[Albion] What is plan B?

[Jimmy Grimble]

I agree with others on this thread that RDZ has shown some tactical tweaks and we have seen them a couple of times this season

What he doesn’t deviate from is his overarching ideology/philosophy/strategy/whatever you want to call it, which is to be predominantly possession based and build from the back.

Where we are having huge difficulty at the moment is moving from one phase of play to the next with an overload of players. Last season we regularly got Solly or Mitoma into 1v1 situations and those two would maintain attacking momentum either by using their intelligence to find the right pass which maintained an overload, by carrying the ball over a long a distance or by beating their man. We actually got Adingra/Buononatte/Offiah into these positions a few times on Sunday but they didn’t capitalise.

Last year we also had the ability to thread through the lines centrally if service to Solly and Mitoma was being shut off. In theory we should still be able to do this as we do have players with technical quality in those areas who can find pockets. The trouble with this is that it’s far more intricate and teams know if they can stop the supply line to Pedro then they’ll stop us. They overload the central areas and happily leave one of our wingbacks or wide players free because we’re not a threat there.

Basically we’re far easier to defend against because currently, teams are not worried about our attacking outlets, bar Pedro. As long he’s not left 1v1, they really don’t mind too much about the rest of our XI.

RDZ has been vey open about his dislike of ‘percentage’ football. He’s not going to suddenly start encouraging long punts up the field and the ensuing battles for 50:50s, but I guess he could look more at creating space in behind defenders and hitting long passes from deep into the channels for Welbeck or Pedro to chase. I think he was kind of initially trying this against Man City where Gross and Lallana tried to occupy the centre halves, similar to the way we set up against Spurs, too.

It’ll be very interesting to see what he does against Villa after last time. I expect he’ll resort to the more safety first stuff that he used against West Ham and Brentford.

 

[METALMICKY]

Plan B is quite simply the alternative to Plan A when it's evidently not working. Being able to spot when Plan A isn't working is a key skill. As to what actually constitutes Plan B is your job Roberto!

 

[OzMike]

Use the rest of the season as preparation for next season.

 

[Bish Bosh]

Out of possession, I think we're playing the wrong players, particularly in Centre Mid.

I actually love the willingness to throw players forward and that the full backs are empowered to join the attack, but I don't see what the plan is for when we get turned over. Gross and Gilmour are never going to provide decent cover. To me, both should be competing for one more attacking spot (where we've seen Lallana and Moder feature).

What we need to play this way and what we don't have is a CM with lungs the size of Ostrich eggs. We need two. A double pivot, both prepared to sit while the full backs bomb on and fill those gaps.

Exactly. That was Moises Caicedo!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

This is your opportunity to advise Roberto where he's going wrong.

Frankly I struggle to explain plan A.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

You beat me to it

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Just be less arrogant in terms of mindset.

Accept at times, you have to adapt to your opponent.

When we were struggling, I’d have gone 4-5-1, and had a more disciplined, almost rigid approach.

(We probably still are struggling to be fair).