Popular Post Harrison Posted July 22, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 (edited) As we approach our first friendly of the pre-season and competitive match of the FFA Cup, I wanted to bring a bit of tactical discussion and analysis to the forum for those that are interested. With the news that Erick Mombaerts had been appointed as our Head Coach for three seasons, we finally have a football brain in charge of Melbourne City; someone that has a clear conception of how the game should be played. In his first interview, he spoke about his goal of developing our style of play into the City style of play. But what actually is that and how will it work at Melbourne? I'll discuss it below, but I want to stress that we don't know the extent to which Mombaerts will implement the City style of play, and we don't know if there are strict frameworks that coaches must adhere to. It's entirely possible that the City style is philosophically based, but I do think that Mombaerts will be striving to emulate Manchester City's style. Manchester City The City style of play is presumably the style that Manchester City have been using to win countless Premier League titles. I say presumably because the template is not driven by CFG in a top-down manner, it's mainly driven by Manchester City and then adopted by CFG to be pushed to its other clubs like Melbourne and New York. It's no secret that Pep Guardiola has been able to spend staggering sums of money to build a formidable squad of players. But that's only part of it. Pep has Manchester City playing a very quick, attacking style of football, characterised by high possession counts, high shots on target, complex movement/interplay in the middle/attacking thirds and an extremely effective and complex counter-press. I don't want to go too heavily into these aspects because many of us watch the PL and know how exciting and attacking City are. Plus, it can become too technical and there are parts I don't understand very well. City always play out from the back, using diagonal balls both short and long and finding pockets of space really well. They also 'rest' in certain positions depending on where the ball is, instead of passively watching the play unfold, so that if they lose it they can execute their counter-press, which is where a team will 'press' the ball as a system as soon as they lose possession. It begins with the forward three players, who are very important in initiating the press and continues on with the midfield. If executed properly, the counter-press will force a turnover just after the team lost it, ideally in an even more dangerous position than where they lost it initially. Formation-wise, Pep has almost always used a 4-3-3 with two advanced central midfielders and a single pivot (usually Fernandinho). Sometimes he will change this depending on his opponents but the 4-3-3 is by far the most common and is favoured by most top teams. In terms of personnel, the average City player is technically flawless and spatially very aware. Some City players are very athletic depending on their role but all are comfortable on the ball (even Ederson their GK is very good with his feet) in tight spaces, adept at passing and proficient at shooting. Last season, City were able to rotate players in and out of the starting XI with no discernible drop-off in quality. Any player that comes into the XI is able to fit seamlessly into the system. Melbourne City Now that I've summarised the City style of play, I want to apply it to our team and draw some similarities in terms of personnel. The biggest question that remains unanswered is what formation Mombaerts will use. Leaving aside the potential for him to change it during the season, it seems to me that he is likely to go with a 4-3-3. I'm basing this on his insistence that we will be playing the 'City way', but I'm conscious of the fact that Mombaerts strongly favoured a 4-2-3-1 in his time with YFM and that the 'style of play' can be replicated with a 4-2-3-1. The biggest difference are the two attacking midfielders and designated 10 versus the two wingers and two attacking 8s. It's really a difference in degree rather than kind, so it doesn't need to be analysed in depth here. Suffice it to say that a 4-2-3-1 favours players who are very comfortable on the ball in tight and that can pass between them very quickly and accurately, rather than a 4-3-3 which favours quicker wingers who operate a bit wider and cut in. Our Starting XI And this naturally brings me to our personnel, which suits a 4-3-3 quite well. I'll break it down by player, who I've chosen as the most likely to feature in a theoretical Mombaerts side (obviously this is IMO, it is likely to change in pre-season as they condition the players and form becomes a bit clearer): Bouzanis: Even though Birighitti is a better keeper technically, Bouzanis is good with the ball at his feet and his distribution will allow for us to keep possession of the ball when we need to recycle it. He can also hit long diagonal passes very well for an A-League keeper. For this reason I think Bouzanis will be given the first match, provided he makes the saves he needs to and positions himself well. Galloway/Jamieson: The two Scotts will probably play on the right and left and will need to very mobile. Manchester use their two fullbacks differently, but both will at times tuck in and play centrally as an extra midfielder, and the other will push very high. It tends to be Walker who pushes up and Delph who tucks in. How it will work with Jamieson and Galloway I'm not sure. I think Galloway will be the more expansive fullback. Windbichler/Delbridge: Windbichler is exactly the kind of defender that we need for a possession-based style. He is very good on the ball and has experience as a midfielder. Delbridge will partner well with Windbichler, particularly because Delbridge is a dual-sided defender who can play the ball out. From what I've seen, Windbichler is a very solid defender, and we know that Delbridge is a commanding presence. Brillante: Brillante is made for this formation. A well-rounded player with good athleticism and a decent engine, he will find himself in between the defensive line and the two more advanced midfielders. Essentially, his role will be to 1) facilitate the movement of the ball from the back and be the link between defence and the midfield and 2) cover the other two midfielders and break up attacking movements. He will have a lot of possession in every match, but his role is not to create. His effectiveness will come from his retention of possession and marshalling/positioning of teammates in front of him. Fernandinho is his Manchester counterpart and Josh will model his game on him. Berenguer/Luna: This is the most interesting part of the XI. I know that many City fans are wary of Berenguer and I am too. Joyce used him as a wide player in the 4-3-3, which didn't suit him at all. Berenguer does not shoot much, he does not score, he does not like to dribble past players and cut in. What he does do is find pockets of space, particularly in the half-space when it's free, and his two best assets are his touch and his vision, which is why he needs to be played centrally behind the striker. Naturally he likes to drift to where the ball is but I suspect Mombaerts will have him a bit more central and narrow, to allow the winger on his side enough space. I chose Luna as the other midfielder but this is a tricky one. Luna is comfortable out wide but from what I've seen of him he is actually quite a threat when played centrally. He is very neat on the ball, can dribble well and his passing and creativity are massive ticks in the midfielder box. Bernardo Silva is his closest Manchester counterpart. Noone/Cabrera: Noone is an obvious pick for the wide role, as is Cabrera. Both are quick, natural wingers who like to cut in and shoot. These two will be a big part of our success because they will provide the width for the attacking midfielders and Maclaren. With Berenguer, Brillante and Luna as the playmakers, the wingers should be on the end of quite a few long diagonal passes, if we follow Manchester's style. This is where pace and vision/passing skill complement each other, and I think we've got two wide players who suit that method of chance creation. Maclaren: The obvious and only real pick for the striking position. Manchester's striking options are world-class finishers of the ball. Maclaren is relatively speaking a very good finisher of the ball at this level, and this will be a big part of our success should we achieve it. Maclaren will need to be selfless if the system is to work, because the City system requires players to vacate space for others. Interplay is vital here, which is where Maclaren will have to improve. Conclusion If you're still with me, basically what I've hoped to say here is that we should be optimistic about this season. Being a Melbourne City fan hasn't been easy, and there have a been a few false dawns. But this time feels a bit different when you look objectively at the squad and how it's structured. Mombaerts will obviously be the biggest influence here, and we've already heard from Denis Genreau that the players have had quite a few video/tactical sessions before going out onto the pitch every day. Mombaerts is a tactician, so the most important part of his coaching is his ability to get across the tactical points of the system. Manchester under Pep are a very well-drilled, organised, disciplined unit. The level of skill between Manchester and Melbourne is obviously very different but the ability to cohere to a system is universal. If Mombaerts follows the City style of play developed by Pep Guardiola faithfully, we can look forward to a productive, successful season. Edited July 22, 2019 by Harrison 13 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playmaker Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 Good post. All I want to see is that we have recruited the right players for the right job, for the right tactics and strategies. I want our visas to be played and all players to be played in their natural positions. I want a manager that is flexible and reactive to our opposition's strengths and weaknesses and who allows players to show individual creativity. For me last season was the line in the sand. Basically this season needs to be everything that Wazza wasn't. Mombaerts must equal anti-Wazza or I am done giving one more cent to this club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haz Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 58 minutes ago, playmaker said: I want a manager that is flexible and reactive to our opposition's strengths and weaknesses and who allows players to show individual creativity. I can't believe we haven't had a manger yet (of course we've only had ~4) who is flexible during a game. Nightmares of Joyce not using any subs, and if he did.... we would be subbing on a defender when the team was behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartman Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 2 minutes ago, haz said: I can't believe we haven't had a manger yet (of course we've only had ~4) who is flexible during a game. Nightmares of Joyce not using any subs, and if he did.... we would be subbing on a defender when the team was behind. JVS was (flexible), just that he couldn't set up a team defensively. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rass Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 1 hour ago, Harrison said: As we approach our first friendly of the pre-season and competitive match of the FFA Cup, I wanted to bring a bit of tactical discussion and analysis to the forum for those that are interested. With the news that Erick Mombaerts had been appointed as our Head Coach for three seasons, we finally have a football brain in charge of Melbourne City; someone that has a clear conception of how the game should be played. In his first interview, he spoke about his goal of developing our style of play into the City style of play. But what actually is that and how will it work at Melbourne? I'll discuss it below, but I want to stress that we don't know the extent to which Mombaerts will implement the City style of play, and we don't know if there are strict frameworks that coaches must adhere to. It's entirely possible that the City style is philosophically based, but I do think that Mombaerts will be striving to emulate Manchester City's style. Manchester City The City style of play is presumably the style that Manchester City have been using to win countless Premier League titles. I say presumably because the template is not driven by CFG in a top-down manner, it's mainly driven by Manchester City and then adopted by CFG to be pushed to its other clubs like Melbourne and New York. It's no secret that Pep Guardiola has been able to spend staggering sums of money to build a formidable squad of players. But that's only part of it. Pep has Manchester City playing a very quick, attacking style of football, characterised by high possession counts, high shots on target, complex movement/interplay in the middle/attacking thirds and an extremely effective and complex counter-press. I don't want to go too heavily into these aspects because many of us watch the PL and know how exciting and attacking City are. Plus, it can become too technical and there are parts I don't understand very well. City always play out from the back, using diagonal balls both short and long and finding pockets of space really well. They also 'rest' in certain positions depending on where the ball is, instead of passively watching the play unfold, so that if they lose it they can execute their counter-press, which is where a team will 'press' the ball as a system as soon as they lose possession. It begins with the forward three players, who are very important in initiating the press and continues on with the midfield. If executed properly, the counter-press will force a turnover just after the team lost it, ideally in an even more dangerous position than where they lost it initially. Formation-wise, Pep has almost always used a 4-3-3 with two advanced central midfielders and a single pivot (usually Fernandinho). Sometimes he will change this depending on his opponents but the 4-3-3 is by far the most common and is favoured by most top teams. In terms of personnel, the average City player is technically flawless and spatially very aware. Some City players are very athletic depending on their role but all are comfortable on the ball (even Ederson their GK is very good with his feet) in tight spaces, adept at passing and proficient at shooting. Last season, City were able to rotate players in and out of the starting XI with no discernible drop-off in quality. Any player that comes into the XI is able to fit seamlessly into the system. Melbourne City Now that I've summarised the City style of play, I want to apply it to our team and draw some similarities in terms of personnel. The biggest question that remains unanswered is what formation Mombaerts will use. Leaving aside the potential for him to change it during the season, it seems to me that he is likely to go with a 4-3-3. I'm basing this on his insistence that we will be playing the 'City way', but I'm conscious of the fact that Mombaerts strongly favoured a 4-2-3-1 in his time with YFM and that the 'style of play' can be replicated with a 4-2-3-1. The biggest difference are the two attacking midfielders and designated 10 versus the two wingers and two attacking 8s. It's really a difference in degree rather than kind, so it doesn't need to be analysed in depth here. Suffice it to say that a 4-2-3-1 favours players who are very comfortable on the ball in tight and that can pass between them very quickly and accurately, rather than a 4-3-3 which favours quicker wingers who operate a bit wider and cut in. Our Starting XI And this naturally brings me to our personnel, which suits a 4-3-3 quite well. I'll break it down by player, who I've chosen as the most likely to feature in a theoretical Mombaerts side (obviously this is IMO, it is likely to change in pre-season as they condition the players and form becomes a bit clearer): Bouzanis: Even though Birighitti is a better keeper technically, Bouzanis is good with the ball at his feet and his distribution will allow for us to keep possession of the ball when we need to recycle it. He can also hit long diagonal passes very well for an A-League keeper. For this reason I think Bouzanis will be given the first match, provided he makes the saves he needs to and positions himself well. Galloway/Jamieson: The two Scotts will probably play on the right and left and will need to very mobile. Manchester use their two fullbacks differently, but both will at times tuck in and play centrally as an extra midfielder, and the other will push very high. It tends to be Walker who pushes up and Delph who tucks in. How it will work with Jamieson and Galloway I'm not sure. I think Galloway will be the more expansive fullback. Windbichler/Delbridge: Windbichler is exactly the kind of defender that we need for a possession-based style. He is very good on the ball and has experience as a midfielder. Delbridge will partner well with Windbichler, particularly because Delbridge is a dual-sided defender who can play the ball out. From what I've seen, Windbichler is a very solid defender, and we know that Delbridge is a commanding presence. Brillante: Brillante is made for this formation. A well-rounded player with good athleticism and a decent engine, he will find himself in between the defensive line and the two more advanced midfielders. Essentially, his role will be to 1) facilitate the movement of the ball from the back and be the link between defence and the midfield and 2) cover the other two midfielders and break up attacking movements. He will have a lot of possession in every match, but his role is not to create. His effectiveness will come from his retention of possession and marshalling/positioning of teammates in front of him. Fernandinho is his Manchester counterpart and Josh will model his game on him. Berenguer/Luna: This is the most interesting part of the XI. I know that many City fans are wary of Berenguer and I am too. Joyce used him as a wide player in the 4-3-3, which didn't suit him at all. Berenguer does not shoot much, he does not score, he does not like to dribble past players and cut in. What he does do is find pockets of space, particularly in the half-space when it's free, and his two best assets are his touch and his vision, which is why he needs to be played centrally behind the striker. Naturally he likes to drift to where the ball is but I suspect Mombaerts will have him a bit more central and narrow, to allow the winger on his side enough space. I chose Luna as the other midfielder but this is a tricky one. Luna is comfortable out wide but from what I've seen of him he is actually quite a threat when played centrally. He is very neat on the ball, can dribble well and his passing and creativity are massive ticks in the midfielder box. Bernardo Silva is his closest Manchester counterpart. Noone/Cabrera: Noone is an obvious pick for the wide role, as is Cabrera. Both are quick, natural wingers who like to cut in and shoot. These two will be a big part of our success because they will provide the width for the attacking midfielders and Maclaren. With Berenguer, Brillante and Luna as the playmakers, the wingers should be on the end of quite a few long diagonal passes, if we follow Manchester's style. This is where pace and vision/passing skill complement each other, and I think we've got two wide players who suit that method of chance creation. Maclaren: The obvious and only real pick for the striking position. Manchester's striking options are world-class finishers of the ball. Maclaren is relatively speaking a very good finisher of the ball at this level, and this will be a big part of our success should we achieve it. Maclaren will need to be selfless if the system is to work, because the City system requires players to vacate space for others. Interplay is vital here, which is where Maclaren will have to improve. Conclusion If you're still with me, basically what I've hoped to say here is that we should be optimistic about this season. Being a Melbourne City fan hasn't been easy, and there have a been a few false dawns. But this time feels a bit different when you look objectively at the squad and how it's structured. Mombaerts will obviously be the biggest influence here, and we've already heard from Denis Genreau that the players have had quite a few video/tactical sessions before going out onto the pitch every day. Mombaerts is a tactician, so the most important part of his coaching is his ability to get across the tactical points of the system. Manchester under Pep are a very well-drilled, organised, disciplined unit. The level of skill between Manchester and Melbourne is obviously very different but the ability to cohere to a system is universal. If Mombaerts follows the City style of play developed by Pep Guardiola faithfully, we can look forward to a productive, successful season. I've come out of my forum posting hiatus specifically to compliment this excellent post. Well done sir, I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baka1 Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 just shoot farken 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison Posted July 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 5 minutes ago, rass said: I've come out of my forum posting hiatus specifically to compliment this excellent post. Well done sir, I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Thanks mate. Much appreciated. I was wondering where you'd gone. Good to have you back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rass Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 6 minutes ago, Harrison said: Thanks mate. Much appreciated. I was wondering where you'd gone. Good to have you back. Cheers mate, reading the continual crap posted over and over again on here finally did my head in and I had to have a break 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fensaddler Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 19 minutes ago, rass said: Cheers mate, reading the continual crap posted over and over again on here finally did my head in and I had to have a break I don't think this close season has been as bad as previous ones. Perhaps because so much bile was expended and crap spoken during last season... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffplz Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 5 hours ago, Heartman said: JVS was (flexible), just that he couldn't set up a team defensively. This was precisely the comment I was about to make. Flexible to the extent of being spineless 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison Posted July 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 https://www.a-league.com.au/news/mombaerts-citys-progress-ahead-schedule Here’s an article from last night. The game will be three 40 minute thirds and he’ll play the strongest XI for 80 minutes. He talks a lot about the City style of play, without going into specifics obviously, but you can see the level of detail and preparation. Some quotes... “We have worked a lot about some game principles, more offensively than defensively so I want to see what is the level of understanding about what we have set up,” Mombaerts said about his expectation in Tuesday night’s match. “It’s about the offensive game principles, about positioning, about a lot of new things and they now have to put them on the field against an opponent.” “If I compare with my last experience in Japan [coaching Yokohama F. Marinos], I think we are in advance, physically but more tactically about the City style of play we want to set up.” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted October 11, 2019 Report Share Posted October 11, 2019 Fucken lol Quote "He's got a very stylish dress sense," (Mombaerts) midfield recruit Josh Brillante told Football Nation Radio. "Apparently when he [first] rocked up, he was wearing a long black suit, and a big top hat and kind of strolled into the gym and punched out 15 chin-ups, straight away." 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStig Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 On 22/07/2019 at 3:05 PM, Harrison said: I In interviews he struggles at time. I would love him, when talking about the Melbourne derby, to talk about how the German style of coaching is very technical but ultimately dull, and how he wants to bring French flair and style to the team. He could also say that he believes that flair and style will ultimately prevail over dull, technical football. That would put the cat amongst the pigeons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rass Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 What happened after the game? Kurz cracked it for some reason because I think Mombaerts didn't acknowledge him in time or something like that. Then the gk coach got involved and there's was alot of chatter between kurz and Kisnorbo too. I'm sad that Patty didn't just belt him actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMSTEP123 Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 46 minutes ago, rass said: What happened after the game? Kurz cracked it for some reason because I think Mombaerts didn't acknowledge him in time or something like that. Then the gk coach got involved and there's was alot of chatter between kurz and Kisnorbo too. I'm sad that Patty didn't just belt him actually. Pretty sure it was a spat between Kisnorbo and Kurz and Mombaerts was oblivious. Think Paddy was fired up after the biff between Delbo and Toiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 Doesn't Kurz regularly fly off the handle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommykins Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 43 minutes ago, jw1739 said: Doesn't Kurz regularly fly off the handle? Literally after every game he doesn't win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IssySG Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 4 hours ago, JMSTEP123 said: Think Paddy was fired up after the biff between Delbo and Toiv Said it before and I'll say it again, I fucking love Patrick Kisnorbo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMSTEP123 Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 40 minutes ago, IssySG said: Said it before and I'll say it again, I fucking love Patrick Kisnorbo Moisture drips from this post. Yeah although an overall lacklustre affair, there was still an atmosphere of hostility. I suspect we will see further tension come Christmas Derby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silva10 Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 Even though it wasn’t the most exciting game, it was light years ahead of the bile that has been served up in the last two seasons. At least the team played on the front foot whenever they had the chance. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted October 21, 2019 Report Share Posted October 21, 2019 Since I am one of those types who prefers to pronounce names as they should be. Any French speakers on here? I assume Mobaerts is pronounced as kind of like... Mom bear with a soft rolled L at the end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Harrison Posted November 28, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 So we’re 7 matches in and the Mombaerts Revolution has shown its hand. It’ll be swashbuckling football where we outscore the opponent. If they score 1 we score 2, if they score 2, we score 3 and so on. What we’ve seen so far are a few tactical moves straight from the Pep Playbook. What we’ve enjoyed so far is 16 points from a possible 21 and the view from the top of the ladder. What we’ve worried about so far is defensive fragility. Where do we go from here? I wanted to touch on a few things in this post, which has only been written because of this painfully dull bye week. It’s a long, tactical post. For interested parties only. PPPPPP Firstly, I wanted to write something about positioning. The subtitle here is an acronym. Proper positioning prevents piss poor performance. It’s an issue that I’ve seen many times throughout this season and I think it’s the biggest problem we are facing defensively. Here is just one example from the WSW match. There are two phases. Here is the first. And here is the second. Mombaerts would be filthy. In the first phase, we’ve got Jamieson pushed up very high but not high enough to stop the pass. Wales is in no-mans land, guarding a patch of grass. Luna is at least correctly closing off the passing lane. In the second phase, after a nice piece of passing and movement by WSW, the cross comes in. Our positioning is still all over the place, despite having at least a few seconds to better set up. Meier is unfortunately on Galloway, who can’t stop the big striker from knocking the ball down. Delbridge is guarding space, unsure of whether to go to the contest or follow the ball, Good is out of the picture having tracked a runner from before and Griffiths is criminally ball watching instead of hauling his ass to block the receiver Yeboah. The result? An easy second goal for Yeboah and our lead gone. So many issues in just two photos. Of course, it’s just not possible to be in the perfect position at all times. Footballers are human after all. Not even world class players are perfect, but its typically their reading of the game and thus positioning that sets them apart. Watch Virgil van Dijk. He makes it look so easy, but a massive part of his game is his positioning; he's rarely in a bad position and it enables him to stop so many players. Skills are obviously needed to execute touches, passes and tackles, but anticipation of what happens next is key. Training can help enormously but concentration is still a requisite part of the game, as is ‘proactively reacting’ to the play as it unfolds. But what can be done to stop these kinds of goals that we now seem to be conceding quite often? You can probably guess…positioning. A big part of the modern game is adhering to a system. Formations are, to a large extent, just drawings on a page. We have always played with a 4-3-3 this season, but it’s not so much about the numbers of the formation as it is about shape. A formation will ‘inform’ the shape of a team on the field, and understanding what happens to a shape when your opponent attacks/defends/presses/drops/controls is the most important tactical insight in football. Shapes are not static, they are dynamic and move as the game goes between phases. They can contract, enlarge, weaken and strengthen depending on the movements of the individual players. In the situation above, in both phases, what we see is clumping. Several City players all gravitate to the ball or the ball carrier. The shape is pulled apart as a result. Large gaps appear between players and lines, which can and are exploited. The clump of players means the shape is lopsided. Of course, passively ball watching has the same effect, because the shape should react to the opposition’s shape in relation to the ball as a kind of fixed point. A shape needs to have some spacing between players too, otherwise two players are doing the same job in the same part of the pitch and you’re very vulnerable to an overload somewhere else. Doubling up on a player is ok and sometimes encouraged (good example below), but it’s usually done in the front third when counter pressing and/or when the player is in an awkward position e.g. on the touchline and facing towards it with only one outlet pass. It’s a gamble, but it’s worth it in those situations where the risk/reward is low/high respectively. Going back to the example above, Jamieson pushing up so high meant that Good had tracked Kamau who gave the one-two pass to Georgevski. It’s like a domino effect. You move one piece, which leads to another piece moving, which continues on until the structure, or shape, is fatally weakened. It’s worth noting that teams can and do break down defences all the time. Realistically, not all goals can be stopped. And sometimes the piece of play hinges on a single moment where the attacker simply beats the defender and the shape is progressively destroyed because of it. It happens. Toure beating Delbridge in the Cup final is one recent example. But many goals can be well-protected against and this is why positioning is so important. I'd guess that it would be a focus for Mombaerts every day on the training pitch. Pep Playbook I wanted to talk a little bit about some tactical things Mombaerts has adopted from Manchester. The much-talked-about inverted fullbacks, chief among them. It’s an interesting tactic. When we play out from the back, you will likely see Jamieson moving centrally. Instead of a back 4, we now have a back 3 and an extra man in the midfield. This creates a 3-4-3 momentarily. The LW then gets more space on his wing, and the opponent who would normally be marking Jamieson is now unsure whether to go with him to the centre or stay and guard the space behind him and around the LW. What we tend to see with City is Jamieson pushing up high when the opportunity is there and when the ball is advanced up the pitch. This seems to me to be slightly different to how inverted fullbacks usually work. It’s very much a case of Jamieson reading the situation and reacting to it. And that’s fine. He pushes up high when the opportunity presents itself. Instead of staying central and controlling that middle third between the widest spaces he becomes a traditional fullback again. The issue arises when we lose the ball high up the pitch and he is too high, or when he stays narrow and the opposition is countering with a wide player on his side. Many teams have wide wingers instead of auxiliary wingers who are actually more like inside forwards. This can mean Jamieson is in a bit of trouble, which cascades into a weakened team shape. It’s a risk that we take, and it’s up to opposition teams to exploit that weakness. We get midfield domination when we begin our offensive phase and build up from the back but it comes at a cost. Again, risk/reward. The photo below shows this beautifully: This piece of play leads to a Kamau shot from a tight angle that is luckily pulled wide. We begin the play initially by building up from the back, with Jamieson inverted. A bad pass from Good to Griffiths in the circle leads to a turnover, and Jamieson is too high up to track Kamau as he runs forward to an eventual 1v1. It should be pretty clear that we leave ourselves exposed when we turn the ball over with an inverted fullback. It’s a bad place to lose it no matter what, but it’s very bad when your LB cannot help out defensively and the LW hasn’t dropped off enough. The other tactic worth mentioning is the counter press. Most of the best teams around the world will deploy the counter press because it works. It’s aggressive. It’s a high tempo tactic that requires discipline and concentration from the forwards and midfielders. Maclaren and Wales are our best exponents of it, followed by Metcalfe. Here’s an example against Wellington. Marinovic rolls it out to a Wellington player who has his back turned only 30 yards out from his own goal. This is a pressing trigger, which is when the team is instructed to apply pressure and actively try to dispossess the opponent. In this particular scenario, we double up with Metcalfe and Genreau. It works perfectly, with Metcalfe taking it away and playing Wales in. We don’t score, but we create a dangerous chance. It's what we want to do with every attack. It’s impressive to watch but it doesn’t always work. Part of the problem is the high line. The front three are very high, which can leave space either in front of the midfield if they’re not pushing up too or behind the defensive line if the entire team pushes up. Both are problematic. I go back to shape. The shape needs some level of compactness between the three lines and within it. This is what is meant by the terms vertical and horizontal as it applies to football. Too much space vertically between the lines and it’s a free for all, too little space and it’s a free for all. You either pass and move between the lines, breaking the structure down line by line, or you go direct and bypass all lines with a lofted through ball. The high line requires coordinated pressure on the ball but not always the ball carrier (this is an important distinction). Without pressure, you’re setting yourself up for pain. Same goes for horizontal compactness. Too much space across and in the shape and it’s a free for all, too little and the overlap will kill you. It’s fascinating watching some teams still try to play through our press. Better teams like Sydney will be able to do it because they have players who are good on the ball in tight and who are intelligent footballers. Wellington and CCM, not so much, yet they still try to their credit and, it must be said, to our goal tally. Will Mombaerts adjust it? We can’t press for 90 minutes, so some adjustments are inevitably made during matches and we’ve seen this happen already. But what do we do when Sydney dismantle it in the first 10 minutes? Only the Frenchman knows. Is time to buy the Dettol bathroom spray? We will need it when the toilet seat is ours and we can keep it nice and shiny. But I wouldn’t be heading down to the supermarket yet. Prior to the WSW match, both WSW and City were the top two teams in the league outperforming their xG. Should we be concerned? Yes and no. Expected goals basically measures how many goals a team should have scored on average given the shots taken. The stat above is looking at the differential. We were +2.7, way above other teams, which means we’re vastly outperforming our xG. At some point, we can expect this to come back down closer to our xG. Think of it in terms of some of our goals. Maclaren has been scoring from pretty much everywhere and with just about every shot. Is that sustainable? Maybe. Probably not though. Galloway scored that cracker against Wellington. They don’t happen often and most shots taken from that spot go into the crowd. What all this means is we’re very deadly in front of goal, which is always a good thing. Goals win matches and goals win titles. But we need to always be working on creating good, high quality chances that can be converted more often than not on average. The flipside to that is we need to be tightening our defence. We probably cannot always score at the rate we currently do, and with a leaky defence, our chances of winning the title aren’t so good. And just a final word on injuries. It seems we’re haunted by the ghost of Germano. Soft tissue injuries are becoming more and more prevalent. Berenguer, Windbichler, Maclaren and Metcalfe. All hamstring strains, if I’m not mistaken. Is it from overworking? Is it poor conditioning? Are we expecting too much of our players physically? It’s something that needs to be looked at. With our resources, it's not silly to think that we'd have some of the best personnel available in sports science. I do have faith in our club though. The revolution is in full swing and it will be televised. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it during this boring bye week! 2 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imtellingyou Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 What's the executive summary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 17 hours ago, Imtellingyou said: What's the executive summary? Our positioning isn't consistently good enough to keep clean sheets but as long as we keep scoring it doesn't matter too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 (edited) On 28/11/2019 at 4:29 PM, Harrison said: Shapes are not static, they are dynamic and move as the game goes between phases. They can contract, enlarge, weaken and strengthen depending on the movements of the individual players. In the situation above, in both phases, what we see is clumping. I can't remember who the coach was, but back in the 70s/80s, there was a coach who used to train his players to maintain shape by tieing them to each other with long lengths of rope in training. When one player moved, the whole line had to move Edited November 30, 2019 by belaguttman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moops Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 6 hours ago, belaguttman said: I can't remember who the coach was, but back in the 70s/80s, there was a coach who used to train his players to maintain shape by timing them to each other with long lengths of rope in training. When one player moved, the whole line had to move There have been quite a few who have done this, but I know who you mean, I'm racking my brain to think of the buggers name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playmaker Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 On 29/11/2019 at 1:39 PM, belaguttman said: I can't remember who the coach was, but back in the 70s/80s, there was a coach who used to train his players to maintain shape by tieing them to each other with long lengths of rope in training. When one player moved, the whole line had to move Helenio Herrera I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 17 minutes ago, playmaker said: Helenio Herrera I think. Not sure. Timing doesn't look right. From Wikipedia: In 1968, Herrera moved to Roma, where he became the highest paid manager in the world, with a contract worth an estimated £150,000 per year. He won the Coppa Italia in his first season but relations with club president Alvaro Marchini had already soured over the tragic death of his centre-forward Giuliano Taccola in the team dressing room at an away game against Cagliari. The following season, 1969–70, erratic results in the League gave Marchini the excuse to sack him. He returned to management for a one-year stint with Inter for the 1973–74 season. Herrera then suffered a heart attack, did not want to coach full-time any more and retired in Venice where he lived the rest of his life. While inactive between 1974 and 1978, Herrera returned briefly during the end of the decade, managing Rimini Calcio and finally ending his career with a return to FC Barcelona for one-and-a-half seasons in 1980 and 1981. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 Bielsa has done it, but I was thinking of a Russian or Ukranian coach, can't remember his name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison Posted November 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 43 minutes ago, belaguttman said: Bielsa has done it, but I was thinking of a Russian or Ukranian coach, can't remember his name I was thinking it might’ve been your namesake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 4 hours ago, Harrison said: I was thinking it might’ve been your namesake. Nah, it wasn't Bela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citymad Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Interesting read in the paper a couple of days ago............. Melbourne City coach Erick Mombaerts’ links to football greats Zinedine Zidane, Paul Pogba David Davutovic, Herald Sun November 29, 2019 6:47pm Erick Mombaerts avoided playing French legend Zinedine Zidane at home. Not that Mombaerts didn’t like Zidane. He loved him. It was the Cannes fans who were frustrated by the unwieldy teenager defensive midfielder. “He was not fast and defensively he struggled,” Mombaerts recalls. Reds US star turns setback into fresh st Fowler calls for more Redcliffe Roar games “He played more away games. “When he was young, people didn’t like him too much because he was not fast. “We protected him. Our fans (jeered), whistled the first year. The second year he got better and better. “We moved him higher — to No.8 (box to box midfielder), then No.10 (attacking midfielder).” Erik Mombaerts helped develop Zinedine Zidane into the superstar he would become at Real Madrid. Mombaerts, who was appointed coach of Melbourne City this year, said Zidane was a bench player at 17 and became a regular starter at 18. “I never seen a player with this body balance, so fantastic. He never fell down, never. You can push him,” he said. “He was born in a suburb of Marseilles, he played a lot of street soccer, on concrete and it helped him have very good skill. “He’s the only player that can give you a (perfect) ball with both feet, at 18 in a competitive game. So confident technically.” Even then, Mombaerts did not foresee a player who would lead his country to World Cup glory in 1998 and get so close in 2006 (he was sent off for headbutting during the tournament), coupled with a Champions League win, three FIFA player of the year gongs and a world record transfer fee (Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001). Zinedine Zidane would go on to win the World Cup with France. “Honestly, no. Not at this level,” he said. “He was perfect technically, but his body changed and he became powerful, physically so strong after. “When he moved to Juventus he worked hard physically, they killed him. “Also Juventus, one of the biggest clubs in the world, helped him (develop) strong mentality. “He made good choices. He started at a small club (Cannes), then Bordeaux, then Juventus, and after Real Madrid. “He continued to improve, especially physically, and he scored goals. When he started he didn’t score (many) goals.” Erick Mombaerts waves to fans during his time with Yokohama F.Marinos. Picture: Getty Images THE ICE MAN Mombaerts is the first Frenchman to coach in the A-League, arriving with a wealth of experience primarily from the French system. The former Paris St-Germain coach left City officials gobsmacked on his first visit to their Bundoora training base, launching into a set of chin ups while inspecting the gym, age 64. “I can push (bench press) maybe 90 kilos, more than 90kg,” he said. “It’s important because I focus a lot on the job, but I have to take care of my health also. I want to have the same philosophy I ask my players. So if I am not fit, it’s difficult to ask my players to be fit. I want to be consistent and stay at a fit level.” His stint at Ange Postecoglou’s club Yokohama F Marinos was the game-changer. There he adopted the radical methods of Dutch iceman, extreme athlete Wim Hof, who holds a host of Guinness world records, including a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow. He has not had a hot shower since. Wim Hof, nicknamed ‘The Iceman’, has inspired Mombaerts. Picture: Supplied “Everyday (cold shower). I don’t remember (the last hot shower). I started when I was in Japan,” Mombaerts said. “Context in Japan. The culture in Japan helps you think about mental things. They control emotions more than us. You can’t see people (tooting horns), they are in control. That’s why they live for 100 years. They eat very good and they are in control with stress. “I follow the Iceman method, Wim Hof. Afterwards it helps you have better control. Not only for your job, now it’s not a job, it’s a pleasure. I changed totally.” Mombaerts puts his Melbourne City players to shame and only English winger Craig Noone — perhaps aided by his Merseyside upbringing — gets close to his ice bath feats. “Sometimes — I can stay in a bath 8C or 9C — I can stay for longer than 15 minutes. The players are (shocked),” Mombaerts said. “Normal person can’t stay, they die. It’s cool eh? I can stay 15 minutes. “I do a lot of strength, cold shower, cold bath, breathing. Also for mental (state). It’s a life attitude also. I want to be consistent with the players. “It helps me be calm and a coach needs to be calm to show you’re in control. If you can’t control yourself, you can’t control (others). I try to be in control in games, you (won’t) see me asking referees (questions), never.” Mombaerts says Manchester City superstar Riyad Mahrez is his “best success”. Picture: AFP WORLD CLASS STARS While undoubtedly a pleasure coaching some of the world’s best, there are stresses attached to expectation and handling big egos and personalities. Beyond Zidane, the roll call is impressive. World Cup winners, Champions League winners, world transfer record holders and global headline makers. Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) and Manchester City duo Benjamin Mendy and Riyad Mahrez. “He (Mahrez) is my best success. When I came to Le Havre, he didn’t play. The two coaches before me didn’t trust him. I thought this player has something, but he didn’t train well. Physically not so good, but great, creative left foot. Not fast but always dummied players,” Mombaerts said. “I started him, but my president at every Monday executive meeting (wanted) to fire me. ‘Why you trust Riyad Mahrez and put him on the field?’. “I had a very good relationship with Riyad and after that I said, ‘you have to change because every Monday (I had issues). You’re ambitious, I trust you, but you have to change’. I convinced him he had to work physically — he was a midfielder but didn’t want to defend. “The last season he was better, by the end he was very good. Then he got an offer from Leicester City, only 500,000 euros. Cheap. He sent me message to say ‘thank you’. Four years later then sold him for 60 million euros.” Mombaerts says Antoine Griezmann, pictured with Barcelona superstar Leo Messi, slipped through the national team cracks as a youth. Picture: AP Mombaerts said Griezmann triggered a change to France’s scouting philosophy. “We have a lot of players and it’s very difficult for clubs to find a good balance between power, athleticism and technical aspects. Griezmann was technical, but at 15 struggled against power players and his talent wasn’t recognised,” he said. “The Griezmann problem made the federation think about this. “We pushed a lot of academies that can take care of players who are physically immature and make a place for them in the academy. “Maybe they looked too much at the physical aspect. Now they corrected the balance. “Griezmann is typically now a Spanish player — very smart, first touch so good, can play in between the lines. He’s perfect. Playing at Atletico Madrid made him a complete player — aggressive, he can score, very smart in finishing.” Mombaerts says Paul Pogba is not suited to the way Manchester United plays. Picture: AFP THE POGBA PROBLEM The way French coach Didier Deschamps used Pogba, who was not suited to Manchester United, earned Mombaerts’ praise. “Pogba is a typical French player now, so strong. African origins. He has so much quality. He’s a box to box midfielder, so powerful, he likes to be free to go box to box, touch a lot of balls, finish,” he said. “It’s better for him to be well oriented and make a big job also defensively, as he did with France. If he’s too (free) he can be lost. He’s also not so good when his attitude is ‘I am the boss’. “Manchester United he plays a style that’s not good for him. “French national team and Didier Deschamps made a very good job, he made him better with the national team because it was a new way of playing, he was a collective player. “Pressure on him is normal because he’s an expensive player. But this kind of player, he was better when he was at Juventus. the culture, pressure and mentality of Juventus is good for Pogba.” Mombaerts compares young Juventus gun Blaise Matuidi to N’Golo Kante. Picture: AP Mombaerts also had high praise for Blaise Matuidi, another French player at Juventus. “His level of aggressiveness in 10 out of 10, good player. Like N’Golo Kante — the first player you put on the team is this kind of player, his work to regain the ball is fantastic.” He admitted Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy was problematic: “He was with me in Le Havre. Similar to Pogba, from the suburbs.” “I struggled with him. Le Havre not far from Paris and a lot of people visited him, lived with him. So powerful, good left foot. But sometimes he was not there at training. We would fine him. “Sometimes we played away, we went without Benjamin. When we come back, he get maybe 10,000 euro fine, and he was like ‘okay. Sorry coach, I just woke up. I’m back’.” Mombaerts has adopted a youth policy at City. Picture: Getty Images YOUTH STRATEGY Mombaerts revealed that exposure to youth was a key part of the French coaching pathway, which he’s adopted at Melbourne City. He has backed in Australian youth internationals Connor Metcalfe, Ramy Najjarine and Denis Genreau and the balance has proved ideal. City is sitting atop the A-League ladder after seven rounds. “First of all in France, all of the (professional) coaches start with academy first. It’s normal,” he said. “In France, it’s normal to have academy players to play with the first team. Every year 4-5 players integrate into the squad. If you have talent in France, at 18 you are ready to start in the first team. “So when I’m at a club my first intention is to watch if there is some good academy players to help the team to be better. I first watched the NPL team and I saw a game and Metcalfe was brilliant, he gave assist. I thought he has good potential and quality to help the team — good left foot, strong, he can score. “I’ve done this at every club I’ve worked at — especially Toulouse. I was there a long time and I won a trophy with this team and only with young players.” 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belaguttman Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 That article should win the 'Name Dropper of the Year Award.' 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughJass Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 I wonder how Arzani would have done with Erick around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haz Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 2 hours ago, HughJass said: I wonder how Arzani would have done with Erick around 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imtellingyou Posted December 6, 2019 Report Share Posted December 6, 2019 We need evolution not short term revolution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Originalmeme Posted December 6, 2019 Report Share Posted December 6, 2019 8 minutes ago, Imtellingyou said: We need evolution not short term revolution. rate this comment, hopefully shit picks up in the long term, our style is promising but we cannot shake the club mentality on the field that we have had since day 1 of heart. Never fully convinced about anything and such a result as today highlights this. fuck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrillhouse Posted December 6, 2019 Report Share Posted December 6, 2019 grow some balls and drop that spastic bouzanis 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missing_Moy Posted December 6, 2019 Report Share Posted December 6, 2019 (edited) Last night I said make a sub Warren explains what I thought of his coaching performance. was confused when he started Metcalfe the midfield 3 were all very similar types IMO also when cabbie was subbed after being the only one that broke Perth down a bit in the first half perplexed me Edited December 6, 2019 by Missing_Moy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted December 6, 2019 Report Share Posted December 6, 2019 9 minutes ago, Missing_Moy said: Last night I said make a sub Warren explains what I thought of his coaching performance. was confused when he started Metcalfe the midfield 3 were all very similar types IMO also when cabbie was subbed after being the only one that broke Perth down a bit in the first half perplexed me I couldn't see much difference between City under Joyce and City under Mombaerts last night. We'd not had a clear shot on goal when Perth scored their second, so to me there seemed little point in persisting with the same players thereafter. Dismal performance all round. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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