West Brom plan talks with Swans boss Williams

[Gors Buster]

The reason coaches try to ape Pep is because let's face it he's the most successful manager of all time. His methods work. The emphasis is on controlling games by having the ball.

Some coaches are really good at aping it. Some not so much.

I quite like it, I like seeing a team have control of the ball and keeping it away from the opposition. I mean, our Roberto and Brendan teams were modelled on it, and they did alright.

But if you prefer a more end to end, up and down, fast paced game with loads of shots and crosses going in the box - like Klopp's teams for example - then it probably isn't for you.

It all depends what your taste is, I guess.

IMO we’re doing it the right way but without the pace, delivery and goals from out wide, it feels we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
Everyone seemed happy with the image below, I keep thinking what it would look like if we had Dyer and Sinclair.

 

[Cooperman]

I don't think the way we play now resembles the kind of football we played under either Martinez or Laudrup at all other than the emphasis on passing. Brendan perhaps to a certain degree (he was the first manager I can remember who started talking about possession figures), but there was plenty of room for flair and initiative inside those teams. One of Laudrup's first public comments was to mock the idea of possession for possession's sake.

Now it all seems a bit robotic and slow. Flair players tend to get stifled and micromanaged. Play the percentages. Do the same things over and over and over again and eventually it'll pay off. Effective enough I suppose, but boring.

Not always effective. See Southampton Aug-24 to Dec-24.

 

[Smurph]

IMO we’re doing it the right way but without the pace, delivery and goals from out wide, it feels we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
Everyone seemed happy with the image below, I keep thinking what it would look like if we had Dyer and Sinclair.
View attachment 4946

On closer inspection of that bizarre image, most pointers seem to be pointing at each other.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Not always effective. See Southampton Aug-24 to Dec-24.

I'd be interested to see if there were any figures that indicated if there has been a year on year increase in defensive errors leading to goals conceded over the last decade or so. Certainly seems like it looking at the highlights, but that might just be my confirmation bias talking.

Russy seems like a particularly mad advocate of it.

 

[Dr. Winston]

On closer inspection of that bizarre image, most pointers seem to be pointing at each other.

Side to side to side to side. Work it up one flank, turn, pass it backwards, pass it over to the other flank, turn, pass it backwardzzzz....

 

[Smurph]

Side to side to side to side. Work it up one flank, turn, pass it backwards, pass it over to the other flank, turn, pass it backwardzzzz....

It's the Swansea way

 

[Swanjaxs]

IMO we’re doing it the right way but without the pace, delivery and goals from out wide, it feels we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
Everyone seemed happy with the image below, I keep thinking what it would look like if we had Dyer and Sinclair.
View attachment 4946

 

[Cooperman]

I'd be interested to see if there were any figures that indicated if there has been a year on year increase in defensive errors leading to goals conceded over the last decade or so. Certainly seems like it looking at the highlights, but that might just be my confirmation bias talking.

Russy seems like a particularly mad advocate of it.

My eyes tell me this is the case. The data may well say otherwise but until I see it my perception won’t change.

 

[AusinIsOurHero]

The triangle passing we used under Brendan got us out of tight spots and got us effectively up the pitch, while being extremely pleasing on the eye.

Laudrup's team was more about breaking with pace - Dyer & Routledge to feed Michu.

People talk about the 1st half away at West Brom - was that Brendan? But I think our best performance was the 5-0 at QPR in Laudrup's first game. Complete display of attacking football.

 

[Smurph]

The triangle passing we used under Brendan got us out of tight spots and got us effectively up the pitch, while being extremely pleasing on the eye.

Laudrup's team was more about breaking with pace - Dyer & Routledge to feed Michu.

People talk about the 1st half away at West Brom - was that Brendan? But I think our best performance was the 5-0 at QPR in Laudrup's first game. Complete display of attacking football.

West Brom was at home and Laudrup was in charge. It is quite possibly the greatest 45 minutes of football I have ever witnessed live.

 

[AusinIsOurHero]

Why would he though? He'll see it as a step up if he can get more money and publicity. He knows his time here is probably ticking away as he has a year of non achievement behind him, but can't be said to have definitively failed yet, so why risk that?. Go there and he gets a fresh start and they are a bigger club more likely to yo yo soon, like it or not. West Brom could be as good as it gets for him, and he might get really lucky.

Because if he's coming out with quotes like 'I love it here' and 'we're in the middle of something' and still ends up going, then it's going to be obvious he was full of sh*t.

I wouldn't blame him if he wants to go - that's his prerogative. But don't say all the right things then up sticks.

 

[AusinIsOurHero]

West Brom was at home and Laudrup was in charge. It is quite possibly the greatest 45 minutes of football I have ever witnessed live.

Was it home? My bad. My memory of that is hazy as I was in Dubai at the time, watching it in an Irish pub.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

I don't think the way we play now resembles the kind of football we played under either Martinez or Laudrup at all other than the emphasis on passing. Brendan perhaps to a certain degree (he was the first manager I can remember who started talking about possession figures), but there was plenty of room for flair and initiative inside those teams. One of Laudrup's first public comments was to mock the idea of possession for possession's sake.

Now it all seems a bit robotic and slow. Flair players tend to get stifled and micromanaged. Play the percentages. Do the same things over and over and over again and eventually it'll pay off. Effective enough I suppose, but boring.

All the ingredients are taken from the same Dutch-Spanish model, it's just different flavours of the same thing. I agree the Martin and Williams version of it can be more than tedious at times. Sousa's version was a bit shite as well. There are a few others like them about elsewhere right now.

As I say - some coaches are better than others at aping it. Roberto and Brendan were certainly the more attacking end of the scale.

 

[Smurph]

Was it home? My bad. My memory of that is hazy as I was in Dubai at the time, watching it in an Irish pub.

Irish pubs tend to have that affect on you

 

[Swanjaxs]

Because if he's coming out with quotes like 'I love it here' and 'we're in the middle of something' and still ends up going, then it's going to be obvious he was full of sh*t.

I wouldn't blame him if he wants to go - that's his prerogative. But don't say all the right things then up sticks.

Yes, don't be Roberto