As you will appreciate there are a variety ways to set a football team up out of possession. Yesterday the team were set up initially in a 4-4-2 formation, sitting deeper than usual in a ‘mid-block’ when without the ball and looking to counter attack when possession was gained (see https://www.thefa.com/bootroom/resource ... -mid-block for more on this tactic).Jonty wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 1:52 pmCorrect. We stood off them and let them have it right up to the half way line. Allowing them to move it unchallenged and pick passes. Horrible tactic. Think the first foot in tackle we did was in the second half and it drew a cheer from the crowd. Don't know if its a modern football thing but i grew up on good strong tacklers who wouldn't give you a minute on the ball. Now we mark pass lanes.Middleton Nick wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 1:46 pm Wasn't a fan of the tactics yesterday of letting them have the ball. I thought we should have been at them from the off with their away record. It was only after they scored that we seemed to have a go.
As you saw, the ‘line of confrontation’ was the half way line and Salford were rarely pressed in their own half.
Playing the high-press isn’t always the best way - especially against certain teams. It also takes a lot of energy to play that way for the full 90 minutes in every match! The deeper 4-4-2 was clearly a change from our previous 15 league games, but not a surprise after recent results.
Was it effective? We only had 39% possession, which is to be expected from such a tactic. However, we had 20 shots (second only, I believe, to the 22 shots we produced against the ten men of Leyton Orient), versus the 9 that Salford mustered from their greater possession. Whilst only 4 of our shots were on target, their keeper did make three high-class saves that I can recall, any of which could have easily resulted in a goal. There was also the Luke James shot dragged narrowly past the post with the keeper beaten in the second half, Reid missing an open goal (admittedly not the easiest chance as the ball came to him at pace), Quigs scuffing his shot with only the keeper the beat and at least one stonewall penalty that the ref chose to ignore.
So, whatever we might think about the way the team should be set up there is no doubt that on the basis of chances created and conceded we should have beaten Salford on Saturday. Just a pity we fluffed our finishing and the ref hadn’t brought his glasses
The irony is that if just two of our chances had gone in, this thread would have half the number of posts and DD would be hailed as a tactical genius! 
