• The 4-2-4 deep build up structure.
• The adaptation out of possession when Nathan Lowe went off.
• 2v1 on our left in deep build up not utilised enough.
• Junior roaming.
• Frequent game theme of being the better side but losing games.
• Why Michael Duff and his staff are not to blame.

IN POSSESSION

In possession we built in a 4-2-4 deep, this is due to having both Luke Leahy and Aaron Morley on the pitch, who are both natural sixes.

With the injury to Caolan Boyd-Munce we’ve had to adapt from the 4-3-3 with dropping movements from the midfield to a 4-2-4 where the midfield start low.

One thing this can affect is the bounce passes to try and progress out the first phase, unless you have two really technical and press resistant DM’s in a 4-2-4.

If your double pivot starts low instead of one of them starting high and dropping low it can lead to bounce passes to a spare man being inaccessible.

We saw this on Saturday with us having a 2v1 on our left in build up with Declan Skura and Dan Harvie overloading Tom Bloxham.

For me, this wasn’t exploited enough and a lot of our build up was too heavily focussed down our right, now this might be due to us having better ball players down that side, but I did feel we could have accessed Harvie more often.

As just mentioned with Harvie being the spare man, if Blackpool have one man less high…it means they have one MORE man deep. This was evident when we went long with them having an extra man in their backline to deal with our direct threat.

I was impressed throughout the game with our left sided triangle in advanced areas.

Who was occupying the spaces within the wide triangle kept alternating, but as the game went on and due to natural positioning we usually saw Leahy as the man in the half space and Andre Vidigal and Harvie rotating between primary width holder and deepest man when in a settled attack.

On the right I felt we lacked a body and our right side which for me is more threatening individual/quality wise than our left, Junior – Niall Huggins and Morley.

Morley was usually too far away to connect play when the ball was on the right.

I was really impressed with Junior on Saturday, heavy improvements since Duff’s arrival. His back to goal play is improving and he’s now a lot stronger and more aware defensively.

Could be a key player for us next season!

As the game went on he had the license to invert and roam in regards to his positioning, we often saw him become an extra man between the lines drifting into a 10 position or even on the odd occasion coming over onto the left side to support in build up.

By him inverting into midfield it drags his marker a little deeper and little inwards leaving space for Huggins to carry into as seen below.

Due to us struggling to utilise bounce passes to find Harvie, when we did play down our left in deep build up we saw Leahy drop even deeper dragging his marker towards the ball.

This then gave space for Cauley Woodrow to drop behind him into the vacated space, often receiveing a line breaking pass from Harvie or Skura.

We’ve seen Woodrow do this on multiple occasions this season, he really is great to have in the team for versatility and ability to play/do numerous roles, so far at Wycombe we’ve seen him play as a 10 dropping deep in build up, a striker, left eight and right eight. Top player to have in the side.

As mentioned earlier we missed Boyd-Munce’s dropping movements from high to low in build up, below you can see an example of where Huggins is free to receive if someone arrives into the space and bounces to him but no one does!

CBM’s injury really negatively affected the balance of our midfield.

OUT OF POSSESSION:

Out of possession we began the game matching up man to man everywhere, Lowe and Woodrow on the Blackpool CB’s, our wingers on their deepest wide men, and Morley pushed up onto the lone Blackpool six.

Once Lowe had to go off we saw a change to more of a 4-2-3-1 with Woodrow managing the Blackpool six.

Fred Onyedinma was responsible for the Blackpool split CB’s and our wingers on their deepest wide men.

We did sometimes see who occupied the forward positions in our 4-2-3-1 high press change, this included Fred to the the right, Woodrow as striker, Vidigal on the left and Morley as the 10 touch tight to the Blackpool pivot with Skura backing up the press behind Morley.

This allowed Junior to occupy a slightly deeper position.

Another example of our high press, we maintained a +1 on the backline whilst getting sufficient pressure on the ball with Fred responsible for the Blackpool split CB’s.

Due to our high press causing Blackpool issues when they tried to play out, they adapted and began to ‘one pass and kick’ more often as I call it.

This means the CB passes to the GK from a goal-kick, they then take a few seconds and then play long, teams do this to slightly adjust the picture higher up the pitch.

I was impressed with Blackpool when they did go long, it was often structured with one man up for the initial duel, one man running beyond, and multiple bodies in the middle of the pitch to jump on second balls.

Overall thoughts

We AGAIN were the much better side both statistically and tactically, it’s inevitable that fans are going to be angry and it’s easy to blame the manager in a tough situation.

Believe me as someone who’s analysed A LOT of football games, the gaffer and his staff are NOT the issue here.

On Saturday the gaffer set us out giving us the best chance to win as usual. He was let down by the execution by the players, a stupid own goal, and a lack of being clinical in the final third. I

t’s important to look at the wider picture, we’ve been dealt numerous injury blows to key players at the worst time which has ruined our play-off push.

I tweeted the morning of the game about how we’re the better side in so many games but have walked away with nothing far too frequently. Not every game can be smooth sailing but it’s those games where you have to find a way to win.

That is what the top teams do in all leagues, they find a way to win.

What’s important to note is the gaffer will be learning a lot about his players during this period, and that can be very beneficial long term.

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