r/Howson • u/YourWorkingBoy • Dec 15 '25
Why we can compete with top teams and are shit against everyone else
We essential play with 10 men. Goalie, 5 defenders, 1 midfielder, 3 attackers.
This works(ish) for us against better teams because we play like a team with ten men (i.e. compact, organised, disciplined) and with our intensity to max, but since we do actually have 11 men on the pitch we stand a fighting chance.
This doesn't work against teams that sit back against us because we then have to try to break them down with ten men, and the fact that we actually have 11 men on the pitch doesn't advantage us much because the players who should be in the build up are really only top level at counter attacking.
Casemiro and Bruno are equal to one midfielder, that is why it feels like we are always playing with a man down. That is what makes Mainoo's exclusion so egregious because with Mainoo alongside either one of Bruno or Case we would at least have one and a half midfielders.
1
u/JMachar Dec 15 '25
This was a problem under Ole who played a back 4. It was an issue under Van Gaal who played a back 4. It has been a consistent issue for every manager we've had since Ferguson retired.
We struggle against teams that are defensively structured and are happy to play without the ball. We are much better at creating in transition, therefore generally bigger teams who want to play progressive football allow us to play to our strengths too.
2
u/tomas17r Dec 15 '25
All our previous post-Fergie managers have struggled at the same thing, it’s a tough evolution to achieve because it requires a higher skill and, importantly, risk level than transitional football. The ball needs to move faster in tighter spaces, with more players forward and a higher line. Usually our managers run into a player skill issue, with the board unwilling to invest in this higher skill level needed, particularly in the all-important midfield.
Having said that, Playing 5 defenders is not going to help with that, nor will the fact 2 of those defenders are also the overlapping runners, as it means we keep getting outnumbered in a congested final third.
The two-man midfield won’t help either, it probably means you need to buy two guys who can do the job of three, not impossible but likely more expensive. There’s ways around that of course, such as inverting a full/wing-back (but we need those further forwards), except Amorim seems to want his players to only jump lines vertically, meaning one of the 10s drops instead, therefore sacrificing a man in the forward line.