I dunno. His pass completion rate was 65 percent, including 4 giveaways in our defensive third. I also recall at least twice he let runners go in behind him without tracking.
There were also three times in a row late in the second half when Southampton tried to play the ball to their left wing that he stepped in and intercepted the ball. I think the ball was turned over pretty quickly in each case, once with some confusion between AMN and Pepe. Arsenal’s second half bunker gave him few options going forward. There was both good and bad with his performance.
His pass completion numbers were even lower in the first half when we had all 11 players on the pitch. I believe Elliot on the AVpodcast today said in the first half he completed only 57 percent of his passes. That's not good. And I know the instances to which you're referring. Twice (maybe three times) late in the match, it was almost if he baited S'oton to try to make that pass to Bertrand or whoever was on that wing, and he quickly stepped in two intercept. But both times he gave the ball away almost immediately. Here's the thing --- I'm not an AMN hater. Quite the opposite, I like him. But this match did nothing (or very little) to make the case he should be a nailed on starter. And it certainly damaged any argument that he should be played centrally, if he can't even maintain ball security out wide. Obviously, it could've just been a bad day for him, like it was for Gabriel.
I noted there was both good and bad in his performance. I’m also pretty sure he did it three time in a row, not just twice, I also noted that he did lose the ball after at least two of the interceptions, including the one where he and Pepe weren’t on the same page.
True. But this wasn't a grumpy Auba, this was a very dejected Auba. I found it quite sad & troubling, for him & us. I tried finding & posting this interview but it doesn't seem to exist on Youtube?
It’s harder to ‘maintain ball security’ wide. There’s an extra and undefeated defender on your ass when you’re on the touchline.
Our disdain for central play actually makes the wings extremely difficult to play through. We are always outnumbered.
handbrake off podcast spoke about it as well but i think they also see it as frustration at both losing and lack of service. unless you can watch it live (like you did), it can be stupid damn hard to find these. every now and then, NBC posts it. just because. otherwise, you have to hope some rando pops it on out of the blue (and you are able to catch it before strike).
Tim Sherwood's win ratio at Spurs. pic.twitter.com/kLb5mpHjrK— Kristian (@vonstrenginho) April 11, 2015
I disagree. As an outside back the vast majority of the time, everything is in front of you. As a central midfielder, it's often not, and thus you have to have your head on a swivel the way Cesc always did.
In the center of the pitch you have a 120 degree arc through which to make progressive passes, i.e., not sideways or backwards. At fullback you have a 60 degree arc to make the same passes. It’s much easier to pressure a fullback, cutting off the passing lanes to his midfielders and forwards than to cut off all the progressive passing lanes available to a center midfielder, even when the player has his head on a swivel.
I remember reading years ago when they were the top defensive/pressing team that Atleti had a specific pressing trap for this. They waited till the ball went wide, then collapsed on the full back because his options were more limited
Passing is much harder in the middle of the field. You have more passing options, but you have more defenders around you. You also often get the ball under pressure in tight spaces, and passing formations (for a lack of a better word) are less routine. As a fullback, you may have less options, but you have a lot more time on the ball, the problem with which you are presented is pretty well defined (there is a player in front of me running straight at me), and you almost always have a center back or keeper as an outlet.
Exactly. There's a reason from U10s all the way up to professional football, coaches by and large put the most skilled players in the middle of the park. Because that's where most of the pressure occurs --- from all sides.
You two are talking passed each other in a lot of ways. The center of the pitch is about making use of options, and choosing the best one. It gives a platform for talent to be the primary skill. The flanks is about dominating the few options you have. There were a lot of times where Cesc didn't have the physical ability to chose the best option and it would show. It's why AMN could even play there at all despite like no formal education training. He can physically dominate a lot of wingers and is extremely fast. The passing selections is just knowing when you can pass inside which comes with experience.
Also, I might need to re-state the now accepted knowledge that pass completion percentage is at best a very complicated thing to understand and at worst useless. (I know received wisdom is often flawed, but this is the kind that was pushing against the accepted norm and demonstrated its point so forcefully that it became the new norm.)
Fullbacks have more time In the offensive third when teams tend to get more compact, but they have Less time in the defensive third, where we were talking about AMNs passing, when the other team presses. See Jitty’s comment about Simeone’s press above.
Appeal to authority I don’t know. I think the predictability of the passing options might be why pressing the fullbacks as a strategy would make sense. I was a central midfielder up to college, and then I became an outside midfielder/winger (depending on formation) throughout college and afterwards. I always thought that it was easier out wide. A lot of the play is 1 vs 1 and there is more forgiveness of bad first touches. That’s not really the case in the middle - at least for me.
This is why it’s always been a common English phrase for the fullback to hit the striker to relieve pressure in the modern game, with high press a target man is more valuable than ever a player like auba doesn’t really work as an outlet so that’s why arteta played him left as Laca is better at hold up (even though he’s gone to shut this year)
Of course. Many teams try to condense the field, to cut off passes and to pressure the ball to force turnovers in their offensive half. It is not uncommon. But I wasn't a fullback, so maybe he felt under more pressure than I did.
I mean these days the player who tends to get most time on the ball is the central defender - rather than pressing him direct they will cut off his options, and then maybe trigger a pressing trap. I agree defenders can have time on the ball when the ball first goes wide - but that can also trigger a trap in the medium block So much depends on the tactical setups I do agree that in general, passing in central midfield requires a very high skillset to make time on the ball, and to know where players are.
Also cms often are trying to creat chances and have to see the runs and use the right pace on the ball