Our Playing Style - What are we trying to achieve?

[Red Zone]

Now that the dust has settled on another failed European attempt and after a turgid 18/19 season there are many things to be concerned about but for me one of the biggest is our playing style and what we are actually trying to do as a team.

Since McInnes has been here for better or worse it has been clear what we are trying to do to win games. We have gone through different phases of
(1) get the ball to Hayes and McGinn as often as possible and swing crosses into the box for Rooney to score from inside the six yard box
(2) get a goal ahead and grind out a 1-0 game management victory
(3) win as many free kicks/corners as we can and the law of averages means we will score enough goals from set plays to win enough matches

We may not have enjoyed the various styles of play but it generally worked more than it didn't (other than when we played celtic or in other big games - but I would argue that was more to a scared mindset than a lack of playing style)

Now and for most of last season I have no idea how we are really trying to win games. Our approach seems to consist of Lewis throwing the ball to one of our back four, who then play anything between 2 and 12 square/backward passes followed by a long punt to (a) Cosgrove (b) the opposition keeper (c) out of play beyond the goals. On the few occasions the long ball actually finds Cosgrove he invariably doesn't win the header and even if he does the nearest player is 30 yards away so any knock down goes to the opposition.

None of our defenders are comfortable with the ball at their feet so all this pointless passing is an accident waiting to happen. Even if they give the ball to Ojo or Ferguson, the ball invariably comes back to them as there is little or no movement from the front 4 to find space to receive the ball and even if they do get the ball, their control is often poor so the ball is lost again. Neither McGinn or Hedges look to have the speed or ability to take on and beat a full back like we were able to do back in the Hayes/McGinn days. Wright doesn't have the confidence/robustness to do any better and whilst McLennan has shown it in patches he more often than not takes one touch too many and also loses the ball.

We invariably play 6 defensive minded players out of the 10 outfielders yet game management is no longer an option as we are laughably easy to score against (1 clean sheet in 8 games this season yet we have hardly played a decent team - 3 in last 17 going back into last season)

I don't know what the stats are on set plays but it's clearly deteriorated despite the height in our team, partly due to the quality of the cross invariably being poor.

It has now been 3 transfer windows that we have failed to replace the midfield creativity lost when Christie and McLean left. It remains to be seen if the mysteriously missing Bryson is the answer but I suspect not based on his career to date. This just adds to our complete lack of any sort of idea that our defensive six have of what to do with the ball when it lands at their feet.

It is clear that Ferguson has the potential to be a very good player for us (in the Neil Simpson mould) but it is equally clear that a 4231 formation does not suit him as he is neither a natural sitting midfielder nor a natural number ten.

Gallacher clearly has speed to burn but he is not a natural winger and doesn't have the skill to beat a full back that can match him for speed. I can see him being another that we don't get the best out of due to the restrictions that a 4231 formation applies.

All of the above means that playing 4231 with the personnel that we have will result in us continuing to struggle particularly against teams where we have to take the initiative to open up like we saw many times last season. Something has to change, either the 4231 formation or the squad (in the few days left in this window) as otherwise we will simply see a repeat of last season especially when combined with the managers caution first approach. Unfortunately despite all of the above I know that nothing will change as it is becoming increasingly clear McInnes is a one-trick pony that is too stubborn to admit when he gets things wrong.

What would I do? Somehow identify and bring in a creative midfielder (most likely a young player from englandshire on loan) and switch to a 442 formation so Cosgrove has someone to play alongside and Ferguson gets released to be a box to box player then actually try to play through midfield instead of lumping the ball beyond them

Apologies for this lengthy dump of my thoughts but it's made me feel better to express my thoughts on our clueless style of football we seem set to play this season!!

[Devanha Red]

We played great football in the first two European home ties. An absolute joy to watch. I know the quality of opposition wasn't the best but it shows we can do it.

The problem is he's just not confident enough to adopt those same tactics against 'better' teams.

[Red Zone]

We played great football in the first two European home ties. An absolute joy to watch. I know the quality of opposition wasn't the best but it shows we can do it.

The problem is he's just not confident enough to adopt those same tactics against 'better' teams.

I fear that in hindsight that will be a false dawn. Those were two teams in the bottom half of the Finnish and Georgian leagues respectively, probably at best the equivalent of a mid table Scottish Championship team.

[Don_Corleone]

Red Zone - I agree with what you're saying and I've said similar things in other threads. There's no clear strategy on the park as to how we're going to score goals.

As you say, we set up with 6 defensive players - that in itself is more than enough - yet we also have our two "wingers" constantly tracking back when we don't have the ball, so they basically play as second full backs, and when we do have the ball they seem to come deep, and come infield, so we have very little width to our play.

We tend to play someone in the no10 role who isn't really suited to the position and is not creative enough to make anything happen. We ask our lone striker to do a lot of defensive work.

It all means that we end up passing the ball around between defence and defensive midfielders, before playing it long and losing it, because our attacking players have dropped deep or infield, or there's simply no movement, or our passing is just generally honking.

I thought the idea with getting Ojo in was that he was the guy who would keep the ball moving, dictate the pace of the play, be able to find the creative attacking players with incisive forward balls - but he seems more like the kind of guy who's just going to try and play keep ball with the players behind him. We most certainly don't need him and Ferguson dropping deep to take the ball off the defence. Ojo should be doing that and Ferguson should be pushed further on to make himself available for a pass from Ojo.

Not only is our "style" of play painful to watch, it's incredibly predictable and easy to defend against. Add to that we have guys playing out of position - who knows what Gallagher's actual position is meant to be?! Hedges coming in off the wing and acting as yet another defensive midfielder taking the ball off the defence and passing it side ways. Wilson deployed on the wing in the rare 4-15 minutes McInnes allows him on the park.

How would I sort it? How about this...

Lewis
Gallagher Considine McKenna Leigh
Ojo
McGinn Ferguson Hedges
Wilson
Cosgrove

So Ojo takes the ball off the defence - Ferguson plays an old fashioned central midfield box to box role just in front of Ojo. McGinn and Hedges play as wingers, staying out on the touchline, with Gallagher and Leigh providing pace on the overlap (Gallagher was a RB at his previous club I believe and his pace gives him the nod over Logan who's become very complacent). Wilson partners Cosgrove up front but plays just behind him to link the play.

It's essentially a 442 but Ojo sits behind Ferguson rather than alongside him and Wilson plays just off Cosgrove. No need for 2 defensive midfielders sitting in front of the defence - Ojo is never going to venture beyond the half way line so he should be able to provide the defensive shield and Ferguson should be told to push further up.

[AiberdonianAce]

The issue with teams predicting our play is we are far to slow, I can't remember we scored from an actual counter attack.
Being too slow just let's the teams get player behind the ball and we are shjte at trying to break a team down when the park the bus so it's just pass pass pass lose the ball.

[Feck_the_Huns]

Small crumb of comfort but it looks like Bryson is in contention for sunday, has trained the last few days.

I've no idea what his "core fitness" is like - can't be great as he missed the first two or three weeks of pre season - but we need his experience and quality in asap.