Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:
My worry is every outfield player seeming to look worse every passing week.
Vitoria weren't high pressing yet we struggled to produce penetrative passes so our three forwards got poor quality service.
This is the pass map at the end of the game
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An opposing coaches' wet dream. Give these guys the ball so that they operate in the least troubling areas of the field. Vitoria had big defenders, yes, but that doesn't stop us from playing the ball on the carpet, making the entire team compact and playing connected ball in the middle of the field and in front of their 18 area. That doesn't stop us from trying to find more vertical options - except we didn't have the personnel to do that. Willock isn't going to unlock the defense with a defense splitting pass, and our Spaniard loves a more intimate setting with give and goes. He rarely loops the ball over defenders to strikers and wingers.
Pass map shows very little advanced overlapping play, even though that has, at times, been a feature of Emery ball. It's negated somewhat by 3 at the back though as the wide men are expected to provide all the width, but they're clearly not getting successful balls into our smallish forwards (versus their backline).
There's all these things happening. But I also think the players are disinterested in playing for this charlatan. That's why it looks worse by the week. It's not sabotage. Just disinterest
