Weakness with our playing style?

[Mallagroth]

I'm not sure if Dodd article posted already, apologies if that's the case.

 

For a long while it's been clear that we have a problem killing teams off whilst dominating them with our playing style. It has seemed since the tail end of last season to have been the general case with flashes here and there of it being overcome.

Now this isn't meant to be a veiled post to knock the manager, as i think we are vastly better and am loving everything we are doing as a team.

 

What I'm interested in knowing is whether someone/we can work out what is the cause of this problem as I haven't had any luck so far (no surprise there tbh). My argument that this is a problem with our style as opposed to managerial decisions or individual players is based on the following comments by Dodd on the official site:

 

After recently seeing what he feels has been a sturdy streak growing within the U18s side, Dodd remains desperate to see his youngsters add a more ruthless element to their repertoire, reminiscent of how they found the net against Arsenal earlier on in the campaign.

 

The coach pinpointed Southampton’s FA Youth Cup exit at the hands of Charlton Athletic is a prime example of how the boys worked their way into excellent positions but failed to reap the rewards.

 

“We try and do things like our First Team do,” he continued. “Our goals (against Arsenal) came from their mistakes because of our pressure – players closing them down and winning the ball and then making the right decisions when we got in that final area. We scored two good goals.

 

“The problem at the moment is that we’re creating a lot and we’re doing okay but in the final third we’re just not getting that quality and the decisive pass. We just seem to be taking the wrong options at times. We’ve been challenging our players to work on that all week and hopefully they’ll bring it into this weekend’s game.

 

Sounding familiar right?

Edited 6 February, 2014 by Mallagroth

[david in sweden]

I wouldn't say it was a weakness in our playing style, but one in our finishing skills.

Since before Christmas we've averaged between 11-17 shots in differing Prem. League games, but haven't scored more than 2 - (since the Cardiff game) - until last weekend.

 

In the Villa game - (who could forget it ?) , we had 77% possession and 21 shots to their 6 - and still lost 2-3.

 

No they weren't all on target, but some that were ....were well saved buy respective goalies, and to be fair when hitting a ball in a split second on the volley - it can go anywhere.

 

Our strikers do seem to have more success ....when in possession and running with the ball ...(take last Saturday), whereas not so much when it comes to converting crosses into the box.

 

Guess we'll get a few more when the lads improve their shooting prowess, but I can't fault the playing style. It presses teams so hard.

 

My fun video of the week; is continually re-watching Merson (on Sky last Saturday) commenting on the Fulham game. We're not one of his favourite sides, but he has to admit were v.good.

Edited 6 February, 2014 by david in sweden

[Bearsy]

For a long while it's been clear that we have a problem killing teams off whilst dominating them with our playing style.

 

i dunno bout that! If there is a problem with being 9th in the league, and tbh i don't really think of it as a problem, it's more cos we've got the 9th best squad of players than cos we've got the 9th best playing style, if you know what i mean. On the other hand i look forward to reading Turkish thoughts bout two banks of four + get it in the mixer etc

[Mallagroth]

i dunno bout that! If there is a problem with being 9th in the league, and tbh i don't really think of it as a problem, it's more cos we've got the 9th best squad of players than cos we've got the 9th best playing style, if you know what i mean. On the other hand i look forward to reading Turkish thoughts bout two banks of four + get it in the mixer etc

 

Bad choice of wording perhaps, I'm delighted at our position, loving the season, and wouldn't change our style for anything else going at the moment.

 

More wondering if there is an inherent weakness in one of the style/formation/tactics (nothing's perfect granted) and why that is the case, as a mental excercise or challenge for more strategically minded people than I. When we have overcome the weakness/flaw what's the difference been?.

 

It seems that the junior teams playing same style (which is great of course) have run into the same problem, hence i reckon its a valid question to be looked at.

[Toadhall Saint]

The style is not weak - we just don't (and neither does any other team at our level) take all of our chances. Now if we weren't creating chances I'd be looking at our style with a little more concern.

[Mallagroth]

The style is not weak - we just don't (and neither does any other team at our level) take all of our chances. Now if we weren't creating chances I'd be looking at our style with a little more concern.

 

I think it has a Weakness not it is weak. Of course we can't score everytime we get a chance. However if I'm not mistaken there were quite a lot of threads on here not so long ago bemoaning the fact we don't create enough chances. I am perhaps posting this thread at the wrong time on the back of a win, but I'm really trying to not be antagonistic and just posing the question.

 

If it's just me that believes this is the case then I'll stfu lol.

[Toadhall Saint]

I think it has a Weakness not it is weak. Of course we can't score everytime we get a chance. However if I'm not mistaken there were quite a lot of threads on here not so long ago bemoaning the fact we don't create enough chances. I am perhaps posting this thread at the wrong time on the back of a win, but I'm really trying to not be antagonistic and just posing the question.

 

If it's just me that believes this is the case then I'll stfu lol.

 

No worries - entitled to your view and opinion. How many chances do you think we should be making per game? A lot depends on the playing style of your opponents.

[Bermuda Saint]

Yes our style does make it harder to score goals. We have the pressing game, which puts pressure on the ball in the opponents half, if we win it there they are already have most of their players ready to get into defending positions. We also like to retain possession which means we approach the other team in a methodical way. They will usually have two solid banks of 4 defending, leaving it up to us to break them down. It takes very skilled individuals and team efforts to get through a well organized defensive team, look at the WH vs Chelsea game as a perfect example. Our possession stats are so high that we can even out posses even the masters of it (ie Arsenal). We also don't seem to want to take long shots from good central positions, many times i have seen us try to thread that final path into the box, great to see but leaves more room for errors. I have been screaming for our midfielders to take some long shots, it will pull the defenders out to you more! We have shown some great counter attacking football (which doesn't happen very often as we retain most of the possession) but our fleet footed striker - Jrod- has shown some weakness in one vs one with the keeper. But I can't fault the lads effort. He keeps getting better and the whole team will as they mature and learn how to break down these deep lying teams.