How to beat park the bus

[Bluesince1979]

Then take the kick off and hold the ball in our half and don’t advance anyone past the halfway line, this anti football is a fucking joke it’s now becoming risk averse for most teams, if the other team then come into our half ping the ball over the top.

They wouldnt come into our half

 

[Bluefen]

Considering we are pretty much guaranteed 7-10 corners a game and several free kicks around the box, being better at set pieces would be a start

The amount of times KDB and Gvardiol are available at the edge of the area when Doku has the ball (goals Gvardiol was scoring for fun last season) is another obvious one

Akanji yesterday was seeing a lot of the ball but not surprisingly no end product

 

[Bluefen]

Been chilling out today after yesterdays sickener.

Having reflected on things I have concluded that the biggest problem we have is the lack of at least 1 genuine world class overlapping fullback.

This is on Txiki... we have sleep walked into this. Walker stayed great for at least 2 years longer than we had any right to expect. How the fuck did we not have a replacement ready to go.

This is why everything has slowed down to walking pace...

Its not on the players, I've not seen any lack of effort.

The full back problem has been with us for a decade now...

Evidence would suggest it’s not been a problem given how much we have won in that time (without any fullbacks bar Walker)

 

[ShedDweller]

Evidence would suggest it’s not been a problem given how much we have won in that time (without any fullbacks bar Walker)

That's exactly my point. Its amazing how many games Walker played, he was never injured...

How did they think that could go on forever? No real succession planning.

Buying more CH's is not a solution for a FB

Walkers form finally collapsing and then him going has left us with basically a bunch of CH's and MF players filling in the FB role.

Is it any surprise we've become ponderous, WTF was Txiki thinking?

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Move the ball quicker when we get it back, don't give the bus time to park.

We play with such a lack of urgency that if 3 old age pensioners were playing upfront against us they could hobble back into a defensive shape no problem by the time we've played a shitload of meaningless passes.

 

[NQCitizen]

Move the ball quicker when we get it back, don't give the bus time to park.

We play with such a lack of urgency that if 3 old age pensioners were playing upfront against us they could hobble back into a defensive shape no problem by the time we've played a shitload of meaningless passes.

The trouble is we deliberately play with a lack of urgency so we can build a platform to resist a counter attack because usually any shot from inside our box ends in a goal against us.

The lack of speed to our play is very much designed into the system.

 

[deegee33]

Triangles, quick movement, width (should be possible with players on our team)

Be prepared to whip crosses in and willing to lose possession as a result (Pep no likey)

Don’t ask the CBs to be the ones in possession all the time and tasked with playing the line breaker or the killer ball (Rodri back will help with this)

Don’t pack an already crowded final third by having all 10 outfield players in the opposition half (crowds the passing lanes and makes you very susceptible to the counter)

Your last two paragraphs completely answered the question.

 

[Dobsy]

Yep, me and many other blues I know were disappointed at our failure to score more goals that night against Inter.

It really took the shine off our treble

That's obviously not what my point was, weird post.

 

[Ctidpaul]

Your last two paragraphs completely answered the question.

Another good idea,get the 6 foot 12 striker to move inside the box

 

[Tb1981]

We can't play counter attack when the team plan is to defend deep against us. Very rarely do we have that space to play over the top or in behind.

Hence, why we switch from right to left to try and drag someone out of position.

Khusanov solves the recovery pace problem but to beat a bus, you also have to score and that means creative supply from the final third of midfield.

Don’t forget we used to be able to play a bit deeper and draw teams to press us, but now we can’t play out in the same way
We have zero speed with the ball. It’s so pedestrian
Also we used to blitz teams who sat deep in first ten and get the goal and then their plan was fucked and they gave up

We need to give pep the tools
At least it looks like the penny has dropped on the recruitment team

 

[oldius]

The principles of possession football should stay.
A couple of additions, including a 10 who can play the direct passes that KDB once delivered, plus the return of Rodri will make a huge difference.
A smattering of direct play with runners off Erling will also introduce a variety of play that will unsettle rigid defences.
This is not an easy task though. Teams have become more and more tactically astute.

 

[svennis pennis]

Shoot.

 

[hihosilva]

Too often we moving the ball left to right, pushing the opposition back & looking for the perfect pass to tap in. We need to mix it up more often & take some shots on the edge of the box.

 

[Blue Maverick]

How about on corners we leave Haaland and Marmoush on the halfway line, opposition have a conundrum then they would need 3/4 players to cover them, so the corner could be defended easier and a breakaway on if the keeper gets it out quick enough

 

[mcfcbill91]

It's all rhythm of attack, something Rodri orchestrates so well for us (amongst his other roles)

I felt the issue against Southampton was we didn't force them to defend in a desperate & tiring manner until the second half. The play was in front of them and probing for a gap, which let them stay in a shape.

It's not ideal to have teams defend this way, but we also kept interrupting our rhythm by whacking it off for a goal kick, or making stupid errors like misplacing passes when circulating the ball.



From this position, Foden hits a nothing cross and it takes us another minute to generate an attack.

If we had just maintained the pressure for that minute, it may let us find a gap.

In the second half, we obviously changed to use wingers more, which automatically disrupted Southampton - but we also maintained a better rhythm and pinned them in, which created far better chances that we should've taken.


This is comparable to Saturday - below screenshot is our last attack prior to their goal.



Savinho puts it behind for a goal kick from here, playing a ball that's never on.

Had he played to Akanji, we could continue to probe Palace.

From that goal kick, we've fallen victim to an orchestrated routine of playing short, we press and they play long ball to get it round the corner for the wing back to then cross for Eze. It's similar build up to their first goal at the Etihad.

O'Reilly failed to track Munoz for a split second.


How we attack has a huge bearing on how, or when we need to defend.

These two incidents just highlight that rushed or poor attacks is more of the issue, rather than manipulating a team's shape through patient play.

The style of defending is to simply reduce the margins down to a single goal, or a well drilled set piece (even goal kicks now) - our main counter is to force teams to defend for long stretches of play, or force a gap that players like Foden (remember the top corner goals last seaon) will take advantage of.

Look across PL games and see how many are won by the teams with lower possession at the moment. A majority of mid table teams have adopted this same playing style, prioritising quick breaks. The parked bus isn't new, but teams having top quality players and extreme interpretations of parking the bus is, coupled with being better in initial phases (so many just used to hoof into the channel)


Overall, I feel we've been caught between two eras of the team, but also our last two games have showcased how vital rhythm is to our play, alongside the tight margins. When teams play to make it this fine, penalties etc must be exploited. When we aren't firing like we have in previous seasons, the risk of falling victim to the margins is higher.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

Too often we moving the ball left to right, pushing the opposition back & looking for the perfect pass to tap in. We need to mix it up more often & take some shots on the edge of the box.

We already take more shots from outside the box than any other team. We've scored 13 times from them in the league this season, the most, which comapres to 6 or 7 for Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.

 

[Goats left knee]

Too often it ends with Akanji on the edge of the box… so frustrating
We then just try a high cross

why not low drill it across the box countless times with a lot of power? Cause a bit of panic

 

[route46]

Movement and playing quick One-Twos would be a start.

 

[fozzy_mcfc]

We can't play counter attack when the team plan is to defend deep against us. Very rarely do we have that space to play over the top or in behind.

Hence, why we switch from right to left to try and drag someone out of position.

Khusanov solves the recovery pace problem but to beat a bus, you also have to score and that means creative supply from the final third of midfield.

We could always try an overlapping full back. It will definitely create space for the winger and give their defence something else to think about.

 

[Blue Maverick]

We could always try an overlapping full back. It will definitely create space for the winger and give their defence something else to think about.

That only works if there aren’t 18 players in the box though.