Talking Tactics Blogs

Man City look to push on as they finally end their home hoodoo

Steve Sedgley — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:05:02 +0000

Steve Sedgley looks back at Manchester City finally ending their home hoodoo.

When Spurs turned up Eastlands on Sunday, you could sense the anxiety in the air. The North Londoners have a wonderful record against City which goes back many years and on the back of their UEFA Cup exit; they came to Manchester with lot to prove.

City in contrast have had a wretched time of late and with the exception of their impressive result at Old Trafford, have failed to maintain their solid start which had many neutrals predicting a European spot for Sven Goran Eriksson's men.

The Swede has done a fine job since his summer arrival, acquiring new personnel to compliment City's already excellent youth policy. It has certainly surprised the City faithful but they have to be careful not to get too wrapped up about poor results. The likelihood was that at some point within the season; with new players and a youthful squad, a dip was to be expected, however City will grow from this experience and be better off as a result. It was always going to be a season of transition.

The game itself was certainly not one for the neutrals with both teams playing at a pedestrian pace in the early exchanges. Spurs were clearly showing signs of a Euro hangover while City looked extremely nervous. It is clear that going a few months without a home League win had caused many players to show anxiety. I can speak from experience that when a rut sets in (Failing to win at home) you just go through a mental block and you put even more pressure on yourself before stepping out on the pitch as you are so desperate to win in front of your home fans. City players were certainly going through it, as you can tell when possession is given away cheaply and the ball seemingly becomes a hot potato.

When Robbie Keane scored expertly on the half hour, you sensed a "here we go again" etched on to City fans faces. It was the time when you expected City players heads to drop but in all fairness, it seemed to galvanise them and they seemed to up the tempo of the game from that moment onwards. Two excellent Paul Robinson saves ensured that the Londoners maintained their lead at half time.

The second half we started to witness the City at the start of the season which kept Spurs on the back foot for the rest of the game. It is amazing momentum in football and how a team can simply transform at the blink of an eyelid, which is frustrating for players, management and of course, the fans. That is football for you and there is no rhyme or reason for it. A goal apiece from Stephen Ireland and the impressive Nedum Onuoha turned the game around and City certainly didn't look back.

It was a vitally important result for City as many saw this game as their last chance in the race for a UEFA spot. Having dropped down to 9th place, they seemed to be in freefall however a big result like this could be just enough to turn the tide. They have a growing squad who will have grown better for the highs and lows they have faced this season. They have a top class manager at the helm and if he gets the expected funds in the summer, City can look to move on. They need a bit more depth to their squad but should it be added there is certainly no reason can look to challenge around the Premier League's elite.

Woodgate is proving pivitol for Spurs in Ramos' revolution

Steve Sedgley — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:36:48 +0000

Steve Sedgley looks at the pivitol role that Jonathan Woodgate is now playing in Ramos' revolution.

When Juande Ramos splashed out £8m on Middlesbrough defender Jonathan Woodgate, you can understand a certain amount of scepticism from Spurs fans. Nobody doubted the player's ability; it was just the appalling injuries that have blighted his career and had otherwise preventing him fulfilling his undoubted potential.

Woodgate arrived in North London with little to prove apart from his fitness, and his remarkable form since his debut is looking the steal of the season. Full credit must go to Ramos for taking a gamble on a player who has shored up a once leaky defence, and of course has already guaranteed a permanent rapport with supporters, after scoring the winner in the Carling Cup final.

Jonathon Woodgate has been an absolute colossus. He doesn't posses the physical presence of his partner Ledley King, but is deceptively quick and reads the game so well. He brings an air of calmness to the backline, never panics under pressure and has the footballing ability to often get Spurs attacks underway with intelligent distribution. He has the leadership qualities of King and you notice the difference in the performances of Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul when they play alongside him.

Over the years I have played under some managers who briefed us to just defend the ball and get it out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. The problem with this tactic is that generally you give the ball away unnecessarily and subsequently leads to conceding pressure. That is why Ramos is blessed with two defenders like Woodgate and King, who are calmness personified and the results really speak for themselves. One look at the Birmingham game is evidence of how vital their presence is in the back line.

I really cannot rate Woodgate highly enough. As a former defender you appreciate his undoubted quality and firmly understand why top clubs have parted with big money for his services. Injury has deprived not only those clubs but a country of one of the best defenders around. Their loss can certainly be Tottenham's gain and if we can keep Ledley King fit alongside him, they certainly have the best defensive pairing in the Premier League.

The hallmark of any successful team is a strong backline. It gives a team a solid platform to work from and allows a team to impose their game plan on other teams. Of course it would be great to see the games like the 6-4 we witnessed at Christmas time but no team will ever be successful if they can't keep clean sheets. If Juande Ramos can add another 4-5 players of Woodgate's class in the summer then there is no reason why they won't finish in the top four in the coming years.

Will Yakubu fire Everton to the promise land, of Champions League football?

Steve Sedgley — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:17:03 +0000

Steve Sedgley is impressed with Everton of late and believes the in-form Yakubu can fire them into the Champions League.
It was always going to be a tough afternoon for Everton. Liverpool's victory at the Reebok brought on added pressure for the toffees before they even took to the field at Goodison Park; knowing their position of fourth place had been claimed by their great rivals.

Everton have had a fantastic season to date, with the impressive David Moyes producing a superb squad that is certainly strong enough and capable of sustaining their League position. The Scot has assembled a team that has a wonderful work ethic, with all players working hard for each other across the park. Moyes is well known for his organisational skills and has built his solid foundation around a mean backline that has lots of strength and pace about it.

Moyes simply has them disciplined and you very rarely see the centre backs breaking out of defence, they are set up in their zone and don't break ranks leaving them very compact whilst maintaining their shape throughout. Everton, wary of threat posed by Portsmouth given their impressive away form, played with a central midfield pairing of experienced pros, Phil Neville and Lee Carsley to give added protection to the backline, which freed up the wide men to break forward in support of the advanced Tim Cahill and the in form Yakubu.

The 4-5-1 formation is a much maligned formation in England, but Everton play it perfectly and maintain their shape throughout. Their work rate is immense as you would always expect from a Moyes side but the difference to them this year oppose to others is they now have found a prolific front man and one that can certainly fire Everton into the Champions League.

After a slow start to his Everton career, the big Nigerian is starting to justify why Moyes spent big on securing his services from Middlesbrough. Yakubu possesses great strength, pace and has the added ability of being able to hold the line and keep hold of the ball, until his midfield support arrives. He is simply unplayable on his day and he made the experienced Sol Campbell look extremely average; no more so than the third goal when he turned the England man inside out before sealing the three points with a wonderful finish. Portsmouth played into his hands and made the mistake of trying to out muscle him which resulted in a series of free-kicks given away in dangerous situations. Sometimes as a team you have to accept that the opposition player is to strong so rather than try and muscle him out, you should adopt a holding midfielder to intercept the supply line rather than concede the needless free kicks that Pompey did yesterday.

David Moyes deserves great credit for the way he has turned this football club around. Everything seems to be in place and the formation, with Yakubu firing all cylinders, will bring its reward. They are also extremely strong at set pieces, with plenty of height, to compliment the masterful delivery from Mikel Arteta; arguably their most talented player. The signs look good for them and if they can all stay fit then there is no reason why they can't claim that final Champions League place. My only concern for Everton is the size of their squad and if they have enough strength in depth should injuries occur; time will certainly tell but on the back of this destruction of Portsmouth, they are certainly good enough.

Has United's Cup win given them a psychological edge?

Steve Sedgley — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:27:26 +0000

FFC feature Talking Tactics is now launched with our resident coaching expert Steve Sedgley

It was quite rightly billed as the tie of the 5th round with the country's finest, paired head to head in pursuit of a place in the quarter final of the FA Cup. Both teams arrived at Old Trafford in differing form with Arsenal buoyed by taking a 5pt lead in the Premiership, following their dispatch of Blackburn last Monday, while the hosts have struggled of late with only 1pt out of a possible 6. There of course were no points on offer as both sides trudged onto a poor Old Trafford pitch that was to come under much scrutiny by Arsene Wenger in the post match analysis.

In the old days a 5th round fixture of such magnitude would see a game of mammoth proportions with the big guns all thrown in, but we now live in the modern day game where the Champions League is King, which dictated the seemingly depleted line-ups from both clubs.

Arsene Wenger decided to rest the highly influential Flamini and the inform Adebayor with the Milan game in midweek. The FA Cup has never been priority this season for Wenger; which is of great shame to the 9,000 North Londoners who made the trip, and to be fair Arsenal never looked with it and dare I say interested from the first minute of this cup-tie.

Sir Alex Ferguson still smarting from his shock derby day defeat proceeded to make changes as he dropped Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes and Tevez and brought in Fletcher and Carrick into a five man midfield with the returning Rooney playing the lone role upfront against the normally impressive Toure and Gallas. The 4-5-1 formation was introduced as a way of snuffing out the free flowing Arsenal midfield with Fabregas paid close attention. Sir Alex needn't have worried as Michael Carrick took control of the game early and never relinquished his grip on the game with a fine performance from the former Tottenham man.

History suggested this was going to be a tight affair but United and in particular Carrick and Anderson simply ran the show and as soon as the impressive Rooney opened the scoring, you sensed there was only going to be one outcome. Arsenal were worryingly lacklustre on the pitch and the defensive pairing of Toure and Gallas were woefully exposed by the poor performances of the full backs Traore and Hoyte. Nani, time after time was given the freedom of Old Trafford and it must have been to great relief that they only found themselves 3-0 down as a combination of poor finishing and good keeping by Lehmann kept the score down following a sea of United attacks.

The second half was pretty much in the same vein as United continued where they left off as Arsenal simply offered no reply; who had any chance of a rally thwarted with the early dismissal of Eboue following a reckless tackle on Nani. Fletcher's 2nd secured an emphatic 4-0 victory for United and the perfect pick me up after their recent poor form.

Arsene Wenger was unmoved about the result and was insistent that his team will once again recover from a big defeat in their quest for a Champions League and Premier League title. He felt the pitch played a big part in his side's failure to get any cohesion; which seems slightly strange given that both Carrick and Anderson were spraying it around clean and concisely around the pitch.

Sir Alex Ferguson in short got his tactics spot on, by crowding the midfield and snuff out the threat of Fabregas and Hleb. Nani really had a field day against Hoyte who just couldn't get close to the Portuguese winger. The back line of Arsenal was worrying exposed and it must be a worry for Wenger; whose squad is ravaged by injuries. It is certainly clear on evidence, how vital the likes of Clichy and Sagna have been to this team in recent months; they are a shade of the team without them. Wayne Rooney gave a master class of how to play the lone role upfront and was the focal point along with Carrick in every attack. It is vital that as a lone striker that you constantly work the centre backs and don't allow them any time in possession.

So where does this result leave both teams? Arsene Wenger has played it down and is confident his team will bounce back while Sir Alex must have taken a huge amount of satisfaction from this performance after a run of poor displays. Only time will tell if this game will leave any psychological affects, as both teams fight it out for the title.

Sven's tactical masterstoke dents United's title bid

Steve Sedgley — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:23:25 +0000

FFC New feature Talking Tactics is launched today with our resident coaching expert Steve Sedgley.

The Manchester derby took on extra significance with the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air disaster. The emotionally charged nature of the fixture meant you were never going to be sure how it would affect the United players, who have been under such media scrutiny all week.

Man United played their usual 4-4-2 with Giggs partnering Tevez upfront to compensate for the suspended Rooney. Sir Alex Ferguson chose to drop Hargreaves and Carrick for a midfield four of Nani, Scholes, Anderson and Ronaldo; which looked formidable on paper.

Manchester City as Sven Goran Eriksson confessed before kick off haven't been at their best in recent weeks and it was a very defensive minded formation with 5 in midfield with New signing Benjani the lone striker. It was clear Sven was all out to frustrate a Manchester United side and felt the only way to contain the Champions was to flood the central areas, with Hamann, Ireland and Fernandes, whilst hoping to hit on the break through the pace of Petrov and Vassell.

It seemed the proverbial cat and mouse encounter, but there were few neutrals that could have predicted what was to follow as Manchester United were expected to prove victorious.

While many would see Manchester City seemingly out to stifle United's prowess, it is worth pointing out that this is a tactic that has been adopted in recent weeks as Sven looks to replicate their impressive home form on their travels. Although the presence of an Elano would have added to City's creativity, it is obvious that this season they have continually been overrun with many failing to contribute enough in their defensive responsibilities; a vital factor, if you are to pick up points away from home.

The game started as you would expect with United forcing the pace early on and Joe Hart was called upon with two fine saves. The impressive Richard Dunne was once again a colossus and made a fine tackle on Carlos Tevez, just after he was about to pull the trigger. With Manchester United clearly on the front foot, it came with surprise that City took the lead against the run of play. Martin Petrov put through before feeding Stephen Ireland who forced a fine save out of Van der Sar and the Dutchman was unlucky as it fell into the path of Darius Vassell who smashed home at the second attempt.

It was a poor goal for United to concede and one that Sir Alex and Carlos Queiroz will no doubt be analysing on the video's this week. When Petrov took the ball on the left there seemed no immediate danger as Vidic and O'Shea had taken up good positions, both goal side of the men with play in front of the. The crucial aspect of the goal was O'Shea allowed Ireland to get goal side of him and failure to block the run created subsequent uncertainty at the back and cause Van der Sar to race from his goal line to block the shot that rebounded out to Vassell. You may feel this is harsh analysis, but a basic defensive error gets punished at this level.

It was a body blow for Manchester United who uncharacteristically didn't come roaring back as they normally would and they suddenly seemed lacklustre and lacked penetration. The goal seem to galvanise City who started to play with belief and conviction with Dietmar Hamann pulling the strings in midfield, calmly distributing intelligent passes as well as using all his experience in front of the back four to break down many of United's attacks. With Petrov and Vassell's pace a constant threat, United were withdrawn and with the extra man in midfield were able to snuffle out Anderson and Scholes who were unable to provide Ronaldo and Nani, the service they crave.

Sir Alex Ferguson was clearly keen to get the team in at half time as they had seemingly lost the initiative and would have been appalled to see them lose a second goal just before half time. An initial cleared corner found Martin Petrov with Nani allowing him far too much space to whip the cross back in, who found an unmarked Benjani, whose glancing header went through a crowd of players before nestling in the bottom corner of Van der Sar's net.

City started the second half in much the same vane as the first as United continually became frustrated at their rival's resilience. Richards, Dunne and of course Hamann were a rock and you kind of felt that Sir Alex Ferguson would ring the changes in order to breathe new life into the home side. Park didn't seem to have the desired affect and it was only the introduction of Michael Carrick; a surprise exclusion from the line-up, that seem to spark a bit of variety and allowed United to open up City before Carrick slotting in a late consolation.

Manchester City ran out 2-1 winners in this emotionally charged derby which may have affected the home side more than expected. Too many United players underperformed on the day, but take no credit away from Sven Goran Eriksson who got his tactics spot on and City thoroughly deserved this victory. Sir Alex surprised many by adopting a more attacking approach at the expense of Carrick and Hargreaves and the decision backfired as Hamann was able to control the proceedings in the middle while Richards and Dunne; slowly becoming one the best pairings in the League, stood strong throughout and snuffed out United attacks with relative ease.

Defensive woes once again cost Tottenham dear

Steve Sedgley — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:04:08 +0000

FFC New feature Talking Tactics is launched today with our resident coaching expert Steve Sedgley.

Tottenham went into the game on the back of the 5-1 defeat of Arsenal and you can forgive Juande Ramos's side going into the game with an air of optimism. Injuries and suspensions forced the Spaniard to reshuffle with Lee switching to right back leaving Jamie O'Hara the unenviable task of marking Cristiano Ronaldo. A brave choice by Ramos but it obviously shows the faith he has in the youngster. On selection you were thinking that Tainio would fill in at right back but given the impressive performance of the Finn alongside Jenas in midweek, Ramos was keen not to break up this pairing.

The combination certainly works well with Tainio the no nonsense player, fully committed and his presence within the midfield frees up Jenas to exert his undoubted ability going forward. Tainio followed his brief and shackled both Rooney and Tevez when either dropped deep into that hole in midfield. It is fair to say that Rooney was largely anonymous for large periods of the game and the credit has to go down to Tainio.

Tottenham started the game extremely well and frustrated Manchester United and after weathering the home side's early surge, settled down and played their passing game on a pitch that wasn't contusive to free flowing football. They got men behind the ball and harried United not allowing them anytime in possession. I feel special praise should be put on Jamie O'Hara who did a wonderful job marshalling Cristiano Ronaldo.

They thoroughly deserved their lead through Robbie Keane and you often wonder what might have been had they been able to go into the break with the lead intact. It would have been a totally different second half with Manchester United out on the front foot and Tottenham sitting back to contain and having the threat on the counter through the likes Berbatov, Keane, Lennon and Jenas. Unfortunately the age old problem reared its ugly head and Tottenham were punished again for slack defending.

The Tevez equaliser was down sadly to poor positioning by Michael Dawson and was dually punished by the Argentinean who doesn't turn down such gifts very often. Defending is all about positioning and then making the right decision and in this instance the Tottenham centre half found himself out of position which meant he failed to deal with a bread and butter header and got under the ball, which then allowed Giggs to shield it and play it into the path of Tevez. There is this belief in football that pace is everything in defence but any of you that have had the pleasure to watch the late Bobby Moore play will know that the first two yards are in the head that with great positional sense you will rarely get caught out.

It was unfortunate on Dawson; a player who has undoubted ability and was an absolute rock last season but I feel he does suffer when he hasn't got the calming presence and experience of Ledley King alongside him. Dawson has had so many partners alongside him this season that it has been difficult to pick up any rhythm and continuity, which is no fault on him.

The second half started much the same as the first with Tottenham comfortably containing Manchester United and looking threatening on the counter attack. Jermaine Jenas missed two gilt edged chances to restore Tottenham's lead. They say you get punished at places like Old Trafford if you don't take your chances and Tottenham certainly did, when a wonderful Van der Sar pass found Rooney unmarked in the penalty area.

There are many people out there who will have their own arguments at who was at fault for the goal. You could argue that Radek Cerny should have come out and collected the pass while those once again question Dawson's positioning. From a defender's stand point, I once again felt that not only Dawson but the whole defence were at fault here. To allow a ball travel nearly 70yrds into your box without getting a head on it is a real basic error in professional football. The whole backline should have been pushed up towards the half way line forcing the Manchester United strike force up the field, eliminating any chance of such a pass. Those who argue that Cerny should have claimed the ball but as a defender, your first priority must be to clear danger unless you get a positive shout. The indecision cost Tottenham dear and Dawson was caught out of position once again. You could argue the point why no one was covering the centre half that was just involved in the previous attack but that is another story.

If Tottenham Hotspur are going to move on as a football club it is vitally important that, especially against the top opposition that you make them work hard for their chances. Tottenham had a great opportunity on Sunday to win this football game but defensive gifts will always be punished with the likes of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo around. It would be easy to point the finger solely at Dawson but his has been a problem that has existed all season with every player culpable. It is something that I'm sure Juande Ramos is aware of and would look to address as he maintains his positive progress at the North London club.

Diagrams courtesy of Academy Soccer Coach