Pre-match Minority Report v West Bromwich Albion

Before the game on Friday, I wanted to ask why Valerien Ismael was so successful last season. In a subsidiary question, I wanted to discuss what we can do in order to nullify the threat that West Brom, who I presume will play in a similar way to the way that Barnsley played last season, pose.


Last season, in spite of our success, I called Ismael’s tactics anti-football. In simple terms, our method of attacking the opposition was to hit long balls into the opposition defensive corners (behind their full backs), and then the whole of the team would advance and press the ball in the opposition half with our goalkeeper acting as sweeper/keeper 30 metres behind the rear defensive line. We did not play football in our own half. We did not pass the ball forward with short passes from player to player. We were the very antithesis of the method that I admire so much at Manchester City. It was simple. Get the ball into the opposition half, and win it back there.


After the Huddersfield game, I wrote about not over-complicating things, and about the need for things to be clear to the players because thinking time might be the difference, and players who do not fully understand what they are being asked to do will need thinking time. Indeed, the Huddersfield goal came from a misdirected pass by Helik, which was decisive because he was in an unfamiliar high position and could not retreat in time. He had been asked to do the unfamiliar (pass the ball constructively, albeit I suspect, not across the face of their midfield). In Ismael’s system there were no problems with the players understanding what the coach wanted, because it was as clear as it could be. It was this. Do not pass the ball short in your own half. Kick the ball long – then advance as quickly as you can – then press in the opposition half and win the ball back there. In fairness, it was very successful because only the very best passing teams could pass their way through our forward press. The rest tended to lose the ball in their own half at some point, and were caught unprepared defensively.


Defensively, the press made the opposition misdirect and mistime their passes forward. It often looked like our last line of defence was too high, that we should be caught by passes hit behind into space beyond the last line of our defence, but our sweeper/keeper was able to intercept most of these balls because our press had made the opposition passes less accurate. Defensively, we were a no nonsense team. High balls into our box were headed away as far as possible and often out of play. The message was, do not complicate things by trying to play. Simply get the ball to safety. When the ball was intercepted by us on the ground, it was hit as far as possible into the opposition half and into a corner. It did not matter if the ball went out of play, in fact so much the better because that gave us more time to arrange the press against the throw-in. The basic message was always clear, and it was always well understood by our players. The basic message was, DO NOT PLAY FOOTBALL IN YOUR OWN HALF.


There are a few differences in personnel since last season, and the new personell certainly have not improved us. However, the basic 3-4-3 structure has remained mostly the same with our width being provided by the wing backs. There is still no target man or a central forward in the way that most of us brought up on 4-4-2 would expect. But that is not necessarily a barrier in the modern game. Pep Guardiola at Manchester City has shown us how to play with a false No9, in fact they have numerous false No9s, and they all seem effective. Without the traditional central forward, there is no-one for a defence to mark and provided the team structure is fluid and there is plenty of pace and movement in the team, it is not a problem. I believe that the lack of an effective No9 at Barnsley was recognised by Ismael very early, but I believe he was not concerned by it. For his forward press, he needed players who could work like demons, and the system did not need a central forward in order to work well. Things may be different at West Brom. There, he will have better individuals than he had at Barnsley and that may mean that his system is less of a blunt instrument. The reduction to 3 substitutes may have affected his thinking. We shall see.


Last season, I argued that most opposition teams played exactly the way that our system required them to do. They tried to play a passing game from the back, and that was just what our system required because it forced them to try to play their way through our forward press. Only the very best were able to make it work. Last season, I suggested that the opposition should have hit the long ball right back at us. Take our forward press out of the equation. Without the effective forward press, our game plan was no more. It would have made for some very dull games, with both teams simply hitting long balls into the corners, but that was the way to combat our tactical plan, especially if you had no interest in providing any entertainment for the watching fans. This season, we are trying to play our way up field, but we are struggling to get the ball forward quickly enough and our opponent is usually well enough prepared/organised to prevent us creating anything. No other club is interested in buying players who cannot pass the ball well. It is a basic requirement of our sport. No matter how fit they may have been, they have to be able to pass the ball or be skilled in other ways, in order to justify a high transfer fee. As a result, we have abandoned the principles used last season, and we are trying to pass the ball forward. It is not going well, and it shows few signs of improvement. Under the new coach (Asbaghi), we are over-complicating and misinterpreting and it is simply adding another level to the difficulties the players are facing. It can be summarised quite simply. Last season, the system recognised that the players were not very good, but it played to their strengths. This season, they are the same players in many cases (mainly because the new players signed last summer have proved inadequate), but the system does not play to their strengths. If we want to compete with an opposition playing last season’s system, then we in turn should not use a system that plays to its greatest strength.


I will be interested in what our new coach does, because in this game, we have a direct comparison with an old coach, one who brought us huge success, albeit to the detriment of the game (in my opinion). West Brom will have the better players. If they also have the better system, it could be a massacre. I hope that the new coach does get his tactics right, but judging from what I have seen thus far, I doubt he will.

 

I want a mid-match minority report.

 

I agree with your post @Red Rain . Mediocre teams who tried to pass through the press, came unstuck, even Chelsea, early on in Val’s tenure, did not find it easy. The biggest success came from teams who, as you identified, copied our approach.

Unless our playing staff have improved immeasurably this week the only option that will bring success is matching the Ismael approach. My concern for Friday is that we will persevere with the passing out from the back tactic.

Friday night is a massive test, WBA are a team with a lot of quality and blessed with our player of last season. Whatever tactics we adopt each player will have to be on top of their game if we are to get anything from this game.

 

At least he’d only have 15 minutes to write it..

 

Mads, Helik and Kitching passing the ball out from the back against a Valerian press. Wingbacks pushing up as WBA drop ball after ball into the channels. Make no mistake, we are going to get murdered.

 

Can we have a summary please? I've got to get to bed.

 

Last season - high press worked with poor players
This season - too inaccurate and slow in passing ball. Still got poor players.
Final score - 25-0 to WBA
(I think that sums it up)

 

Val was a ******* genius. What he achieved last season was so many standard deviations above the mean of what would have been achieved if you gave other coaches that group of players. I feel entirely confident in saying that if Guardiola had taken over at the same time Ismael did we would have finished with fewer points.

 

I think you need to match an Ismael side physically to stand any chance. Win individual battles, second balls etc… we don’t look physically capable sadly.

That said, regardless of who we’re playing, if we’re going to persist with tactics that rely on us being technically sound, we’ll only win a game if our opponents are extremely complacent.

 

Hallelujah!!! You got there in the end! A season behind everyone else, but I feel like you’ve had an epiphany!

 

My preview:

Barnsley P v P West Bromwich Albion [P - Covid outbreak]

 

I can take it on board that you didn’t like last seasons style of football, but I ask you this, would you have not preferred another season of the same or put up with the shambles we have seen so far this season?
I wish Val had given us one more season, some of the performance against the top sides i.e. Brentford/Bournemouth away and Norwich/Chelsea at home we were a little more than kick and rush as well

 

Could we possibly offer to not play the fixture and just cop for a 3-0 defeat?

 

In fairness, I did not know for certain just how bad we would be. We had signed players, and I hoped in particular, that Oulare and Iseka could have been just what we needed to allow us to play successfully in a different way. We cannot get Oulare fit, and Iseka has been a disappointment after he suggested in his first few games that he might have pace. No-one would want what we have seen this season, but equally, I hated the style of football that we played last season. My suggestion for our match tactic against West Brom is purely a reaction to the tactics that I expect them to use.

 

Not exactly answered my question lol,.....you would make a good Politician Red Rain ....thanks

 

Summary: we need to boot it up pitch more

 

Yep .. the planets just aligned..

 

Val’s Barnsley reminded me of a 60’s/70’s squash player called Jonah Barrington. Jonah wasn’t a brilliant player by any stretch, but got himself hyper fit, to such an extent that he could get most shots back. He revolutionised squash and won something like 6 or 7 world titles. An example of the tactic matching the ability.

 

I'm fairly sure it won't take 15 minutes

 

last season we were ******* brilliant.
this season we are ******* ****