2020-2021 English Football Thread

[Krebstar]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

I fully expect United to win tomorrow and continue their roller coaster season.


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Sit very deep, hit on the counter, and leave Pep wondering how he possibly lost again by isolating his defenders and relying on Walker sprinting back to stop every counter.

It’s very plausible.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Mike Dean handing out yellow cards to Aston Villa like candy.

[3304Life]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Should Nuno be under more criticism for this Wolves team going backwards? In isolation taking a championship team to the europa league in a couple of years is amazing but the squad had huge investment and additions of proven champions league players signed as a result of their influence from Mendes. And they don’t look good. Their style of play is boring and overly defensive when they should be controlling games with the likes of Neves, Moutinho and Neto in there. I’m not impressed with him or them.


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[Krebstar]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

And they don’t look good. Their style of play is boring and overly defensive when they should be controlling games with the likes of Neves, Moutinho and Neto in there.

Well, they went from Championship to Europa League in two years by controlling games without the ball and being defensive first.

Wolves 18/19 (7th)
- 13th in possession
- 10th in pass accuracy
- 10th in shots per game
- 13th in goals scored
- 9th in xG

- 7th in shots allowed per game
- 5th in interceptions per game
- 3rd in tackles per game
- 6th in goals allowed
- 4th in xGA

—

Wolves 19/20 (7th)
- 12th in possession
- 10th in pass accuracy
- 9th in shots per game
- 9th in goals scored
- 7th in xG

- 6th in shots allowed per game
- 4th in interceptions per game
- 8th in tackles per game
- 6th in goals allowed
- 2nd in xGA

[3304Life]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

But that same approach doesn’t work anymore, and they’re going backwards. There’s no real evolution to the team. There are some very talented players there being told to play a role they’re not well suited for and it’s going to backfire eventually when they want to go to a team that will allow them to play.

[KG]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

But that same approach doesn’t work anymore, and they’re going backwards. There’s no real evolution to the team. There are some very talented players there being told to play a role they’re not well suited for and it’s going to backfire eventually when they want to go to a team that will allow them to play.

That same approach has Spurs sitting top of the table though, albeit with better players.

I don’t know much about his man management from the outside it looks like his players love him. The results probably won’t get better considering they have David Luiz’s son playing up top.


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[3304Life]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

That same approach has Spurs sitting top of the table though, albeit with better players.

I don’t know much about his man management from the outside it looks like his players love him. The results probably won’t get better considering they have David Luiz’s son playing up top.


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This is my issue though. The approach works for Spurs because they’ve built a team that is very functional. Hojbjerg, Sissoko and Winks isn’t as good a midfield as Neves and Moutinho, in theory. But for the style of play it works much better because those players are suited to it. So it’s either a flaw in the recruitment of new players or a flaw in the manager for failing to adapt the style to suit his team.

I do appreciate that he’s recently moved to a back 4 to address it but he then insists on Coady being in defense rather than in the midfield which is crazy to me. And I really don’t understand the Silva signing beyond him being Portuguese.


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[Krebstar]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

But that same approach doesn’t work anymore, and they’re going backwards. There’s no real evolution to the team. There are some very talented players there being told to play a role they’re not well suited for and it’s going to backfire eventually when they want to go to a team that will allow them to play.

They're definitely behind on some metrics compared to the previous two seasons, but defensively they're about the same as last year and it can not be overstated how much they miss Jimenez in terms of their attack, now missing him for essentially three matches.

Last season Jimenez was 9th in goals scored, and xG, 3rd in shots per game at 3.1 only behind Salah and Aguero. He played in every game, only not starting once, so his impact is immediately missed even in 3 matches.

18/19 (12 matches)

16 PTS
20.53 xPTS

12 G
17.29 xG

13 GA
10.90 xGA

—

19/20 (12 matches)

16 PTS
17.76 xPTS

16 G
16.48 xG

15 GA
14.62 xGA

—

20/21 (12 matches)

17 PTS
13.2 xPTS

11 G
12 xG

16 GA
16.31 xGA

In terms of facing teams who allow them to play, if you look at the three lowest teams in terms of possession last season (Newcastle, Burnley, Watford), in the six matches against them Wolves did only take 7 points. But, they're identity the last few seasons was how well they can play against to sides and sides who want the ball, which is increasingly more sides than not.

I think it's too early for him to be under kind of pressure. It's a really weird season, and what he's done the last two seasons has worked very well considering the transfers they've made, their budget, etc. It'll be interesting to see how their next twelve matches go, for example, to see how the second third of the season compares to the first third.

I should do some actual work now instead of looking up stats.

[Krebstar]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

When looking at stats for last season I saw the leaders in terms of fouled per game and I couldn't believe how high Grealish's number was, so I looked at the last ten seasons—it's crazy how much higher his is than what was the average of the nine seasons before (2.8).

19/20: Grealish, 4.6
18/19: Zaha, 3.0
17/18: Zaha, 2.6
16/17: Zaha, 3.5
15/16: Zaha, 2.6
14/15: Hazard, 3.0
13/14: Snodgrass, 2.6
12/13: Sessegnon, 2.5
11/12: Suarez, 2.4
10/11: Pienaar, 3.1

I should do some actual work now instead of looking up stats.

I kept looking at stats.

[KG]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

This is my issue though. The approach works for Spurs because they’ve built a team that is very functional. Hojbjerg, Sissoko and Winks isn’t as good a midfield as Neves and Moutinho, in theory. But for the style of play it works much better because those players are suited to it. So it’s either a flaw in the recruitment of new players or a flaw in the manager for failing to adapt the style to suit his team.

I do appreciate that he’s recently moved to a back 4 to address it but he then insists on Coady being in defense rather than in the midfield which is crazy to me. And I really don’t understand the Silva signing beyond him being Portuguese.


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Give me that Spurs midfield over Neves/Moutinho any day of the week. Neves and Moutinho are good players no doubt but extremely immobile and they virtually have the same qualities, just a huge age gap. Plus you have Ndombele who’s better than those two and Lo Celso.

100% agree on the Silva signing. He might turn out good but I haven’t been too impressed with him in his appearances so far. He’s young though and it seems like Nuno loves putting him out there as a 9 which he doesn’t look physically capable of playing in this league right now.


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[Keirik]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Still feeling each other out but City def look like the better quality, better coached team. While City try to find where they can pick United apart, United just try to bypass the entire midfield with switches that attempt to go from their own half to the home run magical pass straight up top.

[Krebstar]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Still feeling each other out but City def look like the better quality, better coached team. While City try to find where they can pick United apart, United just try to bypass the entire midfield with switches that attempt to go from their own half to the home run magical pass straight up top.

Are you surprised to see Shaw instead of Telles?

[Keirik]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Are you surprised to see Shaw instead of Telles?

Very. I thought Telles has been good then again, I’m not 100% convinced Ole decides his starting 11 based on actual performance.

[Keirik]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Forgot the good in my response lol. If I were city, I’d just try to isolate and go at MaGuire. He has no good decision making skills, no pace, and no sense of where he is on the pitch in relation to the rest of the squad.

[Keirik]

Re: 2020-2021 English Football Thread

Even without Offsides, it Wasn’t a penalty anyway but again, Rashford refuses to ever take a ball first time.