Chris the Bandito
Well-Known Member
I'd just like to redress some of the threads on here when things have gone wrong blaming our insistence on playing the same way.
That's always been an exaggeration as there is always some tweaking game to game e.g. both Motherwell and today pulling our FBs deeper to draw out the 3-5-2 opposition wing backs but essentially our defensive system does remain pretty consistent.
Today was the perfect example why we stick with it. Goldson's interview after the game was music to my ears. 2 years working on the system, everyone knows their job, trust one another. Tims attack after attack being diverted down a maze of dead ends and traps just to get back to their cb in the centre circle with our lines unbroken and reformed. Intelligent, stress free defending as a team and their only chances were a couple of long straight balls one of which was just Connor misjudging a header.
Compare with the shambles up the other end of the pitch where Lennon changes system after every OF defeat and his players look like a) they aren't suited to the system chosen, b) they don't known what they're meant to be dong and where they're meant to be doing it.
This isn't the end of the war and there will be some challenges along the way, but at the moment it feels like Beale and Gerrard are tactically way ahead of the Bheggars and it's up to them to find a response.
The confidence for us should come from European teams playing all sorts of systems with more money than the Bheggars trying to beat that system for the past 3 years and only Havertz and co have really been successful. The only other team to beat us is us and we don't look like doing that very often now everyone really understands their job.
The tims have some good players but right now it feels like they've only got a puncher's chance that one of those players will beat us on his own like the LCF.
The big difference this year is we have many more options to break teams down and a willingness on SG's part not to force GK and RJ into midfield just for the sake of it, which will hopefully mean fewer points dropped against the cannon fodder on crazy golf pitches.
Maintain our focus and we're winning this thing
That's always been an exaggeration as there is always some tweaking game to game e.g. both Motherwell and today pulling our FBs deeper to draw out the 3-5-2 opposition wing backs but essentially our defensive system does remain pretty consistent.
Today was the perfect example why we stick with it. Goldson's interview after the game was music to my ears. 2 years working on the system, everyone knows their job, trust one another. Tims attack after attack being diverted down a maze of dead ends and traps just to get back to their cb in the centre circle with our lines unbroken and reformed. Intelligent, stress free defending as a team and their only chances were a couple of long straight balls one of which was just Connor misjudging a header.
Compare with the shambles up the other end of the pitch where Lennon changes system after every OF defeat and his players look like a) they aren't suited to the system chosen, b) they don't known what they're meant to be dong and where they're meant to be doing it.
This isn't the end of the war and there will be some challenges along the way, but at the moment it feels like Beale and Gerrard are tactically way ahead of the Bheggars and it's up to them to find a response.
The confidence for us should come from European teams playing all sorts of systems with more money than the Bheggars trying to beat that system for the past 3 years and only Havertz and co have really been successful. The only other team to beat us is us and we don't look like doing that very often now everyone really understands their job.
The tims have some good players but right now it feels like they've only got a puncher's chance that one of those players will beat us on his own like the LCF.
The big difference this year is we have many more options to break teams down and a willingness on SG's part not to force GK and RJ into midfield just for the sake of it, which will hopefully mean fewer points dropped against the cannon fodder on crazy golf pitches.
Maintain our focus and we're winning this thing
