More than one way of playing.

[Itchysphincter]

It struck me that for all the talk of us playing ‘better’ it needs to be said that we are also varying the style, no?

The Norwich game was a classic ding dong with two seemingly decent sides going at each other. The swans getting the ball forward quickly and then trying to zip it around the opposition in the Laudrup style of attack.

Plymouth was more Rodgers, using the whole pitch to pull a pretty decent opposition around, getting it in to the attacking half with a little more patience, then… boom!

It might evolve in to one style, depends on quality I suppose.

 

[SwansInTheLake]

I think people are getting carried away with 4 wins ... and rightly so!!

But let's not compare anything we've seen so far to Laudrup or Rodgers. At the minute we are more akin to Carvahal or a less organised Cooper. We've got the hard work and guts side of it down, which has been enough in the last 4 games with some of the quality of the players. We won 2 convincingly but the other 2 could have gone either way. Let's not kid ourselves, we still look fairly open at the back, and were it not for some wasteful opponents, a class act keeper in the sticks (thank god its not been Fisher) and some luck at times we would have conceded maybe 2 or 3 in each of the last 2 games.

We will need to up it again after the break, and I'm hoping the boys aren't run into the ground and we work on some of our in possession play as well as the pressing stuff.

If we can keep going now and win every other game with the odd draw I'll be more than happy - things are looking up!

 

[Dr. Winston]

Lot of truth to that. We're still a work in progress and probably will be for a while.

I suspect Duff's attacking instincts are more Laudrup than Cooper (Hard to imagine SC playing three up front with two wide players) but a bit of Cooper defensive organisation wouldn't go amiss either.

 

[Itchysphincter]

I think people are getting carried away with 4 wins ... and rightly so!!

But let's not compare anything we've seen so far to Laudrup or Rodgers. At the minute we are more akin to Carvahal or a less organised Cooper. We've got the hard work and guts side of it down, which has been enough in the last 4 games with some of the quality of the players. We won 2 convincingly but the other 2 could have gone either way. Let's not kid ourselves, we still look fairly open at the back, and were it not for some wasteful opponents, a class act keeper in the sticks (thank god its not been Fisher) and some luck at times we would have conceded maybe 2 or 3 in each of the last 2 games.

We will need to up it again after the break, and I'm hoping the boys aren't run into the ground and we work on some of our in possession play as well as the pressing stuff.

If we can keep going now and win every other game with the odd draw I'll be more than happy - things are looking up!

We didn’t win every game under Laudrup or Rodgers mind, far from it, and we had better quality. The style(s) of the last four games has been far more akin to the styles of those two than anything Cooper served up though.

 

[magicdaps10]

We are seeing a couple of styles coming together recently coupled with a more organised defence and putting your body on the line defending.

We all knew the issue last season, we knew that if the defence could get sorted then there was a terrific platform with our passing, touch and awareness to work from.

If we carry on with a solid season then Duff will deserve massive credit especially if we become more solid at the back, as time progresses and we see players come an go then hopefully this will become another platform to us.
There are certainly signs that there is a plan and progress, these signs were nowhere to be seen a few weeks back, something has changed and long may it continue.

 

[K23]

"something has changed and long may it continue" .

Yes, something has changed. We've gone from a 5-3-big gap-2 to a 4-2-3-1.

 

[Magic_Michu]

Yes, something has changed. We've gone from a 5-3-big gap-2 to a 4-2-3-1.

And the change didn’t come from Duff

 

[Itchysphincter]

And the change didn’t come from Duff

Go on then…..,

 

[Swanjaxs]

And the change didn’t come from Duff

Grimes init, he's pulling the strings down SA1 now of course... :lol:

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Setting aside the first 7 matches (which were such a mess it was impossible to tell wtf was going on) based on the last 4 games, to me if anything it's a slightly more open version of Cooperball.

It's just as direct. It's just as reliant on individual sparks, rather than cohesive team play. It's equally as uninterested in winning the possession battle.

Where it differs from Cooperball is that it's ever so slightly more attack minded, in terms of getting bodies into the box when we have the ball. And it's not quite as organised defensively, it's not as fixated with keeping clean sheets.

If that holds all season - it's a big if - it won't be a bad watch a lot of the time.

But we'll see. 4 games of improvement and evidence of some sort of plan at last is not enough to start drawing any firm conclusions. For now, I'm just glad it's better than it was, compared to where we were 3 weeks ago.

 

[Itchysphincter]

Setting aside the first 7 matches (which were such a mess it was impossible to tell wtf was going on) based on the last 4 games, to me if anything it's a slightly more open version of Cooperball.

It's just as direct. It's just as reliant on individual sparks, rather than cohesive team play. It's equally as uninterested in winning the possession battle.

Where it differs from Cooperball is that it's ever so slightly more attack minded, in terms of getting bodies into the box when we have the ball. And it's not quite as organised defensively, it's not as fixated with keeping clean sheets.

If that holds all season - it's a big if - it won't be a bad watch a lot of the time.

But we'll see. 4 games of improvement and evidence of some sort of plan at last is not enough to start drawing any firm conclusions. For now, I'm just glad it's better than it was, compared to where we were 3 weeks ago.

First seven games was aimless hopeless hoofball. The last few games have seen a lot of passing and more intent to play in the opposition half, that’s why possession stats are down, because we are not playing clumsy keep ball in our own box before losing it. Nothing like Cooperball at all.

 

[Vetchonian]

What we are seeing is Duffs way....as has been mentioned else where the play we have seen the last few games is similar to the way Barnsley played last season under Duff, so those who believe "others" are responsible for the "change" I think are little way off the mark that doesnt mean to say that senior players have not had opportunity to offer their opinions at the end of the day the manager will do what he thinks best otherwise his position is lost!
Given what has been said about Duff and "its his way or no way" almost dictatorial approach do people believe he has allowed the like of Grimes to "undermine" him, if we are playing a way he doesnt want would we be witnessing the scenes such as that after the third goal went in in Saturday.
There are too many "ITKs" who believe they know its like the "rumours" about Duff preseason where he had instructed for the pitch to me made smaller to support his direct hoofball and then folks were posting the pitch had in fact been made smaller but this was never the case.

We are now playing an attractive winning brand of football it has elements of Cooper, Martin Laudrup as football is basically a game for which there can be very little innovation ...especially these days where coaches attend courses to achieve their badges and there is an element of coaching by numbers.

As others have said it is still early days and we are still a work in progress, I'm of a generation where the football I grew up with was not analysed as it is today the only live football would be the FA cup and maybe a European final if a British side got there and there certainly was the in depth analysis of today...highlights programmes MOTD and the Big Match didnt spend ages analysing what was what. IT was a simpler game all about scoring more goals than the opposition.

It does seem though that some on here dont want to give Duff credit for turning things around preferring to suggest that others are responsible for the change in style of play and recent upturn in form.

 

[Swanjaxs]

What we are seeing is Duffs way....as has been mentioned else where the play we have seen the last few games is similar to the way Barnsley played last season under Duff, so those who believe "others" are responsible for the "change" I think are little way off the mark that doesnt mean to say that senior players have not had opportunity to offer their opinions at the end of the day the manager will do what he thinks best otherwise his position is lost!
Given what has been said about Duff and "its his way or no way" almost dictatorial approach do people believe he has allowed the like of Grimes to "undermine" him, if we are playing a way he doesnt want would we be witnessing the scenes such as that after the third goal went in in Saturday.
There are too many "ITKs" who believe they know its like the "rumours" about Duff preseason where he had instructed for the pitch to me made smaller to support his direct hoofball and then folks were posting the pitch had in fact been made smaller but this was never the case.

We are now playing an attractive winning brand of football it has elements of Cooper, Martin Laudrup as football is basically a game for which there can be very little innovation ...especially these days where coaches attend courses to achieve their badges and there is an element of coaching by numbers.

As others have said it is still early days and we are still a work in progress, I'm of a generation where the football I grew up with was not analysed as it is today the only live football would be the FA cup and maybe a European final if a British side got there and there certainly was the in depth analysis of today...highlights programmes MOTD and the Big Match didnt spend ages analysing what was what. IT was a simpler game all about scoring more goals than the opposition.

It does seem though that some on here dont want to give Duff credit for turning things around preferring to suggest that others are responsible for the change in style of play and recent upturn in form.

A very good post sir

 

[magicdaps10]

What we are seeing is Duffs way....as has been mentioned else where the play we have seen the last few games is similar to the way Barnsley played last season under Duff, so those who believe "others" are responsible for the "change" I think are little way off the mark that doesnt mean to say that senior players have not had opportunity to offer their opinions at the end of the day the manager will do what he thinks best otherwise his position is lost!
Given what has been said about Duff and "its his way or no way" almost dictatorial approach do people believe he has allowed the like of Grimes to "undermine" him, if we are playing a way he doesnt want would we be witnessing the scenes such as that after the third goal went in in Saturday.
There are too many "ITKs" who believe they know its like the "rumours" about Duff preseason where he had instructed for the pitch to me made smaller to support his direct hoofball and then folks were posting the pitch had in fact been made smaller but this was never the case.

We are now playing an attractive winning brand of football it has elements of Cooper, Martin Laudrup as football is basically a game for which there can be very little innovation ...especially these days where coaches attend courses to achieve their badges and there is an element of coaching by numbers.

As others have said it is still early days and we are still a work in progress, I'm of a generation where the football I grew up with was not analysed as it is today the only live football would be the FA cup and maybe a European final if a British side got there and there certainly was the in depth analysis of today...highlights programmes MOTD and the Big Match didnt spend ages analysing what was what. IT was a simpler game all about scoring more goals than the opposition.

It does seem though that some on here dont want to give Duff credit for turning things around preferring to suggest that others are responsible for the change in style of play and recent upturn in form.

To be fair, iexact same thing has been happening and said for the last few seasons.
One thing has been present in these last few seasons and that's contradictions from some.

Lets hope this Duff ball continues, whomever is behind it, Michael Duff is the boss so he owns it.

 

[WSMjack]

I am really pleased to see Duff has turned it around. I've always hated the 3 at the back and when Duff set us up in the 3-5-2 at the start of the season it didn't really look like we had any clue what we were trying to do and was worrying to see how many 'aimless' balls into the channel we were playing. It also seemed as if out of position we pressed less and allowed teams to pump balls into the box as it looked like Duff had instructed a flat back 5 and just defend for your life in the box instead of stopping at source. Was so frustrating watching our full backs continue to jockey the opposition back instead of counter press them.

My only concern is if Wood and to an extent Pederson hadn't got injured would he have changed style to the more conventional 4-3-3? We will never know really but that's my only 'worry' is that his hand was forced with injuries and so he changed shape as opposed to him actually recognising the style and formation needed to change. That being said since we've changed he hasn't left the hand brake up by playing two number 4's in Grimes and Fulton but instead allowing Patino and Pato to be more creative higher up the pitch. He deserves credit and I'm glad he's getting a tune out of the players. You could see Saturday Grimes staying a little higher and getting the ball on the half turn instead of dropping too deep to needlessly bounce the ball 10 times without us getting out our own half. Duff's certainly getting them working, lets hope this good run can continue.