So this Pep doesn’t focus on tackling nonsense

[FrankSwift1]

If I may be childish for a moment, the hardest player in football, certainly in my 57 years, has to be Duncan Ferguson. While burgling a nice house the two thugs/thieves see a huge figure emerge from the darkness. It's Mr F. Mr F hospitalises one of 'em and the other guy runs away. The police praise Mr F for acting bravely and responsibly. He was a pretty decent player - plagued by injuries though.

Not sure if it's true but I heard he tied them up as well and they were pleading with him to call the police.

 

[WesthoughtonJohn]

This idea sits right alongside the ‘£50 million for a full back’ nonsense.
They are still living in an era where a full back is expected to do not much more than put his opponent over the adverts and into the crowd.
It seems that they haven’t watched the way Walker (being the player in question) is actually used in the modern system that pep employs.
If they did watch, they would also understand that you don’t need old fashioned tackling when you win the ball back at the speed and positions that we do.
The dinosaur is still alive and well one the football media.

This is the one.
Why risk injury to yourself, or an opponent, when you can READ the game and the pass options and cut them out.
This is where Gareth Southgate could really bring England on - ability to read the game and reduce a teams options from escaping the press

 

[fatbloke]

This is the one.
Why risk injury to yourself, or an opponent, when you can READ the game and the pass options and cut them out.
This is where Gareth Southgate could really bring England on - ability to read the game and reduce a teams options from escaping the press

The difference is we have tactically intelligent players on the whole, England sadly don’t. It only works if everybody is singing off the same hymn sheet and while Walker, Stones, Delph and Sterling all understand the high pressing, positioning and body movement the likes of Jones, Smalling, Dier, Henderson etc. don’t because they’re used to playing a completely different style so the system falls flat on its face.

International football can never be as good as club football, simply because the managers haven’t got the time on the training ground to get uniformity from different club sides. The successful nations generally have a strong nucleus of players from one or two clubs (Barcelona & Real or Bayern).

The only way it’ll change in this country is hopefully when Guardiola leaves a legacy behind with us that nobody can compete with for a long time. The media and other football fans in general are already starting to see it but they don’t see it in enough detail, you have to physically be there in the upper tiers of games to see the patterns of play both attacking and defensive wise to really appreciate just how much preparation there is in this team. We’re not just good individually, we’re the best team as a whole.

 

[Impeccable One]

What I think many miss is we don’t tackle to get the ball, we apply pressure causing mistakes and even steal it back (sorry about the Americanism). Watch and you’ll see how many times a game a subtle toe poke gets the ball away from the opposition.

 

[StrangewaysHereWeCome]

From an American perspective - I watch NBC's coverage of the P/L and generally Fox Sports coverage of the UCL (if I'm lucky they'll simply relay the original English commentary) - the pundits on American television are very aware of and highly complementary of Pep's defensive tactics. As good as we are going forward, pretty much all the pundits on American TV equally credit our ability to win the ball back quickly on defense.

Also, Ederson is getting huge plaudits - nary a game goes by where commentators fail to praise Ederson's ability on the ball - essentially transforming our squad into 11 versus 10.

I remember throughout childhood and even into my late teens when running off the previous nights beer we'd often play a 'fly goalie'
That's as flair as we got though

 

[Newman Noggs]

The media and other football fans in general are already starting to see it but they don’t see it in enough detail, you have to physically be there in the upper tiers of games to see the patterns of play both attacking and defensive wise to really appreciate just how much preparation there is in this team.

This sentence tickled me. Not only do you have to be there (which I agree with), but you have to be in the upper tiers. Shit, rules me out then.

 

[Esteban de la Sexface]

You can't coach tackling. You can coach pressing angles, body shapes, defensive positions, recovery runs, team shape. You simply can't coach tackling.

How? Pep "Bernardo, run at Vinny". "Vinny, kick fucking lumps off him"

 

[KS55]

English football will stay in the middle ages until someone influential says: look, why are City miles ahead? Forget the spending, others have spent big, too. What do they do different? What can we learn?
Until there is a recognition that Pep's way is just superior, they will just carry on making excuses. Have they not noticed our total failure at international level? Not much point in all that punditry, if it is riddled with ignorance and predjudice. Before Pep arrived, Henry Winter wrote " Pep will change the face of English football." I am beginning to wonder if English football will ever learn.
Forget all that fancy Spanish nonsense, lads, just go back to "Direct Play, FA style."

 

[inchy14]

This sentence tickled me. Not only do you have to be there (which I agree with), but you have to be in the upper tiers. Shit, rules me out then.

He's right in a way though, you see the whole pattern of the game from higher up, you see positions in passages of play that aren't possible to be spotted from lower down in the stadium.

 

[urban genie]

Who has said this anyway? and if it's journos from papers or any of the Sky/BT/BBC then who cares? they are all tossers anyway.

Not heard it said myself and really, anyone who has watched us know we tackle when necessary mainly.
Pep doesn'st divulge his training methods so how this is known beats me (not like when clichey revealed same about wenger in an interview)