Minority Report - Talking Tactics (2)

Last season, whilst on a voluntary sabbatical from the BBS, I wrote a Minority Report for each home game, which I kept on my PC and circulated to a very limited number of readers through the BBS private messaging system. I also wrote even longer pieces dealing with topics that interest me. Only a few of these pieces were released into the world, mainly because I feared a negative response. This season, I am going to publish them on here, and depending upon the response, there will be 23 of them. The first appears below. Please treat me gently.

Understanding the game; the reasoning behind Minority Report (part 1)

When I began thinking about this topic, it was going to be about why fans have a basic need to have an individual who can be credited when results are good, and blamed when results are poor. I may well return to that subject because it interests me, and it is one of the reasons why football is often referred to as a religion. Like football, religion attempts to explain the unexplainable by reference to an almighty being. Religion has become less of a force in the 20th century because man has explained much of what was previously unexplainable. Minority Report attempts to explain more about the game of football, and remove the cult surrounding the Manager/Chief Coach. Even though the size of the club’s budget as compared to the budgets of their league rivals is a far better indicator of potential success, many continue to hold the manager/chief coach up as some sort of god, or perhaps demon dependent upon circumstances. Some all-powerful being capable of making the impossible possible, or the reverse. It is strange behaviour in an otherwise sophisticated population, and it can only be explained by a failure to work out a proper explanation. However, my thought processes became entangled in another idea, and they went off in a different direction.


The thing that gets people on their feet, the thing that ignites the flame in us all is individual talent. The ability that a player may have to beat an opponent with the ball at his feet, be that through pace, or through trickery. The ability to score goals that most players could not score or hit passes that most players could not hit, or indeed, could not even visualise. Talent is rare, and very expensive. My club is never going to be able to hold on to talent for very long, but I have recognised this sad fact for many years, and that recognition has never tempted me to forsake my first love or to love another. Most of us can recognise talent when we see it, and most of us can talk at length and in great detail about the players that we rate or those that we loved in the past. And yet, aside from recognising that talent and providing the right conditions for a talented individual to thrive, the Chief Coach has very little input into the process. And yet, the Chief Coach is credited when the team does well as a result of the talent of the individual, and is lauded as a result. It is the basic need to have heroes to worship that drives the process. And of course the opposite is also true. When results are poor because our talented individuals are not performing, the fans need someone to blame, and because the Chief Coach is the figure head, he is the focus for frustration. Most of the time, the Chief Coach is neither as good, nor as bad as fans insist. Was there a great difference between the styles of Morais and Stendel? After all, they both played basically the same way. It was not my intention to provoke a reaction by asking that question, and after all, there is no way that any answer can be proven unless both of the Chief Coaches picked their own teams from the same squads, on the same day, against the same opposition, consisting of the same teams of individuals. Morais was plunged into a relegation battle with an inadequate team mainly against superior opposition after Hecky abandoned ship spectacularly. Stendel had a preseason and was matched, in the main, against inferior quality in a lower league. Morais had an inferior budget as compared to the general level in the league, whereas Stendel’s budget was superior to the general level. As I say, we will never really know the answer, but what I do know is that when Morais was sacked, the on-going management of the club could effectively put that disastrous season behind them, sweep it under the carpet having effectively piled all the blame for relegation on the shoulders of the man that they had summarily dismissed. There will be those reading this who have already reacted. They will not have thought about it, and they will not stop to find any reasoning for their opinion. But you see, that is what Minority Report is about, and always has been about. Ignoring reaction and by doing so, finding reason.

 

Understanding the game; the reasoning behind Minority Report (part 2)

Once again, I have gone off in an unintended direction. My task is to explain Minority Report and explain why it is what it is. Minority Report will tip its hat towards talent, but that is not its primary purpose. Its primary purpose is to comment on those things that are under the control of the Chief Coach, and by doing so, draw conclusions over the long term about his efficacy. Last season, the opposition players were generally inferior to ours. Stendel has his style, but quite frankly, it was never obvious to me if we were winning games because of his style, or in spite of it. For example, the counter-press was hailed by the majority. It was not used in every home game by any means, but in the games that it was used, it was certainly a factor in a good number of our goals. However, our press was also a factor in a good number of our opponent’s goals as well. Our players were sometimes out on their feet by 65 minutes (Charlton Athletic), and especially in the early part of the season, tiredness was responsible for a number of late equalisers by our opponents. It helped us to win games on a number of occasions simply because the quality of our strikers was better than those our opposition possessed. Ours scored from easy chances, whilst theirs missed easy chances. I was not convinced last season, and I remain doubtful against better quality this season. In fact, this season the quality of opposition strikers will probably be superior to ours which could lead to a reversal last season’s scenario when the press goes wrong. What will Stendel do if this prediction proves accurate? It is just one of the questions that can only be answered as our season progresses, and Minority Report will be watching.


What appeals to me as the writer of Minority Report is finding an explanation for what has happened. After all, the game of football is essentially a simple game played in a space measuring just over 100 metres by 70 metres. That space is further reduced by the off-side lines which have the effect of restricting space/time in possession, and if I am honest, it is the genius of the off-side law that adds the spice to what is essentially 20 outfield players chasing a ball around. Let me explain. In order to play the game successfully as a team, the players of the team in possession need to do 4 things. They need to:

Retain possession

Support the player in possession of the ball

Create space

Create chances to score


Conversely, the team out of possession need to concentrate on the same 4 things. They need to:


Regain possession

Mark the passing options of the opponent in possession

Deny the opposition space

Deny the opposition chances to score


I have reduced the game to its basic elements, and that is where Minority Report concentrates its efforts. It tries to explain how well my team performed those 4 basic functions. Of course, goals are often scored, and games are often won and lost because of a basic error, a lapse of concentration, a moment of brilliance or an inspired vision. Goals are often the result of an individual action. All Minority Report can do in such circumstances is to credit the individual, but those instances are not why it exists. It exists in order to explain why something happened tactically, or at least logically. Readers must understand that I have had no training for this task, and that my logic will not be faultless for that reason. I rely upon others to educate me, just as I will try to educate others. Whatever happens, I hope that readers will take my thoughts in the spirit they are intended, and understand if I refuse to enter into a long argument with no possible resolution.


Minority Report will seek to explain the ebb and flow of games by referencing those 4 basic principles plus the practical use of the off-side line. It will attempt the show why chances were created and attempt to explain why games were won and lost. It may well be that the players of one team were superior to those of another, and in that case, it will try to explain why different tactics were not employed in order to reduce that individual imbalance. Minority Report will try to do what it always has tried to do, and find a reason.


Those opening paragraphs might suggest to the reader that I do not rate the work of Daniel Stendel. That is not quite true. He did well last season with a team that was not his team, not his type of player, a team that had to learn from scratch how to play his system. Players who did not fit the plan were sold (Tom Bradshaw and Brad Potts) and new players with talents more closely aligned to the requirements of the plan (Cauley Woodrow and Jacob Brown) were brought into the team. He had to cope with a small squad, and with injuries (Woodrow, Moore and Dougall) that would have defeated many. At the end of the season, he was rewarded with a promotion, but the fact is that we had more good players than most other teams in the league. SCMP conspires to make it hard for promoted teams to do well in the Championship. This is especially true when the promoted team cannot rely upon the team spirit and understanding which results from players playing together for a long period, and generating confidence in their combined ability by winning games. This season, Stendel has a challenge that dwarfs the one he encountered last season. He will have done incredibly well to keep us up, if that is what he does come May. He will have had to blend and integrate his new charges double quick. If he does so, he will have earned every accolade that he accumulates.

 

Understanding the game; the reasoning behind Minority Report (part 3)

At the same time as reducing the game to 4 basic principles, I acknowledge, and in fact embrace the need for tactics. So what are tactics? At the simplest level, tactics are what enable most of the players to be in the right place for most of the time. Tactics embrace formations, but there is more to tactics than just the formation, and tactics will be different for each player and will reflect each player’s individual strengths, weaknesses and body shape. For example, one full back might be encouraged to get further forward when the team is in possession more than the other full back. That may be for any number of reasons e.g.

The Chief Coach may want to keep a back 3 because he fears the opposition pace on the break.
One full back may be better than another going forward.
The opposition may cover a potential over-lap on just one side, leaving their other winger to break.
The formation may mean that full backs cannot both attack.


There will be many, many more reasons, and Minority Report will attempt to explain the reasoning. When something happens like a wide player not dropping deep in support of a full back. Minority Report will assume this is a deliberate plan initiated by the Chief Coach, rather than the laziness of a player, and will attempt to explain why.


Last season, Stendel mainly used 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. He tacked the counter-press onto both systems at various times. Minority Report will tell readers what systems both teams began the game with, and will attempt to tell readers when each team changed their system, and why. This is just the first of 3 articles that will try to show the different ideas behind each of the formations commonly used by Stendel. I intend to look at 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, and highlight the positives and negative of the counter-press in relation to each system. Each article will be a separate topic and will explain the ideas that govern each system in order to illustrate when each should be used. The advantages and disadvantages of each system will be illustrated. Inexperience and lack of familiarity will be problems in the early part of the season, and Minority Report will seek to explain the effect and monitor the gradual improvement via Rookie Watch.


Every reader will be convinced that their understanding of the game is complete. If that were so, there would be no reason for the deep thinkers that the game has unearthed in the last 20 years, (Benitez and Mourinho). I am looking forward to reading the contributions of others, because I am only too aware that my own understanding of the game, built up through observation alone, is very limited. I hope that everyone will get something from the exercise, not just from my contributions, but also from the contributions of those who comment upon my thoughts and ideas.

 

Good read bit deep for me to understand a lot of it tbh as I’m still from the inside right and inside left brigade.
As far as the blame game goes it’s not exclusive to Barnsley fans, it’s a human trait in General throughout history people have been lauded when things are going right and turned upon when it isn’t . Mussolini learned that among others .on the football front Alf Ramsay was knighted for 1966 and unceremoniously dumped in 1974.

 

Good read, enjoyed it. But if you do more, please break up into paragraphs
where required. Too much text in one go makes it a long read and difficult to pick up where you are.

 

Really enjoyed reading that @Red Rain and agree with a lot of it

 

Enjoyed reading all 3 parts & even more reason for me to look forward to the season ahead.
I'm certainly feeling like I'm standing at the water's edge of my championship dream, Red Rain