Quote:
Originally Posted by Redraine
You say:-"Luke Joyce was beaten in a heading duel and then left for pace for York's second goal on saturday by one of their players running with the ball, who then laid the ball off to their right . winger, our central defence was stretched and exposed yet again".
Have another look at that mate. That is really unfair. Luke actually won the heading duel, but because he was defending too far up the pitch (!!!) he had no chance to get back and tackle the guy who made the run for them and who had a head start on him. There were plenty of our defenders falling over each other in the box and their final ball into the box should have been cut out, so to blame it all on Luke is frankly ridiculous. Perhaps he should have been defending deeper?!
Cheers for Friday and I'll let you know about Morecambe later. The spirit's willing, but.........
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Mike. I am not blaming Luke for anything. He clearly tries his best and works very hard all the time and is totally committed to the cause. What I am trying to say is that he could be more effective if he played, or was told to play, differently. ie. In a higher midfield line further up the pitch....'If possible, defend in your opponents half not in our half'. Old saying...... "Attack is the best form of defence".
In the example of York's second goal under discussion...I don't understand how can you say that Luke 'won' the heading duel when he headed the ball straight to an opponent, who then ran fully 45 yards upfield with Luke in his wake. Luke may have got his head to the ball but it went straight to an opponent as it so often does and does with Procky too. Yes, the York lad had a slight start but a player running without the ball should be able to adequately make up ground over 45 yards on a player dribbling with the ball. The final part of the movement for the goal was clever passing by the York forwards and had we finished a move like that we would be chuffed to bits and shouting 'super football'. Of course it is also about picking players who complement each other and who offer different qualities, especially so in midfield. It is good that Josh Windass is starting to get on the score sheet but I feel that he too could play more effectively if he were to try to do the simpler pass instead of trying to produce that difficult 'wonder' pass that we occasionally see from the very top players in the Premier League. When Josh gets the ball he should be thinking of only two things in my view; a) Can I shoot? (Because I do have the power and technique). Or b) I'll just get the ball to Pierro, let him do the 'setting up', and then I'll get into the box to pick up any mishaps from their defenders.
I have thought that for the last two seasons we have not had enough 'shots from outside the box'. Procky scored some super goals of this type in the early part of his career with us but rarely attempts a power drive at all these days.
Just a few of my thoughts on midfield tactics.....but then again I am never going to be a manager!
ON STANLEY ON