Can't remember the last time I really felt we had a worthy midfielder never mind a worthy midfielder. And yea it's obvious and yea we all know it but my God what perfect fit rice would be. His positional sense has just kept developing, he is bigger than you expect and would be a real presence and his technical ability is off the chart. Really think he is the real deal and I'm praying he would want to come
Sloppy passing and touches
- Thread starter Solius
- Start date
You've somehow blamed Fred and Mctominay for the rest of our team being unable to control or pass a football.
Our front 4 are frankly diabolical at keeping possession. That's nothing to do with Fred or Mctominay.
For me it's the quality of the passes. These players have been allowed to develop too many bad habits that are going to be hard to break. Too many players playing at their own pace and not allowing a tempo for the team to build up.
High, slow, bobbly hard to control and a lot of the time played to wrong player, behind the player or to the wrong foot is what we see in passing. When you have to take more than one touch to bring the ball under the opportunity to move it quickly is gone. When you receive the ball to the wrong foot, the chance to get going in the right direction or play it off in one touch is gone.
These players need to learn how to weight a pass and zip it into feet, one or two touches, quick movement. What we see is four or five touches and barely any movement. It's slow and affords the opposition too much time to settle into a shape that is harder to break down. It slows the team down and ypu just see players standing around because they don't have space to run into or they don't know where to make a run.
All in all, it's poor quality passing combined with being slow at moving the ball and a real lack of movement off the ball. It's going to be hard for RR to get that into some of these players, so he needs to get some players into the side who can do it.
High, slow, bobbly hard to control and a lot of the time played to wrong player, behind the player or to the wrong foot is what we see in passing. When you have to take more than one touch to bring the ball under the opportunity to move it quickly is gone. When you receive the ball to the wrong foot, the chance to get going in the right direction or play it off in one touch is gone.
These players need to learn how to weight a pass and zip it into feet, one or two touches, quick movement. What we see is four or five touches and barely any movement. It's slow and affords the opposition too much time to settle into a shape that is harder to break down. It slows the team down and ypu just see players standing around because they don't have space to run into or they don't know where to make a run.
All in all, it's poor quality passing combined with being slow at moving the ball and a real lack of movement off the ball. It's going to be hard for RR to get that into some of these players, so he needs to get some players into the side who can do it.
Could it have do something with our academy ? I'm gonna be honest as I don't really follow our youth set up very closely but everyone we've pumped out since fletcher i feel are very uncomposed on the ball which doesn't really gell with the idea that were old fashioned either as class of 92 was great on the ball
Whats going on there?
Whats going on there?
The passing was shockingly bad last night.
It's more the completed passes that are bad too, put a bit of pace on the ball, pass it infront of him - very simple basics things that we don't do.
It's more the completed passes that are bad too, put a bit of pace on the ball, pass it infront of him - very simple basics things that we don't do.
There's nothing instinctual or systematic about our play. We take too long on the ball, you can literally see players wilting under the expectation to make something happen. I feel this season that has especially been noticable for our midfield.
I want to see us play in a systematic way, whereby the next pass is clear, and you're taking away that moment of indecision that kills our players and creates those sloppy moments when we fall under pressure.
Quality wise, we're not good enough. But I do feel that proper set up and coaching can mask those individual shortfalls.
I want to see us play in a systematic way, whereby the next pass is clear, and you're taking away that moment of indecision that kills our players and creates those sloppy moments when we fall under pressure.
Quality wise, we're not good enough. But I do feel that proper set up and coaching can mask those individual shortfalls.
Why is Ronaldo better than Messi (For me)? Messi is a more talented individual, but Ronaldo is driven to be the best footballer. To score every time and to win every time. His absolute focus is what makes him the greatest ever sports person.
Mentality is the key to being the a top athlete, and even at the very top that can be lost or never really there in the first place (a reliance on natural talent)
Playing for Newcastle today is not the same as playing for Utd.
Many of our players have "made it" playing for us. A huge payout every week with a guaranteed high league finish every year.
Newcastle were mentally strong while we were soft.
That's why every team that plays us knows that they can beat us.
That's why we play terribly so often (Getting by on talent)
I have seen posts on here saying Ralf doesn't know what he's at etc. but the last time we had a team with the right mentality was when SAF got a team with half the talent of our players to win the league. At this stage, the only way to fix the problem may be mass exits, and I for one am not sad about that at all.
Mentality is the key to being the a top athlete, and even at the very top that can be lost or never really there in the first place (a reliance on natural talent)
Playing for Newcastle today is not the same as playing for Utd.
Many of our players have "made it" playing for us. A huge payout every week with a guaranteed high league finish every year.
Newcastle were mentally strong while we were soft.
That's why every team that plays us knows that they can beat us.
That's why we play terribly so often (Getting by on talent)
I have seen posts on here saying Ralf doesn't know what he's at etc. but the last time we had a team with the right mentality was when SAF got a team with half the talent of our players to win the league. At this stage, the only way to fix the problem may be mass exits, and I for one am not sad about that at all.
We are easily one of the most careless teams in possession and it's worrying
The difference how the top teams in all leagues move the ball and keep it vs United over the pas X years has always been a huge issue. I sure hope Ralf can make a dent in fixing it.
This matches what I've seen since Ronaldo has been here. He's genuinely been encouraging of teammates when the ball doesn't come his way. Neville was keen to group Ronaldo with Bruno in his petulant attitude towards teammates but it's not true at all. Ronaldo visibly got pissed at Rashford after several failed attempts, he doesn't do it repeatedly.
I was worried about this prior to him joining based on what he'd done at Madrid and Juventus but he's been very positive towards our players even when playing shite and I've been pleasantly surprised about this. His body language has been fine to me and this video shows he's been fairly reasonable despite stinkers from his supply line.
Why would anyone expect the players out there today to be able to thread a pass through to Ronaldo? Pogba could do it, but who on today's team?
One thought is that there were things practiced that didn't happen in the actual game, that players panicked and fell back to their tried and true (and not very good).
One thought is that there were things practiced that didn't happen in the actual game, that players panicked and fell back to their tried and true (and not very good).
I agree. He was ok in those clips. It is fine to be frustrated and to show it. He tries to applaud attempted passes as well. But we were atrocious. Trying too hard to play the progressive ball and turning over possession. There is a balance to be struck as to when to hold the ball a bit longer to keep the opposition guessing and I trust Ralf to find it. Right now the players are just hitting it forward when the pass is not on just to comply mindlessly with what the coach wants.
Was just about to post this. Ronaldo claps the players when they try but he loses patience.
It would help if we played players that are better in possession like matic over mctominay, shaw over telles, sancho over rashford, beek over bruno and cavani over Ronaldo as cavani is better at holding the ball up and playing with his back to goal.
There's a chronic lack of movement from all players further up the field. Triangles. Give and go. All basics that seem not to take place on the pitch.
Funnily enough, I thought Van De Beek is the best player we have to carry this out, but even under Ralf he doesn't play.
Donny just seems like a continuity player to me. He'll fit really well into a system, but it's hard to pick him over the likes of Rashford and Fernandes who can win you a game on their own when they're on song.
DVB could be successful here if we actually had a style of play. Unfortunately, that's not the case at all.
Yeah that is a very good idea, however don't see it happening. Mind you would like to see Edi & Ronaldo together like against Spurs.
They are just such an easy target. Our lack of control always put at their feet when Bruno, Rashford, Ronaldo, Cavani, Greenwood, even Pogba, none of those are possession players, it is all high risk actions and looking for the penetrative pass. Better ball playing ability in CM would help but the make up of the front 6, outside of maybe Sancho and VDB(who is a squad player at this level) is not suited to a possession game.
A possession games has nothing to do with the ability to make and receive simple passes which we could not do. These were not high risk passes
Not talking about one game but the overall pattern with these players.
So am I. We are sloppy even with basic passes. You don’t have to play a possession game to not see this level of sloppiness
Laziness, lack of hunger, poor nutrition, too many late nights, too much jiggy jiggy, too much time focussed on image and social media, too much console gaming, alcohol, not doing enough extras in training to keep tip top. Any of these could affect your sharpness which results in poor passing and touches.
I agree, we need midfielders like Scholes and Carrick/Alonso/Verrati those who can control the game and defend as well. I think Bissouma is one midfielder that fits the bill, he is very neat and tidy in possession and rarely gets dispossessed. The other could be De Jong from Barca, he is technically excellent and can defend. With these two signings, I believe we would instantly become a more stable side who is able to control the game and defend infinitely better than our current players.
Any move for Bissouma surely hinges on the result of this case he's involved in
It has been like that since van gaal left, mourinho and ole believed in getting the ball faster to the front players in a direct way
So it killed the concept of accurate possession based build up in Carrington, Ralf will fix that
So it killed the concept of accurate possession based build up in Carrington, Ralf will fix that
Don't think he will. Can't remember any of his side be very possession orientated, rather like Klopp's Dortmund side played. Maybe I remember him wrong as a manager, but he certainly was never renown for his possession football.
You would have expected the very basic skills to be present for the coaches to build on.
Teaching players to pass and kick accurately is only a step up from telling them that the round thing is a ball
Our midfield is weak and McFred have never been good at passing the ball and never will be. Bruno is very inconsistent, Rashford is consistently shite and our biggest signing of the summer is a complete disaster so far. Nobody in our team is good enough at keeping the ball or having a consistently good passing.
No emphasis was ever put on this since LvG left and this is what you get. Either these players improve or they are told to go.
It seems everyone is in their comfort zone and are refusing to come out of it.
Is there an xG for passes? Based on distance, window, etc?
So unprofessional at times it makes it hard to watch. Sancho, especially. He's holding back, nervous, maybe not as good, can't handle the athleticism of the league; I don't know. Is the Bundesliga really that much of a drop off? From what I saw in Germany, he was flying. Have seen nothing like this for us. Gives the ball away so cheaply at times; kills me!
One thing about that Arsenal v City game I noticed was the precise passing under pressure, from both sides. It was really pacey and accurate in the first half. We are miles off
While some of our players are simply shite on the ball, looking at you AWB, a lot of our bad passing has also to do with the lack of movement off the ball. We are incredibly bad at offering easy passing options, just compare to what happens when one of our players has the ball to what happens when of City's players has the ball. It's absolutely amazing how everyone moves away from the player with the ball, as if we were trying to create space for a spectacular one on one dribble, but we do it even when one of our defenders has the ball.
The problem is if we don't offer easy passing options is that we have to take a lot of high risk passes and if players are on top of it under pressure our passing becomes a disaster.
The problem is if we don't offer easy passing options is that we have to take a lot of high risk passes and if players are on top of it under pressure our passing becomes a disaster.
It is simply lack of focus / attention to detail, and no fear of consequences be it a Roy Keane threatening to take your head off on the pitch or the manager telling you you are going on loan to Hartlepool.
Feck me. It’s like a competition to lose the ball in the most possible different ways.
Why are we so crap at weighting passes? It’s constant.
It's baffling and constant.
It has to be psychological. There's no other explanation.
Rangnicks instruction to get the ball forward quicker has made it even worse. The number of unforced errors are staggering.
Rangnicks instruction to get the ball forward quicker has made it even worse. The number of unforced errors are staggering.