Blue_Lightsaber
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2022
- Messages
- 4,531
- Team supported
- Man City
Where did we get this idea that the GK just absolutely has to play to the defender on the first ball under Pep and he'll lose his shit if we don't?
The whole idea was just to retain possession. If we're doing that by playing it to the wingers, there's no issue.
Ederson has multiple assists going straight to the attacker. According to some people, that should be driving Pep insane.
The whole idea was making smart decisions with the ball and playing possession in favour of territory.
It's naive to assume that Donnarumma will be expected by management to be capable of what Ederson is. It's naive to think that they think Trafford has that capability. Ederson is an absolute unicorn in that respect. Donnarumma is perfectly capable of not teeing up a Spurs player from the penalty spot. Which for me is an acceptable trade off for not being able to assist Haaland.
The team has never just been about "playing from the back". It's just been about retaining the ball to dictate tempo. What Trafford did today for the 2nd was just a poor decision and a poor read of the game.
You play out through the back when it's safe to do so, not just because you feel you have to. Just like Ederson played the long ball because an attacker was capable of receiving the pass with minimal work, not because he just wanted to go route one.
We won a treble when Pep trusted his defenders to just CLEAR THE BALL instead of retaining possession! That was the one thing Ake, Dias and Akanji did different in that season from the 17-18 to 21-22 seasons.. where as Zinny/ Laporte/ Cancelo would all try to retain it and it'd end up in our net.
We have to give license to the defenders again to clear it.. because giving up a ball 40 yards from goal is a lot better than losing it 10 yards from your own goal.
That's the only thing I would change after today other than the amount of effort put in because Spurs outworked us today and first to every loose ball!