Playing Without Fans

[ozzmeister]

As I am sure everyone else has I've been delighted with the recent run of form and performances of the team.

I am slightly concerned that we are playing better without fans. Couple of factors that make me think this:

- During games you can clearly here Ralph yelling instructions, when to press, where to move etc, will this be lost with crowd noise?

- The general pressure and nerves the players face when playing in front of fans (especially at home).

Hopefully no crowds lasts a bit longer!!

[S-Clarke]

I don't think we've had a problem away from home in terms of fan noise or pressure, over the course of the season our away record is still top notch.

There's a possibility that they are affected by fans in the home games, but it's impossible to say. We've still had our worst performance since the return at home (Arsenal), so the home form is still a bit of a concern for me with or without fans.

[Noodles34]

God, we do not play well at home because on the whole, most teams sit back and ask us to take the game to them. And we know, as we have for many years, since Koeman (Lallana/Lambert)  days, we cannot break teams down. When teams do come and play, they are generally better than us anyway, but as City showed, it does gives us the opportunity to play more positively, as we do away when the home team has the necessity to take the game to us.

 

[tajjuk]

There is a bit of a worry that part of our better play is down to Ralph being able to get his instructions over to the players more easily and the drinks breaks, both giving our high pressing players a rest and allowing more tactical instructions to be conveyed.

I don't think the crowd thing directly is much of a problem, clearly we could perform well away from home against a hostile crows and I agree with Noodles, our home form is a lot down to not being able to break down deep, defensive teams.

We are counter attack/counter press team, when someone sits deep, allows us to have possession and hits on the break, then we struggle, we seem to lack ideas.

Carl Ananka (sp?) in the Athletic has highlighted our lack of a plan B, our plan A is very effective and wins games, but we don't really have a back up plan. We also don't have the most creative midfielders/forward aside maybe Redmond, no clever playmaker to unlock stubborn defences with that killer pass. 

[Saint_clark]

I don't believe for a second that it's due to Ralph being able to get his message across, St Mary's hasn't been loud enough for that to be an issue for one and for another even if it was, it's the same for both managers. 

If the players can't enact a tactical plan without being talked through it for the entire 90 minutes then we have an issue there. 

Edited 15 July, 2020 by Saint_clark

[sydenhamssocks]

5 hours ago, tajjuk said:

There is a bit of a worry that part of our better play is down to Ralph being able to get his instructions over to the players more easily and the drinks breaks, both giving our high pressing players a rest and allowing more tactical instructions to be conveyed.

I don't think the crowd thing directly is much of a problem, clearly we could perform well away from home against a hostile crows and I agree with Noodles, our home form is a lot down to not being able to break down deep, defensive teams.

We are counter attack/counter press team, when someone sits deep, allows us to have possession and hits on the break, then we struggle, we seem to lack ideas.

Carl Ananka (sp?) in the Athletic has highlighted our lack of a plan B, our plan A is very effective and wins games, but we don't really have a back up plan. We also don't have the most creative midfielders/forward aside maybe Redmond, no clever playmaker to unlock stubborn defences with that killer pass. 

Armstrong is a clever player who can and has made those killer passes. His recent assists alone, show that. He links well with Danny.  If anything, Redmond has probably been not quite as affective since the restart as we know he can be. Hopefully Smallbone will also contribute in that area too. 

[Matthew Le God]

21 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

And we know, as we have for many years, since Koeman (Lallana/Lambert)  days, we cannot break teams down. 

 

Lallana and Lambert did not play for Koeman in a league game! 😉

Edited 15 July, 2020 by Matthew Le God

[Noodles34]

3 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Lallana and Lambert did not play for Koeman in a league game! 😉

yeah, you're right.

OK, Tadic and Pelle.