Bus Parking...

BlueAnorak

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 Oct 2010
Messages
25,937
Whether you like it or not, Huddersfield delivered a master class in Anti- Football on Sunday.
They played 5-5-0 with a deep lying back 5 snd 3 in central midfield that was not allowed to move more than 7 yards away from the defensive line meaning there was no space between the lines for Silva to operate. Silva and KDB were man marked within 10 yards of the opposition penalty area and both were closed down by 2 other players if they held on to the ball too long, so it's hardly suprising that both looked ineffective!
There were always 2 players on the wings to deal with Sane or Sterling and there was never any space for balls to be played behind the defensive line for Sterling or Sane to run on to and skin the defence for pace. As such it was pretty much impossible to get behind their defence.
We had more going for us on the right where Walker could overlap but on the left Delph didn't overlap (not that he ever does - Pep always wants him to go inside).
They defended their area superbly and didn't let us get into the box. Good for not conceding goals but the side effect was they had a small chance of getting an attempt on target when a ball was deflected to a player who could quickly break with the ball into our half. The best they could hope for was a goal from free kick or corner.
Aguero did well to receive the the ball and pass it on but in a dangerous area their were always two players on him. Even so He got 4 opportunities that he should have done better with. Shooting a split second earlier may have made all the difference but I guess that we'll have to wait for another game to check this out.
They scored from a set piece fluke and our first goal came from an overload on the right where Walker took a player away leaving Sterling one-on-one when he beat the defender and was pulled back.
Pep changed it around to win the game by going 3 at the back ( a centre half and both full backs) and putting two strikers on. This gave Silva more space to weave his magic between the lines as a centre half was pinred back with our 2nd striker and more space was given to Sterling and Sane when they cut inside for the same reason. The change occurred when Huddersfield were tiring and it led to 3 chances. For the last one Jesus got a toe poke shot off, the kleeper saved it but it cannoned off the incoming Sterling into the net. Now the dam was broken Pep went 4 at the back again to defend against Huddersfield now they had to attack. Pep's best substitution for us in his tenure at City.
So as this will be the defacto base formation method of defence against us from here on in is there anything else we can do to break it than we already are?
 
Last edited:
Whether you like it or not, Huddersfield delivered a master class in Anti- Football on Sunday.
They played 5-5-0 with a deep lying back 5 snd 3 in central midfield that was not allowed to move more than 7 yards away from the defensive line meaning there was no space between the lines for Silva to operate. Silva and KDB were man marked within 10 yards of the opposition penalty area and both were closed down by 2 other players if they held on to the ball too long, so it's hardly suprising that both looked ineffective!
There were always 2 players on the wings to deal with Sane or Sterling and there was never any space for balls to be played behind the defensive line for Sterling or Sane to run on too and skin the defence for pace. As such it was pretty much impossible to get behind their defence.
We had more going for us on the right where Walker could overlap but on the left Delph didn't overlap (not that he ever does - Pep always wants him to go inside).
They defended their area superbly and didn't let us get into the box. Good for not conceding goals but the side effect was they had a small chance of getting an attempt on target when a ball was deflected to a player who could quickly break with the ball into our half. The best they could hope for was a goal from free kick or corner.
Aguero did well to receive the the ball and pass it on but in a dangerous area their were always two players on him. Even so He got 4 opportunities that he shoukd have done better with. Shooting a split second earlier may have made all the difference but I guess that we'll have to wait for another game to check this out.
They scored from a set piece fluke and our first goal came from an overload on the right where Walker took a player away leaving Sterling one-on-one when he beat the defender and was pulled back.
Pep changed it around to win the game by going 3 at the back ( a centre half and both full backs) and putting two strikers on. This gave Silva more space to weave his magic between the lines as a centre half was pinred back with our striker and more space was given to Sterling and Sane when they cut inside for the same reason. The change occurred when Huddersfield were tiring and it led to 3 chances. For the last one Jesus got a toe poke shot off the kleeper saved it but it cannoned off the incoming Sterling into the net. Now the dam was broken Pep went 4 at the back again to defend against Huddersfield now they had to attack. Pep's best substitution for us in his tenure at City.
So as this will be the defacto base formation method of defence against us from here on in is there anything else we can do to break it than we already are?
That is spot on analysis and exactly as I saw it. Lots of people have been very critical of Huddersfield but i thought it quite a clever game plan that was executed very well. The Rags will wheel this out in a couple of weeks and be more dangerous on the break. Its all about overloading areas and Pep did that by playing three at the back after he brought Jesus on. We may have to start with 4 up front against some teams. Whatever we do it will be difficult to break down teams who are willing to sacrifice everything like Huddersfield were. There press in our half was absolutely non existent.
 
The four things I thought off (aside from the two striker option from 65 mins+) are
One: Running and dribbling at the centre of the opposition defence more than we do. Only Sterling had much success with this. Sane generally went on the outside.
Two: On occasion, KDB dropping to left back (with Fernandinho pushing up to replace him and Delph replacing him). This allows us to overlap on the left as well as the right and would stress the bus further.
Three: More long distance shooting. Especially by Fern, Delph and Sane. The carnage resulting from a saved shot often results in a goal - however for this to work as a shot is made we have to get more players into the box to exploit a poor save or deflection.
Four: KDB dropping deep, Aguero/Jesus becoming an AM and Otamendi or Kompany going up field as a target man. Very agricultural but needs must.(I suspect Pep won't use this one).
 
Last edited:
we have stuck to the same players in the same system in the past couple of months, mainly down to how successful it's been, but I do believe there is plenty of variety and a range of formations we could use which would bring out the strengths of Bernardo and Gundogan, who have been ok in the setup that suits Dave and Kev.

Pep's challenge is to be able to implement that to completely befuddle the opposition again whilst not disrupting the effective status quo when we want to use it. I think back to 2011/12 where we got to December, got done at Stamford Bridge and then Hodgson sussed a way to stop us on Boxing Day and we found it really hard going after that as we didn't really have a plan B until Tevez came back. It was pretty striking that year that from November 27 at Anfield to 14 April at Norwich, not including the latter we played 10 away games, with a record of W2 D3 L5, GS: 5, GC: 8, Pts: 9/30. That's where the title became really close that year.

I hope we can get a Plan B/C/D going and be able to go to it pretty seamlessly with the amount of games we have, and thus enable us to go back to stuffing teams rather than games get increasingly tight because the parked bus and double-marking of Kev actually starts to work in stifling us. We've had a fabulous start but it's gone from winning 4,5 6-0/1, to 2-0 and edging 2-1s like the start of the season as we had a peak period but either side have struggled to finish off and break down packed defences. I hope we can get more out of the squad players in different formations meaning we have a fresh challenge for the opposition that they can't deal with, and avoid a run anywhere near as bad as that away form in our first title win.
 
Bus parking is a complete pain in the neck, you can't walk through away bus park any more before the game starts.
 
Whether you like it or not, Huddersfield delivered a master class in Anti- Football on Sunday.
They played 5-5-0 with a deep lying back 5 snd 3 in central midfield that was not allowed to move more than 7 yards away from the defensive line meaning there was no space between the lines for Silva to operate. Silva and KDB were man marked within 10 yards of the opposition penalty area and both were closed down by 2 other players if they held on to the ball too long, so it's hardly suprising that both looked ineffective!
There were always 2 players on the wings to deal with Sane or Sterling and there was never any space for balls to be played behind the defensive line for Sterling or Sane to run on to and skin the defence for pace. As such it was pretty much impossible to get behind their defence.
We had more going for us on the right where Walker could overlap but on the left Delph didn't overlap (not that he ever does - Pep always wants him to go inside).
They defended their area superbly and didn't let us get into the box. Good for not conceding goals but the side effect was they had a small chance of getting an attempt on target when a ball was deflected to a player who could quickly break with the ball into our half. The best they could hope for was a goal from free kick or corner.
Aguero did well to receive the the ball and pass it on but in a dangerous area their were always two players on him. Even so He got 4 opportunities that he should have done better with. Shooting a split second earlier may have made all the difference but I guess that we'll have to wait for another game to check this out.
They scored from a set piece fluke and our first goal came from an overload on the right where Walker took a player away leaving Sterling one-on-one when he beat the defender and was pulled back.
Pep changed it around to win the game by going 3 at the back ( a centre half and both full backs) and putting two strikers on. This gave Silva more space to weave his magic between the lines as a centre half was pinred back with our striker and more space was given to Sterling and Sane when they cut inside for the same reason. The change occurrepd when Huddersfield were tiring and it led to 3 chances. For the last one Jesus got a toe poke shot off the kleeper saved it but it cannoned off the incoming Sterling into the net. Now the dam was broken Pep went 4 at the back again to defend against Huddersfield now they had to attack. Pep's best substitution for us in his tenure at City.
So as this will be the defacto base formation method of defence against us from here on in is there anything else we can do to break it than we already are?
Great post and one a lot of people should read carefully. It was not a thing of beauty but was a well crafted plan that on another day may have paid off. We can expect to see more of the same as the season unfolds. In particular I note your point about the rags and the strategy they will most likely adopt.
 
No problem with what Huddersfield did on Sunday. And they beat the Rags!
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.