Minority Report v Brentford

Will be interesting to see the team selections for the Saturday, Tuesday, Friday games (may even be Weds and Friday games if Birmingham is Tier 1 or 2 apparently). Mowatt, James, Frieser and Chaplin have all been taken off the last couple of games. While Woodrow and Styles have been playing the full 90, and Brittain all but a few minutes. Would be a big ask of them to keep starting and finishing all the games.

 

It was zonal marking Helik came from his zone when he realised Toney had broken free to challenge him , according to Mat ,styles was the man marking Toney for some reason . And he was blocked off hence the fek up . But having said that it worked for the other 11 corners why we ended up with so much pressure was our ball retention which is imo a concern .

 

Ideal time to change things after a defeat.

 

Not sure you can put the blame on Styles if we're doing zonal marking. Styles marked Toney until he left his zone.

Woodrow and Helik were at the front post, and one of them should've attacked the ball.

 

I think Vic is doing his chances of a start the world of good and I don’t think Herbie will be far off either. What I do know, is that we need at least half of the XI to be really on their game if we want results. I don’t think that was the case last night.

 

Don’t know how zonal marking works tbh, just going on Mats commentary and opinion.

 

It's better than losing 1-3, with 2 shots on target. Onwards and upwards, YOOOUU REEEDS

 

To be fair to Helik, after watching it again, Woodrow was the one holding his hands up. Not sure how it's meant to work in that scenario, whether Styles is meant to follow a runner or stay in his zone. But generally there should be someone going after the ball at the front post.

 

Fine margins,they score from a set piece.If for instance we win a game 1-0 with 1 shot on goal would you be happy?

 

Yeah I'd have been happy

 

Imo someone on Waltons far post stops that easily and that’s not the first goal that could have been prevented this way this season from set pieces .

 

I completely agree - we weren’t very good last night but ...
1. Put someone on the damn post
2. Clear penalty
3. We’d have won 1-0 (presuming Cauley scored)

 

Zonal marking works because you leave your big defenders free to attack the ball, whilst the smaller players try to block their big men, ensuring they do not get a clear run into a space of their choosing. If the big man gets free of his blocker, he has a run at the ball, but so does our big man, who has been detailed to attack that space. It will work, most of the time and is a superior system to man marking, most of the time. Last night it failed, but so does man marking, for example when the opposition use blockers to stop the man marker. Teams will score the occasional goal from set pieces. It happens, and it is not something to over-analyse.

I am more concerned by the total failure of our system. Because the system failed, our players looked worse than they are. That is why I contrasted the result at Brentford last season. Then, the press worked like a dream. It kept Brentford out of the game in the first half, although it still only got us a 38% share of the ball, because Brentford are a very good team. Nevertheless, the 4-diamond-2 system that we used that day was much more flexible than the 3-4-3 system that we use now. The players on both teams were slightly different, but my opinion is that the system is a bigger problem than the players.

 

I think Styles could have done better when following up Mowatt's shot in the first half.

 

If we played the diamond we could have Kane, Styles, Mowatt and James on the pitch at the same time and still play Woodrow as an out and out striker. You could still employ wingbacks too. I think Ismael has been too quick to ditch the diamond. I don't think the diamond was the problem it was Struber picking the team.

 

I’m reluctant to say the zonal marking failed yesterday tbh .
Any system can only take so much pressure and we did well to keep them out on some many corners but the pressure we put ourselves under by losing the ball yesterday was immense due to Brentford being a very good side .
We have given the ball away needlessly and easily many times but most times defended it well it’s only a matter of time we gonna get punished for this .
Our defence do very well considering how much attacking play the oppo have against us though oft times nothing comes of it either because of good defending or poor attacking .
No for me we did ok on corners most times but if you keep giving them they gonna get it right on some occasions .
Twelve corners to defend from a very good side was gonna give at some point .

 

Struber was a good guy. You should never forget that he saved a team that was headed down under the previous Chief Coach. Just look at how many points we were from safety when he took over. I know Wigan were deducted points, but he made up points on all the rest of the league, and he won the final two games when the chips were down. It was a magnificent achievement, and I am sad that he decided to leave us.

 

Thought it was a well taken goal missen, dint Woodrow score one like that last season.

 

Did you like the boring football he had us playing at the beginning of this season though. The new guy for his faults is an improvement on that.

 

I don't think you could put the blame on Styles there, surely it's Mowatt's fault for not putting in the top corner....