nlondonimp
Vital Champions League
a couple of thoughts provoked by what skip155 has said about the overall team approach.
Cowley
mainly been an underdog in his career to date, and has a pragmatic approach to management... even when we won the national league we used a fairly defensive system, and we were consistent scorers rather than expansive high scorers.
similar last year, with success built on defence and counter punching. long ball raids into opposition territory while keeping quite a few players behind the ball. teams probably expecting to do well against league 2 newcomers suited this style, and we had the cowley special - a late run to the play offs.
this year is different - we are now one of the favourites and have been top pretty much all 12 games. this brings a different, more cautious approach from the opposition. we have a team which is still built for counter attack, but gets little chance to counter attack [one of the problems for anderson too]. the transition for cowley is to get used to managing a team with the majority of possession, having lots of territory, and having to create decent chances - rather than relying on a second ball fortuitously dropping in the box from a rhead header.
Akinde
well known threat at league 2 level. pretty much all of his success has been with barnet. barnet in his time in league two were underdogs, most often a mid/lower league team and presumably not a team with lots of possession, playing against teams that were having lots of territory. ideal for akinde, as he is most dangerous on quick turn over/transition, and on the quick counter attack.
[at alfreton he was also playing in a team that were mainly underdogs.]
looking at his one vanarama winning season with barnet - where you would expect more packed defensive opposition, a huge number of the goals are still scored by through ball; long ball over the top between defence and keeper; 1v1 runs against the centre back. presumably the majority of vanarama teams were just not good enough tactically or individually to deal with him.
our current opposition
aware of the akinde threat. playing deep [tranmere] playing cautiously even at home [tranmere, cheltenham] playing 3 v 1 across the back [crewe?][mkdons].
the exeter game, where they were at home, fancied their chances, only played 2 centre backs and were possession-based. they got caught on the turn over, the quick attack and on the counter - he had a field day.
of the 33 goals here - i counted 18 as a result of through ball, ball over the top, winning 1v1 with isolated defender or keeper. 7 of which were pens that he won himself.
lots of similar goals as the season progressed too, presumably as barnet worked out what worked best for akinde.
Cowley
mainly been an underdog in his career to date, and has a pragmatic approach to management... even when we won the national league we used a fairly defensive system, and we were consistent scorers rather than expansive high scorers.
similar last year, with success built on defence and counter punching. long ball raids into opposition territory while keeping quite a few players behind the ball. teams probably expecting to do well against league 2 newcomers suited this style, and we had the cowley special - a late run to the play offs.
this year is different - we are now one of the favourites and have been top pretty much all 12 games. this brings a different, more cautious approach from the opposition. we have a team which is still built for counter attack, but gets little chance to counter attack [one of the problems for anderson too]. the transition for cowley is to get used to managing a team with the majority of possession, having lots of territory, and having to create decent chances - rather than relying on a second ball fortuitously dropping in the box from a rhead header.
Akinde
well known threat at league 2 level. pretty much all of his success has been with barnet. barnet in his time in league two were underdogs, most often a mid/lower league team and presumably not a team with lots of possession, playing against teams that were having lots of territory. ideal for akinde, as he is most dangerous on quick turn over/transition, and on the quick counter attack.
[at alfreton he was also playing in a team that were mainly underdogs.]
looking at his one vanarama winning season with barnet - where you would expect more packed defensive opposition, a huge number of the goals are still scored by through ball; long ball over the top between defence and keeper; 1v1 runs against the centre back. presumably the majority of vanarama teams were just not good enough tactically or individually to deal with him.
our current opposition
aware of the akinde threat. playing deep [tranmere] playing cautiously even at home [tranmere, cheltenham] playing 3 v 1 across the back [crewe?][mkdons].
the exeter game, where they were at home, fancied their chances, only played 2 centre backs and were possession-based. they got caught on the turn over, the quick attack and on the counter - he had a field day.
lots of similar goals as the season progressed too, presumably as barnet worked out what worked best for akinde.