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I haven't started a thread in a long time so thought now would be a good time.
In my opinion, the problem with us is our tempo without the ball, more so than with it. What I mean by this is our lack of movement off the ball. Bidwell or Cousins (whoever is RB, so the rest of this ill just put RB) will get the ball and then the wingers will fall wide or drop short. They will never turn and run in behind for us to stretch the team.
Likewise when Bidwell or RB get the ball to the winger, they won't overlap they will just hang back to get the ball back off them, rather than bombing on.
When Luongo & co get the ball in the middle, they will look wide and again, see the wingers dropping wide rather than making a diagonal run in behind the full backs. This means we are always passing in front of the full backs rather than getting the ball played in between the left and right back. Look at how Wolves play with Doherty. He will always bomb on and make the diagonal run inside, meaning when he gets it he is between the full backs and centre backs so he can just drill the ball in, rather than doing what we do at the moment and have to cross with a height, something Wells and Hemed are struggling to win.
We have too much hanging back, wanting to get the ball on the safe side and then cut in, pass it back, pass it across, pump it long. Pawel will always hug the touchline without ever making that diagonal run inside to turn the defence. Cousins managed to do it once in the first half and that was about it.
Does that make much sense to people? As in my mind, it is where we are going wrong. We are passing the ball okay - ish, but without movement off the ball then there is very little that we can do to break teams down. Its all well and good passing the ball faster but the runs need to be with more purpose. When Freeman went inside, he gestured a few times for BOS to run inside.
I touched on Wolves but you look at the top teams, City, Liverpool etc and their wingers start wide and go in, which is what we never do. (yes, I realise I have touched on the two top teams but it's just doing the basics right).
In my opinion, the problem with us is our tempo without the ball, more so than with it. What I mean by this is our lack of movement off the ball. Bidwell or Cousins (whoever is RB, so the rest of this ill just put RB) will get the ball and then the wingers will fall wide or drop short. They will never turn and run in behind for us to stretch the team.
Likewise when Bidwell or RB get the ball to the winger, they won't overlap they will just hang back to get the ball back off them, rather than bombing on.
When Luongo & co get the ball in the middle, they will look wide and again, see the wingers dropping wide rather than making a diagonal run in behind the full backs. This means we are always passing in front of the full backs rather than getting the ball played in between the left and right back. Look at how Wolves play with Doherty. He will always bomb on and make the diagonal run inside, meaning when he gets it he is between the full backs and centre backs so he can just drill the ball in, rather than doing what we do at the moment and have to cross with a height, something Wells and Hemed are struggling to win.
We have too much hanging back, wanting to get the ball on the safe side and then cut in, pass it back, pass it across, pump it long. Pawel will always hug the touchline without ever making that diagonal run inside to turn the defence. Cousins managed to do it once in the first half and that was about it.
Does that make much sense to people? As in my mind, it is where we are going wrong. We are passing the ball okay - ish, but without movement off the ball then there is very little that we can do to break teams down. Its all well and good passing the ball faster but the runs need to be with more purpose. When Freeman went inside, he gestured a few times for BOS to run inside.
I touched on Wolves but you look at the top teams, City, Liverpool etc and their wingers start wide and go in, which is what we never do. (yes, I realise I have touched on the two top teams but it's just doing the basics right).
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