[Albion] Beating the press with RDZ

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Any team happy with a draw can 'refuse to engage', which I guess is where the occasional ping / long ball etc... comes in to try and create some space.

Now we have two frontmen able to play will help. A better option than a stroppy shit up front.

 

[halbpro]

It's clearly effective as a strategy so far, and I think Tifo's analysis is really good (as it generally is). I do want to see how we adapt if chasing a game, as an opponent is far less likely to be baited when they have the lead. The point about the De Zerbi "S" was very interesting though, and may resolve that to an extent.

 

[Withdean11]

Bloke in the North near me on Saturday was shouting at Sanchez, Colwill and Dunk to clear it every time they did this on at the weekend. Some people have really do have no idea

Yep. Bloke behind me on Saturday "Oh stop messing about with it back there, get it forward!".

Said multiple times as we sliced through Liverpool's press like butter.

 

[Robinjakarta]

Even I figured out what was going on but my favourite part is the way it winds up opposing fans when their players stand off. It is very high risk/reward and we are only really seeing the rewards at the moment - I hope the usual suspects can rein it in when we do get a tonking or give away a stupid goal because of what is seen as fannying around at the back. Bit like England cricket and "Bazball". All the time we are winning, we are amazing. But high risk will lead to some less than optimal outcomes at times. If we want the breath taking, we need to be ready for when it doesn't work.

Good post. We will get tonked from it and weren't actually that far away from it against Liverpool. I had a feeling at half time that we could lose that match. Very happy to have been proved of little faith and so wrong there, but it will happen and with the predictable meltdown here. Not from me. The DzB way every time from me. This guy knows what he's doing.

 

[Peppermint Tea]

"The De Zerbian S"...love it. Not only does it sound like the name of something that won the Rutherford Medal for research in to nuclear physics, it's basically a million miles from the good old Withdean days of the FDM hoofing it towards Bobby (and more often than not taking out a branch of a tree behind the south stand), whilst Danny Cullip would be screaming "less 'ave a winna!!! How times have changed.

 

[WATFORD zero]

It's good seeing it explained clearly and logically.

And, when a team does press really well and fast, we do have alternatives with the speed of Mitoma, Solly and Welbz getting in behind for the long diagonal and Evan and Welbz as target 'hold up' strikers. It's still the teams that absolutely refuse to engage or press at all that we still sometimes struggle with but I suspect RDZ has or is developing a cunning plan

 

[fly high]

It's clearly effective as a strategy so far, and I think Tifo's analysis is really good (as it generally is). I do want to see how we adapt if chasing a game, as an opponent is far less likely to be baited when they have the lead. The point about the De Zerbi "S" was very interesting though, and may resolve that to an extent.

Which is exactly what Arsenal did, very different game if they hadn't scored so early. For most of the first half they just sat in their half of the pitch waiting for us to do something then got us on the break as the back line moved up. It was only after their third in the second half they lost a bit on concentration & started to leave gaps for us.

 

[dwayne]

The only team recently that have dealt with it was Charlton, who flatly refused to engage.

Nah Charlton and forest just got lucky that we were more potteresque in those games and missed too many chances.

I also think forest was quite early in de zerbis reign.

Spurs and arsenal who have 2 top managers managed to stop de zerbi.

But the winner so far is Emery who beat us even after we went 1 up and did it quite comfortably.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Nah Charlton and forest just got lucky that we were more potteresque in those games and missed too many chances.

I also think forest was quite early in de zerbis reign.

Spurs and arsenal who have 2 top managers managed to stop de zerbi.

But the winner so far is Emery who beat us even after we went 1 up and did it quite comfortably.

I thought Charlton done a job on us. They were playing for penalties in the warm up.

 

[Stato]

"The Promised Land of Dezerbi-ism?" Do we need a theme tune?



'Somebody help me get outta press-liana,
Help me get to Mitoma Town,
Gross, Ali and Moises care about me,
And the won't let the Colwill down.'

 

[Oh_aye]

Which is exactly what Arsenal did, very different game if they hadn't scored so early. For most of the first half they just sat in their half of the pitch waiting for us to do something then got us on the break as the back line moved up. It was only after their third in the second half they lost a bit on concentration & started to leave gaps for us.

Yes. Was my main worry that game. And villa ro a certain extent. Chasing the game and still playing passes round the 6 yard box. Villa and Arsenal just refused to play. Villa just cheated their way to a narrow victory and arsenal picked us off.

I love the tactic but we do need other things. I also think the biggest chance of us slipping up is not doing it per se, but the choices of pass we make. Can't help thinking sometimes that Sanchez over complicates certain passes when simpler ones are on. Did a few in the first half vs liverpool when much easier passes that would have had the same effect were on.

It's only nerves that make me dislike it in real game scenarios. It's always nice to watch after a win.

 

[Whitley Bayster]

Opposition teams are only going to fall into the same trap a finite number of times. What we need (and what we've probably got) is a number of different traps.

What was interesting in the Middlesbrough game, was that although Carrick was clearly aware of our tactics (Boro didn't fall for the bait), they were still powerless to stop us, which suggests that something else was going on.

I spotted that too. The adaption seemed to be that they just played short passes into wide players to drag players across and then switched play quickly i.e. if we can't drag you forwards we will move you to the side instead. There must be other options too. Its great to watch and try and spot the pattern. Whats I find really positive is that this system needs full buy in. Everyone needs to full understand the triggers and adapt to the system. That requires a good level of team commitment and intelligence. I guess that's proving the data analytics of player personalities and profiles is supporting the coaching

 

[Machiavelli]

You can see why he jumped at the chance to manage this team, De Zerbi knew this type of tactic would be easy to implement with a side schooled on Potterball (we shouldn't forget that). Imagine if he'd taken over from Hughton, would probably have needed a rebuild first.

Well, thank you for avoiding the widespread revisionism about our time in the PL.

 

[Eric the meek]

I spotted that too. The adaption seemed to be that they just played short passes into wide players to drag players across and then switched play quickly i.e. if we can't drag you forwards we will move you to the side instead. There must be other options too. Its great to watch and try and spot the pattern. Whats I find really positive is that this system needs full buy in. Everyone needs to full understand the triggers and adapt to the system. That requires a good level of team commitment and intelligence. I guess that's proving the data analytics of player personalities and profiles is supporting the coaching

That's a good post. I agree with all of it; the buy-in and ability to adapt etc is a good point. Interesting point about the wide players. I'll look out for that in future. As you say, there must be other options that we try when plan A doesn't work. What we need is a birds-eye view as the game progresses. I could spend hours (or days) playing and freeze-framing that.

 

[Vin]

That's blown it, now everyone will know.
My seat is up high in the East Upper and, although I don't really understand tactics, love watching player placement and teams going from back 3 to 6 (Forest) during the game. Most manage to keep a perfect straight line. Saturday I was watching TAA first half against Mitoma and some parts of the half he kept telling Matip to mark him as TAA just couldn't keep up with him.

I sat in East Upper Saturday. Are you the guy who shouts ‘oh this is simply brilliant’ every time we pass out from the back

 

[Weststander]

Inevitably negative opposition coaches such as Emery and Conte won’t react, not bothered by it all. Leaving their mass defence intact deep in their half. We saw this when cheating Villa visited.

As we’re in amazing form, I see more teams doing that to negate our strength.

It’ll then be interesting to see what RDZ has up his sleeve to counter that.

 

[Icy Gull]

I sat in East Upper Saturday. Are you the guy who shouts ‘oh this is simply brilliant’ every time we pass out from the back

Most of the stadium were saying that on Saturday weren’t they?

 

[LamieRobertson]

Oh i thought this was about RDZ beating the Press

 

[LamieRobertson]

Waiting for this at 9pm

 

[Vin]

Most of the stadium were saying that on Saturday weren’t they?

To be honest I only heard the guy about 4 rows back every 5 mins