Mid-term tactical results.
Impressive teams
“Liverpool” was loved by all fans of football tactics. The purity of the work feels like something out of Walter White, but Arne Sloth is no evil hero. Plays without thoughtless pressure, which kills the rhythm of the game. With a smooth transition through Gravenberch and McAllister in the center of the field. With a change in the roles of Jota, Gakpo and Diaz in attack. With a particular role for Salah and the freedom of Alexander-Arnold, but without playing in the support zone. Aside from the punctures on the left flank in defense, Liverpool have gotten through half the season almost perfectly. Goalkeeper Kelleher also proved useful; With Alisson, they started clearing the ball more often towards Salah. The new chips are working, with Liverpool ahead of experienced Arsenal in the standings by an impressive nine points.
Apart from the Reds, tactically we can highlight Brentford. While Nottingham Forest rely heavily on the unity of players who put together a perfect run together, Thomas Frank has shown consistency over the years. Bournemouth under Iraola are also wonderful. The Spaniard played solid football with goalkeeper Kepa and a young defensive line. In addition to the teams mentioned, I would also like to salute the work of Marco Silva at Fulham. But Mareschi’s Chelsea could become more tactically interesting. So far, Enzo has progressed through personal work with strong football players. Splitter Palmer, midfielders Caicedo and Fernandez, and goalkeeper Sanchez took into account last season’s experience, but tactically we need to squeeze out more.
The disappointments of the season
Tactically, it was Manchester City who upset everyone the most. It’s infuriating that Guardiola spoke a hundred times in a month about playing the game right and cool. Without the ball, the “Citizens” had enough problems against Leicester, whom they managed to beat yesterday. An important victory does not prevent Guardiola’s team from being criticized for working without the ball in losing matches. And also for the passivity in attack, where the wingers do not always notice the striker Haaland. And Erling himself often gets lost in the dense positional attack phase. It’s not just about reducing the intensity of the champions’ pressure. They seem to get underfoot. It’s disappointing to see Pep Guardiola’s obvious mistakes.
But I don’t want to talk about Manchester United’s tactics. For now, it is a dead field with sleeping shadows. Among the classical middle peasants, Crystal Palace was tactically upset. It seemed that the “Eagles” would be able to show different football, but they almost played for the dismissal of the Austrian Glazner. Furthermore, replacing Moyes with Lopetegui turned out to be a complete tactical failure. The Spaniard has sparked nasty comments at West Ham. Hulen can’t take it anymore, the Hammers, with their team and experience, won the Conference League and could have been higher in the table. But Tottenham’s main tactical problem lies on the surface: an obsession with attack is detrimental to results.
Discoveries among players
We are specifically talking about tactics and not shapeshifting. Here are the two big winners of the season in nuclear submarine. The first charm was Ryan Gravenberch. Without the Dutchman, Liverpool would hardly have been able to make such a clean transition from Klopp’s football to Slot’s football. And without any particular changes in the lineup. Remember how Southgate regretted not having Kalvin Phillips in the squad for Euro 2024? Arsenal’s Rice was recently trolled by Ipswich fans. They sang that Declan was even worse than Phillips, and the midfielder laughed. Southgate spoke this summer of a special midfielder in midfield, like Rodri at Manchester City. Gravenberch complements McAllister and has been a key tactical revelation for the new season.
In addition to Liverpool’s magnificent Dutchman, I would also like to mention Dejan Kulusevski. The Macedonian Swede outplays his opponents superbly, as does Gravenberch. It is much more difficult to play within Tottenham, because the general level of football organization is weaker. This was proven by the result of Slot’s last game against Postecoglou. But Kulusevski scored against Liverpool and is also the perfect embodiment of the old idea of the zone fourteen. This is the place in front of the penalty area. From there, the Tottenham midfielder created 41% of the dangerous chances for his teammates. Although he dropped deeper and played on the right half-wing, Kulusevski charmed as a modern number ten.
In addition to the two obvious charms, since everyone noted the excellent work of Gravenberch and Kulusevski, we can also highlight the Newcastle striker Isak. Although Gyökeres’ teammate is not Sweden’s best central striker of the year, Sporting’s Victor beat him and the big Magpies player took his fancy. Alexander had a terrible start to the season and was on the list of disappointments. And now he has scored 11 goals and made 4 assists. He scored nine goals in December, in great form. Isak also stands out for combining technique, like that of a winger, with the ability to play a few meters in front of goal, like that of the exceptional Vultures. Alexander interested the adults in the question.
Outstanding Stats
The figures show that Wolverhampton’s performance is nothing to be admired. In terms of goals they are in seventh place and in terms of quality of chances they are in seventeenth position. But we immediately understand why Matheus Cunha interests rich clubs. The Brazilian makes the difference. These are also statistics that confirm the empirical conclusion about Manchester City and the importance of Rodri. The Citizens occupy last place in terms of xG in opposing counterattacks. Arsenal and Bournemouth are five times better at stopping such harsh responses from their opponents than the English champions. An impressive difference which reflects poor high pressing, as well as errors from Guardiola’s midfielders and full-backs.
Tactical trends are reflected in the season’s numbers. For example, the unexpected harmony in the defense of yesterday’s underdog Nottingham Forest is reflected in interesting statistics. The xG indicator per opposing shot is calculated excluding penalties. Thus, for the “forester” Nuno Espirito Santo, this figure is only 0.08. Leaders nuclear submarine tied with Arsenal. Even Liverpool are a hundredth lower. Nottingham Forest pleased us with successful transfers and created a unified lineup. While the giants have problems of different nature and scale, in the current English season the middle peasants are part of the charms. Bournemouth have the second best chance, and Manchester United on the 14th line.
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