Little tactical tweak I noticed

Lanc_seasider

Well-known member
I like to think I’m fairly good with understanding tactics, both tactics to prevent sides playing and the opposite to break sides down. But this one I’ve got to say, whilst it seems to be working, I can’t really work out the significance of it.

In possession, it was clear to see in the games against Oxford and P’boro, the two central midfielders would peel off to their respective sides full back position to receive the ball. For example last night, Dougall would come to the left back position an awful lot, Ward would then sit in the centre of the pitch. And vice versa, when Ward picked it up in the right back berth, Dougall would occupy the centre of the pitch. I suppose it allows the full backs to push forward, further up the pitch, which then maybe allows the wingers, last night Kaikai and Mitchell to come inside a little and have a little more freedom without losing the width? I mean even in just writing this it’s beginning to click in my head. It can’t be a coincidence that we’ve started doing this with the centre mids, and Kaikai has had a resurgence in form?

What do we think? Our problem in a lot of games recently has been playing through midfield, we’ve resorted to playing it long too much. But this little tactic clearly seems to have worked last two games.
 
I like to think I’m fairly good with understanding tactics, both tactics to prevent sides playing and the opposite to break sides down. But this one I’ve got to say, whilst it seems to be working, I can’t really work out the significance of it.

In possession, it was clear to see in the games against Oxford and P’boro, the two central midfielders would peel off to their respective sides full back position to receive the ball. For example last night, Dougall would come to the left back position an awful lot, Ward would then sit in the centre of the pitch. And vice versa, when Ward picked it up in the right back berth, Dougall would occupy the centre of the pitch. I suppose it allows the full backs to push forward, further up the pitch, which then maybe allows the wingers, last night Kaikai and Mitchell to come inside a little and have a little more freedom without losing the width? I mean even in just writing this it’s beginning to click in my head. It can’t be a coincidence that we’ve started doing this with the centre mids, and Kaikai has had a resurgence in form?

What do we think? Our problem in a lot of games recently has been playing through midfield, we’ve resorted to playing it long too much. But this little tactic clearly seems to have worked last two games.
yep, great observation. 👍

Now you mention it I certainly noticed it with Dougall but would not have picked up on it as a tactic so every credit. Athough it worked as a game plan perhaps it was a bit alien to him as he gave the ball away too often and also got caught in possession. as well.
 
We were doing that with Stewart going deep to pick up the ball a few games ago.

Not sure I'm keen on Dougal doing it, he's far better at winning the ball than distributing it.
 
Looks like a tweak of the tactic we started using when Stewart joined us, it worked to start with but teams soon realised if you press Stewart it causes us problems.
Using two midfielders gives more options and also makes a little space for an attacking midfielder to drop a little deeper to offer a third option. It worked well last night but may need tweaking again if teams come up with a solution to it.
 
I get the comments about Stewart but he was more just in general collecting the ball off the back 4 if that makes sense. Whereas the two last night were pointedly moving to the full back positions to receive the ball.
 
We were doing that with Stewart going deep to pick up the ball a few games ago.

Not sure I'm keen on Dougal doing it, he's far better at winning the ball than distributing it.
Stewart did it centrally. As the OP states one of the CMs goes wide ahead of the full backs - this allows us to play out from the back by overloading that side of the field. If their CM comes across also it opens up the centre area to be palyed through.
 
Good observation that. I don't particularly try to understand tactics apart from when a team looks utterly clueless, which has happened to us a few times this season.

Back to your point; anything that gives Kaikai the freedom to roam centrally helps.

Less effective yesterday than against Oxford; but far, far more involved when he's not just stuck on the wing with no service.
 
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Not sure I'm keen on Dougal doing it, he's far better at winning the ball than distributing it.
I think you notice Dougal so much more than other players on iFollow just because of his hair!
I sometimes struggle to pick out players because I'm usually watching on my phone (weirdly I don't have a laptop!) and if I mirror it on my TV the picture quality is awful!
 
We were doing that with Stewart going deep to pick up the ball a few games ago.

Not sure I'm keen on Dougal doing it, he's far better at winning the ball than distributing it.
I don't agree with that at all. He's our best passing central midfielder by a country mile.
 
I think you notice Dougal so much more than other players on iFollow just because of his hair!
I sometimes struggle to pick out players because I'm usually watching on my phone (weirdly I don't have a laptop!) and if I mirror it on my TV the picture quality is awful!
Probably the best way to watch if you're listening to Chissy's commentary, wont notice his gaffs as much!
 
It is a good observation. With Stewart playing he just seemed to take the majority of the balls from the defenders.
With the wingers in the 4-4-2 they were probably coming back more so this tweak is giving them a lot more freedom to roam as has been said.
Also with Thorniley in the team, whilst he's not exempt from the odd howler, I think, and I've said this before he's the best passer of the ball amongst the recognised CBs.
On Tues, with Turts in the middle, this also added a bit extra to passing side of the game.
One negative however was Captain Max cocking up a few times with his distribution and it wasn't only the one Garbs gave him a bollocking for.
 
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