Winning the first 20 minutes

Skills

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Jan 17, 2012
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Makes a huge fecking difference. If you come out of the blocks firing, grab a quick goal then the entire dynamic of the game changes. Tbf, we had a great chance against Brighton as well and if only we put that away that match is completely different too.

Its what City & Liverpool have always been great at. You put the onus on the other team to attack you, and you'll find space much easier. But you've got to come out of the blocks firing and make sure you do take your chance when it comes.
 
The important thing is to get that goal. We've had plenty of games in the past where we look fantastic for the first 20 minutes but keep missing chances, only to then invite pressure and struggle to get a result.
 
Complete opposite when we concede though. Fold like a pack of cards
 
Raw said:
The important thing is to get that goal. We've had plenty of games in the past where we look fantastic for the first 20 minutes but keep missing chances, only to then invite pressure and struggle to get a result.
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Yeah the goal is crucial. We saw it against Brighton - we missed our big chance, they took theirs. And then its a massive uphill battle from there
 
Winning the first 90 minutes is also important!
 
Skills said:
Yeah the goal is crucial. We saw it against Brighton - we missed our big chance, they took theirs. And then its a massive uphill battle from there
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1 goal is far from a massive uphill battle. It is such a battle because of the weak mentality of most in the squad.
 
It's why managers bang on about a fast start. Aside from the obvious (scoring a goal/going ahead is always preferable!), teams who start well put the frighteners on the opposition and suck the confidence and energy out of them.

I was lucky enough to be a season ticket holder during our 'dominant' years when we won every week...most teams were beaten in the tunnel at OT and those that survived that usually lasted about 10-minutes on the pitch before they were camped in-front of their own penalty area and 0-2 down!
 
hingla said:
Complete opposite when we concede though. Fold like a pack of cards
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Still, it's not long ago that largely the same team was the complete opposite of that. Remember the OGS team of 20/21, who finished second? The number of times that team started weak and went behind, only to catch up and win. I think they even set a PL record of some sort for that.
 
Capitalising whenever we have more possession is important. Those games where we're on top then to not get a goal is demotivating!

It's about being more clinical and I'm not sure if Rashford & Sancho are the guys to do that consistently. I hope I'm wrong.
 
This will be crucial on Saturday. Missing chances is one thing but when we really get in trouble is losing our composure/focus when it comes to quick decision making in the final third. Teams can be rattled if you start stringing together quality goal opportunities, but when we completely let them off the hook with poor decisions and errant passing in the final third is when we get in trouble against sides like Southampton.
 
Yeah it''s incredibly difficult to turn a game around when it doesn't start well. That feeling becomes a foundation for the rest of the performance.
 
WeedmineR said:
1 goal is far from a massive uphill battle. It is such a battle because of the weak mentality of most in the squad.
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This. The team will require a fast start for a little while but world class clubs don't shit their pants when down. They get to work winning back momentum and fight.
 
Skills said:
Makes a huge fecking difference. If you come out of the blocks firing, grab a quick goal then the entire dynamic of the game changes. Tbf, we had a great chance against Brighton as well and if only we put that away that match is completely different too.

Its what City & Liverpool have always been great at. You put the onus on the other team to attack you, and you'll find space much easier. But you've got to come out of the blocks firing and make sure you do take your chance when it comes.
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In the last little while we've not been good enough at this. We do alright with creating early chances but suck at taking them.
 
Solius said:
Yeah it''s incredibly difficult to turn a game around when it doesn't start well. That feeling becomes a foundation for the rest of the performance.
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I feel like it's the opposite. Dominating initially means that whatever pre-planned tactic you worked on for an entire week worked well. However oppositions can adjust to it and it's somewhat unpredictable what they do. Especially if you go in dominating at half time, any competent manager can make a few tweaks to reduce whatever flaws are in your game and even it out. Effectively the team that dominates the first half shows its hand and they are not prepared for what the opposition might change at HT.

If there are timeouts in football then managers have a chance to out tactic each other but it's mostly dependent on the team's intelligence to figure out what's going on and adapt.
 
Skills said:
Makes a huge fecking difference. If you come out of the blocks firing, grab a quick goal then the entire dynamic of the game changes. Tbf, we had a great chance against Brighton as well and if only we put that away that match is completely different too.

Its what City & Liverpool have always been great at. You put the onus on the other team to attack you, and you'll find space much easier. But you've got to come out of the blocks firing and make sure you do take your chance when it comes.
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If you go back to the 2006-10 team, they always started fast. Always tried to dominate the first 30 min, get a goal or two up, then hit on the counter in 2nd half.
 
Well, when we don't win the first 20 minutes (like against Brighton), we need to be patient and regroup. That's something this team misses, though hopefully Casemiro is a step towards that goal
 
Skills said:
Yeah the goal is crucial. We saw it against Brighton - we missed our big chance, they took theirs. And then its a massive uphill battle from there
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I’m sure a statistician has confirmed it, but it seems obvious on its face. I would guess that the stats say if one side scores in the first say 30 minutes that side wins the game 70% of the time. We do see exceptions (hence the 30%) such City the other day in general sides that score early will walk with three points.
 
With 5 subs there is no excuse not to have quick starts. Run yourself into the ground for the team.
 
justsomebloke said:
Still, it's not long ago that largely the same team was the complete opposite of that. Remember the OGS team of 20/21, who finished second? The number of times that team started weak and went behind, only to catch up and win. I think they even set a PL record of some sort for that.
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Its crazy how that team became mentally fragile the following season. It looked like we had some mental strength and only lacked more quality to challenge at the top.
 
Raw said:
The important thing is to get that goal. We've had plenty of games in the past where we look fantastic for the first 20 minutes but keep missing chances, only to then invite pressure and struggle to get a result.
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This. Was fearing the worst after those two missed chances early on against Liverpool, for this exact reason.
 
There were several instances where I thought Liverpool could get right into the game again. They were pretty bad but dominated and could have scored more than once. I would ‘t be very surprised to see us bricking it again vs Southampton.
 
We've lost every single game where we haven't got the first goal. Generally speaking we've scored in the first 25 mins apart from Arsenal when it was in the 35th minute.

4W when we score first. 4L when we concede first
 
Skills said:
We've lost every single game where we haven't got the first goal. Generally speaking we've scored in the first 25 mins apart from Arsenal when it was in the 35th minute.

4W when we score first. 4L when we concede first
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Marries with the idea of us having a team of players with brittle confidence.

Ten Hag made reference to that too, our players didn't display any bravery with the ball in the first half and we were punished. We remedied that in the second half and managed to score 3 goals. Perhaps a little overly simplistic but I think there's some merit to it.
 
CM10 said:
Marries with the idea of us having a team of players with brittle confidence.

Ten Hag made reference to that too, our players didn't display any bravery with the ball in the first half and we were punished. We remedied that in the second half and managed to score 3 goals. Perhaps a little overly simplistic but I think there's some merit to it.
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I think it's PTSD from last season. Hard to get rid of that once it's there.
 
Skills said:
We've lost every single game where we haven't got the first goal. Generally speaking we've scored in the first 25 mins apart from Arsenal when it was in the 35th minute.

4W when we score first. 4L when we concede first
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Yeah we are mentally weak when conceding first goal and that has to stop very quickly
 
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