I have been reading a lot of posts about how teams set up against us with the low block, as this is our kryptonite.
No team at this level sets up with a low block. We impose that situation with possession based football.
There have been a few comparisons with Man City and how they defeat 11 Men behind the ball when they impose their game. Personally, there are no comparisons to be had regarding the players they have at their disposal and ours. They have goal scorers all over the pitch.
For me it is undeniable we really do need to score first to negate 11 men behind the ball, because when we fall behind I believe we have too many players who just go into their shells and play sideways and backwards.
We go in front and dominate procession and suddenly some players come to life.
But on the low block issue, it is purely a case of having players who can score all over the pitch, whether it is from set plays, long shots or a piece of virtuoso skill.
Our set plays are what really grates with me, no real imagination. At the moment Gruev hits a fairly well placed corner but there is no pace or variation, which makes it easy for the defence. On a slight positive we are getting the ball beyond the first defender more often than not. So why are we persisting with the same dull corner routine, instead of mixing it up. I think it is about personnel. We do not have a Scholes type player who lurks on the edge of the box and will hit a corner drilled to him first time on the volley. However, it would be nice to perhaps work on a short corner routine that moves the opposition pieces around.
But we are not making it easy for ourselves with the level of predictability in our play. For me Gnonto is the only unpredictable player ( in the sense that he will drive at the defence with pace, attract players and create havoc) on the evidence of our first 5 games.
Solomon and Largie have probably got that in their locker, and the pace of DJ is an undoubted miss. So I do agree with the suggestion that Farke is not getting the best out of the team to some degree. We were far better than Burnley and will likely be far better than most if not all of the teams this season, but if we go behind there are question marks about the tactical mentality, self belief and resilience of the team and individual players.
