100%. The problem with possession based football is you face the practical problem of the transfer market. Which is why I think Barca became a shambles, if you can't replace Xavi and Ineista how do you do it? It's also where our wheels started to fall off because the alternative is 700 not winger/not CM players on the squad. Ironically British football is probably the right model overall, they just can't coach and the players can't seem to figure it out either. The Invincibles are still peak modern football for me. Wenger isn't getting his due!
It was interesting watching a bunch of rugby when I was in NZ. Though its a different game, there was a very similar development where teams have become very focussed on final 3rd entries, especially attacking in broken play/transitions where defence is disrupted. So this creates a strange feeling where it feels like your team has hardly attacked all game - but then they score seemingly from nothing. But it also creates the Leipzig pingpong feel where you get the ball, and a few one touch passes later you lose it!
Anyone else notice when we defend corners one of our smallest players is marking their tallest? Yesterday it was Bellerin multiple times on Dunk (I think). Clearly this is by design cause I've seen it a lot this season. Is it something like: our tall players zonal mark and our shorter players man mark?
The problem becomes that you need to be good at both. Bayern under Guardiola once beat Dortmund 3-0, solving the press by playing long balls at every opportunity. Liverpool's model, having midfield drones that track and press really well, only works because: a) their forwards are incredible, b) TAA provides a lot of the creativity, and c) VVD cleans up the mess. All of which is to say that there's no way to "system" contention year in year out. The right system might allow you to punch slightly above your weight, but you can't win without elite players.
Leicester won without elite players but the league standard was lower literally sat deep and countered
to be fair, mahrez played his ass off and vardy magically became lethal so the rest of the team was able to sit back. did they not had some united-like magical numbers with penalty?
Theoretically, you do this so that your aerial presence is free to attack the ball. Your smaller players, in this case Bellerin, aren’t so much marking as creating a physical barrier for the threat to have to fight through. We were worst in the league at set piece defense last season and seem to be faring better this season, so it’s kind of hard to judge its effectiveness.
It goes against everything I've ever thought of in regards to defending corners. Not that I've ever given much thought to it. In my remarkable amateur career the message was always the same: "mark a man, don't be a p---y and get there first" This approach arsenal have taken seems brilliant compared to that.
Except for maybe this one? I think I was there that night... p.s. Look at how many fans we used to pack in at RBA because of TH14. In the last few years it's been like 10-20% of that.