Mount and Bruno or Mount OR Bruno?

Bruno and another good midfielder instead of Mount.

Mount put in a shift.

The issue was that Casemito was clealry not match ready and simply could not keep pace with the Wolves runners.

comment by Ohnono (U22987)
posted 20 minutes ago
Mount put in a shift.

The issue was that Casemito was clealry not match ready and simply could not keep pace with the Wolves runners.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, Casemiro was the only player within a 20 years radius far too often yesterday. If we continue with that tactic better attackers will cut through us.

Mount tan a lot, but his pressing was ineffective.

Yes; of course Bruno and Mount can play together. The question is how ETH sets us up.

I think we have a problem if ETH reckons he can have both Bruno and Mount involved in the high press as well both fullbacks pushed so far up.

Wolves don't have the best ball-carrying forwards, but they seriously exposed us on the counter too often last night purely based on numbers of bodies. Teams like Spurs, Palace and Newcastle would have had a field day.

Mount needs to be sat in a little deeper whilst we're developing play as Eriksen did last season, and if he's going to press as high as Bruno so often to try to win the ball back in the final third, ETH is going to have to look at how the fullbacks can drop in a little to cover the opposite flank and give a numerical advantage if the opposition beats the press.

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by Ohnono (U22987)
posted 20 minutes ago
Mount put in a shift.

The issue was that Casemito was clealry not match ready and simply could not keep pace with the Wolves runners.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, Casemiro was the only player within a 20 years radius far too often yesterday. If we continue with that tactic better attackers will cut through us.

Mount tan a lot, but his pressing was ineffective.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As pointed out above, he won the ball back in the attacking third three times last night.

The press needs work, not least in terms of how we're structured when it breaks down, but a bigger issue last night is what we did with the ball when we did win it back in the attacking third.

I think we have a problem if ETH reckons he can have both Bruno and Mount involved in the high press as well both fullbacks pushed so far up.

------------------------------------------------------------

Rosso, I defer to your football observational capacity, but didn't we see Shaw tucking into midfield quite consistently last night?

A few people pointed out last season that our high press wasn't as effective as it could be last season because we didn't commit full backs - presumably because ETH strongly emphasised rest defence. He seems to be planning to be more aggressive and risk taking this season but I'd be a bit surprised (based on what we saw last year) if he were totally cavalier.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 6 minutes ago
I think we have a problem if ETH reckons he can have both Bruno and Mount involved in the high press as well both fullbacks pushed so far up.

------------------------------------------------------------

Rosso, I defer to your football observational capacity, but didn't we see Shaw tucking into midfield quite consistently last night?

A few people pointed out last season that our high press wasn't as effective as it could be last season because we didn't commit full backs - presumably because ETH strongly emphasised rest defence. He seems to be planning to be more aggressive and risk taking this season but I'd be a bit surprised (based on what we saw last year) if he were totally cavalier.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, Shaw did tuck in quite a bit. That's OK during buildup play, and I expect we'll see that continue.

As to the FBs being involved in the press, that's also fine in principle. We managed to force some errors last night, particularly in and in front of their LB/LCB area partially because when we managed to shepherd them wide (their) left in possession and trigger a press, we had AWB pushed up making it more difficult for them to get out.

Whilst that's happening Shaw needs to both sit in.and come across so that if the press is beaten there are still at least three and hopefully four players able to deal with the counter. In that situation, he can't stay in (or close to) the inside left/sort of false eight position.

Tbf, it looked to me like Shaw and AWB were doing that (i.e. dropping in to a back three when we were pressing on the opposite flank) most of the time last night, but there were a few occasions on which Casemiro was taken out of the game (either he was too high up, committed himself or was beaten for pace) and the two CBs were left exposed.

One perfect example was the counter which ended up with Neto shooting straight down the throat of Onana. Both AWB and Shaw got caught way ahead of play, and we can't let that happen because better teams will punish us time and again.

It's about finding a balance, both with Mount's positioning and the use of the FBs.

Rosso

Yeah, I think whether or not the system we play this season (and the associated personnel decisions) is ultimately as successful as hoped, it will get a lot more effective, the more the players are drilled.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 6 minutes ago
Rosso

Yeah, I think whether or not the system we play this season (and the associated personnel decisions) is ultimately as successful as hoped, it will get a lot more effective, the more the players are drilled.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, agreed.

I wasn't nearly as concerned as many seemingly were about Mount being able to play in the Eriksen role of last season when he was signed. I can see many ways in which he'd be a direct upgrade there.

I just hope that ETH actually uses him that way, rather than him being stationed as default higher up the pitch. For me, there was no real need to tear that template up.

I can see several offensive benefits (more than one related to creating space for others) to Mount actually sitting quite a bit deeper than he was last night when we're in possession of the ball.