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We need to talk about...

From Grimsby Live site:-

No 'fannying around'
Ian Holloway has started to put his stamp on things during this transfer window, both in terms of players brought in and his his philosophy on the pitch.

Here is what he had to say on the way he wants Grimsby Town to be playing:

When our forwards have it, I like us. When our forwards have the ball it is quite exciting.
What we need to do is play to our forwards, with our forwards, for our forwards.
Don’t think I’ll be bringing in all this nonsense, fannying around at the back, it’s not about that.
It’s about trying to get some of the opposition bruisers out of the way so we can get at the back four.
That’s what I want to do.​
Unfortunately, I like that.
 
From Grimsby Live site:-

No 'fannying around'
Ian Holloway has started to put his stamp on things during this transfer window, both in terms of players brought in and his his philosophy on the pitch.

Here is what he had to say on the way he wants Grimsby Town to be playing:

When our forwards have it, I like us. When our forwards have the ball it is quite exciting.​
What we need to do is play to our forwards, with our forwards, for our forwards.​
Don’t think I’ll be bringing in all this nonsense, fannying around at the back, it’s not about that.​
It’s about trying to get some of the opposition bruisers out of the way so we can get at the back four.​
That’s what I want to do.​

Notty is clearly a very experienced football coach, knowing at least 31% more than the rest of us on all aspects of the game.

Is he finally unmasked here as Mr Ian Holloway himself?
 
But dont we play the smooth silky possession style football?. Box to box Souyh American type?. Whereas the fishy smelling c(l )ods play hoof it as far away from our goal as possible in case those nasty men in the other team put another one past our keeper?!
 
Watching Inter v Napoli on TV.
At goal-kicks Napoli have 4 defenders in their own box and 2 more just outside the edges! :death:
 
The way I see it....
Keeper hits it long from a goal kick.
We have a 50/50 chance of winning it.
If we do win it, we then have another 50/50 of winning it.
Not sure but does that not equate to a 1 in 4 chance of keeping possession (not a good ratio)
Playing it out from the back means keeping hold of the ball by playing through midfield or hitting the channels when necessary but admittedly with the chance of losing possession.
We are still learning but I much prefer playing rather than hoofing.
 
The way I see it....
Keeper hits it long from a goal kick.
We have a 50/50 chance of winning it.
If we do win it, we then have another 50/50 of winning it.
Not sure but does that not equate to a 1 in 4 chance of keeping possession (not a good ratio)
Playing it out from the back means keeping hold of the ball by playing through midfield or hitting the channels when necessary but admittedly with the chance of losing possession.
We are still learning but I much prefer playing rather than hoofing.

I agree with you - but we have far from mastered the out-from-the-back

We tend to pass it from Vickers to Shackell / Bolger and then they have limited options (eg from midfield players not making themselves available) so often they either hoof it or pass it to a player in a precarious position or back to Vickers.

It was interesting to see MK Dons on Tuesday also playing it out from the back. While they were caught out by us on numerous occasions, I felt a lot of the time they were able to string a number of passes together, with more of their players making themselves available.
 
The way I see it....
Keeper hits it long from a goal kick.
We have a 50/50 chance of winning it.
If we do win it, we then have another 50/50 of winning it.
Not sure but does that not equate to a 1 in 4 chance of keeping possession (not a good ratio)
Playing it out from the back means keeping hold of the ball by playing through midfield or hitting the channels when necessary but admittedly with the chance of losing possession.
We are still learning but I much prefer playing rather than hoofing.

The other option we’ve tried occasionally if our CBs split but the opposition have a two man press, our full backs position themselves on the touch line about half way up to the half way line and Vickers tries to dink the ball to them but accuracy is key here as a poor ball can be difficult to control and can result in losing possession or as sometimes happens the ball goes straight into touch. Going forward this playing out should become a bit easier when we get the pitch sorted in the summer
We must have spent a small fortune on the pitch recently, I think it was replaced last summer, and I know we’ve had a lot of wet weather but it seems really poor at the moment
 
The other option we’ve tried occasionally if our CBs split but the opposition have a two man press, our full backs position themselves on the touch line about half way up to the half way line and Vickers tries to dink the ball to them but accuracy is key here as a poor ball can be difficult to control and can result in losing possession or as sometimes happens the ball goes straight into touch. Going forward this playing out should become a bit easier when we get the pitch sorted in the summer
We must have spent a small fortune on the pitch recently, I think it was replaced last summer, and I know we’ve had a lot of wet weather but it seems really poor at the moment

The setup really is a bit like an American Football play, everyone has a starting position and they move to create space for others to receive the ball. The keeper then has to decide which option to pick depending on how the opposition set up / react. If nothing is on then he goes long. Once you've been sussed by the opposition about how one setup works you switch it up to deliver the ball somewhere else with a similar starting setup but different movement. Obviously this all relies on executing the passes and moving into the right spaces once the ball is in motion, so there's a lot of moving parts that can go wrong.

The inner workings were briefly revealed on Friday when Morrell waved Anderson infield so Vickers could chip it out to Eardley. Morrell had clearly recognised the setup and movement required but Anderson wasn't switched on and needed prompting. Ironically it also showed when the decision making is good and the execution slick it can be really effective in creating chances, which is the encouraging thing about our progress so far.
 
"Ironically it also showed when the decision making is good and the execution slick it can be really effective in creating chances, which is the encouraging thing about our progress so far."

Absolutely. I do worry about that whole decision-making and execution thing for L1 players, though.
 
"Ironically it also showed when the decision making is good and the execution slick it can be really effective in creating chances, which is the encouraging thing about our progress so far."

Absolutely. I do worry about that whole decision-making and execution thing for L1 players, though.
And the understanding and patience of the average L1 fan.
On Tuesday when the Co op erupted with cheers when Vickers kicked it long Michael Appleton gave a significant shake of his head and scuffed the ground. Needless to say we didn’t win the 50/50 for the long ball nor the 2nd ball.
 
And the understanding and patience of the average L1 fan.
On Tuesday when the Co op erupted with cheers when Vickers kicked it long Michael Appleton gave a significant shake of his head and scuffed the ground. Needless to say we didn’t win the 50/50 for the long ball nor the 2nd ball.

When the tactic works, I'm on board. ;) We currently have a 5-goal deficit to make up.
 
"Ironically it also showed when the decision making is good and the execution slick it can be really effective in creating chances, which is the encouraging thing about our progress so far."

Absolutely. I do worry about that whole decision-making and execution thing for L1 players, though.

That really is about identifying those players who can both execute this and fulfil their other duties and then coaching it into them, and is part of the background to Michael's statement at the beginning of his reign that he "can't overload them with information" I suspect.

Given a professional footballer at almost any level should have an awareness of space and movement off the ball it's down to coaching and drilling. It really is no different to the coaching he showed in the video on youtube here
but it's in our half instead. Of course stick into the equation the opposition who have actively scouted you and plan to disrupt you and it all becomes very complicated in the heat of a game...
 
If Citys opponents have 3 forwards on the edge of our box waiting for Vickers to play it out as there was on Tuesday night Vickers needs to play the ball up to the forwards.
If there is plenty of space for Vickers to play it to our defenders then do so.
But Tuesday night when we did have space Shackell & Bolger still dawdled on the ball & played themselves into trouble.
Shackell especially is not comfortable on the ball with or without anyone putting pressure on him.
 
And as said previously, vickers stands at the ball from our goal kick, telegraphing that it will be short. And then turns sideways to face the cb, there is only one option where that ball is going. telegraphs the direction we are about to play short, so the opposition are already on their way if they decide to press.

contrast the mk keeper, standing a couple of paces behind the ball, giving him the option to kick short or longer. And to either side. He then runs up to the ball and plays one of four options.
 
That really is about identifying those players who can both execute this and fulfil their other duties and then coaching it into them, and is part of the background to Michael's statement at the beginning of his reign that he "can't overload them with information" I suspect.

Given a professional footballer at almost any level should have an awareness of space and movement off the ball it's down to coaching and drilling. It really is no different to the coaching he showed in the video on youtube here
but it's in our half instead. Of course stick into the equation the opposition who have actively scouted you and plan to disrupt you and it all becomes very complicated in the heat of a game...

Agreed. But as we often state "If he was a ball-playing CB as well as the Beast & Monster he is in the air, he wouldn't be playing in L1 for us". So, I wish MA good luck with that!
 
Its also about speed of thought and execution. We seem to knock it around like we're playing in Italy or Spain, often seemingly unaware of being closed down quickly. The result being we give it away or do exactly what the keeper could have done from the original dead-ball situation.
I hope it improves, but with our current squad I don't see it happening any time soon.

ps - Napoli actually beat top of the league Inter with their 6 players behind their 18 yard line at goal-kicks!!! I'd imagine they have a touch more quality than us though!
 
Agreed. But as we often state "If he was a ball-playing CB as well as the Beast & Monster he is in the air, he wouldn't be playing in L1 for us". So, I wish MA good luck with that!
it does sound like a more expensive option. At a time when the financial experts are saying cut back, be patient, austerity.
And even if we can afford the two cb, we also need a keeper that can accurately play out to them, and the full backs - on a fairly regular basis. Plus do all the other keeperstuf. How much does that cost?
 
It’s good to know we have experts on here who know more about football than those who do it for a living.