Defensive Tempo

[DejaVuWolf]

Listening to Talk Sport on the radio this morning discussing Tottenham's Harry Kane, and someone was saying that the defensive tempo of a team is set by the furthest player up the pitch. This got me thinking about our terrible defensive record when Dicko was out injured.

Could it be that Leon ambling about up front with his hands down the front of his shorts had more to do with our defensive frailties around that time than we give him credit for?

Thoughts please.

 

[east-coast-wolves]

Yes.

 

[DejaVuWolf]

Thanks for the input guys. Plenty of encouragement here for my next article for sure :wolves:.


I didn't know that Windsor was on the east coast.

 

[Lord Knows]

Thanks for the input guys. Plenty of encouragement here for my next article for sure :wolves:.

I didn't know that Windsor was on the east coast.

Wolves are pretty much the exact opposite to Tottenham, they press high, Wolves invite teams onto them looking to counter attack quickly on transition. Its why Edwards is preferred rather than a conventional ten, because Wolves look to get the ball wide quickly then have a duel purpose player arriving to add a goal scoring threat in the box.

 

[pr0sl0]

Yeah, we play a lot like Swansea under Rodgers in that regard, though not as much any more as in the first few games of the season where we were managing 60-70%+ possession and passing the ball in tight triangles in the first and second thirds looking for ways in.

 

[Lord Knows]

One of the reasons I believe Michael Jacobs doesn't figure through the centre is because most sides have numbers in central midfield, so you end up running into traffic. Getting the ball wide particularly against sides who play 4-2-3-1 should enable your wide players to isolate an opponent. You can't then blame the manager when individual players fail to execute their skills, they have to take that responsibility.

 

[oldleemillgold]

The way I saw it, with Nouha out,our lack of pace up front allowed their defense to push further up the park and squeeze our space in midfield. This was rectified eventually by putting VLP up top. Even though we know he can't hit a barn door with a banjo, defenders hate to have a striker between themself and their own goal so had to hold a deeper position. This gave our midfield a little more space and time to operate and took some pressure off our defense.
So yes, in short, it was all Leons fault.

 

[Dinowolf]

The way I saw it, with Nouha out,our lack of pace up front allowed their defense to push further up the park and squeeze our space in midfield. This was rectified eventually by putting VLP up top. Even though we know he can't hit a barn door with a banjo, defenders hate to have a striker between themself and their own goal so had to hold a deeper position. This gave our midfield a little more space and time to operate and took some pressure off our defense.
So yes, in short, it was all Leons fault.

Exactly this.

When Clarke played it enabled the defenders to push up the park because Clarke offered no threat. He couldn't hold the ball up as he had no strength, he seemed incapable of turning a defender to create space and he had no pace. He always looked to me as though he ran as if he was wearing high-heels.
When Dicko plays he has far too much pace for most defenders so they play deeper and call their midfield back to cover. If we push up it means we can play a higher line, so we need someone who can play through the middle and give quality ball into the oppositions box as well as good wide men with pace. We have the width in abundance.....

 

[Jolemai]

Would we have been better playing Edwards up top?

 

[Lord Knows]

Would we have been better playing Edwards up top?

Tongue in cheek, only if the forward players were all flexible with positions and retained fluency when changing shape in a Thomas Muller style of play.

 

[DejaVuWolf]

This really is a super debate that I have started :devilsmile: