Aaaaaaaaanyway, Norwich at Home.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Apologies for delay. I've been busy and, frankly, not in the mood. But as the subject of NRC's passing came up elsewhere (bizarrely, the Gerald Cid thread) I've been tempted into looking at our passing charts again. If you're of a mind, it might be worth comparing these to the similar charts against the Stretford filth. Charts this week, though, include goalkeeper distribution, throw-ins and crosses. (I'm learning on the job; are our players?)

Anyway, first Jussi. Notice the difference between his passing patterns in the first half (Davo and Klasnic up top) and second (Ngog alone up top)? No, me neither.



Full-backs: Robinson the busier, and Boyata's accuracy went down significantly since United – maybe because he's playing more longer balls, perhaps through desperation.



Centre-backs: Quite a nice spread of lengths and areas, showing that everyone was joining in. Perhaps not as many short balls into the central midfield as you might expect or like, and it's always a groaner when a centre-back's long ball goes out.



Now, Reo-Coker and Petrov. I'm aware they're not directly comparable but Coyle made changes in the other two midfield positions. NRC very busy, shuttling the ball hither and yon and not afraid to try the sort of mid-range diagonal that opens defences much more frequently than the Stevie G Hollywood ball. Petrov also getting involved all over the pitch (all arrows are with us teams attacking the right-hand goal, so at some point he popped up at right-back...) and indeed the one chance he created was from the inside-right channel. However, there's a lack of forward arrows; of his 40 passes (as opposed to crosses, of which he only completed two of 11), 17 went backwards and eight square - with only nine of his 15 forward passes completed. Now, it's better to retain possession sideways than give it away forwards, but doesn't that lack of momentum point to a lack of movement up top?



On the other side, Tuncay had what would be an awful half for a wet-eared teenager, let alone an experienced international whose signing had folk punching the air. Much, much better needed. To give Coyle credit he hauled off Tuncay at half-time for Eagles, who tried to offer penetration but frequently lost possession by aiming a (fairly) long diagonal towards where Kevin Davies used to be.



Speaking of whom... Ivan 'n' Kevin's first-half stats. In case you've forgotten, the captain and the Croatian played no part in the second half, Davies being removed by Owen Coyle and replaced by David Ngog, Klasnic removed by Howard Webb and replaced by a sense of mild injustice and inevitable encroaching doom.



Here are the passes Ngog received (just the completed ones, not the ones hammered a mile over his head) and the passes he made himself. Difficult to gauge his effectiveness as a 'lone' striker.



Finally, one for Wandering Willy: Total team passes in 1st half vs 2nd. A bit better with 10 men (or movement? or b*ll*cking?), but not astonishingly so. (To see a clear contrast between halves, check out Citeh at Fulham on Sunday - scroll to bottom of blog.)

[Hoboh]

Those charts suggest to me anyway that Klasnic plays a little deepr in the role I'd dump tuncay, Davies for a centre forward spends too much time out wide right and Ngogg looks the part being all over the front line (a bit like Sturridge was I suspect).

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

As you mention it... two games from last season: Sturridge v West Ham and Elmo at Wolves (he was subbed on 75 for Klasnic). Studge really working the width of the pitch, although to be fair to KD, you say that like it's a good thing for some strikers and not for others; perhaps against Norwich the captain – who himself spent a good deal of his early career playing wide right, and can still knock over a good cross – may have been helping the woeful Tuncay.

[Armchair Wanderer]

The past couple of games I've noticed the fullbacks waving at Jussi for a short pass.

If we're going with passing football, with passing personnel on the pitch, why is he still hoofing it?

We seem to be stuck between how we used to play and how we want to play in the future. You can call it "mixing it up" or you can call it "not confident enough with the players to fully adopt the new system".

[thebish]

The past couple of games I've noticed the fullbacks waving at Jussi for a short pass.

they wave at him cos they know he won't give it to them - but at least it makes them look like they wanted it... if he actually gave it to them they'd sh*t themselves...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Good point, AW. We could have Maldini and Cafu at full-back but it won't do much use if the keeper doesn't bowl it out – and the manager doesn't make him.

I'm not sure it's a lack of confidence (and I see "mixing it up" as a different thing - ie being neither Arsenal nor Stoke). IIRC Jussi wasn't bad at all at thrown distribution back in the old days under Todd - to use the yardstick of the time, almost Schmeichelesque. ISTR we got a bit more straightforward/"percentage" under Allardyce, especially when KD came along for knock-downs to players like Okocha and Djorkaeff.

Problem was/is that KD became the lazy man's easy ball out - hoof at him and hope. Hard to unlearn that lesson, but the easiest place to do it is standing in an empty penalty area with the ball in your hands.

[Armchair Wanderer]

The past couple of games I've noticed the fullbacks waving at Jussi for a short pass.

they wave at him cos they know he won't give it to them - but at least it makes them look like they wanted it... if he actually gave it to them they'd sh*t themselves...

2nd half against Norwich there was a time when Jussi had got the ball after some play had been on our left. There was acres of space on the right. It was crying out for a bowl out to Boyata who was ready and willing to take the ball. But Jussi slows things down, gathers the ball, looks upfield, etc etc.

[Armchair Wanderer]

Problem was/is that KD became the lazy man's easy ball out - hoof at him and hope. Hard to unlearn that lesson, but the easiest place to do it is standing in an empty penalty area with the ball in your hands.

Totally, and I'm not anti-Jussi, just have a slight man-crush on Boyata at the moment. He was man of the match on the tannoy.

[Tombwfc]

The XI on Saturday included Jussi himself, Robbo, Boyata, Knight, NRC, Pratley and Davies. There was only Cahill, Tuncay (who was woeful) and Klasnic (who can't run) who you would describe as being particularly good on the ball. Petrov is good at what he does when he gets going, but he's direct as well.

It doesn't look like a passing side to me, or even a side in transition. It's looks like what it was, a side built to nice person it to Davies, with Klasnic and Pratley looking for the scraps.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

The XI on Saturday included Jussi himself, Robbo, Boyata, Knight, NRC, Pratley and Davies. There was only Cahill, Tuncay (who was woeful) and Klasnic (who can't run) who you would describe as being particularly good on the ball. Petrov is good at what he does when he gets going, but he's direct as well.

It doesn't look like a passing side to me, or even a side in transition. It's looks like what it was, a side built to tw*t it to Davies, with Klasnic and Pratley looking for the scraps.

Seems a bit harsh on Boyata, Eagles, the recycling midfielders and Coyle...

[thebish]

DSB's galaxy of awesome game-analysis sketches reminded me for a moment of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIS5n9Oyzsc

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

ha! You're all bright enough to understand it...

[libreg]

The past couple of games I've noticed the fullbacks waving at Jussi for a short pass.

they wave at him cos they know he won't give it to them - but at least it makes them look like they wanted it... if he actually gave it to them they'd sh*t themselves...

This had me laughing for a good minute.