Advice from me

[swb]

What I saw against Chester is what I have seen a few times this season. When we win the ball in midfield or defence the ball is passed backed to the back line, passed across the field and back a few times then a forward pass is made and another attack is started. In the meantime the opposition has had all the time in the world to form their two lines of defence and then when our wide players try to advance they have two opposition players on them preventing a quality cross so when the ball does make it into the Penalty area it is then two/three of our players against probably six of theirs.



This to me is CHESS football and can be seen in many football games.

BUT when they get the ball they attack with speed against a retreating defence ( the most dangerous situation ). Central defenders are pulled out of position because the Full Backs have gone up field as wide men, the ball gets crossed onto a much less populated penalty area and a created is created, a far better chance than anything we have created at the other end.



It is basically how we beat Swindon so it would seem we can be rather good at the counter attacking game so instead of playing possession, chess football, why don’t we give counter attacking football a go

[nobadspitfire]

I'm sure Ronnie has seen this & went "Doh! Why didn't I think of this?". Any more tactical gems you wish to share with us? 

[swb]

Nov 28, 2016 11:33:53 GMT nobadspitfire said:

I'm sure Ronnie has seen this & went "Doh! Why didn't I think of this?". Any more tactical gems you wish to share with us? 

Tut, Tut. Sarcasm.

I sure he does know but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

[Deleted]

Good observations, SWB.
It's nice to have a fans view on whats going wrong, rather than people just saying yes we are brilliant when we win, and crap we are are rubbish when we lose. Any fan can express those kind of useless opinions on a game by game basis, but outlining why you feel we are losing should be an interesting read for most fans and can also indeed give food for thought for the manager, if he reads this forum.
The manager is not always right and when a genuine fan speaks up and gives an opinion on where he feels the team are going wrong, and what could be done to put it right, they should not be met with sarcasm or disdain.
Sadly, most fans seem to just blindly follow the manager in everything he does, simply because he is a football manager.
Things need to be constantly challenged and an alternative voice from a paying fan is the very least we should expect to be reading on a football forum, especially when the team and manager have only achieved 3 wins in the last 10 league games. In which in 5 of those 10 games we were playing against opposition that were below us in the league table.
Maybe RM doesn't see it, if he is seeing it, he clearly hasn't been able to address the issue that SWB has pointed out.

[bennyblueballs]

I agree SWB. I guess the issue is as the home team we are expected to go out for the win allowing the opposition to frustrate and then counter on us - most teams will think a draw at our place as a good result. How we change our style of play during the game (and use of substitutions here are the key) to defeat an organised team is what RM is paid for, so far it doesn't seem he has an effective plan B.

[bomber]

Nov 28, 2016 10:31:17 GMT swb said:

It is basically how we beat Swindon so it would seem we can be rather good at the counter attacking game so instead of playing possession, chess football, why don’t we give counter attacking football a go

We beat Swindon because Swindon had to attack and try to win. Not sit back. This is where the team are failing in my opinion. There's no alternative plan. I said in the Chester thread. Teams come to Eastleigh with a plan to not lose and we can't break them down. Eastleigh keep playing it wide and nobody is getting to the ball first when its delivered into the box Now I don't know if the manager applies these tactics or is it the players lacking initiative? But I don't recall one through ball down the middle Saturday. No defence splitting passes at all. If we had a player who thought for himself a few times then things might change, otherwise we're going to struggle.


Then again, what do I know lol.

"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes" Brian Clough.
.

[michaelefc]

"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes" Brian Clough

Precisely.

[Deleted]

What's dominoes, is that a game....I thought it was a pizza!!!

[unknownquantity]

I actually found SWB's thread very interesting, although I might not necessarily agree with him as to what constitutes chess football and perhaps it might have been better to have worded the thread an observation from me rather than Advice from me.

I personally think that some of Ronnie Moore's comments after games ask more questions than they answer and I think that may be why some people try and find different ways at looking at things.

For the York game I have already commented that I thought that the fact that the York defence got men behind the ball was a major factor in being only 1-0 up before the substitutions were made, and that unless there was a clear reason for doing so it did not seem right to bring off a wide man and have a striker filling his role.

[back4more]

swb has some good points but it's worth bearing in mind that when your opponents are sitting back and just waiting to attack on the break, you have to draw them out to open up space in their half and hence the need to hold on to the ball in deep positions for a spell sometimes.

It's fair to be concerned though at Saturday's display. The pitch held up well after the dry spell and we could have played more football. We did suffer from some very poor one sided refereeing, but we should have beaten that Chester side. When you look back at how we were doing a month ago we would have probably done them then.

My biggest concern at the moment is with team selection. Andy Drury is probably the best player at the club but didn't look fully into it and you have to wonder if he was brought back a match too soon. That's a key position where a playmaker's creativity makes the difference and provides the initiative needed to dominate the game. We never had that initiative after the first 20 minutes by which time Chester had worked us out and settled into their stride. I wonder how much different it would have been if we had payed Jai instead who will create chances from nothing and who had been one of the best players on the pitch in our win against Aldershot. 

Connor Essam was also excellent at Aldershot and his pace and mobility would have been more effective alongside either Reda Johnson or Bondz N'Gala in seeing off the occasional threat posed by Chester on the break. Both of those guys are excellent defenders but RM's plan for them to scare off strikers didn't seem to come together.

I don't know if David Pipe is fully fit but there might be a case for him to get a run out in midfield. Jason Taylor has produced some tremendous performances early in the season but recent changes in the set up seem to have neutralised his contribution over the last couple of matches and Pipe might be hoping to show what he can do in that role.