Do you like our current style of play when we aren't counter-attacking?

Because I think we use the wings too much, we never attack from the middle of the box and our wingers 99% of the time never make any runs.

We never make any through ball passes either.

Sometimes I think looking at players like Khedira, Di Maria, and even Ronaldo they can offer a lot more than they currently do right now.

Also considering we will probably dominate every side apart from Barca, we might even dominate them like the last 2 clasicos, we need to improve our possession play.

And things looked so promising at the start of the campaign, well, to me anyway.

How to improve someth' we dont already have ??
We play each game with a different style to accomodate the opponent weaknesses.

Doc wrote:And things looked so promising at the start of the campaign, well, to me anyway.

We still are looking promising this season, lets just forget that the game even existed and move on.

Doc wrote:And things looked so promising at the start of the campaign, well, to me anyway.

It does, first game was amazing, but the quality started going down hill in the past 3 games. Hopefully it's a wake up call

As for the style MT, i dont think Mourinho will bring you the kind of football you are asking, just a reality, if a certain set of players are out on the pitch, we might see some fireworks, but in a general sense, i am not sure it will come true. It's simply not that kind of coach.

I think the injury to Sahin really put a wrench into what Mourinho may have been trying to do with this team. Coentrao, a fine player, is not a CM and probably would never be a good one. He can be a stop gap but it's like fitting a square peg in a triangular hole.

I really don't wanna overreact to how things going as it is now Matchday 4 in La Liga and not Matchday 24 so I'll just chalk this up as a bad day in the office really. Also, Mourinho is a pragmatic coach which means Real Madrid would have a more pragmatic style of play. Since we have really technical players at our disposal, it would have more flair to it but I don't expect anything other than what I am accustom to a Mourinho run team...

I know you need the rights players sometimes to do what you envision but i am more disappointed with the fact that there is no real emphasis on passing, building up,making off the ball runs, runs... Even in terms of concept, we do not do it, and it impairs us when we make the rotation, because the traiditonal reliance on individuals creating the play his lacking, and the players would find themselves in a situation in which they do not know how to attack. Lack in concept imo, just the mourinho way.

I can't see how we can make runs in certain games, like this last one vs Levante for instance. They defend deep and very narrow, so if it is to get settled it would be a quick exchange of passes through the middle and from there a decisive pass to a side position. No runs, just very static football.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the style of play doesnt depend on us alone, but also on the oponents and their style (i.e. if its wide or narrow, deep or high back line, etc).

skali wrote:I can't see how we can make runs in certain games, like this last one vs Levante for instance. They defend deep and very narrow, so if it is to get settled it would be a quick exchange of passes through the middle and from there a decisive pass to a side position. No runs, just very static football.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the style of play doesnt depend on us alone, but also on the oponents and their style (i.e. if its wide or narrow, deep or high back line, etc).

Well, we arent holding the ball in the middle of the park in the first place. The defense was still very much in front of the box, so there is still room to carry the ball up to a certain point and exploits runs left or rights by the wingers. It's not happening. It's not specific to levante, we dont do it in general.

Disagree with your second point, top teams enforce their will on teams and that's how they go through and dominate. Even if they defend very narrow, we dnt even overlap to create crossing options. the traditional cut back cross to the entrance of the box is something we do not do.

I don't understand the english terminology enough to get what the 'cut back cross to the entrance of the box' means. Go through the side till you are almost at the corner line and cross in to the box?

The 'X' is where we don't attack from and the blocks are where we do.

mtfootball wrote:


The 'X' is where we don't attack from and the blocks are where we do.

Dude you are clueless for real... Last week we had no width and Mou is trying to fix it.

Tbh I only think its right to start a attack from the width, where we have a player called Ronaldo and our game is made just to feed him

Width can be provided by the overlapping fullbacks.

you guys need wingers that can pass,something CR and dive maria cant do.

Ganso wrote:you guys need wingers that can pass,something CR and dive maria cant do.

This. Neymar is a step forward I hope, but Benz to LW and Ronny to CR resolves the issue.

(inb4 xabi posts the assist to benzema lol)

anyone else think coentrao on the LW is garbage, couldnt even beat their RB ONCE

The problem is that our attack is based on improvising, that's why in some games we look clueless or we depend on a certain side and ignore another side. It has its advantage though, it makes our attack unpredictable but if we're out of form it simply kills us as everyone becomes clueless.

Our approach of improvising simply depends on individual brilliance when it shouldn't. We at least need to have a backup plan alongside it where you change how our attack looks to accommodate. Maybe keep more possession, our player certainly know how to do it if they are forced to.

The thing is simple

1.We use individual quality rather than tactics in final third,it works against most of the sides not against best defenses.Our play is based on opponents making error not us creating chances.

2.We dont create enough clear cut chances when teams simply park the bus thanx to the point 1.Since we will not create enough chances our players are nervous untill we score a goal,that makes our play even worser and predictable.It eventually makes us frustrated.

3.we dont have midfield control,we cant keep the ball in midfield for 2 minute continuously,hence we are vulnearable to counters.

4.Marcelo is shet defensively ,carvalho is declining,ramos need to work on his decision making.

skali wrote:I don't understand the english terminology enough to get what the 'cut back cross to the entrance of the box' means. Go through the side till you are almost at the corner line and cross in to the box?

Yeah, you drive the ball down towards the corner line, moving the line of defense while the forwards make runs in front of the keeper, and you make a low cross towards the opening of the box for the other players making late runs.

Basically, your forwards running towards the keeper drag down the defense and create space.

mtfootball wrote:


The 'X' is where we don't attack from and the blocks are where we do.

The reason we don't attack from the "X" is because the opposition's defence is located there. One does not simply waltz through 10 men, unless you're a shorter version of Messi (on more steroids than usual).

TBF, managing attack tactics is very difficult. Take Barca's system for example. With the exception of the predictable pass between Xavi and Alves, along with a few other premeditated moves, Barca's attack is solely dependent on the creative genius of Messi, Iniesta and to an extent, Xavi. Messi's unpredictable runs and Iniesta's unpredictable passes make Barcelona's attacking system successful.

There is only so much Mourinho can do in terms of setting out attacking tactics. The only thing he can really do is make sure we don't concede, that we control possession and that we give the attackers as many opportunities as possible to attack.

Even if Mourinho develops a brilliant attacking strategy, that is precise to the millimetre, it is nigh on impossible to implement, as the ball must be at the correct location, each player must be in the exact position required, at the exact time, with the opponents in the exact position that we desire. In other words, it can only be achieved if everything on the field is static, which is obviously impossible.

Only individual player improvement and greater chemistry can improve our attack. And IMO, we are definitely on the right track.

We can still unlock the defense from that area.

Once again our possession play was poor.