• Wingback Issues
• Positive High Press from restarts
• Had numerous opportunities early to win the game
• Too much space conceded between the lines
• Aaron Morley needed ASAP!

In possession we were the same as we’ve seen previously, a 4-2-4 in deep build up/from goal kicks with Taylor Allen pushed wide to LB allowing Daniel Harvie to move high and wide on the left creating the front 4. Cauley Woodrow often dropped into the left half space (also seen this a lot in the past six to eight weeks), I think one thing we’ve worked on was Woodrow dropping drawing a defender out to then play in behind for Harvie to run onto. Problem was it was too static in the final 3rd at times and the execution wasn’t always there.

Out of possession:

From restarts I was really impressed with our intensity, I’m so glad Michael Duff has gone back to the man to man high press instead of the diamond press we saw for a shortish period of time which saw us get played through too easily as our midfield didn’t have the understanding of who should be marking who and when certain players should jump. Against Peterborough we were aggressive and quite frankly if we were better in front of goal we could have had this game won early. This was actually one of a very few games I’ve seen where our midfield didn’t get physically bullied.

Another example here of a sequence of us forcing a high turnover through the positive intensity in our press (BELOW)

Deeper we reverted to our back five out of possession, Jack Grimmer and Harvie on the same line as the three CB’s, a reason why I prefer the 4-4-2 mid block is one it gets equal coverage of the pitch and two the starting positions for the wide players are much higher. If you think, in a 4-4-2 you have out and out wingers so when you win the ball back you can move the ball forwards quicker to your transitional threats (usually the wingers) being naturally higher up the pitch, in a back five you have wingbacks which are naturally more defensive than wingers, they have a deeper starting position so when you win the ball back you have less options going forward. Our deep block below, usually a 5-3-2 as we’ve seen in previous games with one of the front two managing the oppositions six (defensive midfielder).

As mentioned earlier the space for us was through switches of play, and attacking through wide areas due to Peterborough’s heavy emphasis on stopping us building through the middle. If we had Fred receiving widest on the right and someone like Sam Bell receiving widest on the left like we saw earlier in the season, I believe the 1v1 threat would be massively improved.

SPACE BETWEEN THE LINES:

One frequent thing we saw throughout the game was space for their attacking players to receive between the lines especially in central areas, they usually baited Luke Leahy to press who struggles with his duel temperament as it is (Duel temperament means knowing when to delay engaging and when to jump to press), it led to them consistently finding space for players to receive between the lines and turn as Archie Collins often pinned Anders Hagelskjaer and Dan Casey meaning they couldn’t/felt uncomfortable stepping out to press.

We saw it for their first goal, Leahy has to be tighter here, Hagelskjaer and Casey are already defending zones in the box should the ball bypass Luke towards the near post. Even if Leahy isn’t tighter to start with here, he has to have better body language to get ready to press.

Here Grimmer pushes up to support a potential attack but we lose the ball, due to him being a wingback and having to cover so much space he has to now try and defend a transition starting 10-20 yards behind his opponent. Really not a fan of wingbacks!

Overall I believe we did enough to win the game, we had some great chances which we didn’t take and we could have been 2-0 up inside eight minutes. Some tactical stuff I believe could be better but do bare in mind that Michael Duff’s back five is miles better than the back five we saw under Mike Dodds.

Fingers crossed though once we get players back from injury and Michael gets a few players through the door, we’ll start to see the more expressive football we saw at the start of his tenure. That Anis Mehmeti sell on clause might come in very handy