I dont like the training ground guru article. I realise it is a short piece and I hope there is more to what I can infer.
Players playing in areas of the pitch, rather than positions, isnt massively helpful in my opinion. Nor is the concept of playing where the space is. In my opinion space is the most important thing in the game other than the ball. But there is bad space and good space. Good space is generally space you create for yourself by manipulating the ball of the opposition. This often means actually playing in really tight spaces, in order to negate opposition players and find a pocket of space that results. One of our major problems in the first half of this season was teams being disciplined and banking two lines and blocking all good space. Against bad sides you can still find space because they lack discipline across the 11. But against decent teams it doesnt work. So you need to manufacture space. Dan Neil is very good at it, he will attract a man to come close then receive it and either pop it round him in a 1-2 or roll him. Clarke is another who sucks players in and then beats them and has opened space. If you are an elite side against a weak side, like England U21s often are space will exist and good players will drift into it. Foden is a master for Man City. The likes of Bernardo and De Bruyne move so well spaces pop up, or Haaland makes the move leaves a space and Foden is there. Again though this is elite players working in tandem. Do we have that in this league? No is my opinion, even Leicester couldnt play in that way every week.
I think Carsley might struggle to implement those ideas in what right now is a lower mid table side. We need to be prepared, I think, to earn game domination from an intense out of possession game and a high tempo in game play. The Mowbray style of high tempo in game play was good. Can we get someone in who can replicate that and add to it with more possession when in front, game control.
Unbelievable.