Originally Posted by
Taksin
Thanks for this really interesting post, Nineteenx. I would say my mind works very far from the autism spectrum
Firstly I'll say that I don't think the mechanics have been affected that much. I see the same patterns forming themselves in our play
That's why we see it very differently Taskin, my brain is very highly geared to recognise patterns of play and mechanics
To explain why I kicked off about Fab last season, it was all about mechanics, how we evolved to play in his absence saw Henderson as our playmaker, an accidental playmaker perhaps, but our playmaker none the less, in that run of 15 games our play evolved and the the mechanics and movement became very geared around players making runs based on what he could and would do with the ball, his commanding and directing of all the other players and even his timing of when to go back to Virgil to hit one of his long diagonals to Mo, or balls over the top, it wasn't accident of coincidence, he chose his moments to do this based on our players positions to make runs in behind or to win second balls from those passes.
The issue in that, and why I will never view the decision to change it and differently, is that Henderson can play passes and command and organise those around him from the centre that not a single one of our other midfielders is capable of, not one. To me it was entirely obvious in the first leg v Atletico, players were making the same 'chain reaction' movement to be found, but we didn't have a player with the necessary distribution, vision or awareness to find them at No6.
Another feature of Hendo at No6 was his orchestrating the press, our press and counter press was at the highest levels it has ever been with him playing there and mechanics wise, that instantly broke down when Fab came back in at No6, in the very first game he came back in v Southampton and in that run of 15 games it supported the other mechanics and chain reaction movement functioning even better, because the consistency of the midfield 3 in keeping the press on and not allowing it to be broken was far greater than it had ever been and allowed us to really pin sides in, set up to win second balls and not offer them any out balls
Fast forward to this season and the mechanics
First a foremost, Jurgen started tinkering with the forward's movement and positioning, specifically Mane's, I commented on this in the very first game it happened, as Robbo was making his bursts forward, looking for Mane in his usual position (obviously a very strong part of our mechanics) to link with, but Mane wasn't there, time and time again, as he had been instructed to take different positions. Mane didn't play as well and Robbo didn't play as well and I warned at the time, immediately in fact, that if we persisted with that, we would play both Mane and Robbo out of form and. that's exactly what happened
The other very noticeable difference was Jurgen tried to adopt a more patient passing style and ditched a lot, almost all of our more direct football, Henderson looked under instruction to stop playing his long diagonals, switches and attempted balls over the top, all the mechanics and movement was still there, but it looked like he had absolutely been instructed that we were to try and play through sides - That broke and awful lot of things down also
Our forwards have always missed bucket loads of chances, but for me this season they've missed even more, again for me that is through altering the mechanics, players being instructed to try and play through sides, I've seen too many situations that my brain automatically recognises, in which prior to this season, any of our forwards getting the ball in certain situations would automatically drive at the opposition defence drawing one or 2 towards them creating space for the other 2 forwards or getting a shot off, in which instead of doing that, they have played an unnecessary extra pass out wide rather than be at their direct best, that's affected all their form and their automation and anticipation of and reading of what might happen and when to arrive and where to arrive, because suddenly, players they played with for 3 seasons who they had a high degree, understanding and certainty of what they would do in numerous situations, were no longer doing that.
I have always maintained that a football team is like the human body, everything is connected and if something one part of the body is dependent on changes for whatever reason, it affects how everything else works and even one major change can see several other things break down
Much as we've missed several key players, we've created a lot of our own problems through changing things that should have been left well alone and the mechanics and automation that made us so brilliant and continually evolved over the prior 3 seasons and hugely in that 15 game run last season are actually nowhere to be seen, aside from flashes of them in odd games, I've barely recognised our team in any game this season, we've played well and dominated most of our games, but the mechanics of our doing that have been entirely different for the most part
Last edited by Nineteenx; 6th May 2021 at 10:59 PM.
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
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