I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.
To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.
I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.
For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.
Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.
We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.
The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.
For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that
I 100% stand by this post and believe it is especially relevant after todays game and was after the City game at the Etihad, sure add a bit of cuteness over time, add more midfielders with passing ability to play the right type of passes for our forwards and full backs of the required quality for fucks sake and then let the passing game side of it evolve naturally, trying to force tappy crappy, unnecessarily overplaying and forgetting to do what made us Champions League winners and Premier League Champions in games like today isn't evolution
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
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Originally Posted by Daffydd
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