Last season, I pointed out via Minority Report that the players had been brought to the club to play a different system (4-4-2 or 4-3-3). That in particular, wingers are redundant in 4-diamond-2 and 3-4-1-2, the systems favoured by Gerhard Struber. After the end of the season, I urged that the board support Struber in finding players more suited to his system. Since then, they have sold Malik Wilks and Jacob Brown, and have released a long list of players who were not the right standard or fit, and although I have reservations about the sale of Jacob Brown because of his work rate I feel that many of those players were square pegs that we were trying to fit in round holes in Struber’s system. I also wrote regularly about the team’s lack of balance. Struber would pick a defence comprising all right footed players, and a midfield with only left footed players. We had a problem at No10, where we had tried Cauley Woodrow and Luke Thomas, but had not solved the problem entirely. Up front, if we picked Brown, we did not take a good enough proportion of our chances. If we picked Woodrow, we did not press well enough. In short, Struber’s team was a team full of compromises. In spite of that, he had managed to bond the team well enough to survive in The Championship, against the odds, and Struber deserves high praise for that. Nevertheless, it was obvious that changes would be needed during the summer transfer window. I counted a minimum of 4 players needed, and more if we had to replace players we had sold. Much of that work has now been done, and it will be interesting to see who fits, and who does not. As I write these words on the Thursday before our first league game, we still need a central midfield player and at least 1 striker, and that player will be very hard to get right, because he needs to score goals, but he must be athletic enough to be part of an effective press. Of course, none of us know much about our new recruits yet, and most of them will need to settle in, get to know Struber’s system, and get to understand the triggers that make the press work effectively, but I am encouraged that an attempt has been made to solve many of the problems that were identified last season. Of course, if those problems have been addressed and solved, Minority Report is going to have to look elsewhere for something to talk about. Clearly, there will be a need to focus in on how the new players are settling in during the early part of the season, but later there will be a need to find other focuses. I shall be trying to learn more about the way that Struber’s system works. I do not yet understand the way that the triggers work, and Struber often complains about the way the team deals with transitions (changes in possession of the ball), so I shall be trying to see what he means in more detail. The system does not work well against 4-4-2 and big teams that do not try to pass the ball forward on the ground, so I will be looking to see how we try to solve that problem. Late in games, a team that is behind will try to get the ball forward more quickly, and more directly, and Struber’s system struggles to cope effectively. It needs to be better on the break, better at taking the chances that will come as the opposition overcommits forward in search of a late goal. The system is also poor at breaking down teams that defend deep and attack only in rare breaks. It is the reason our results were better against the better teams in the league last season. Those teams were confident enough in their game to commit resources forward, which in turn gave us more room and a better chance to score. Minority Report will try to find the key to unlocking these deep defences, when a majority of possession of the football is not a good enough indicator of dominance. Something that Minority Report has not done so well in the past is the analysis of what our opponent is doing in order to try to combat Struber’s system. I will try to get better at reading opposition counter measures, and this will be particularly important given the publicity that Strubers system has received since the end of last season, when it was credited for our survival. Opposition coaches will be more exercised next season in finding ways to defeat Struber’s system and studying their methods is bound to be interesting (for me at least). Minority Report will remain a study of systems and tactics, but I hope to be able to focus more on the players as well. I am looking forward to the season, and the challenges that it offers to Minority Report. I hope that by studying the game, I will improve my understanding of it. The learning process, when it is through observation and feedback alone is a difficult one at the best of times. It will be even harder, because once again, I will be observing events through the lens of a camera, and will only be able to look at the things it is pointed at. Please bear with me, and please give me feedback where you think my analysis is wrong. I will not always agree with that feedback, but it will help me to learn more about the game, and ultimately, that is part of what Minority Report is about.
Set pieces are a big part of the game and in particular the championship. We need to get much better at these attacking wise, much better. More innovative, more creative and more effective.
I felt that our defense did not have enough height last season, and that the lack of height was a big problem at set-pieces, but you are right. There is more to being a successful set piece team than just winning the ball in the air.
absolutely. I have no idea how much planning goes into it but it should be hours and hours and hours - surely it’s one of the most controllable aspects of the game. I think there’s a big piece about mentality on them too.
Agree with just about all of that, i can never work out if sometimes we play wing backs and this is our no.one strategy, its why brown has been allowed to leave despite his emense shift (no room for wingers and his conversion rate if played as a striker not good enough). That said we need someone a little more dynamic up front to complement our first 11, maybe a more physical but equally energetic bradshaw "type". I do agree more balance in midfield and cover left back / left wingback. Look forward to your reports snd debating your appraisal of each game. COYR!
That's one of the many reasons I think that we should have tried to sign James Bree, as I think we'll witness today. I'm hoping that Styles will develop into a dead ball specialist.
Sadly, I spoke too soon. There will be no Minority Report today. I could not get it to work on my PC.
Sorry to hear that. I always enjoy reading your reports. Hope you get it sorted out before the next one.
I watched the final 20 minutes, for which I had to pay £10 and I have now watched 9 minutes of highlights. I have written a Minority Report of the game for my own records, but to be honest, I am too embarrassed to post it on the BBS.
Ill try help out. We never looked more than ok against luton. We had our 3 centre backs who did ok, in particular williams who seems to be reading the game well and using his pace to good effect. The midfield was out thought and outfought and we lacked physicality or the speed to get forward effectively. Luton are a collection of old throw away pros who have been moulded into a physically strong and effective unit by their coach. On the ballance of play i thought it was a nil nil all day but collins wonder strike was the difference. Very little to seperate the two sides but we again looked ok at the back. Ritzmaier still not there, he is slow in thought and movement and im still not sure what he brings positively to our team. Also simoes not quite there and he struggled to get into the game against a phyisical side. Woody ....still not sure what is going on with one of our best players but his normal assured passing and shooting (pre covid) is missing. I quite like our set up....it makes us harder to break down defensively but going forward we still lacked (v luton) the ideas and execution to hurt the opposition. We seemed a bit lethargic and also lacked the muscle and aggression needed to break the hatters down. Hopefully our coach will get us competing properly for the games ahead but we need a couple of incomings to compete with these kinds of teams. Again like last season their old pros bemoaned every decision from the official and he appeared to be be effected by that (i believe thats called managing a game!). However we didnt lose the game due to that, it was because we just didnt get on our front foot and worry the opposition, their 2 centre backs had a pretty easy afternoon of it. Im still of the same opinion that simoes, Palmer etc still need bringing on gradually and not yet ready to start games. We are still crying out for a striker with a more robust, quick and physical attribute than we have presently.
We were outmuscled by a strong physical Luton team, but we weren't helped by the referee. Lots of bizarre decisions, one of which was pulling up Woodrow for a "foul" 20 seconds before Luton's goal. Many other examples of strange decisions and Luton players throwing themselves to the floor under the slightest contact, conning the referee into getting fouls in their favour. We don't do this, but other teams do. It cost us a point yesterday
When Collins took Walton out, an older (more cheating) goalkeeper would have screamed like a baby and rolled around until the physio appeared. Their centreback did it first half and got Woodrow booked for an aerial challenge with minimal contact. Sometimes referees need a bit of dramatics before they give anything. I don't like it, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. I'd rather we played a fair game, but I have no qualms about cheating against a bunch of cheats.
Think that's a good summary. I agree with pretty mu h everything you've said. A few other thoughts. In support of your comments about the defence, Walton had nothing to do. He was well protected. Killian played well but by contrast Ritz still didnt put in a performance. He must be getting as frustrated with himself as we are with him. I do feel like theres a player in there. However it's just not coming out yet. Also agree with your comments about Luton. Well organised and strong. Their Managet out thought GS. They won 1-0 but tactically I think they beat us hands down 10 zero. They were also physically stronger. They pressed us in the way we like to press. Mowatt was shut down immediately each time he got the ball. As RR has mentioned previously Cauley is now a bit of an issue. In this system we cant find the right spot for him. It takes players time to settle in and that's why the knockers should lay off Frieser. I thought Thomad should have been brought on at the start of the second half. His trickery and nuisance value could have unsettled the way they were set up. Plenty for Gerhard and his team to work on. We got bullied by a better organised team who actually seemed hungrier for the result than us.
ps 100% agree with you re the need for a big, mobile, robust, goal scoring striker. However, as we all know, finding one is a lot more difficult than saying we need one!!
