No-one in our league has the speed of press or the speed of thought. The way they used their brains, as much as their physicality, was what stood out most for me.....and imo it's the difference between us. Football is often conceived as a game in which players don't need to be that clever to succeed.....and history tells us of many quality players who weren't that bright.....but,for me, the really great players have always been able to read the game and direct their skills accordingly. The main difference between us and them on Saturday was the speed of thought......anticipation and reaction applied to a high skill level.
Definitely think that's true. I was talking to an ex-pro I know a while back and he was saying pretty much the same thing, that the difference between the players at the non-league club we were talking about and players at the top isn't necessarily their touch or anything but how they understand the game and how quickly they see things happening. Obviously that goes up and up as you go through the levels.
Exactly. Watching the Arsenal v Liverpool match yesterday....Odegaard and Rice,receiving the ball and moving it instantly,then taking up an alternative position to receive again.....they were three moves ahead the whole time. On Saturday,when Dan Neil,Ekwah or Jobe received the ball,they were often trying to spin and turn.....Paul Bracewell-like.... to give themselves the room to get their head up to see what was on,but got caught in the press.
He’s already improved us from where we were towards the end of Mowbray’s time with us. We lost the first game to Coventry which was clearly Dodds team and tactics, we are unbeaten in the league since then. We’ll do well with him.
I wonder if those three have the capacity to develop that speed of thought. I occasionally go to West Ham games so I've been watching Rice a while and I've always thought he was a wonderful player, even from very young. I reckon there's a player in all three of them, so I'd hope they would.
Agree, I think there is. They've got all the skills,but they're young and they need the development time. That said,they need to be playing in a winning ( most of the time) team,in order to give them the confidence. It's like any other walk of life...experience is so important. I've seen improvement in Neil from last season to this for example,and I'm sure he'll learn from Saturday.I see a top player in him.Ekwah and Jobe are a mental challenge,they have all the skills but,they always seem to want more time than they have in possession,which says to me they're not thinking enough ahead of the game.
I'm hoping this week the coaches work on increasing the pace we attack and press at. We look so much better playing at a higher pace
I remember watching Paul Scholes for Manu, he was always looking round to know where his team mates were before he got a ball, in case he had to offload the ball quickly. Our players seemed to need the time to find a team mate, after they have the ball, by then it was too late..closed down.
