[Albion] Oh Bart !!

[goldstone]

I'm not impressed. We need to find a better goalie. How about recalling one of our loanees?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Thing that annoys me is he is soooooo slow, never looks to feed the runners for a quick break and you can hear the frustration building from the stands when he sits on the ball for ages waiting for attackers to press him, even when some teams have no intentions of doing so

Bart is only following orders. Even though it just allows the opposition defence to do a complete reset while our players remain largely static. Opposition are quite happy for him to do that all day long. Especially chronic time-wasters like Arsenal

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Should definitely have saved that without a doubt.

He’s not in a great moment generally, I blame him for both Villa goals too actually as he flapped at both corners putting us in trouble.

But he is still young by top level keeper standards and all young keepers will go through these tougher times. I know it’s a cliche but it’s true - being a keeper is such a tough job, you can be brilliant for 89 minutes and make one mistake that is then all that’s talked about.

I think he’s got so much talent he has the potential to he the best keeper in the world. Hope we can keep him long enough to fulfill that potential. Can’t blame him for not releasing the ball sooner either, it’s clearly a manager instruction and he did noticably release quicker and more direct a few times in the second half.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Understatement on the goal. No way should the ball be squirming under his body.

He’s still a good keeper though, he’s only getting better over time.

Like I said, I haven't watched it again since seeing it live...

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

The holding onto the ball is clearly instructions. He’s doing as the manager asked. Same as 2nd half when he went more direct clearly based on instruction.

Agreed - in the second half Fab called Ayari over during one of the (many) breaks in play for an Arsenal ‘injury’ and Ayari went straight Bart with instructions. After that, he looked to kick long more often.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Agreed - in the second half Fab called Ayari over during one of the (many) breaks in play for an Arsenal ‘injury’ and Ayari went straight Bart with instructions. After that, he looked to kick long more often.

The only difference between now and two years ago is that back then, we had two world class midfielders who were always in a position to receive the ball from the keeper or centre halves, and we were able to break fast through opponents and spring the press on a regular basis. This in turn created breaks for the likes of Ferguson, who thrived on that kind of move.

Now when Bart holds on and invites the forwards on to him, his only options tend to be the two centre halves or to hit it long, as the midfield aren't putting themselves in a position to receive, and (with the greatest of respect to Baleba, Ayari and others) are not at Mac Allister or Caicedo's level when they do get it, resulting in us having a tendency to lose the ball on the occasions it is passed to them. Not only is it less fun to watch as it slows the game right down, but it's also had an impact on our forward play, which must go some way to explaining why (for example) Ferguson's goals have dried up.

 

[Zeberdi]

The only difference between now and two years ago is that back then, we had two world class midfielders who were always in a position to receive the ball from the keeper or centre halves, and we were able to break fast through opponents and spring the press on a regular basis. This in turn created breaks for the likes of Ferguson, who thrived on that kind of move.

Now when Bart holds on and invites the forwards on to him, his only options tend to be the two centre halves or to hit it long, as the midfield aren't putting themselves in a position to receive, and (with the greatest of respect to Baleba, Ayari and others) are not at Mac Allister or Caicedo's level when they do get it, resulting in us having a tendency to lose the ball on the occasions it is passed to them. Not only is it less fun to watch as it slows the game right down, but it's also had an impact on our forward play, which must go some way to explaining why (for example) Ferguson's goals have dried up.

That describes De Zerbi’s tactic but I think what we are seeing is Hürzeler’s starting to develop the sort of tactics that we haven’t fully seen developed yet in the PL but what he used at St Pauli:

I don’t understand it fully and it’s different if we are playing teams sitting in a low block (Plan B) but:

• far less circulation than RDZ between the CBs and GK,
• instead of passing up through the CDM, the FBs invert to overlap in the build up, progressing the ball up the (predominantly) left channels
• meanwhile one of the CBs moves forward into a libero/sweeper type role to protect the back
• the 2 midfielders push up into the CAM areas in a ‘false 10’ type role to join the front 3 (inverted wingers + 9) overloading the box or moving from side to side passing to overload where the ball is being played.
• In the final third this compacts into an attacking line of 5 players

That‘s why he had a reputation for having an empty midfield.

He also uses players in a fluid role rather than positional which I think is why his system is difficult to identify.

I found this helpful in understanding where we might be heading

 

[Lady Whistledown]

That‘s why he had a reputation for having an empty midfield.

I was not aware of that, but it's certainly been something that's worried me in recent games: the massive gap between our back four and what effectively becomes a front four when Bart has the ball.

Let's hope it develops as it's intended to, given time (not too much time, please ).