Minority Report v Luton Town

As with the game on Saturday, I will be mainly focusing on the differences between the ways that the team plays for the new coach, as compared to how they played for the one who is now coaching West Brom. It was said that the team would play from the back, that it would play on the floor and that it would play shorter. There would of course be a press, because under our new owners, every Barnsley coach is required to play that way, but I am curious to see how the 3 player press can be incorporated into the rest of the system that I have described. On Saturday, we did not try to combine the best of both world, if you like. We kept very much to the Ismael way of doing things, and if I am honest, I thought that we were fortunate to win. Luton Town will offer different problems, and a different shape (4-3-3).


So, why did Schopp choose tonight to introduce us to his style of football? I could tell from the booing emanating from the Ponty End that his decision was not universally popular, and the score line would suggest that those booing were right. This is how I see it.


Luton do not play football from the back. They hit it long and fight for it, pretty much as we did last year. Their forwards were built for the battle as well, all of them 6 foot plus and built like Sherman tanks. What point is there in playing a press, when there will be no ball to press?


But why didn’t we hit it long? Well, the players who remain after we take out Morris are not built for that sort of battle, no matter which 3 players Schlopp had chosen. I hope that we will be able to compete better for long balls when Oulare is fit, but our second half substitutions proved that there was no-one from those available who could have done the job better.


Did the new system work faultlessly? Of course it didn’t. A new way of doing things never does work well until the people operating it understand their roles within it, and understand better how it is meant to work when it is working perfectly, and I do not think Michal Helik has made as many mistakes as he did tonight in all his previous games for us combined. It took Callum Styles 20 minutes to get used to playing Wing Back again, and by that time we were behind and Luton could play the game on the break and dares us to throw more and more players forward. Having said that, Styles was not the only one at fault for the goal, but that is how things are when everyone is getting used to something new. Patience is required, not least from those watching from the stands.


Having said all of that, there was much about the system that I did not understand. I did not understand why the back 3 were so far apart when we had the ball. OK, we want players in space if we are playing a passing game, but Ismael would never have allowed that because when the other team breaks, because we misplace a pass, the central player can become isolated against more than 1 opponent. There were times that second half when Sibbick and Kitching were playing in midfield, although that was probably because the Luton team was so deep. Callum Styles was wing back in a back 5 when Luton were in secure possession, but when we had the ball, he played midfield with Benson deeper, trying to conduct proceedings almost from beside Helik, but once again that may have been the circumstances.


As I saw it, we had a similar problem to Saturday, but even worse because of the absence of Morris. Even though we did not go long, our main danger comes from crosses, and we had no-one in our front 3 to win the high balls against their tall defenders. OK, we troubled them with our movement and our Benson, Palmer and Styles offered hope for the future with their combined ability just behind the front 3, but our front 3 worry me, and after the substitutions, I was still worried.


Minority Report PoTM: Romal Palmer


Minority Report team performance index

Barnsley 71
Luton Town 17
Match Total 88

 

I’m glad you’re as confused as I am

 

I couldn’t figure out the formation in the second half, Kitching was playing left wing. Why the hell are we putting square pegs in a round hole?

 

Without getting too technical the Belgians are the key to our season. We desperately need some physical presence and pace up top, that’s obvious to a blind man.
All this about them being missing because their fitness is lacking doesn’t wash to me. Even at 70% fitness they’d offer an option off the bench. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if work permits weren’t the issue…

 

Manager said it’s ‘up to them’ which I read as they need to train better

 

Well that’s an even bigger worry. If they can’t be motivated to work to get a game then we are in trouble…

 

That doesn’t sound too hopeful.

 

I understand we are short of strikers but can someone explain how a lwb who barely figured last season is seen as a makeshift striker despite still having Cole and Adeboyejo available?

 

Pretty good summary TBH.

Best performance was Cardiff away so far this season, but we had Morris in the front line. He is by a stretch our best attacker. Woodrow is off form & Oduor has some tricky footwork, but is not physical enough in a front 3 without Morris. He could feed of the second balls I think, if he was in the team & pushes out wide looking for runs behind. Tonight's front 3 was powder puff & Cole looked well off the pace when he came on. Victor, who I don't really rate had the bigger impact of the two forward subs, which says it all.

QPR look a very good team.. if we can shape up to get something from that very difficult game it will put a different complexion on things.

 

They had the first 15 m.
we had the next 15.
The next 15 was even Stevens.
We had the next 45 but we weren't good enough to break down their resilient defence.
They wasted Time. They are a very average team but they're all joined up and they'll be pushing top 6 because their manager (who is an annoying git) will demand nothing less.
We're in transition. We dominated that second half but we weren't incisive enough. I thought Devante made a difference.
Cauley is a real problem for us. He really isn't giving us the penetration we need up top. Is it the service he's not getting?
Styles looks better at LWB.
Josh Benson looks like he'll be a BFC player who, if he stays, could be a legend. After watching football for longer than I can remember, that lad looks like he's the "real deal".
But Marcus.......don't have him dropping so deep.
Push him 5 yards further up the pitch where he's more dangerous.
We move on.
Marathon.Sprint etc....

 

OK, during last season I put you on ignore. Mainly because of your disagreement with VI style of play.

It was very effective indeed. I enjoyed it and I won't apologise for it. It was mad, it was brutal. And it worked.

So, "unignored" cos I was totally intrigued as to what you thought of this "style/tactic"

So I'm glad you couldn't understand it, because I lost count of the number of changes he made during the game. It was hard to keep up, so god knows how the players were expected to deliver it.

So, ill leave you be for now, cos I do seem to agree with most of what you wrote.

Although I think you are being harsh on your points scoring for luton. They could have easily scored 3 in the first half and their forward line caused us some headaches

 

I do not think Woodrow is at home in a front 3. The majority of his goals last season were penalties, so he has not scored frequently in open play for more than 2 years. In the season before last, he was left out late in the season because he did not press well enough in a front 2 press. He is our most accurate finisher in the box, but he is a problem. However, the problem is not new.

 

The morning after the night before.

I notice that many have focused in on our shape, but I wonder if that is fair. Luton were supposed to be 4-3-3, but as we took over the possession statistic (70:30), they took up different shapes themselves in order to deal with our overwhelming share of possession. At times they were 4-4-2 and even 4-5-1. The point is that if you want to play a passing game and you want to pass from the back, the ball must still be passed up the field quickly, or you let the opposition get set in their defensive shape. The key to yesterday's game was conceding so early. After we went behind, Luton could concentrate on defending their lead. They could defend in numbers and possession did not really matter because they were in front. They knew that we would have to commit more players forward in order to try to find an equaliser, and they knew there would be chances on the counter. I would not worry about our shape too much. It was probably driven by the urgent need for a goal. What I would worry about is if we can get the ball forward quickly enough to create chances for players in space, and that is always the worry with the way that Schopp wants to play. Even above that, and this is not a system thing because Ismael would have this problem too, I worry about our front 3. I note the rumours about the Belgian boys, and if they are true, then we really do have problems.

 

I have now listened to the post match comments of Markus Schopp and I am encouraged that he seems to see things the way that I do. I agree that we were not brave enough with our passing and note his comment that a few times we managed to pass the ball through their lines but returned it back the way it had come. He is right that the receiver has to be braver. He has to take a touch and find another forward ball, otherwise the momentum goes out of the move and we have to break the lines again when the opposition is better set. It is all teething problems caused by the change in the way of playing. However, the problem with the front 3 remains a problem however you play behind them.

 

It's easier to blame the players, I would countenance that they have had to play different systems under different managers, since they have been at the club. They are still young,they saw that last year was successful and would have hoped for a continuation of this, albeit with a different coach. Now they have a coach who wants to play another system without really strengthening the squad. The Board must take some responsibility, as they employed someone who was going to change the style of play yet again. All the progress of last year is quickly evaporating.

 

We have lost just one league game out of 3. We have won 1, lost 1, and drawn 1. We are playing a different way, but the system is 3-4-3, the one that Ismael used, and not the 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 that we were told Schopp usually used, so Schopp has modified his way of playing and I am not sure yet whether he can make it all work. There was no press last night, but towards the end of last season, most teams had worked out that if you get the ball out of the last third more quickly, the press would not be effective, and they played that way against us, which is why our results deteriorated. In those circumstances, Ismael dropped two of his front 3 deeper and wider. In comparison, Schopp has lost 2 of that front 3 (Dike and Morris last night). Would Ismael's 3-4-3 have been any more effective under those circumstances? You must answer that question yourself, but personally, I doubt it.

We have lost, but before the season began, I urged others not too react too quickly to setbacks. I asked them to give it 10 games and I cited the 10 games that Lee Johnson took to get the team playing his way before he won the following 6. One defeat does not finish our season, no mater how poor we were. Give Schopp time.

 

All down to where you set the bar.. The Belgium lads may think they're fit and ready, but our head coach.. who played 45times for his country... Is saying they need to be doing more. In fact with them not even been on the bench, I'd say way more

 

For me, even when we started last night with 3 at the back, we were playing 3 4 2 1.
I surmised that the 2 were supposed to link the play to Woodrow and the wing backs were supposed to overlap and get the ball into the box.
Styles either was making a point that he doesn't want to go back to playing wing back as he was poor until we switched to 4 3 3, or simply had a poor game, and Brittain passed backwards from the final third so many times I found him to be the most frustrating player on the pitch.
Add to that how deep Benson was picking the ball up between the centre backs and we had no penetrative through the Luton midfield or back line, and everyone we had a shot there were already 8 Luton players back in their penalty area to block a shot or tackle our player.
I'd sooner Schopp abandons this hybrid tactic of Ismael's formation (loosely) and his way of playing and just imprints a new style/tactics on the team. Perhaps this is going on behind closed doors in training and in a game or two's time we'll see something completely different. But based on our two home games, and to a lesser extent the Bolton game (I didn't see Cardiff) were going to score very few goals this season even if Woodrow finds his best playing form and the Belgians are amazing. Were just not getting the ball in the right areas at the right time.

 

100% agree. Patience. Patience. Patience.
It's not difficult to understand. Give this group (Manager included) the time to evolve.

 

Going to be a long old season if losing an early lead is going to scupper our chances of scoring a goal never mind going on to win a game especially at home!