Pep's tactics

[Rammyblues]

Better to lead than be led. Just sayin :-)

 

[its a Barm]

other teams might try and play this way, but our squad is one of the best in the world full of top quality players who should make the difference.

 

[Bellamy's Caddy]

Quick high-pressing is all the rage. It's what fucked us up this last 2 years.

But if I lost sleep over things like that I would never, ever sleep.

Definitely. The last few seasons were frustrating watching us come up against those teams and have no answer for it. Pep is a master tactician, who seems prepared for all scenarios. How quickly our players will adapt to those methods is another matter though.

Without sounding arrogant, we have an extremely strong squad, particularly compared to league rivals. I would hope that even if other teams were to mirror our tactics we would have enough quality to overcome it.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Loving the tactics and looking fwd to chatting about them with fellow blues, feel very excited to have Pep.

As an opposition coach coming up against the tactics of our full backs going into defensive centre mids, allowing KDB, Silva between the lines, our wingers one on one, what would you do firstly to combat this and also to carry threat.

The most obvious one is to not push on to the full backs, which would allow space to Clichy and Sagna (but how much of a threat would that be?), this would allow players to go with Silva and KDB and be quicker to double up on our wingers.

There is also the possibility that a side will leave their winger high up the pitch in space, this would leave one of the back 3 going to cover and being left one on one...This we are bound to see as and when we are leading and teams need to take a risk.

For me the main issue would be if Sagna and Clichy carry enough threat with the ball...I would expect based on a similar team that if the FB's where not pressed then it is possibly that we Ferndinho would not drop back and Sagna would make the back 3, or Stones would step out and Clichy would make the back 3 would be tried to increase the threat of giving time to players in this position.

I look fed to seeing what other blues think and mostly seeing what Pep does!!

Good post mate.

I think the obvious way to counteract how we played on Saturday would be to play 433 with the two wingers pushed really high, similar to how Chelsea played under Mourinho in his first spell. As you said, this would lead to one on ones against the centre back and open up space for the centre forward.

However, there is no way Guardiola would set up like that against a team that plays 433 with the wingers pushed on. He'd only set us up like that against a team that is parking the bus and playing one up front. It's a great way of pulling players out of position.

I can see him setting us up in a similar shape against the likes of West Brom, Hull etc, and I just can't see their manager's being bold enough to throw their wingers high up.

I could see Mourinho for example figuring out the way to counter that, but I'd be stunned if Guardiola set us up like that against the Shite. I think against better quality teams playing 4231 we'll see our deep-lying midfielder holding his position and the full backs holding the same line, so we are basically matching their 3 attacking midfielders man for man.

So something like this:

.............................GK
................Stones..............Kompany
Sagna................Fernandinho...............Clichy
.............Silva.......................De Bruyne
Sterling................Aguero.....................Sane

 

[jay_mcfc]

At 2-4 down against Juve last season he played with three right wingers all swapping who ran down the right wing crossing balls in. I've never seen that tactic in my life.

They won the game in ET

This guy's got tactics for every situation

The more I see and read about Pep I am adamant he is a fan of the NFL. His attacking tactics remind me exactly of all the different situations an offensive co-ordinater would do to try to create space, numerical advantages and mis-matches. What you describe is like when in the NFL they put three wide receivers on the field instead of the usual two to try to create one on one situations for the WR's or to create space elsewhere for another player in a different position to take advantage.

That's just one situation, there are countless others that are very similar. I don't suppose Pep has ever mentioned American Football in any of his books?

 

[casserole of nonsense]

According to people who have played for him, he is apparently a superb coach tactics wise. The guy just doesnt know how to manage people.

Oh mercy, please. That'll be why Lady Glenda's enjoyed a succession of top coaching jobs over the last decade.

 

[Stato]

The more I see and read about Pep I am adamant he is a fan of the NFL. His attacking tactics remind me exactly of all the different situations an offensive co-ordinater would do to try to create space, numerical advantages and mis-matches. What you describe is like when in the NFL they put three wide receivers on the field instead of the usual two to try to create one on one situations for the WR's or to create space elsewhere for another player in a different position to take advantage.

That's just one situation, there are countless others that are very similar. I don't suppose Pep has ever mentioned American Football in any of his books?

pretty sure he went and studied over there after he left Barca.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Good post mate.

I think the obvious way to counteract how we played on Saturday would be to play 433 with the two wingers pushed really high, similar to how Chelsea played under Mourinho in his first spell. As you said, this would lead to one on ones against the centre back and open up space for the centre forward.

However, there is no way Guardiola would set up like that against a team that plays 433 with the wingers pushed on. He'd only set us up like that against a team that is parking the bus and playing one up front. It's a great way of pulling players out of position.

I can see him setting us up in a similar shape against the likes of West Brom, Hull etc, and I just can't see their manager's being bold enough to throw their wingers high up.

I could see Mourinho for example figuring out the way to counter that, but I'd be stunned if Guardiola set us up like that against the Shite. I think against better quality teams playing 4231 we'll see our deep-lying midfielder holding his position and the full backs holding the same line, so we are basically matching their 3 attacking midfielders man for man.

So something like this:

.............................GK
................Stones..............Kompany
Sagna................Fernandinho...............Clichy
.............Silva.......................De Bruyne
Sterling................Aguero.....................Sane

Not letting this silva/gundogan fight go I see (:

 

[Shaelumstash]

Not letting this silva/gundogan fight go I see (:

Haha I think it's you that's not letting the Gundogan / Silva fight go because you keep bringing it up.

I don't even think there is a Silva / Gundogan fight. I don't think there's a Silva / De Bruyne fight either. All 3 of them have big roles to play.

I think if you're expecting us to play the same team, same shape every week and he's going to pick your favourite Buzz Lightyear and Action Man where you want them to play, you're going to end up awfully disappointed ;-)

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Haha I think it's you that's not letting the Gundogan / Silva fight go because you keep bringing it up.

I don't even think there is a Silva / Gundogan fight. I don't think there's a Silva / De Bruyne fight either. All 3 of them have big roles to play.

I think if you're expecting us to play the same team, same shape every week and he's going to pick your favourite Buzz Lightyear and Action Man where you want them to play, you're going to end up awfully disappointed ;-)

Mate, I genuinely expected you to hold your hands up there and say 'shit, forgot about him'...

I've been talking about variations since Pep was announced and you're rIght, although his spine invariably stays the same, I think the same will apply here...

It's ok, I get the silva love but if people find the Joe hart thread hard to comprehend, wait till the little man gets bumped (: