Can Anyone Explain the last 10 Minutes Tactics?

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I was caught on TV with just 30 seconds remaining and looking at my watch for the umpteenth time. I couldn't believe how ill and drained I looked.

However, Burnley never really threatened, and apart from harshly awarded set piece, our game plan was perfect. Keep the ball and the opposition in their own half, and eventually they'll run out of energy.

 

[wolfie1988]

I was caught on TV with just 30 seconds remaining and looking at my watch for the umpteenth time. I couldn't believe how ill and drained I looked.

However, Burnley never really threatened, and apart from harshly awarded set piece, our game plan was perfect. Keep the ball and the opposition in their own half, and eventually they'll run out of energy.

Me too! The colour had drained out of my face

 

[supercity88]

I think the idea was to limit their opportunity for a sucker punch, though.

If we pile forward on the break and run at them 3 on 2 or 4 on 3 or whatever, that means they have more players in our half than us.

If our attack breaks down, it leaves us vulnerable to a long ball sucker punch from Burnley where they’d have a spare man.

It must be something Burnley do a lot of and we clearly prepared for it as I’ve never seen us do that before.

You’d have to say it worked as Burnley had 0 shots on goal and 0 corners, so we pretty much limited them to 0 chances to sucker punch.

Spot on. We could have scored another but had the ball ended up with Heaton amd three or four of our players up the pitch it could have cost us. It was smart to play keep ball, but actually we didn't execute it as well as we have before. Possibly because we had four CBs on the pitch playing all out defence and no one up the pitch as an out ball. It worked and we held on so a job well done.

 

[Mon Autre]

How about 'fuck containing them' and pushing on in the manner we had been doing that had done us well for the 2nd half?

It's not that simple though. We were playing a team hell bent on defending during the early part of the second half. As to be expected, they were coming at us more in the last 15 minutes. It wasn't a comfortable situation for us as fans but I think to the neutral we never really looked like conceding. Usually we're able to convert our dominance into a two or three goal lead and it's rare for us to be protecting such a slender lead at the end of a game. With Mee's clearance and the penalty that wasn't given, we were unfortunate to be only be one goal ahead. When you find yourself in that position it's inevitably nervy whichever way you approach those final minutes.

 

[Newtoncc]

It was nerve racking and you get sucked in to the moment, every pass, cross, thrown in, we give it away, they give it back. The last 4 minutes seemed like an eternity, then you sit back after the game and see they managed one shot and none on target and you wonder what all the fuss was about!
Can't see it getting any easier these next 2 games for our nerves, would be nice to get several early goals but that's probably asking too much.

 

[saleblue67]

We were just playing the %ages. Ruthless and professional tactic at 1-0 up, needing to win, with not much time left. Mancini did it all the time. Pep went one further by throwing on the 4th centre-half for that late free-kick. Loved it!

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Simple answer is keep the ball and keep the shape.

I suspect the longer answer has to do with the fact that Pep always goes on about when playing teams like Burnley: winning the ball in the air and winning the second balls. If you have the ball at your feet and on the ground, you don't have to worry about that. Fewer headers, fewer second balls, fewer chances conceded.

 

[SilverFox2]

Spot on. We could have scored another but had the ball ended up with Heaton amd three or four of our players up the pitch it could have cost us. It was smart to play keep ball, but actually we didn't execute it as well as we have before. Possibly because we had four CBs on the pitch playing all out defence and no one up the pitch as an out ball. It worked and we held on so a job well done.

Seems to me that our inability to hit the target when shooting transferred to an inability to pass correctly when we usually attack.