When teams park the bus or play a 'low block' as seems to be the term these days we have all seen how much we can struggle to break it down. It is not always the case as when the players are on form we are capable of playing incisively and getting the breakthrough. However our form seems to be very cyclic, several good games then flat as a pancake the next and you can just tell that in some cases we could play all day and never score. Our play forms in to very predictable patterns; passing through defence to midfield, out wide, back to defence, midfield, work it out wide then an aimless cross from deep which is easily dealt with as we have very little aerial threat.
In these circumstances we really need a way to mix it up as it becomes all too easy for a competent and organised team to deal with. Primarily we need to have a way of increasing our aerial threat to:
a) increase our chance of converting these crosses
b) allow an effective way of varying our attacking play
Essentially what I'm getting at is to have a target man option to revert to when our primary strategy is clearly not working. One who can cause panic in defenders every time a ball comes into the box or potentially requires to be double / triple marked which can free up space. It would also allow us to shift up play and knock it in from deep to look for knock downs or flick ons with a realistic chance of success. Too often when the defence clears, they have ample time to reset as we lapse back into our pedestrian stroking to ball around midfield unchallenged until the next aimless cross can be delivered. If when cleared, for a period the ball was being getting continually fired back in with intent then pressure can build, mistakes can happen and hopefully our chances of scoring may increase. I understand route 1 play is not fashionable these days but it can still be effective. I certainly would not want to start games like this or to be a primary strategy but could be something to look at for contingency with 20-30 mins to go to alter when things look bleak.
In an ideal world we would have a young Mark Hateley to call upon but unfortunately we don't. Lafferty is not the answer and he has proven time and again that he is not dominant enough in the air and fails to play to his height. Looking back earlier in the season we carried the greatest threat in the air from Katic on corners and set plays and clearly he is the most dominant in the air in from our squad. I feel it would be prudent of our coaching staff to investigate through training various set-plays / scenarios whether using Katic as an auxiliary target man could be effective as a potential emergency option in situations as discussed. Thoughts?
In these circumstances we really need a way to mix it up as it becomes all too easy for a competent and organised team to deal with. Primarily we need to have a way of increasing our aerial threat to:
a) increase our chance of converting these crosses
b) allow an effective way of varying our attacking play
Essentially what I'm getting at is to have a target man option to revert to when our primary strategy is clearly not working. One who can cause panic in defenders every time a ball comes into the box or potentially requires to be double / triple marked which can free up space. It would also allow us to shift up play and knock it in from deep to look for knock downs or flick ons with a realistic chance of success. Too often when the defence clears, they have ample time to reset as we lapse back into our pedestrian stroking to ball around midfield unchallenged until the next aimless cross can be delivered. If when cleared, for a period the ball was being getting continually fired back in with intent then pressure can build, mistakes can happen and hopefully our chances of scoring may increase. I understand route 1 play is not fashionable these days but it can still be effective. I certainly would not want to start games like this or to be a primary strategy but could be something to look at for contingency with 20-30 mins to go to alter when things look bleak.
In an ideal world we would have a young Mark Hateley to call upon but unfortunately we don't. Lafferty is not the answer and he has proven time and again that he is not dominant enough in the air and fails to play to his height. Looking back earlier in the season we carried the greatest threat in the air from Katic on corners and set plays and clearly he is the most dominant in the air in from our squad. I feel it would be prudent of our coaching staff to investigate through training various set-plays / scenarios whether using Katic as an auxiliary target man could be effective as a potential emergency option in situations as discussed. Thoughts?