Carlos Corberon

[Prando]

I seem to remember that one of Carlos coaching techniques was to ensure that each individual player had their own strict, personal plan/ target. There were many 1-2-1 assessments to ensure every invidual knew exactly what he required from them.

There does not appear to be any such invidual direction evident under Mason ?

[Omegstrat6]

I seem to remember that one of Carlos coaching techniques was to ensure that each individual player had their own strict, personal plan/ target. There were many 1-2-1 assessments to ensure every invidual knew exactly what he required from them.

There does not appear to be any such invidual direction evident under Mason ?

That does seem to be the case Prando. It took time for the players to adjust but Corberan managed to get them to play as a unit with each individual player knowing their particular part. With Mason, however, the pretty constant changes of formation and selection can sometimes make for a pretty dis-jointed performance where players don't appear to know their exact role or are not settled in it. Corberan seemed to know his preferred tactics and selection whereas Mason seems still unsure of either and is still figuring out which positions suit particular players best (e.g. Styles, Price).

Whilst Corberan got the players at his disposal to play as a quite drilled unit, he emphasised defensive needs first which made us hard to beat on one hand, but hampered any attacking potential on the other. It was this that increasingly frustrated fans. Whether or not he would have improved this aspect with his group of (let's face it) over-achievers had he remained in post longer I don't know, but somehow doubt it.

Being able to have a Plan B and creating flexibility within a squad in order to better meet particular opposition may be an ideal but it surely depends on either having players of a certain quality that can adapt smoothly to different tactics or else having the depth of squad to provide the options needed. We have neither so I guess it's either a pretty basic set up to defend or set up to attack decision. Unfortunately, whilst Mason has sometimes managed to replicate Corberan's achievement in the former, he is no closer to solving our attacking problems.

The Charlton game did seem to be an improvement in terms of players being given more freedom (something Roy Hodgson tried to install during his brief second time with us) to stop most of the tippy-tappy stuff across the back and start playing the ball forward much quicker with attacking intent but (as under Roy) we lacked the creativity, final decision making and finishing to make the most of this change. I am certainly no great footballing tactician, but there also did not seem to be a clear plan for when we did attack.

I am hoping (&#128513 that part of this failure to capitalise on being allowed more attacking intent is down to players simply being so used to the constraints of playing out from the back/ possession based football that they are unused to this style of play and that Mason does not simply revert to the former system but allows them time to adjust to a more attack minded style. More time on the training ground practicing this side of the game and who knows, the ball actually goes in the back of the opposition's net a few times and the confidence starts to come back? (I can dream &#128514.

Of course, given some of the teams we are lined up to play it would be unwise to try and play like this against them and when we do play those where we could do so -like Oxford today-I'm sure we could all name the players we would prefer to lead the line than some of the selections he has made in the past. We will see in a few hours time....