Very satisfying - insights from Thursday's training

[zigsdad]

Sitting on the train back to London reflecting happily on one of the rare times that a plan obviously came together. Many of the tactics we saw at training on Thursday worked well, and it was only when Saints strayed from the plan that things started to go wrong, helped by a weak and inconsistent ref.

 

The big plus was that the scouting system is now up on running properly. What we heard on Thursday was a) that MK like to play the ball slowly out of defence; b) that they don't like being pressured; c) that their midfielders were considered 'lazy' on the ball and d) that whipping the ball into the box + timing runs from midfield to shoot would be profitable. So did this work?

 

The first half was so frustrating, with the pressing game working well, although Papa seemed a little too lightweight to do this effectively. A couple of the moves we'd seen practiced were reproduced perfectly, with only good defending, and/or Papa's inability to stay onside resulting in Saints failing to be in the lead.

 

MK played just like their manager used to: nasty, niggling and somehow always getting away with it. I still don't know what the ref saw to give their free-kick (or to book Jaidi), but it was an excellently taken free-kick for an undeserved lead.

 

Ho hum & back to the drawing board then for Saints. But the most encouraging thing was how they stuck to the game plan, albeit with different players and managed to turn the game round. It was especially pleasing to see several of the specific moves practiced on Thursday prove to be so effective. In this respect Antonio did much of the damage relaxing on the ball, then flicking it past their increasingly harried left back, to sprint past and fire the ball in from the wing. The alternate approach we'd seen on Thurs was the winger laying the ball back for Llyod James to cross. Each of these tactics, one with the ball being deftly laid back for a crisp finish saw Saints storm forwards to reverse the deficit.

 

Being Saints there were, of course, scares a plenty, but the substitutions had definately improved the team, with Connolloy in particular showing that he has lost none of his mental sharpness and was nearly always in the right place at the right time. When he spooned one chance over the bar it looked like his luck was out, but a very deft finish in extra time finally made the game safe.

 

All in all a great game, made all the better by Saints managing to play to defined tactics and come up with a result against one of the best teams in the division. Great atmosphere too and a real sense of onwards and upwards together.

 

Thanks, Jon.

 

PS Special mentions for Adam Lallana (a fitness doubt who worked his socks off), plus Rickie Lambert who intelligently lead the line again. ***

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

[TijuanaTim]

Sitting on the train back to London reflecting happily on one of the rare times that a plan obviously came together. Many of the tactics we saw at training on Thursday worked well, and it was only when Saints strayed from the plan that things started to go wrong, helped by a weak and inconsistent ref.

 

The big plus was that the scouting system is now up on running properly. What we heard on Thursday was a) that MK like to play the ball slowly out of defence; b) that they don't like being pressured; c) that their midfielders were considered 'lazy' on the ball and d) that whipping the ball into the box + timing runs from midfield to shoot would be profitable. So did this work?

 

The first half was so frustrating, with the pressing game working well, although Papa seemed a little too lightweight to do this effectively. A couple of the moves we'd seen practiced were reproduced perfectly, with only good defending, and/or Papa's inability to stay onside resulting in Saints failing to be in the lead.

 

MK played just like their manager used to: nasty, niggling and somehow always getting away with it. I still don't know what the ref saw to give their free-kick (or to book Jaidi), but it was an excellently taken free-kick for an undeserved lead.

 

Ho hum & back to the drawing board then for Saints. But the most encouraging thing was how they stuck to the game plan, albeit with different players and managed to turn the game round. It was especially pleasing to see several of the specific moves practiced on Thursday prove to be so effective. In this respect Antonio did much of the damage relaxing on the ball, then flicking it past their increasingly harried left back, to sprint past and fire the ball in from the wing. The alternate approach we'd seen on Thurs was the winger laying the ball back for Llyod James to cross. Each of these tactics, one with the ball being deftly laid back for a crisp finish saw Saints storm forwards to reverse the deficit.

 

Being Saints there were, of course, scares a plenty, but the substitutions had definately improved the team, with Connolloy in particular showing that he has lost none of his mental sharpness and was nearly always in the right place at the right time. When he spooned one chance over the bar it looked like his luck was out, but a very deft finish in extra time finally made the game safe.

 

All in all a great game, made all the better by Saints managing to play to defined tactics and come up with a result against one of the best teams in the division. Great atmosphere too and a real sense of onwards and upwards together.

 

Thanks, Jon.

 

PS Special mentions for Adam Lallana (a fitness doubt who worked his socks off), plus Rickie Lambert who intelligently lead the line again. ***

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

 

Great post - Thanks

[Langleysaint]

Thanks for the insight, really good post.COYR

[Smirking_Saint]

Top post

[wightman35]

Thanks Zigsdad. A great post to follow your offering after the open training. In fact both the poster reports from that day were excellent and informative.

[Lazlo78]

Sitting on the train back to London reflecting happily on one of the rare times that a plan obviously came together. Many of the tactics we saw at training on Thursday worked well, and it was only when Saints strayed from the plan that things started to go wrong, helped by a weak and inconsistent ref.

 

Good stuff - you certainly show good understanding of the game!

[S-Clarke]

Interesting post.

 

you can totally see some training ground routines paying off now.

 

Esp. lamberts goal...that was made at the training ground.

[Under Weststand]

Good insightful post zigsdad interesting to follow on from your post about the training day, and for you to see how the training fitted into a match day.

[iansums]

Good stuff - you certainly show good understanding of the game!

 

And good typing on an iPhone

[LeBenali]

Was going to ask you guys whether you saw what happened in training on Thurs reflected in todays game, so thanks for saving my time and posting the insightful view!

[Vegas]

Very interesting read, thanks.

[SoccerMom]

Thanks - that really puts into perspective what Schneiderlin said on the radio; that is, that at half-time he gave them a rollicking so that in the second half they did what he had been telling them to do. Having taken the nipper to a training session last season I can say that I never saw this kind of specific tactical game-play being worked on. Was there ever even a plan A last season? No wonder they've needed strong words to get them back into doing the manager's bidding.

[zigsdad]

And good typing on an iPhone

 

I can type just as quick on my phone as I do on a real keyboard, just need to check carefully for typos... :-)

[mafiboy27]

Lovely reading. Thanks

[saintjay77]

Thanks - that really puts into perspective what Schneiderlin said on the radio; that is, that at half-time he gave them a rollicking so that in the second half they did what he had been telling them to do. Having taken the nipper to a training session last season I can say that I never saw this kind of specific tactical game-play being worked on. Was there ever even a plan A last season? No wonder they've needed strong words to get them back into doing the manager's bidding.

 

I think it might show how we got found out so easily last season. We trained to play 1 way and as soon as the other teams knew that they created a plan to subdue and beat us.

 

Had we practiced fast passing counter attacking football as a baseline but then also worked on how to beat specific teams then we might have done better.

 

Pards seems to want a basic way of play to be instilled through out the team but really goes to town on the oppo's strengths and weekness' to make sure we have the best chance of coming out on top.

 

Maybe the Dutch duo thought that the dutch way was the best way to beat any team and under estimated other managers being tactical enough to come up with a solution? It been a few years since the dutch way topped the tables although allot of successful teams do resemble some of the dutch methods.

[rooney]

A good read. Thank you. Just goes to show what happens when you have proper people running our club.

[Rattlehead]

A good read. Thank you. Just goes to show what happens when you have proper people running our club.

 

I too have noticed an improvement in the quality of posting. Well done to the new management.

[vince]

Thanks for that - interesting reading.

 

I still don't know what the ref saw to give their free-kick (or to book Jaidi), but it was an excellently taken free-kick for an undeserved lead.

 

I could see this very clearly as they were more or less running towards me. The ball over the top was going through to Kelvin, but Jaidi just barged into the attacker. To be a fair shoulder charge, you have to be within playing distance of the ball, and they were nowhere near it. It was a silly thing for Jaidi to do (he had a good game apart from that) and they punished us for it. Luckily, we're a much stronger team now, otherwise it could have been really costly.