It shouldn't be considered odd or coincidental that this guy has a similar style to Pinocchio as most teams in the Spanish League play the same way. Just that the best teams play it best.
He's well-regarded as a guy who set his team of minnows up to go toe-to-toe with Spain's elite, and managed to achieve good things for a couple years in so doing (though while still posting goal differentials that spoke to their tendency to get hammered). I'm just not sure the all-or-nothing style would be a good fit for a team that doesn't need that gamble.
That's exactly how a high press works - the emphasis is on getting the ball back or pressing the opponent on the ball, not on assuming defensive shape. That's how we played under Poch, that's how Spurs play; of course players are out of position, it's only the ventral defenders who concern themselves with positional awareness.
A good press manages both; attack the ball, while still maintaining enough defensive shape to be able to contain teams and prevent them from getting good chances if they evade the swarm. We were the sixth-best defensive unit in the PL during Poch's full season with the club; that's a far cry from the utterly catastrophic goals against tally Rayo posted on a regular basis.
So the high press didn't work for Rayo. Perhaps they didn't have the personnel. I've never seen them play so I can't comment on that, but the fact remains it's a high risk style of football that requires 90 minutes of absolute intensity from the whole team. Defensive shape is sacrificed in favour of not allowing the opposition a moment on the ball. Did you watch spurs play at all last season? From the kick off vs Fiorentina, over both legs, they had 9 men in their opponents half. It worked. Against Dortmund, a technically much better team, it didn't, they got passed through, and thrashed. As they did against Newcastle when arguably a season of high temp high intensity football caught up with them.
Indeed, I have watched Spurs (and Dortmund is a poor example; Spurs largely fielded their B side and were quite content to exit). I am also familiar with the sport of football, should you be interested, and presses can be executed in more than one way. The way Rayo pressed was demonstrably less structured than Poch's sides or Pep's Barca side or any of the innumerable other teams who utilize a high press that I have seen. In a well-executed press, the risk is mitigated because a second group of players positions themselves such that they can harass any of the likely targets for a pass, allowing the primary pressers to recover and creating additional opportunities to take the ball away. Rayo was all over the damned place; personnel may have played a role, but when the team can consistently be dissected with a simple sideways pass to beat the press and a more adventurous ball forward into now-vacated acres of space, and that problem persists for four years, there is also a problem with the set up of the team.
I sometimes wonder how familiar you are with the sport of football. I'm sure you watch a lot of it, you must do given the amount of time you devote to tactical analyses. You and I clearly see something very different unfolding on the pitch though. Maybe it's your background in American sports; football is fluid, spontaneous, unrehearsed. In my mind it doesn't lend itself to the dissection of every detail of a move in the same way as gridiron, for example.
Right down to the formation & lone striker? Reading the tactical analysis of how he likes to play, it's so similar to us. By the account of someone on another forum, their meltdowns pale in comparison to ours, & he had to rebuild more than us every season with just freebees & loans because the entire club is run so cheaply. I'm now not surprised at defensive problems at all! Despite this he took them to a Europa spot - the club couldn't afford to take part. I don't know how true that all is, but from reading around I wouldn't be disappointed if he came along, certainly.
Everyone go read the Link DTLW just posted. Jemez is one of three named*+two unrevealed on our list - none of the named have been in the media. Any guess on the unknowns? *Yakin & Periera are the other names - Howe on long term watch list.
Sevilla have released a statement confirming than Unai Emery is set to leave and that they're in talks with Jorge Sampaoli over the job there.
Every thing I'm reading says he's off to PSG & odds checker gives us more chance of landing Diego Simeone. So if he does come to us, it'll surprise everyone!
Tell a manager that their defensive setup is spontaneous and unrehearsed and watch them recoil in horror, heh. No, it is not scripted. But players operate within a framework...do you send pressure every time the opposition has the ball, including the keeper? Is the primary intent to take the ball away from the guy who has it, or to squeeze his options and force him into a bad pass? If they evade the first pressure point, do you continue to attack the ball, or settle back into a defensive shape? Try to force them down the line to be trapped, or back into the middle of the field where a loss of possession might be more costly? How high up the field should the defensive line and defensive midfielder(s) push? Yes, players have room to simply react to play, but if there is no structure and discipline in where and why they are moving that allows their teammates to react accordingly, then it will end badly.
Under Poch, our defence was metronome perfect. One player moved out of shape and the others shifted into the correct position. I remember Gary Neville giving a masterclass on our defence once.
