Im_Spartacus wrote:Arjan Van Schotte wrote:if we just bombed diagonal crosses into the box with aguero and tevez up front, this board would be going mental!
for me, we just have to quicken up, play the right players, get them to attack relentlessly at speed (which means the likelihood of giving the ball away increases, so what) and fucking shoot when the opportunity arises. it's not like we're not getting chances, we're just not taking them.
i'd rather we had 60% possession and won 3-1, than 75% possession and lose 1-0. Score a couple of goals and then pass it sideways all day long if you want.
The diagonal ball is not necessarily a cross into the air to midgets, it can be a ball in through and behind the centre halves for a runner.
The issue is we play so high up the field, we cant get that space or isolate defenders in the way United do. I personally think we need to find a way to tempt teams out.
We have done it un Europe as we do exactly what is described above by John, we tuck the fullbacks in and give the opposition the wings and defend from when the ball gets into the box. If we did that in the league it would leave more space to move the ball forward at a reasonable pace to allow a diagonal ball, cross or any other type of ball which can split 4 defenders rather than trying to thread it through 10
I would be quite happy to sacrifice a few goals to break this deadlock we have now reached both home and away.
The surprising thing to me is that recently, when in crossing positions, the midgets have actually been crossing the ball to the far post, in the air, even though they know that the only option is a fellow midget, who won't be there. You would think there would be an accent on playing midget football when a midget team is selected but no.
Barca play that diagonal ball over the top to runners all the time btw, we don't & if we do, we overhit it.
What amazes me is that so many people in football have not sussed out the method used by the rags so often & so successfully over the years & A: defended it better & B: emulated it. It's so fucking simple & they keep doing it to us.
There is an utterly ridiculous assertion that in 90 mins football, we don't get the opportunity to do the same because teams are so well drilled against us. This is utter, complete bollocks. Where I sit, I see people like Zabba receive the ball & shout 'PUT IT IN NOW' but no, take a touch, look up, scratch arse, pass it back to Yaya. I could put a decent ball in given the same time so I'm fucking sure they could. It has not been worked on well enough.
We have absolutely shitloads of opportunities to get balls into the right area 1st time & NEVER do it, we have nobody making the right runs (there should be a near post runner, far post runner & a man hanging for the pull back plus a runner from midfield arriving on the edge of the box ala Ajax v City.
And as for tempting teams out of the box, just an actual desire to shoot means they have to come out to stop it. That makes space for a pass. If we never set up anyone to shoot, they can just block the bloke with the ball & then go back in.
Real Madrid showed at the Bernabau against us, how that game falls on its arse if top players are well enough drilled & have instructions to shoot whenever possible.
If we do all this stuff & finish goalless; well played to the oppo. We don't.
