by merse btpir » 28 Jun 2017, 21:33
MellowYellow wrote: 28 Jun 2017, 20:38at our level we need a really good strong centre forward who is able to hold the ball up to bring the players into play to allow this formation to have any chance of succeeding.
With respect, I don't wholly agree with that view.....the squad of u16 players I helped assemble, manage and had a very innovative coach organising last season; didn't have 'such a beast' and so the coach devised a way of playing that utilized pure pace and focus in getting shots off and it worked.
It worked because of the excellent technical attributes of the players we did have (and very deliberately sought) and that was borne out by the number of professional clubs who subsequently invited them in for trials which was the whole point of the project.........a project only designed to run until the start of this calendar year because of the need for those boys to achieve the best GCSE results they could thereafter.
But that is to digress ~ we played with two highly paced and of good first touch strikers; smallish, compact guys who certainly rattled off the shots on goal and scored a lot of goals into the bargain. Behind them we had technically very good and astute passers of the ball who could be patient and then read the trigger points to deliver the ball to them in the optimum manner in which they could take defenders on and get their shots off ~ we did not play with any sort of winger in the mould of David Fitzpatrick. We did not want them getting crosses in but wanted them to recycle the ball if they found themselves forward down the flanks and retain possession at all costs. We played (when we could) with three very tall but lithe and mobile central back defenders with two wingbacks operating in front of them. If one of those three was not available for one reason or another then the coach changed it to a more traditional back four but the marked change to the attacking emphasis of the team was remarkably obvious to see..........it's all about devising your team pattern and shape to suit the components you have available on the day when you are operating with a strictly limited number of players as both we had to, and Kevin Nicholson has to do.
So will he go with Myles Anderson joining Gowling and McGinty in a back three allowing his newly acquired attacking full backs to get forward, or will he hold Anderson back as cover and play with a central back two in a less ambitious set up?
It will depend on whether the manager feels (as many do) that a less complicated, more pragmatic back four with less decisions to make between them is the way to go 'at this level'.........I don't agree; and have seen much more innovation and confidence in players being allowed to express themselves more constructively in the (admittedly less demanding) Ryman League at clubs such as Dulwich Hamlet and Wingate & Finchley by modern thinking and innovative coaches as Gavin Rose and Keith Rowland are respectively at those clubs. Clubs where players progress and rise to higher levels in the game at a far higher rate than those at Torquay United have managed to do in comparison.
But as ever it's a game of opinions; and many different ones at that! [quote=MellowYellow post_id=207123 time=1498682312 user_id=22826][i][b]at our level we need a really good strong centre forward who is able to hold the ball up to bring the players into play to allow this formation to have any chance of succeeding.[/b][/i] [/quote]
[b]With respect, I don't wholly agree with that view.....the squad of u16 players I helped assemble, manage and had a very innovative coach organising last season; didn't have 'such a beast' and so the coach devised a way of playing that utilized pure pace and focus in getting shots off and it worked.[/b]
It worked because of the excellent technical attributes of the players we did have (and very deliberately sought) and that was borne out by the number of professional clubs who subsequently invited them in for trials which was the whole point of the project.........a project only designed to run until the start of this calendar year because of the need for those boys to achieve the best GCSE results they could thereafter.
But that is to digress ~ we played with two highly paced and of good first touch strikers; smallish, compact guys who certainly rattled off the shots on goal and scored a lot of goals into the bargain. Behind them we had technically very good and astute passers of the ball who could be patient and then read the trigger points to deliver the ball to them in the optimum manner in which they could take defenders on and get their shots off ~ we did not play with any sort of winger in the mould of David Fitzpatrick. We did not want them getting crosses in but wanted them to recycle the ball if they found themselves forward down the flanks and retain possession at all costs. We played (when we could) with three very tall but lithe and mobile central back defenders with two wingbacks operating in front of them. If one of those three was not available for one reason or another then the coach changed it to a more traditional back four but the marked change to the attacking emphasis of the team was remarkably obvious to see..........it's all about devising your team pattern and shape to suit the components you have available on the day when you are operating with a strictly limited number of players as both we had to, and Kevin Nicholson has to do.
So will he go with Myles Anderson joining Gowling and McGinty in a back three allowing his newly acquired attacking full backs to get forward, or will he hold Anderson back as cover and play with a central back two in a less ambitious set up?
It will depend on whether the manager feels (as many do) that a less complicated, more pragmatic back four with less decisions to make between them is the way to go 'at this level'.........I don't agree; and have seen much more innovation and confidence in players being allowed to express themselves more constructively in the (admittedly less demanding) Ryman League at clubs such as Dulwich Hamlet and Wingate & Finchley by modern thinking and innovative coaches as Gavin Rose and Keith Rowland are respectively at those clubs. Clubs where players progress and rise to higher levels in the game at a far higher rate than those at Torquay United have managed to do in comparison.
[b]But as ever it's a game of opinions; and many different ones at that! [/b]
