exactly what ETH wants to do too. I label it as a simplistic version of it, because most of the time you have to involve one of the wing backs to create more triangles, have one of the CBs or wing backs dribble their guy to get out from the pressure, or something like that.
But this is also the hardest part of the whole equation. Why do people think Pep plays with a crazy goal keeper who takes a ton of risks with the ball? Why do people think teams try kamikaze passes out from their keeper? Why do people think ETH played with two 5'10 CBs in Ajax? I mean these are very risky measures with very obvious downsides that always gives you disadvantages in other common areas of the game (like set pieces) .
They do not do it for fun.
They do it because if you cannot achieve the above -- which is the hardest part of their game plan to achieve, and which only involves their GK, CBs, full-backs and CDM basically -- their entire game plan is scrapped. If a mistake is made, we have for years heard the "experts" go '
I played the game, I know what I am talking about, when the keeper or center back get the ball, they should not take any risks, just clear it away. What are they thinking? I don't understand what is going on in their head when they are taking a risk like that'. But its 2022, we have seen Pep own the PL completely for like almost a decade now. I am not saying that you never should clear a ball away, but we should know better than asking why they are trying to pass or dribble their way through the first line of pressure.
So with the above game-plan, who are we asking the most of in terms of`:
(a) passing the ball,
(b) handling it,
(c) dribbling past their man,
(d) being able to pass the ball and move fast to get open,
(e) being poised with the ball despite being pressured? Etc etc etc.
It is obviously (in no internal order):
(1) DDG
(2) Martinez
(3) Maguire
(4) Casemiro
(5) Shaw
(6) Darlot
It is these guys who make or break our game plan. Like I like Elanga and his potential, but lets be honest, right now he is a so-so Championship player. But his role in terms of enabling ETHs game plan is marginal. If we fail to execute our game plan, it will rarely be Elanga's fault. But the GK and the CBs?
Why did ETH play with two 5'10 CB in Ajax? It is simple, because it is the ball skills of those two players along with the CDM that matters the most for his game plan.
Honestly, I have never been among those who have had big problems with Maguire under other managers. But under ETH, he is just a very very poor fit. Last night -- we could not even remotely break West Ham's first line of pressure. Casemiro had to drop down between Martinez and Maguire just to get open and pass long from that area. Against Tottenham, Chelsea and even Everton, in all those games we owned the play in, we managed to beat that first line of pressure. Get Casemiro the ball with time and space. Get Eriksen the ball with time and space. Have them make those long crosses to one of our wingers. Push the opponents into the lap of their GK. And from there, we can play a really high pressure aggressive defense. With Maguire, we could not get past that first line of pressure at all.
So of course its a bit of a generalization to say that while Maguire made good defensive plays, "he was the one who put us in a position where defensive plays had to be made".
But as a generalization, I think its 100% true. It is not a knock at all on Maguire. But regarding the most important aspect of ETH's game-plan that requires ball skills and mobility, does Maguire fit the bill? No, he does not.
