What does good look like in the Championship? Targets & playing style.

[@Glad_All_Over_]

I went deep into my statistics cave to try and get a sense of:

1. Where do promoted teams usually finish?
2. How do their stats change?
3. What do teams that stay up do differently?

My initial view below, and more in the blog!

• Most teams stay up in their first season
• 2nd year is as dangerous as the 1st.
• Target of 50+ goals is realistic
• Pressing and short passing will help us stay up - and should continue

Analysis: One Step Beyond – What does “good” look like in a new league?

With Blackpool’s promotion to the Championship, Neil Critchley and the Seasiders have the unenviable task of trying to keep the club in the second tier among fierce competition. There are no …

upthemightypool.co.uk

 

[voyeur]

Critch discussing our style ambitions in the gazette this morning:

“I want us to be a possession-based team. However, I don’t want us to be playing tippy-tappy five-a-side football inside our penalty area.
“We’ve got to find a solution to what the opposition does, how they play, how they set up, how they press.
“Sometimes it might be going a bit longer, sometimes it might be building from the back. I thought at times we did it very well against Man City.
“There’s an element of risk to it but if you get it right you can be two v two, three v three or sometimes have an overload with three v two or four v three in the final third in on goal.
“We had some of those situations against City but we didn’t capitalise.”
“Maybe we overplayed at times but I thought we showed real courage and belief in how we wanted to play.
“We’re playing against a special football team that plays in a unique way. They have a special manager and special players.
“We said before the game we’ve got to practise being us, forget the scoreboard. I was proud of how we played.
“The way they press is fierce. They’re just a top team. In possession they’re exceptional. But out of possession, the way they move together as a team and time the press is very difficult to play against because it’s so co-ordinated.
“I felt after the first few minutes we started to get some success and they actually came off us a little bit. Second half we probably overplayed a little bit and didn’t look forward enough.
“When we did break their press, we got into some really dangerous situations that we failed from.”

 

[@Glad_All_Over_]

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Critch discussing our style ambitions in the gazette this morning:

“I want us to be a possession-based team. However, I don’t want us to be playing tippy-tappy five-a-side football inside our penalty area.
“We’ve got to find a solution to what the opposition does, how they play, how they set up, how they press.
“Sometimes it might be going a bit longer, sometimes it might be building from the back. I thought at times we did it very well against Man City.
“There’s an element of risk to it but if you get it right you can be two v two, three v three or sometimes have an overload with three v two or four v three in the final third in on goal.
“We had some of those situations against City but we didn’t capitalise.”
“Maybe we overplayed at times but I thought we showed real courage and belief in how we wanted to play.
“We’re playing against a special football team that plays in a unique way. They have a special manager and special players.
“We said before the game we’ve got to practise being us, forget the scoreboard. I was proud of how we played.
“The way they press is fierce. They’re just a top team. In possession they’re exceptional. But out of possession, the way they move together as a team and time the press is very difficult to play against because it’s so co-ordinated.
“I felt after the first few minutes we started to get some success and they actually came off us a little bit. Second half we probably overplayed a little bit and didn’t look forward enough.
“When we did break their press, we got into some really dangerous situations that we failed from.”

Exactly - really encouraging from the gaffer!