Gibbs white back to Wolves

[The Blobster]

very sad to hear that Wolves have recalled Gibbs White due to their injury crises.
We need to bring in someone of similar quality ASAP.
GUTTED ! I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING HIS RETURN TO ACTION.

 

[Behindthegoal]

Unfortunately, PL clubs are going to be miserly to cover squad illnesses.

 

[ivoralljack]

That's really shit news!! Talented player who could have made a big contribution to our promotion push. Loved his cameo on saturday.

 

[Victoria Swan]

Well that was a cameo appearance at Swansea for him. Palmer's loss we can survive but Palmer AND Gibbs-White is a freakin' disaster. All we have left in that slot is Dhanda. However, I guess George Byers will be back soon and I sure liked Fulton when he played that role for most of the game against Reading. But our squad depth is certainly suffering.

 

[CroJack]

Well that was a cameo appearance at Swansea for him. Palmer's loss we can survive but Palmer AND Gibbs-White is a freakin' disaster. All we have left in that slot is Dhanda. However, I guess George Byers will be back soon and I sure liked Fulton when he played that role for most of the game against Reading. But our squad depth is certainly suffering.

He is a good player, but I am not sure that losing him is a disaster. I am pretty sure we'll sign someone, though playing Grimes, Fulton and Smith at the same time, like we did in our last two games, brought some of the most dominant football against strong opposition. It was interesting (and joy) to watch how all of them were changing position during these games. Against Reading Fulton didn't play as ATM, he actually played on the left side of the middle three who all attacked. We didn't have a dedicated ATM in that game. We played 3-5-2, which was often 3-3-2-2 or even 3-1-4-2. During the Reading game Fulton and Smith were switching positions all the time.

I, actually, like this more than having double pivots, who are mostly defensive, and then a lone ATM. We are more dangerous with two of the three midfielders attacking. Sometimes it was Fulton and Smith, sometimes Grimes and Smith, and sometimes Grimes and Fulton. It is more flexible to play like this than to have two more less static and defensive pivots and one ATM.

And this is how we attack:





​

 

[Victoria Swan]

Against Reading Fulton didn't play as ATM, he actually played on the left side of the middle three who all attacked

I guess it all comes down to definitions - for much of the game Fulton was the go-to player on the edge of the 18-yard box making things happen and happening himself. I noticed it because I'd not really seen him play that role before. Yes, the role was also taken up at times by Grimes or Smith, but Fulton was the one I noticed (and was impressed by) most in the Reading game.

 

[CroJack]

I guess it all comes down to definitions - for much of the game Fulton was the go-to player on the edge of the 18-yard box making things happen and happening himself. I noticed it because I'd not really seen him play that role before. Yes, the role was also taken up at times by Grimes or Smith, but Fulton was the one I noticed (and was impressed by) most in the Reading game.

Definition?
Think Man United's Bruno Fernandez who is a typical dedicated attacking midfielder
in 4-2-3-1 formation. Or Kevin De Bruyne, or our Michu. That's a player who is an excellent passer,
who is creative and scores plenty of goals.

Here is where an ATM plays:



Have a look at Man United's heat map in their away game against Everton and Bruno Fernandez
touches in that game:




And now have a look at Swansea's heat map from Reading game,
and Fulton's touches:



​

In Swansea case against Reading you can see a huge gap on the pitch there where an ATM normally plays. To an extent Grimes filled the gap, but never in the build-up close to Reading's penalty box. On the other hand, Grimes was excellent when it comes to range of passing, so he bypassed the gap with long passes and crosses.

Grimes and Smith had more touches and passes than Fulton in the area where an ATM should play:



​

So, no, we didn't have a dedicated ATM in that game.

Was Fulton particularly impressive? Not in the build-up play.
Matt Grimes was the king of the midfield in that game and
hugely impressive. Smith was also better than Fulton when it comes to build-up play.
There where Fulton was good, but I wouldn't call his contribution there impressive,
is his passing and touches inside the Reading's box. He was actually more our third striker than a midfielder.
Also, he was, as always, good defensively.

I've made for you a forward passing and passing in/into Reading box map for all three midfielders, so you can see
what I am talking about:


​

 

[Behindthegoal]

Very interesting, CJ. Like @Victoria Swan , I also had the impression that he was the busy ATM.
Do you want to shatter my other illusion, that Marc Guehi spent a lot more time in the Watford half than Joe Rodon in a typical match?


I’m only asking because you seem to have more time on your hands than is suitable for a man of your age.

 

[ivoralljack]

I’m only asking because you seem to have more time on your hands than is suitable for a man of your age.

Often thought that but I'm always interested in CJ's in depth analysis of our play and appreciate the time he takes to produce his stuff for us. Thanks as always, CJ, long may you have the time.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Fulton was busy as an ATM in the first half. He may not have been making passes in that zone dead center in front of the box, but he made a lot of excellent runs into the zone from penalty spot to top of box and often saw passes blocked by our own players - Ayew in one particularly instance - that would have seen him with a goal scoring opportunity,

 

[The Blobster]

They need to learn to shout leave it !

 

[CroJack]

Do you want to shatter my other illusion, that Marc Guehi spent a lot more time in the Watford half than Joe Rodon in a typical match?

That's not an illusion, Marc Guehi is an animal. Look at his forward pass map against Watford. I have only 1st half for now:

​

Tell me, have you ever seen a centre-back playing so high on the pitch and attacking so much? I can't remember any.

 

[CroJack]

Fulton was busy as an ATM in the first half. He may not have been making passes in that zone dead center in front of the box

I also posted all his touches (all his contacts with the ball), not only his passes. So I don't understand what busy means here. An attacking midfielder has to be busy creating chances for others and pass the ball from the area I highlighted above. Running into opposition box is just a part of an ATM game.

He made a lot of excellent runs into the zone from penalty spot to top of box.

I'll make analysis of that part of his game against Reading. You'll get exact number of his runs, so we'll see if it was "a lot".

He often saw passes blocked by our own players - Ayew in one particularly instance - that would have seen him with a goal scoring opportunity.

Often? I'll check it. Anyway, you have all his forward passes in my post above, and it doesn't seem he had any of his passes blocked.

 

[Behindthegoal]

That's not an illusion, Marc Guehi is an animal. :
Tell me, have you ever seen a centre-back playing so high on the pitch and attacking so much? I can't remember any.

I can think of a few that liked the odd foray behind enemy lines, but the only Swan who made it a habit was the god known as Ante Rajkovic.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

@CroJack .... "busy" means being in the appropriate space or attacking it. Just because a player doesn't touch a ball doesn't mean that he's not doing his job. Over 98% of a game a player doesn't have possession of the ball. Fulton was getting into the right places and wasn't "touching" the ball because the appropriate pass to him was never made, or blocked by a defender, or intercepted by one of his own players.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Guehi should be acquired. Don't know how, but he's got to be cheaper now than if we get promoted.

 

[Victoria Swan]

Okay @CroJack , how can I do anything but bow to your evidence in the face of my impression!

Nevertheless, you can't take that away from me -- I had the IMPRESSION that Fulton was being an excellent ATM, everyone knows that, it's a fact, ask my supporters (like @Yankee_Jack ), I'm a perfect analyst, really very good, very, very good indeed, everybody knows that, you can try and steal my reputation as an analyst with all your bafflegab and diagrams but it won't wash, not with my supporters or all those people who follow me for my excellent analytics. Don't you understand, I am the best, there has never been anyone better than me at analysing Swansea games. In fact, from all around the world people are coming to read my analysis it's so good. Actually, they say it's brilliant.

 

[The Blobster]

In your profession @Victoria Swan I'm sure you understand the term delusional

But knowing you , that's a brilliant sarky post

 

[CroJack]

Just because a player doesn't touch a ball doesn't mean that he's not doing his job. Over 98% of a game a player doesn't have possession of the ball. Fulton was getting into the right places and wasn't "touching" the ball because the appropriate pass to him was never made, or blocked by a defender, or intercepted by one of his own players.

We are talking about two different things. I am talking about ALL aspects of an ATM game, and you are talking about ONE aspect only. We AGREE Fulton was getting into right places, and that he attacked the Reading box. I never said he wasn't.

The initial discussion started when @Victoria Swan said that Fulton played in ATM role against Reading, and I disagreed. Why? Because the vast majority of Fulton's touches and passes were either on the left or the right side of the pitch, and in my world an ATM should play centrally close to opposition box. Attacking midfielder should be one of the most creative, if not the most creative, player in the squad, and his job is not only getting into right places in the opposition box, but also connecting defensive and central midfielders with attackers, and creating chances by providing killer passes. That's not what Fulton did against Reading, and it doesn't matter, because we play much better now without ATM. So, when I said that Fulton didn't play as ATM, it was not criticism, I was just stating a fact.

We used to play with a double defensive pivots (Grimes-Smith, Grimes - Fulton) when Gibbs-White and later Dhanda played as attacking midfielders. But recently we switched to a more offensive formation with Fulton (on the left) and Smith (on the right) in more offensive roles, and Grimes in a slightly more defensive.

Here is how we used to play:




And here is how we play now:


​

I am glad we don't play anymore with two defensive midfielders, but with two offensive ones, and our last games are proof that the new formation is much, much better. We totally dominated two strong opponents. We are more flexible, we have more bodies up front and we create more chances. But, we don't have an attacking midfielder, and we rarely attack through the middle. We still attack down the wings.

Here is Whoscored match report:


​

 

[Jackflash]

Keep the faith, players returning back to their clubs is fuel for Cardiff's forum, once again we are now doomed, as we were when Trundle went, then it was Britton, then Rangel, Williams, Scotland, Sinclair, Borini, Allen, Bony, Michu, De Guzman, Gylfi etc etc etc. and here we are second in the league and them 15th. Laughable really.