[Albion] Fannying about at the back

[Bozza]

I am very much #TeamFanny and support the style of play. To provide some 'data' over whether Bart had options for the 1st goal, this is the moment the Bournemouth player starts to sprint to close him down. I'll let you be the judge of whether he's got options.

View attachment 166948

The still makes it look like the play should be Bart -> Dahoud -> Gilmour -> Webster with first-time passes freeing Webster to progress.

The clip out to Estupinan also looks on, although we can't see how close the nearest Bournemouth player was. It would be a lofted floating pass, so he'd need to be in a fair amount of space to give time for the ball to get there.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lens]

Yesterday was the first time we have faced a team that have just stood there when confronted by us waiting for them to do something. They obviously have seen how often it pulls there players out of posiytion and allows us to bypass half the team with a quick, short pass. It probably wasnt, but at times it seemed like everyone was standing around waiting for something to happen for minutes at a time. I have wondered previously what would happen if the opposition didnt try and press in that situation-i guess now we know, nothing, the game stops!

The tactic worked as the crowd started to get on our teams back, Dunky was rattled enough to have a go at the North stand, and our players were having ago at each other, resulting in a very bad first half for us.

It changed at half time, but will other teams see that first half and think, the solution is to do nothing?

This was also true of Athens, but, maybe with inexperience, Igor and JPVH carried the ball forward into nice u-shape trap that Athens laid in the middle of the park. I think it was clear that we learnt something from that game and needed the patience and confidence to draw Bmuff out.. we got caught by them and conceded a horrible looking goal (and we will again at some point) but the patience was good to see if not appreciated by all alongside me in the NS! Some of that angst was at the lack of movement too..

 

[BLOCK F]

It always use to worry me, but now 3/4 one touch quick passes, around our own box, by players under pressure, that results in an Albion player with loads of space and time leaves me with a huge grin.

Embrace the stress, embrace the fannying

I imagine ‘fannying around the back’ would put a huge grin on many an NSC face.

 

[Dibdab]

I am very much #TeamFanny and support the style of play. To provide some 'data' over whether Bart had options for the 1st goal, this is the moment the Bournemouth player starts to sprint to close him down. I'll let you be the judge of whether he's got options.

View attachment 166948

Webster and Pervis good options there. I have no idea why Bart was insistent on always trying to find a CM to pass too. Steele mixes it up MUCH more.

 

[schmunk]

What I don't understand is, why is it the keeper who is the one edging forward with the ball?

Because whilst he has the ball all of our outfield players are open as options, giving us an 11 v 10 scenario.

 

[Garyoldfan]

Webster and Pervis good options there. I have no idea why Bart was insistent on always trying to find a CM to pass too. Steele mixes it up MUCH more.

And with that comes time and experience. Don’t listen to the babies in the crowd moaning, they don’t have a clue.

 

[Garyoldfan]

What I don't understand is, why is it the keeper who is the one edging forward with the ball ?

Jeez. We’ve done this for at least a year and know the answer, do your homework it doesn’t take long !

 

[schmunk]

And that comes with time and experience. Don’t listen to the babies in the crowd moaning, they don’t have a clue.

Indeed - remember, all, Steele is (exactly!) 12 years older than Verbruggen. That's the same age gap as Veltman and Enciso!

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Because whilst he has the ball all of our outfield players are open as options, giving us an 11 v 10 scenario.

Hmm, the prospect of giving them a 1 v 0 scenario like we saw yesterday is the problem though.

If it's one of the centre backs edging up, we always have an outball.

 

[jackanada]

This.

Ultimately, Bart made a mistake and it's not the end of the world. Yes we finally conceded a crap goal from fannying about with it but it still hasn't cost us! The bottom line is that Steele's distribution is slightly superior to Bart's - he is more ready to go sideways when he needs to. I suspect BV just needs more game time to perfect this.

It's almost as if Steele has had 10 more months of dezerbiball!
As an aside there seems to be acres of coverage of arsenal rotating keepers yet despite being the only other side doing such a thing we're not even mentioned. At least something is under the radar.

 

[brighton_tom]

Yesterday was the first time we have faced a team that have just stood there when confronted by us waiting for them to do something. They obviously have seen how often it pulls there players out of posiytion and allows us to bypass half the team with a quick, short pass. It probably wasnt, but at times it seemed like everyone was standing around waiting for something to happen for minutes at a time. I have wondered previously what would happen if the opposition didnt try and press in that situation-i guess now we know, nothing, the game stops!

The tactic worked as the crowd started to get on our teams back, Dunky was rattled enough to have a go at the North stand, and our players were having ago at each other, resulting in a very bad first half for us.

It changed at half time, but will other teams see that first half and think, the solution is to do nothing?

Things werent working in the first half not because Bournemouth had cracked the code of how to stop our game plan. It wasnt working simply because of our formation. We had 2 defensive mids sat not even 10 metres in front of a narrow back 4, and then a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge gap in midfield with Adingra, Evan, Welbz, and Facundo playing as a flat 4 much higher up the pitch. Dunk, Webster, Gilmour, and Dahoud were so tight together, with Veltman & Pervis tucked in alongside them that their passes gained little. Instead we were forced to hit long balls up to Evan or Welbz, but its a big ask for either of them to control that pass, turn, and find an outlet. Normally Pedro or Gross would be sat in that midfield hole to help build the attack, or Gilmour might be a little further up the field than he was. For whatever reason we chose to set up like this, it wasnt working. The fact Bournemouth weren't pressing Dunk or Webster wasnt some masterstroke of tactics that nullified us, as it would have been so easy to pass through if one of our attacking players had just come deeper, which they did in the second half. It was all just a bit odd in that first half.

 

[Igzilla]

I think, watching the highlights, Bart's touch as he rolls the ball forward with the bottom of his foot is just a little bit too heavy, giving the Bournemouth player just enough time to get his foot in between the ball and intended target of the pass. It is all about the finest of margins and I think, on this occasion, he got it wrong. Had the ball travelled a few centimetres less, he could have kicked it milliseconds earlier, missing the opponets challenge completely and no goal.

 

[RandyWanger]

Bart had so much time (except once) on the ball. b'muff really didn't want to play football against us. I like it when we stand still unchallenged in our own half. I don't like it when our attacking players are standing still man marked though.

 

[Withdean11]

The issue is, as evidenced by this thread, the vast majority of fans have absolutely zero tactical knowledge.

The players and RDZ are not looking at one pass at a time, they are 3/4 passes ahead. The GK is supposed to wait on the ball, hoping to trigger movement by their 'box press', not ours. If they refuse (as they did) then one of the two strikers sprint back into out half into the huge open space and the GK plays a pass up the middle which if successful takes out 6 or even 7 players in just one move. They can't do this straight away. This requires a high level of technical ability, unfortunately Ferguson was not his best and kept losing it but we've seen this work many times under RDZ.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

The only thing that really worried me about yesterday's tactics, going forward, was that Bart obviously got flustered by the North Stand and started rushing a few clearances. One goal conceded and the next time he had the ball at his feet there was so much 'get it forward', 'what are you doing?' from the crowd. Felt unnecessary and it obviously got to the lad.

 

[Giraffe]

I think the big thing here is they effectively marked Dunk out of the game in the first half. The ball to him was rarely on and they did it very well.

Bart clearly has options but delayed/panicked. It's almost inevitable to happen at some point.

The comment about why the goalkeeper does this, not a centre half is misguided. Surely the point is it gives you the extra man so the options increase. I doubt any of us would have noticed how badly we were doing if a) Ferguson had won the physical battle which he unusually struggled with despite being found 4 or 5 times quite easily. b) Bart made the error.

 

[Was not Was]

Things werent working in the first half not because Bournemouth had cracked the code of how to stop our game plan. It wasnt working simply because of our formation. We had 2 defensive mids sat not even 10 metres in front of a narrow back 4, and then a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge gap in midfield with Adingra, Evan, Welbz, and Facundo playing as a flat 4 much higher up the pitch. Dunk, Webster, Gilmour, and Dahoud were so tight together, with Veltman & Pervis tucked in alongside them that their passes gained little. Instead we were forced to hit long balls up to Evan or Welbz, but its a big ask for either of them to control that pass, turn, and find an outlet. Normally Pedro or Gross would be sat in that midfield hole to help build the attack, or Gilmour might be a little further up the field than he was. For whatever reason we chose to set up like this, it wasnt working. The fact Bournemouth weren't pressing Dunk or Webster wasnt some masterstroke of tactics that nullified us, as it would have been so easy to pass through if one of our attacking players had just come deeper, which they did in the second half. It was all just a bit odd in that first half.

agreed - the hole in the middle of the park with no players in sight was MASSIVE for the first 45

 

[Clive Walker]

The issue is, as evidenced by this thread, the vast majority of fans have absolutely zero tactical knowledge.

The players and RDZ are not looking at one pass at a time, they are 3/4 passes ahead. The GK is supposed to wait on the ball, hoping to trigger movement by their 'box press', not ours. If they refuse (as they did) then one of the two strikers sprint back into out half into the huge open space and the GK plays a pass up the middle which if successful takes out 6 or even 7 players in just one move. They can't do this straight away. This requires a high level of technical ability, unfortunately Ferguson was not his best and kept losing it but we've seen this work many times under RDZ.

Yep. This.

In 12 months of doing this we have now just conceded the 1 goal. We must fanny about at least 10 times plus a game. That’s a pretty amazing risk ratio.

How many goals have we created using this method. I’d say we’re well in credit.

Chill, those booing must have been first timers.

 

[Lethargic]

Team Fanny all the way.....

 

[7dialssouthpaw]

De Zerbi's platonic form of the goal involves our keeper standing on the ball and then deft single touches up the field (def-mid-cf) each imparting compound force onto the the ball , at which point all you see is a blur on the field, a net bulge and feel a bit queasy. 1-0.