North Enders at the liberty or eastenders on tv

[ivoralljack]

You're not wrong. Maybe we're getting the hang of it at long last.

 

[CroJack]

I think Martin is trying to ape Pep's playbook where Pep often, for example, deploys full/wing backs in midfield to confuse the opposition.

He is stubbornly going back to his old three at the back, with two centre-backs pushed wide and high, and two wing-backs played as wingers. This is the well-known 3-4-1-2 formation that have cost us so many points this season. Though, you are right that he SOMETIMES deploys full-/wing-backs in the midfield and in the central areas of the opposition third. In the old days we used to call this genius idea "cutting inside".

 

[CroJack]

There were long periods of play where we moved as a unit very cohesively.

That's because we now move more both with and without ball into empty spaces and because our players, when they receive the ball with their back facing the opposition goal, don't pass it backwards anymore, but instead turn around with it and carry it forward. And, of course, we pass the ball at much higher tempo than before. It's shame that it took Martin 2 years to make such a simple tweak to our style of play.