Truckle

Can these guys stay and run our club?

Could have gone for Ian Dury instead of Barry now you come to mention it. Wouldn't put it past us.

Reasons to be cheerful

If we were not under an embargo, then we would almost certainly not have any of these players:

Curtis Davis

Phil Jagielka

Ravel Morrison

We would almost certainly not have seen:

Festy Ebosele

Louis Watson

Dylan Williams

Jack Stretton

And I don’t think we would have seen so much of Louis Sibley.

In a parallel universe, where we are not under an embargo we could quite easily have swapped them out for this lot.

Davis = Teden Meng

Jags = Matt Clarke

Ravel = Barry Bannon

Festy = George Edmonson

Dylan = Max Lowe

Jack = Sam Baldock (see what I mean!)

Louis Sibley = Sone Aluko

Pure conjecture but assuming we had I would say that would add up to a shed load of money for a marginal gain on what we have.  

On 17/08/2021 at 18:54, brady1993 said:

I'm writing this because I've been thinking about it for a little while and I feel that I keep see people misdiagnosing what we are trying to do and why it's not working. (Also because I'm a bit bored whilst a bit ill). This isn't necessarily an attempt to defend what we are trying to do or whether it's the best approach to take (although I do think there is merit) but more an attempt at explaining the tactical intent and why we aren't meeting that intent or at least not consistently. It's worth noting there is an amount of variation in what we have tried to do but I'll try to cover the gist of it and where and why it's varied a little.

The Intent

The primary goal of what Rooney is trying to tactically work towards is aiming to create a chasm of space in midfield in front of the opposition defence for the 3 attacking midfielders (Lawrence particularly) to exploit, with the secondary goal of if that doesn't work having an overload out wide. We do this by working the ball out from the back and having players drift from their starting positions into space we manufacture in turn creating more space where we want it. With that in mind we can look at the player's roles.

GK, CBs - Not much to really explain here and they aren't doing anything fancy. The important bit is that we expect the ball to move around between them a lot and so need to be comfortable on the ball and able to shift possession quickly and accurately. Also the centre backs may be called upon to cover the space wide that the full backs vacate so in an ideal world are positional aware and quick.

Fullbacks - Almost used as wing backs the idea is that when we are building possession they push very high and wide. This is to achieve a couple things; provide width, give an out-ball for CBs and GK or a switch ball for a midfielder and push the opposition wide players back and out of the way contributing to space opening up where you'd typically see the fullback. There has been a minor variant on this with one of the full backs playing high but narrow acting as a pseudo-midfielder with the attacking player in front of them providing the width.

DMs - With the space vacated by the full back the DM on the side possession is moving towards can freely move into that pocket of space hopefully dragging their opposite number out of position and if they aren't tracked they will have time and space to pick a pass. The idea is goes quickly into them and the quickly on either into the 10 or to a wide player on their side. By doing this it contributes to trying to moving the opposition around, get them out of position and ideally out of those central areas which brings me on to the next group.

AMs - This whole tactical system is designed to give these players a platform to play, with the movement of the fullbacks and the DMs the AMs should find it a lot easier (if the ball has been moved quickly) to find time and space in the centre of the park where they can turn and hurt the opposing team. My belief is that there is three nominal roles the left sided player operates as a wideish playmaker, the right sided player operates as the most direct of the three looking to run at the opposition or in behind and the central player is to be somewhat in between both whilst also being the primary target for most of the build up, possession and I suspect the player wanted to be on the ultimate end of the move. You'll notice that there is a big emphasis on getting the 10 on the ball as much as possible. Typically the wider players are inverted so they are more comfortable coming narrow.

CF - Unlike a lot of tactical set ups, the striker isn't here primarily as the focus of things and more as almost a decoy. The idea is they consistently make runs beyond dragging the opposition back and have them back peddling when an AM breaks into the space in front of them. The importance once again is all about disrupting how the opposition set up in order to create space.

Ideally in the build up you'd expect us to look like this (assuming an attack on the right)

 

      

 

And if you look at in that regard I believe you can start to see how we expect to create passing triangles in order to work possession. It then shifts to something closer to this further up the pitch (again assuming an attack on the right)

 

(Diagrams aren't perfect but I hope they get the point across)

The Execution

Whilst the above is the intent we often see it breakdown well before the final third giving the impression that we aren't going anywhere and it's partly we see some players end up consistently coming very deep. What's basically happening is to an extent we aren't able to execute what we are trying to do tactically and forever recycling the initial phase of it. The problem is rife throughout the team and there are a lot of players out there who are clearly unsuited to doing what is asked causing severe breaks in the tactical cohesion. 

• GK
  • Roos is actually perfect for the role in terms of his attributes. Whilst he may have his moments; at this level his distribution is excellent and he is fast off his line if somebody breaks beyond the defence.
• CBs
  • Admittedly this feels a touch unfair to criticise and in fairness they've made about as a good a fist of it as can be expected but fundamentally we need CBs much more comfortable on the ball the Davies and Stearman if we want to build out from the back.
  • Jagielka coming in will help this mind and if we can pick up Mengi as well we will be golden.
• Fullbacks
  •  Forsyth just isn't really quick enough anymore to properly stretch the pitch and then return to position, Buchanan returning will improve this but I think we need start seriously considering bumping Williams up to second choice.
  • Byrne whilst he has made mistakes is probably ok in the role with a couple caveats; ideally we'd have someone a little faster and more capable of drilling the ball into the box (as opposed to Byrne's floaters). Ebosele would fix some of the issues but is a little rawer in possession than Byrne.
  • Also whilst Byrne is fine with the primary role, he is clearly supremely uncomfortable playing as an inverted full back as we saw against Peterborough.
• DMs
  • Bird tactically and positionally completely gets what he should be doing and whilst it might look odd is following the plan set out for him to a T.  The ball comes into and back out from him quickly and reliably. The only minor problem is because of the position he is taking up the quick forwards pass is typically on his wrong foot  and he'd be far better off if he was playing on the left half of the pitch.
  • Shinnie however is arguably one of the biggest issues in the current set up and blatantly unsuited for it. Tactical he looks unsure of his role and the number of times that one of the following happens when he gets the ball is significant; the momentum of the move is killed dead because he takes too many touches, he gives up possession or he passes in a such a way that the next player does. As much as he is liked if Rooney wants to tactically make work what he's trying to do, Shinnie has to come out of the side.
• AMs
  • The system has been built with Lawrence playing at 10 in mind and whilst he hasn't perhaps pulled up any trees he does seem to tactically understand what his role and what he should be doing at a given time. Need a bit more creatively from him and I think we will see that once other things click into place.
  • Morrison somewhat similar to Lawrence I feel was firmly in the coaching team's mind when thinking on how they want to play this season and does his role well
  • The problem position is the RAM slot. The plan very clearly was to get Aluko in here. Jozwiak and Ebosele have started here but neither are really right for both being right footed and given that Byrne behind them can't play the compensatory role. The player very clearly most suited to it is Sibley but it's just a question of whether Rooney gets over his hangups with him as he looked like a clear fit when he came on versus Peterborough.
• CF
  • This is also where there has been a bit of a problem. I really like CKR but this system needs someone energetic and spinning in behind to open up the space and keep the opposition honest and it's just not his game. It wasn't surprising to me that the game seemed to change when he got injured and Stretton came on because suddenly spaces started to appear.
  • I'm relatively convinced Baldock was being brought in with this in mind and was going to be earmarked as first choice. Personally however I think Stretton looks a better fit and I suspect is more likely to be clinical when it comes to chance creation. 

Whilst it might not look great now with perhaps a couple signings/players returning to fitness it could quickly click into place, it's just down to Rooney and Co to realise why it's not working and fix it. For example a theoretical line up along the lines of the following would likely execute the plan set out pretty well 

Thank you for this post, tremendous work and one of the best things I have read on here, not least because it was written ahead of Hull and I saw much of what you describe actually happen and quite successfully too.  Top work!

1 hour ago, duncanjwitham said:

Honestly, I swear that most of the reason other fans seem to hate us so much is the sheer amount of gibberish that gets posted about what we've allegedly done, and people just believe it. I saw one guy on reddit confidently stating that we'd been found guilty of running 2 parallel sets of accounts, giving one to HMRC and the other one to the EFL.  People still think we were found guilty over the stadium sale.  The whole paying Rooney a coaches salary to avoid FFP thing. 

I had a bash at writing up something aimed at fans of other clubs to set the record a bit straighter - if anyone can be arsed we could paste it on fellow fan sites:  https://ramsreviewpodcast.wixsite.com/home/post/the-wrong-coloured-shorts

Born in Salisbury and support Derby because we had a black and white telly. It was 1975 and replica kits were not really a thing, so I ran onto the school pitch wearing my ‘England kit’ of white top black shorts and white socks and claimed the role of Kevin Keegan. The richer kids with colour tellies told me that I couldn’t be Keegan, England played in blue shorts, I was wearing a Derby kit. And that was that.  Could have been worse, could have gone for Bolton.

 https://ramsreviewpodcast.wixsite.com/home/post/the-wrong-coloured-shorts

Wiltshire - black and white telly, the first paragraph of this goes into the necessary detail.  https://ramsreviewpodcast.wixsite.com/home/post/the-wrong-coloured-shorts

4 hours ago, Carnero said:

Just checked the screenshots your referring to and it actually says "Mick" which could be either ?

4 hours ago, cool_as_custard said:

Arison is known as Micky. Don't think Horton is ever referred to like that. Also, Arison is supposed to "live" on two super yachts mainly moored off Miami. They look a little shabby though....

Mylin IV

Sirona III

Could be he is a fan of LA Rock Group The Knack and bought it so he could stand on the Quayside and say "That's my Sirona."

I was thinking of a way to address the misleading narrative around us and the EFL that is making so many other fans dislike our club when actually they should be worried about when the EFL might come for them. So I wrote this article, if you like it and can be arsed we could put it on a few other fans sites.  I bet Mr Pop in Bristol would love it.

The Wrong Coloured Shorts (wixsite.com)

With their policy, best described as: Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, it wouldn't be a terrible idea if someone with photoshopping skills were to make a big poster of Rick ‘Vicky Pollard’ Parry and we all clubbed together to put it on a billboard outside EFL HQ, like those lads at Led by Donkeys who call out the lies of politicians. 

5 minutes ago, Truckle said:

You can throw them anywhere you like, the further the better.

The point was to address the narrative that has built up that we have somehow had this huge unfair advantage when more often than not we have been victims of others cheating or gaming the system.

6 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

I don't see you point are you saying that if we had spent as much as the teams you mention then we would have been promoted?

Can I just throw out there Johnson, Anya, Butterfield, Blackman, Waghorn.....

You can throw them anywhere you like, the further the better.

In 2014 I watched an exciting team, with a wage bill of £14.5m lose to QPR in the playoff final. They had a wage bill of £75million.

Next year it was Hull in the play-offs, with their parachute payments from the previous year, wage bill 30m.

Then a year off before having another go, losing to Fulham in 2018, wage bill £54m.

And then 2019 a loss to Villa, wage bill £65m.

There we have it; 2 playoffs semis, two finals, four loses, twice to teams that didn’t just break FFP but stamped on it, took it outside shot it from a cannon and then reversed over it with a steam roller.

8 minutes ago, Premier ram said:

spot on mate , dont think the Croatian market is tapped up enough , also Sweden and Denmark are possible for bargains

Brexit.