Encouraging signs and some indications of Smith's playing style

A very frustrating result but lots of encouraging signs and also some signs of how Smith wants to set us up. A lot of nonsense has been tweeted / written about having no style under Smith and that was true to an extent last season when he was trying to pragmatically find a solution that would work to get points. This season we will see us set up much more in a way that he prefers. At the moment he is going with a 433 but in the past he has also used a 4231. Some things to look for:

• Aggressive pressing from the front – we did this yesterday fairly well before they scored and also in the second half with some good turnovers. Smith teams are high energy and I thought we showed that.
• Full backs high and very wide to create width. All three played well I thought.
• Two number 8s whose role it is to carry the ball /thread passes to the forward 3/ get in the box to take chances.
• Generally trying to move the ball quickers and get it forward a bit faster.

Bear in mind that Smith’s planned starting midfield 3 will be Sara, Nunez and Hayden doing the shielding role. Sorensen may be too slow for the role that Smith wants him to play.

We have also played two teams who had both played very low blocks to frustrate us which did work to an extent but the result yesterday was a bit of a travesty and I can’t remember a more one sided 1 – 1. We made them look s**t but learning how to break down teams is something that they will be doing and is a significant shift from last season where we were always on the back foot. Neither opponent this season has managed to really create anything and promotions are generally built on solid defence (Farkeball v1 was a glorious exception).

The main question is whether this 4-3-3 suits Pukki (I.e. no number 10). Smith has tended to prefer a more physical central striker in the past. Pukki was involved a lot yesterday and had some good chances so there is no reason to think it can’t work. However, if he left the system might suit Idah or even Hugill better.

Posted By: Knitted Jesus on August 7th 2022 at 10:45:43


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