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It's a bit like the game rock, paper, scissors. No matter which one you choose, or from a football perspective which playing system you operate, there is always an option that ultimately can be used to nullify the opposition.
It may take time to work out the best way to counteract your opponent's style of play but with the right players who are fully drilled and confident it can be done.
Going back to my original thread, more and more teams are pressing in numbers and it is becoming increasingly difficult to successfully navigate a way out of defence and catch your opponents undermanned further up the pitch. We are not talking about magicians like Iniesta and Xavi, who looked like they had the ball glued their feet. We are talking about the likes of Maguire, Stones and their ilk who are I'll prepared to adopt this high risk strategy.
So many goals nowadays seem to be conceded this way in high profile matches, I wouldn't be surprised if teams start to re-evaluate its worth or at least use it more sparingly.
It's not shit, far from it. I think it just depends on how you like to view football. I suspect you enjoy the cut and thrust style, fair enough in my book, I don't think that any team will prosper playing that way these days, although in a crude kind of way it can be enjoyable to watch.
If you have total confidence in your players and they can play that way without ending up in trouble then fair enough but too many defenders (and goalkeepers) lack the cool head and skills needed in order to pull it off repeatedly, which is why forwards are now pressing in numbers, not singularly.
Im tempted by this a decent price imho
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-ESCO...YAAOSwaxZfdbsE
but also thinking of a 4 X 4 to go off-roading , need something to cheer me up
At the start of last season, we had a squad best suited to playing an extreme version of the long ball game and we were getting precisely nowhere playing it. For me the key word there is "extreme" - a side playing an extreme version of what its critics call "tippy tappy" football would be just as unsuccessful, and boring to watch, as we were under Warnock last autumn.
Especially after lockdown, Neil Harris was able to introduce a style which while playing to the squad he inherited's strength in terms of physicality and direct play, also included more of a patient, passing approach. To try and attempt a complete transformation to a style our squad of a year ago were not suited to playing would have been madness and, almost certainly, produced less points than Warnock was able to grind out.
This season, we have not been able to recapture the form we showed in May, June and July yet and there may be a temptation to go back to the style which I would say still favours the squad we have, but we played in a way that was better to watch while winning us more points post lockdown and, surely, we need to try to continue with a gradual change to a more modern way of playing the game?