Minority Report 2019-20 v Hull City

It may be back in fashion but I'm not sure it's particularly modern. It feels modern because the game has rarely been played this way in England until relatively recently and has perhaps never been played this way at Oakwell? All we're doing now is what they've done in Europe for decades, the most obvious being the Dutch in the 70s. Cruyff says he either used or played in a diamond his entire career.

I think you may be evaluating Woodrow and his strengths based on the type of football and the type of strikers you've watched for the last 40 years, your football heritage as you put it. This is totally understandable of course but I think you're doing him a disservice by doing so. I think he has all the necessary attributes required to play that role in this formation if he applies himself and is prepared to work hard, which he has so far in both games he's played it. Yesterday he was more of a false 9 than a true 10 imo.

 

Bähre's fine goal was a Brown assist without him actually touching the ball

 

We played the diamond at Oakwell 10 years ago, it's nothing new even in an apparently backwards bigoted shithole like Barnsley.

 

It is not really the diamond that I was referring to as the modern game. We have seen that before this season as played by the opposition. It is the lack of a focus up front that i was referring to. Woodrow has never been a target man in the truest sense of the word, but he has always limited himself previously to a line drawn between the edges of both penalty areas. Yesterday, our front two played with much more freedom. Their mission was to create space for others through their pace and movement. In that respect, our play was very different to what I have been used to in the past. There was no-one centrally to act as a focus. The play of our front two was much more based upon the creation of space for others and that is why our first 2 goals came from midfield players. They had more room.

 

I’ve put that poorly. No doubt we’ve played the diamond before, but not in the style we do now and without a typical number 9. They’ve played that way on the continent for decades, not here.

 

Paul Hart liked a diamond.

 

A double diamond works wonders

 

I watched the Blackburn game 9 days ago & when I realised how we were lining up my initial thoughts were ‘is he off his head?’. I too didn’t think Woodrow could play that role but I hold my hands up I was wrong. He’s been excellent as a number 10. It’s allowed him to drop deep & pick the ball up & interchange with all of Brown, Chaplin, Mowatt & Bahre.

It worked at Blackburn but unfortunately we got beat due to defensive errors. However the system showed a lot of promise that day. We should’ve certainly drawn if not win.

What didn’t work was Tuesday night playing Mowatt at the base of the diamond, he’s the best player at the club & makes us tick but he hasn’t got the defensive nous to be the lone holding midfielder. Middlesbrough picked us off repeatedly & should’ve won by 3 or 4.

Which led us to Saturday where Struber got the tactics spot on. Gone were the ineffective Schmidt & poor performing Sibbick & Cavare & instead we had a solid full back performance by Jordan Williams who for me deserves the shirt for at least a couple of games now.

I’ve seen people criticise Brown because he sometimes gives the ball away & that’s true but he has an asset that no other striker at the club has which is to be able to hold a ball up with his back to goal & win headers against centre backs. Woodrow’s fantastic at dropping deep & finding space but isn’t suited to battling with centre backs although to be fair to him he keeps trying a bit like Bradshaw used to. Chaplin & Schmidt simply can’t do that role at all so for me Brown has to play as a striker. He’s not technically the best but he’s a handful & he’s probably the most physically fit player at the club. Numerous attacks started through him backing into the centre back between the half way line & area & laying it off for team mates. The kind of simple football that sometimes goes unnoticed.

Bahre deserves to keep his place, McGeehan came on Tuesday night & I can’t begin to describe how bad he was, twice he tried to play cross field balls that ended up curving back towards our own goal with Middlesbrough away on the counter attack. He just can’t keep the ball & if there’s a holding midfielder as well as Mowatt we don’t need another combative midfielder in there.

Halme & Anderson were excellent & justified their selection. I also would’ve played Dougall in the midfield & put Halme at centre back alongside Diaby but Dougall can’t complain at not been selected as his performances against Stoke & Blackburn were very poor by his standards.

People have this idea that you need to be a great passer to sit in front of the back 4 these days but you don’t. It’s a role for someone who just keeps it simple. Win your headers, don’t get dragged out of position unless it’s a necessity, plug gaps & play simple passes to the better footballers like Mowatt & Bahre. Nathan Doyle wasn’t much of a footballer but did very for us in that role for a couple of seasons, Hassell used to fill in & often do a very good job. Halme reminded me more of Miles Addison when we battered Leeds 4-1 & Addison had the game of his life. Again, Halme’s earned the shirt. I’m still not convinced about Anderson but getting through a game without making any noticeable errors will do him the world of good.

A couple of scary moments from Diaby & Ben Williams but the errors were higher up the pitch & we could get back in time. We will make mistakes because we’re a team of young lads but it’s all about reducing the number of them & gradually improving which we did on Saturday. Great performance & result & hopefully more to come.

 

Imho this is a more flexible diamond formation, which at the moment looks good because the coach has chosen 4 footballers in there, who make it work.
It will be a tough test against a very physical, aggresive cardiff team.

 

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Good post. Can't argue with any of that.

 

Thanks for that. It's good to know there is someone else on here who likes to analyse the game in the same way that I do.

I have continued to think about the game and the way that we played since Saturday. If we continue to use the full backs for attacking width, we are going to have to get a whole lot better at dealing with the consequences when they get caught out by a quick counter attack. There were several occasions when Diaby made the wrong decisions in the way that he should deal with a situation, and on at least two of those, it may well have cost us. I find myself forgetting just how young he is sometimes, he is such a big unit, and he needs more experience before he will understand when to go forward to make a challenge, and when to drop off, keep his feet and give others time to regain their positions. I still believe that we will eventually have a very good player on our hands, but in spite of looking magnificent at times, he still makes at least 2 bad errors every game. This is it though, when we are dealing with young players. They all make mistakes. On Saturday, we got away with those mistakes, and we won the game. The rest of the season, we have not.

The diamond, the quick and mobile front two and the advanced full backs to provide attacking width are all new to me, and they are all new and interesting ways to play the game that I will enjoy learning about. It is going to be a learning process for both me and for the players, and I think that there are a lot of positions still up for grabs. It has also totally changed the way that I expect us to approach the next transfer window. The players that I thought that we needed, I no longer think that we need. Instead, I believe we need players in other areas. In some ways, the changes add more structure to our summer transfer window. However, the new structure does not use wide attacking players, and the sense of investing heavily there has been lost. The club wants to use the same structure throughout its age groups in order to prepare the players early and bring the right players through, and in that sense too, this is a really big change. We are going through interesting times and even if we are relegated, that interest will carry me through the process as the players learn together and grow.

 

And Porsche don't make very good sports cars!

 

Diamonds are forever.shine bright like a diamond .

 

Regarding Woodrow’s new position: https://www.thisisanfield.com/2018/...and-how-roberto-firmino-will-play-a-key-role/

 

“hold one up and then caress it. Touch it, stroke it and undress it”

 

Remember when we won,
We shone like the sun,
Shine on, you crazy diamond.