Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2015 17:55:22 GMT
I always think a little bit too much is read into our tactics and not enough is read into the opposition approach and the mentality of the sides. Partly I think this is because of the self-aggrandising guff that top managers and pundits come out with to make it sound like they are some kind of tactical geniuses when really all they tend to do tactically amounts to positioning 1 or 2 players 5-10 yards forwards/backwards/sideways every now and again and maybe bunging an extra man up front if they are behind with 20 minutes to go. It's just that doing that with highly skilled players and utilising a squad that has pretty much every type of player under the sun can make a hell of a difference.
I very much doubt that DC told his players to hoof it up to Easter and Taylor at every opportunity. I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't give specific instructions to try and work it into their feet. But if the opposition bully you off the ball, close you down quickly and generally get in your face then long ball just becomes infectious throughout the side because it's the 1st game of the season, they're probably a bit nervous etc and no one wants to take responsibility. The idea that a manager just switches a button and magically we start passing the ball around like the 1970 Brazilians is rubbish. So much comes down to the confidence of the players in terms of how prepared they are to take responsibility on the ball. I've seen this happen so often.
People talk like they think managers are idiots and they can't see what needs to happen. I imagine that anyone that's been in football for as long as most managers have can pick up this kind of thing 10 times quicker than your average but doing something about it is pretty difficult. I think Monkhouse is likely to be a big loss for us - an awkward customer who was difficult to bully off the ball and very intelligent at finding space on the ball. Doesn't matter how good your wingers are: if they constantly get the ball with 2 opposition players in front of them with the centre backs sitting deep behind then they're not going to be very effective.