SilvaOB.

⏱️1ST-15TH MINS. as usual, i take the first 15 minutes in all at once because you get to see the initial gameplan of both teams in this period, before the players start to individually adapt and the coaches start to make tweaks to instructions. so, in the first 15...

- neither team fully established control of the game yet. - S’ton are pressing in an aggressive man-to-man fashion. we have the same approach. - our primary solution to S’ton’s pressure seems to be wide progression via zonal rotations and quick passing combos.

the strategy seems to be to move the ⚽ wide, create dynamic superiorities to escape their pressure with, or to work out space for someone who can switch to the far side.

i like the display of positional empathy for the player with the ⚽ each time we move the ⚽ to the touchline, as our near-side CM, AM, WCB, & WB all move closer to be pass options.

⏱️16TH MIN. - think this is the second time S’ton have pinned both WCBs, pulled the CMs forward, and just had a player move into and receive in the space in front of MDL. this time, it goes on with a carry from the center circle all the way into our box, and ends in a shot.

⏱️19. - instead of moving the ⚽ to a player’s feet on the near/far side as we’ve mostly done so far, we find Højlund in behind this time, and it results in a good chance Garnacho should have scored. ⏱️20. - Amad has been the most threatening player so far.

always creates a strong feeling of threat whenever he gets close or into the box. ⏱️22. - Bruno nicely slides Kobbie into the box in a good shooting position but...he doesn’t even look up to shoot, and fumbles a cutback to Garnacho. another good opportunity wasted.

⏱️25. - counter-attack led by Garnacho with support from Højlund who initially makes a run towards the right to position for a pass. as Garnacho checks & changes direction, Højlund does the same, instead of continuing his run to create space for Garnacho to drive into and shoot.

Højlund ends up in the space Garnacho should be running into, and Højlund’s marker blocks Garnacho’s shot. every forward must understand that not all runs should be for themselves, some have to be made to create space for others. that’s another opportunity wasted.

⏱️26. - Lisandro makes his common mistake of prioritizing regaining possession over preventing progression. he initially misjudges that Dibling will drive inwards, but still brakes early enough to catch Dibling as he spun outwards instead.

but instead of blocking Dibling’s path, he just runs after and tries to grab him, which fails because Dibling is faster and Lisandro has relatively short limbs. - Dibling drives into the box, and Onana has to make a double save.

⏱️28. - this is a nice example of the main advantage of a back 5 OOP; flexibility. the front 5 all press their respective marks, opening up a gap between the CMs. S’ton try to use the space, but Yoro pushes forward to protect the zone, temporarily turning a 5-2-3 to a 4-4-2.

with a back 5, you can initially keep 5 players back to defend passes in behind or into the box, and if need be, one of them can push forward to support the front 5 and still maintain a back 4. ⏱️29. - this is a nice example of the main risk factor of a back 5 OOP; compactness.

Lisandro cannot step up to protect the zone behind Kobbie because the team is not compact at this moment. ergo, S’ton can easily pass the ⚽ there and escape our high press. ⏱️31. - 20th-placed Southampton are going toe-to-toe with us and even looking better.

⏱️34. - our press still needs plenty work on the individual level. no lack of effort and intensity from the players, but the techno-tactical details are off. the timing, speed, direction, & synchronization of pressure, as well as individual & team body orientation are not right.

S’ton have just moved us side to side, back & forth, a few times now, and have eventually progressed smoothly into the middle 3rd. ⏱️35. - Kamaldeen dummies a pass and leaves Yoro—who’s too tight to him—behind. Yoro is surprised as he turns back to see MDL not covering him.

MDL initially hesitates to step out, then decides to step out, then steps back again when he deduces that he cannot reach the ⚽ before Kamaldeen. the sequence ends with a wide S’ton shot. a let-off, that one. - Ugarte has been tidy so far. a nice pass over the top to Højlund.

⏱️36. - woah. Amad has just touched the ⚽ in a while, evidence of how well S’ton are keeping us at bay. ⏱️38. - Amad, threat, again. he dribbles into the box and plays a cutback which deflects to around the PK spot. no one is close enough.

this season, our box occupation has been especially poor. with players that can read the spaces well, box occupation can be left to them. but without such players, i believe that the coaching staff should encourage or enforce occupation of the 5 hot zones when attacking the box.

this is a great guideline from @billycarpy, but i’d add that there should be players at the center and ⚽-near part of the edge of the box to also have the option of outside-box shots. - Kamaldeen’s been having a good time so far. can’t say the same for Yoro.

⏱️41. - here, both our LWB & LCB are pinned + our LCM dragged wide. therefore, Ugarte, the RCM, has to shift all the way to the left to cover. we force S’ton back, but it’s worrying that they can mess up our structure this bad this easily. our zonal defence needs to be stricter.

⏱️43. - another corner kick goal conceded. Dibling out-jumps Lisandro and makes first contact. ⚽ hits Ugarte, and hits the net after. the team needs both better organization and more inches to get better at corner-kicks.

⏱️END OF 1H. - we struggled to break down their settled defence, while it was easier for them to manipulate & find spaces in ours. - Onana made some nice saves to keep the score okay. - their organized & intense pressure neutered our attacks, and especially made build-up..

difficult for us. - i think, till this point, Højlund was the worst. partly because he’s being asked to do more of what he’s not good at—hold-up & link-up plays—and less of what he’s good at—running & shooting, and partly because of his occasionally poor decision-making.

⏱️45-60. - this period was a packed one. - Antony comes in for Kobbie, now a Bruno-Ugarte pivot pair. - both teams have come out with their same approaches in & out-of-possession. -Ugarte has a suboptimal approach in duels, but makes up for it with volume. with his mobility and..

stamina, he puts out a lot of fires, which makes him valuable to this team. - Kamaldeen has picked up where he left off, cooking Yoro and creating shots for himself. here, Yoro makes a rookie mistake of closing in when he should keep a safe distance. Kamaldeen slowing down and..

straightening his gait were cues of a likely sharp change in pace and/or direction. in that moment, the right course of action was to step back a bit to give himself some space to adjust his momentum, not to close in and make it easy for Kamaldeen to simply run or power past him.

- Zirkzee & Toby come on for Højlund & Ugarte respectively. - Zirkzee’s first involvement in build-up, and we transit smoothly to S’ton's 3rd and almost create a chance. his hold-up & link-up plays are much better than Højlund’s.

as our build-up process is currently very reliant on the CF being a reliable connector, Zirkzee is much more suited to that Højlund and should be the starter CF. in the future, when that reliance reduces, Højlund’s skillset will be the more useful and valuable one to the team.

- Garnacho creates a simple tap-in chance for Antony and he somehow fumbles it. why he slid, i can’t understand🤷🏽‍♂️. an excellent chance wasted. ⏱️64. - one can tell from this sequence that Zirkzee came in with fire in him lol. on a counter-attack, he ignores three chances to..