Is a requisite that any manager must have in this day and age, in my opinion.
Even in the Premier League, when the focus was predominantly about a 'gung-ho' and 'in your face' approach, it seems with the influx or foreign managers and the fitness levels of modern day players, it is an absolute necessity to plan and counteract any team's physical advantage (or any kind of advantage for that matter) with careful planning and ability to shape a team towards that aim.
Case in point the game against Man. City on Monday. I haven't seen us been out-thought and out-fought in a game against a top team like this for a long time. It is known that we don't have the necessary armament, on the attacking front, to throw caution to the wind and play attacking football the way the best teams do, therefore requiring more control on the way we approach games.
If you look at Barcelona for example, you will see that their game is based on a simple approach. Keep the ball as much as possible, even if it requires going sideways and back, then when they lose it, make sure it is done in areas further up the pitch, which minimises the risks of conceding possession in dangerous areas. Their phenomenal ability of winning back the ball is aided by the fact that most of the times they lose it, it is in areas where their shape allow them to apply the required pressing game which helps them strangle the life out of teams. I think at our best, we were very good at pressurising teams as well but I think we're going back to a trend of conceding possession which reduces our ability to do so (stats in our last two games show that). It must be a terrible thought knowing that Mascherano may move to Barcelona, and it seems it's more likely than not he will.
Then again, Barcelona is an exceptional team, which makes it easy for someone like Guardiola, who didn't have much experience managing a football team before he took charge of Barca (I could be wrong, anyone correct me if I am), to have so much success. I think that we were more able to tackle any team with the approach of our former manager - especially away from home, irrespective of the fact that the football might have been dour at times, but we were very efficient (apart from last season which was a disaster) in stifling the life out of teams, then pouncing in with a winner out of the sheer ability of one or two players.
For example, Benitez seemed to be obsessed with analysing the fitness levels of each and every player, waiting for as long as hours before a match before selecting his teams. Whilst there is no evidence of Roy not applying the same methods, I've seen a pattern where teams tactics and personnel seemed to have been devised well before a match, which to me indicate there is not the same careful planning - for example the team tactics and personnel seemed to have been devised well before games.
It's still very early days though, and the new manager hasn't got enough time to imprint his new methods into the player's minds, so I guess it might be a tad unfair to compare him with Rafa, but this is just the way I'm seeing things at the moment. That game against City did throw up some glaring inadequacies, which I hope won't be repeated again.
Even in the Premier League, when the focus was predominantly about a 'gung-ho' and 'in your face' approach, it seems with the influx or foreign managers and the fitness levels of modern day players, it is an absolute necessity to plan and counteract any team's physical advantage (or any kind of advantage for that matter) with careful planning and ability to shape a team towards that aim.
Case in point the game against Man. City on Monday. I haven't seen us been out-thought and out-fought in a game against a top team like this for a long time. It is known that we don't have the necessary armament, on the attacking front, to throw caution to the wind and play attacking football the way the best teams do, therefore requiring more control on the way we approach games.
If you look at Barcelona for example, you will see that their game is based on a simple approach. Keep the ball as much as possible, even if it requires going sideways and back, then when they lose it, make sure it is done in areas further up the pitch, which minimises the risks of conceding possession in dangerous areas. Their phenomenal ability of winning back the ball is aided by the fact that most of the times they lose it, it is in areas where their shape allow them to apply the required pressing game which helps them strangle the life out of teams. I think at our best, we were very good at pressurising teams as well but I think we're going back to a trend of conceding possession which reduces our ability to do so (stats in our last two games show that). It must be a terrible thought knowing that Mascherano may move to Barcelona, and it seems it's more likely than not he will.
Then again, Barcelona is an exceptional team, which makes it easy for someone like Guardiola, who didn't have much experience managing a football team before he took charge of Barca (I could be wrong, anyone correct me if I am), to have so much success. I think that we were more able to tackle any team with the approach of our former manager - especially away from home, irrespective of the fact that the football might have been dour at times, but we were very efficient (apart from last season which was a disaster) in stifling the life out of teams, then pouncing in with a winner out of the sheer ability of one or two players.
For example, Benitez seemed to be obsessed with analysing the fitness levels of each and every player, waiting for as long as hours before a match before selecting his teams. Whilst there is no evidence of Roy not applying the same methods, I've seen a pattern where teams tactics and personnel seemed to have been devised well before a match, which to me indicate there is not the same careful planning - for example the team tactics and personnel seemed to have been devised well before games.
It's still very early days though, and the new manager hasn't got enough time to imprint his new methods into the player's minds, so I guess it might be a tad unfair to compare him with Rafa, but this is just the way I'm seeing things at the moment. That game against City did throw up some glaring inadequacies, which I hope won't be repeated again.
)...but football has changed/evolved an awful lot since then. So although it essentially remains a simple game, it is a hell of a lot more nuanced than it once was.
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