Brentford (H) - Post-Match Thread

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Well I made the mistake of looking in on here before watching the match, and was surprised by the general tone of negativity in not a few of the posts.
I found that an intriguing match. Not great, but always interesting. Of course Brentford were going to put ten men behind the ball! I mean, what else? They were lacking their talisman striker, and anybody who’s under strength, doesn’t have a midfield even vaguely in the same league as ours, and who comes out swinging, playing us at our own game, is going to get picked off over and over. Because our press is the best in Europe, and once we’ve got the ball back, our passing right through the team (John and Aymeric were astonishing several times last night) will kill a team that’s in any way open. We‘re talking 5-0, 6-0, 7-0. Not exactly the score that you want to be walking away from when you’ve just lost your last five games.
No, it was interesting in the way a technical problem can be interesting. What do you do when faced with with a door that is locked, barred and bolted?
Of course it’s slower, it requires patience, it’s not the swashbuckling stuff of 2011-12, 2013-14, or indeed 2017-18. You know what? 8 times out of 10, we unpick that lock, we lift those bars, we pull those bolts back. Better get used to it, as long as we’re as good as we are. It’s not going to change. Very few teams are going to go toe to toe with us.
I can live with it. I can live with us being 12 points clear…

 

[Cheeky Txiki]

Heard that Walker was benched because Pep wanted to test out stones at RB if Walker's appeal was dismissed for our UCL game.

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

Of course Brentford were going to put ten men behind the ball! I mean, what else?

They had 11 behind the ball for most of the game!

 

[Gremlin]

Heard that Walker was benched because Pep wanted to test out stones at RB if Walker's appeal was dismissed for our UCL game.

I thought the same. I also thought he did alright there last night so definitely an option.

 

[Newman Noggs]

It’s getting to the point where the semi circle needs drawing between the lines as the officials seem unable to mentally picture it.

Forgive me, I've always been really shit at Trigonometry but, if there is a penalty the players have semi-circle around the ball that keeps them 10 yards away. For a corner, there are two marks at 10 yards, one just behind the goal line, one just behind the touchline. Some posters have suggested a line between the two points would represent ten yards but my instinct is that it would need to be a semi/quarter circle. Trying to work it out is doing my head in.

 

[Barcon]

Forgive me, I've always been really shit at Trigonometry but, if there is a penalty the players have semi-circle around the ball that keeps them 10 yards away. For a corner, there are two marks at 10 yards, one just behind the goal line, one just behind the touchline. Some posters have suggested a line between the two points would represent ten yards but my instinct is that it would need to be a semi/quarter circle. Trying to work it out is doing my head in.

You are correct.

 

[Newman Noggs]

You are correct.

Ah, because that was pissing me off last night. They were standing directly between the two points and the linesman was letting them. It just looked wrong.

 

[spiny]

Kev played much deeper. Almost at times as a sweeper but would also move up front. This is part of Peps evolution of the Dutch total football where players not only revolve positions but actively interchange.

Cryuff and followers never had to contend with 8-9-10 men defences in their own penalty area.

 

[spiny]

Kev played much deeper. Almost at times as a sweeper but would also move up front. This is part of Peps evolution of the Dutch total football where players not only revolve positions but actively interchange.

Cryuff and followers never had to contend with 8-9-10 men defences in their own penalty area.

ps I did not include the goalie as a given

 

[Love_Each_Day]

When a team from same division sets up like that it'll always turn the game to a non event, same as the back 5s of Huddersfield, Wolves, Chelsea & a few times Utd under Solskjaer last few years. I think you could take 10 rugby players with a passing interest in football, train them for a week and the result would be similar, no real thought or football ability required. It's becoming a blight on the game and something needs to be done. That said with somebody up front good in the air attacking crosses these back 5 merchants would be screwed, probably the main reason we wanted Kane/Ronaldo.

Sporting play 5 at the back, that'll be another turgid affair.