Keith Andrews (Head Coach) (6 Viewers)

[Mr Tree]

You may not like reading it, but it is all true, and is getting serious. It should be discussed!

This is the Keith Andrews thread - your opinion (not "all true" fyi) on referees can be discussed elsewhere. Thanks

 

[JCMcBee]

I hope KA picks the most attacking team he can today...and the players chosen do what he asks of them.... for me that's all we can ask of either...
play up Brentford....as someone once said.

 

[Andrelux]

Why are we a position to expect more?

I don't expect anything one way or the other, and by the way I'm not the one crowing about being in a European place barely 20% of the way through the season

 

[stomalomalus]

“And because we’re not good enough…”

Take a long hard look at yourself, we are the 4th highest scorers in what is an extremely competitive league … in the real world, what do you want, what do you expect???

Not good enough at passing through the press. Specifically. And we’re not great at it, but not many are. But if we want to play this way, we need to get better at it, as teams are just going to press us like hull, Sunderland, and Leeds second half.

I think we’re bloody brilliant all in… but we’re allowed to say where we don’t think we’re good, not just where we’re good.

And as this is a KA problem, this is exactly where it belongs. I have faith he’s going to get it right. But as of yet, we’re not there.

 

[The Pipe]

Reading some of the comments on this thread and previous manager threads I struggle to see why we can’t play scintillating football at all times and beat most of the opposition comprehensively as managing a group of footballers and working out tactics has got to be the simplest job in the world !!!!

 

[Beecareful]

* Champions League places when you remove Man City.

Man City won't be decided for years. So many appeals and hoops yet.

 

[Jim Rourke]

Interesting debate where I see both sides.

I believe over an extensive number of games (28?) we are averaging just over a point a game?

I suspect the ‘down feeling’ has been amplified by the ‘Champagne Football’ we were treated to at the start of the season (where we were scarily good and very pleasant on the eye) that has fallen away in recent weeks.

The biggest positive for sure we sit sixth in the league.

 

[stomalomalus]

Reading some of the comments on this thread and previous manager threads I struggle to see why we can’t play scintillating football at all times and beat most of the opposition comprehensively as managing a group of footballers and working out tactics has got to be the simplest job in the world !!!!

I reckon I could do a decent job as an analyst or tactician. But to put it all together like KA, or like TF did… nah man, these guys are insanely good at what they do.

 

[pompeybee]

You may not like reading it, but it is all true, and is getting serious. It should be discussed!

Ok, but the post I replied to had nothing to do with our manager, who is the subject of this thread.

 

[TadB]

Ok, but the post I replied to had nothing to do with our manager, who is the subject of this thread.

Yes, I have already had my bolo king!

 

[upnorthbee]

He changed the game today, completely earned his money. I honestly didn't know what the answer was when we were 1-0 up in the 2nd half.... it felt like we were inevitably going to concede but he made the changes and we go 2 up.

He 100% knows we need to be better to hold a position like 6th in the league but we will be. Brighton will be a huge test for him.

 

[stomalomalus]

Was listening to the Athletic podcast on Arsenal Liverpool just now, and around the 12 minute mark, they're talking about Arsenal's build up change between Brighton and Bayern. How Raya played a lot more long balls.

So I looked up stats. Against Hull, Kelleher played 43.3% of passes long. Against Forest, it was 52.8%.

It felt like there was a decision to buildup long, and it seems like we did play more long passes. Just an observation.

 

[Gee Bee]

Was listening to the Athletic podcast on Arsenal Liverpool just now, and around the 12 minute mark, they're talking about Arsenal's build up change between Brighton and Bayern. How Raya played a lot more long balls.

So I looked up stats. Against Hull, Kelleher played 43.3% of passes long. Against Forest, it was 52.8%.

It felt like there was a decision to buildup long, and it seems like we did play more long passes. Just an observation.

You have to take in the different conditions in terms of weather. But I’d add in most part yesterday the balls aimed for Thiago were won by Forest. However winning that 2nd ball is key and Samgare Janelt and Jensen were very good at it.

 

[lanzabee]

Was listening to the Athletic podcast on Arsenal Liverpool just now, and around the 12 minute mark, they're talking about Arsenal's build up change between Brighton and Bayern. How Raya played a lot more long balls.

So I looked up stats. Against Hull, Kelleher played 43.3% of passes long. Against Forest, it was 52.8%.

It felt like there was a decision to buildup long, and it seems like we did play more long passes. Just an observation.

Possibly just learning from the Hull f*** up...easier to go over the press than through it

 

[stomalomalus]

You have to take in the different conditions in terms of weather. But I’d add in most part yesterday the balls aimed for Thiago were won by Forest. However winning that 2nd ball is key and Samgare Janelt and Jensen were very good at it.

It worked. And, yes, it's not always about winning the initial ball, and not even about the second ball...but what happens next. We got the ball into the right areas and showed confidence in our defenders to be able to win the ball back quickly if Forest won the third ball.

 

[stomalomalus]

Possibly just learning from the Hull f*** up...easier to go over the press than through it

That's it, though. KA and the team looked at it, they looked at their options, and they arrived at a solution that worked. That's great work, and shows how important a coaching team can be. Look at Moan U in comparison, who can't seem to fix their problems, or even try to fix them.

 

[ruislip bee]

Ok, but the post I replied to had nothing to do with our manager, who is the subject of this thread.

We don't have a manager. Just saying.

 

[jlove]

That's it, though. KA and the team looked at it, they looked at their options, and they arrived at a solution that worked. That's great work, and shows how important a coaching team can be. Look at Moan U in comparison, who can't seem to fix their problems, or even try to fix them.

Exactly! We thought it clear that there was a specific and phased game-plan.

The way we set up, with two deep lines of 'defence', plus Schade and Ouattara holding the width, meant that Thiago was up alone, which seemed concerning. But, for all the "shots" the florists had, most were wild slashes from distance. We seemed to risk the gamble and took some opportunities to ping balls out wide behind their defence who were lured forward. Both our goals came from this tactic – essentially quickly getting the ball into the wide space that wing-backs leave and behind the centre backs, so they're often facing their own goal trying to defend. Our guess this was Damien Duff's input to Keith's plan.

I'm sure we won't see the same on Sunday, Brighton will need a very different plan, so it will be interesting to find out on the day.

 

[Argus]

Incredibly satisfying to grind out a win despite low xG numbers and no real superstar-hero performance from anyone, which is what so often seems to happen against us.

But in terms of the tactical setup so far: One thing I'm confused about is why we seem to lob so many balls over the top towards Igor. That was also the main tactic I'd put in the "not working" box from the end of last season, and it also saw his goalscoring slow down like we've seen this season. Thankfully he's now scored 2 in 2, so clearly the big beast can do it regardless, but he's much better with the ball at his feet and when opposing CBs don't get the chance to bully him in the aerial duels. They get away with it because he doesn't go down and whine (shouldn't be like that, but unfortunately it is, and we have to live in that reality), and like I said, he's not superb in the air despite his big frame. It reads like desperation at times, even when that's not needed. I still believe Damsgaard to be sort of a missing link in our current tactics, but throwing him straight into it clearly hasn't worked. He plays like Iniesta for Denmark, then comes back and looks lost before dropping out of the starting XI once again. Hasn't been great off the bench either. This was our POTS before Andrews came in, and it just doesn't seem to have clicked yet. I think it's worth it trying to tweak things to make him a more important piece of the puzzle. We're doing well, but we have a lot more potential with this group imo

 

[pompeybee]

We don't have a manager. Just saying.

Sorry. It's my age. They're all still managers to me.

 

[readingbee]

Incredibly satisfying to grind out a win despite low xG numbers and no real superstar-hero performance from anyone, which is what so often seems to happen against us.

But in terms of the tactical setup so far: One thing I'm confused about is why we seem to lob so many balls over the top towards Igor. That was also the main tactic I'd put in the "not working" box from the end of last season, and it also saw his goalscoring slow down like we've seen this season. Thankfully he's now scored 2 in 2, so clearly the big beast can do it regardless, but he's much better with the ball at his feet and when opposing CBs don't get the chance to bully him in the aerial duels. They get away with it because he doesn't go down and whine (shouldn't be like that, but unfortunately it is, and we have to live in that reality), and like I said, he's not superb in the air despite his big frame. It reads like desperation at times, even when that's not needed. I still believe Damsgaard to be sort of a missing link in our current tactics, but throwing him straight into it clearly hasn't worked. He plays like Iniesta for Denmark, then comes back and looks lost before dropping out of the starting XI once again. Hasn't been great off the bench either. This was our POTS before Andrews came in, and it just doesn't seem to have clicked yet. I think it's worth it trying to tweak things to make him a more important piece of the puzzle. We're doing well, but we have a lot more potential with this group imo

Good post. Your observation of Thiago is spot on. I may have missed one but I never saw him win a header passed to him in the air yesterday, or for some time home or away. As you say he just doesn’t seem to jump high enough. Playing with his back to the goal just doesn’t seem to suit his style.