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The blind pass

Tell you what also isn’t helping. That f***ing stupid goal kick we keeping.

What a load of old shite that is man. When did it even become a thing

Just get the the centre backs on the edge of the box and let them bring it out from there. At least if they do lost the ball they’re 40 yards from goal not on the edge of the fucker
 

What is it with the blind pass into midfield. I don’t feel like I see many sides attempt it as much as us and fail, this creates a turn over and we are instantly on the back foot. Is this being coached or do we feel we are good enough to play these types of blind passes which to me are high risk low reward.
Passing with eyes closed? 🤔
 
The idea behind it is sound - and it's worked well for us most of the season. Most teams play one striker, your centre backs split and go wide, the striker can only press one of them so the keeper goes to either the other centre back or into midfield and takes the striker out of the game. If you play it to the centre back, the opposition midfield will inevitably press them which opens up the pass into midfield.

Obviously the intention isn't to play a blind pass.

Where it went wrong last night was that they played with two strikers, one winger who stayed wide and one who drifted in, and they pressed us high up the pitch, therefore splitting the centre backs didn't really work as they always had players pressing each of the three options. Then an element of complacency - Alderete not looking up and playing the blind pass into the centre of the pitch, Roefs not anticipating that Wood was closing him down. And then a lack of common sense - if you press the defence with 4-5 players you're going to leave gaps in the your own half, if only we had a striker who can hold the ball up and pin defenders back eh?

It doesn't need binning off but we can't afford to let our concentration drop at this level. Le Bris talks about players finding solutions a lot and they need to be more flexible when certain situations occur in games.
 
Alderete had an absolute nightmare on the ball last night, but I thought he was served a couple of really poor passes from both roefs and granit, either underhit, to his weaker foot under pressure, or both
 
I think it's fairly obvious they did their homework on how we play out from the back and their pressing and energy levels were incredible tonight.

What's frustrating is to not react after the first once or twice when it doesn't come off.

We have been doing it for ages and still not learnt. The Woods goal was a carbon copy of the Newcastle goal except it was Roefs instead of O’Nien.
 
What is it with the blind pass into midfield. I don’t feel like I see many sides attempt it as much as us and fail, this creates a turn over and we are instantly on the back foot. Is this being coached or do we feel we are good enough to play these types of blind passes which to me are high risk low reward.
Spot on. We often make risky passes when there is no real reward for them if they come off. The crazy thing is we often choose not to make a risky pass in the final third when we might actually get a reward if it comes off, instead playing it safe and cycling it back as far as our own keeper sometimes. I think eventually we will start gewtting better as the coaching staff focuses more on this in training. I think it's kind of a "level 2" thing that we haven't spent much time on in training, as we're still focusing on "level 1" things. Hopefully we will learn to manage risk better as our younger players continue to gain experience and get good coaching and as our more experienced players develop an understanding of how to play together as a team.
 
Spot on. We often make risky passes when there is no real reward for them if they come off. The crazy thing is we often choose not to make a risky pass in the final third when we might actually get a reward if it comes off, instead playing it safe and cycling it back as far as our own keeper sometimes. I think eventually we will start gewtting better as the coaching staff focuses more on this in training. I think it's kind of a "level 2" thing that we haven't spent much time on in training, as we're still focusing on "level 1" things. Hopefully we will learn to manage risk better as our younger players continue to gain experience and get good coaching and as our more experienced players develop an understanding of how to play together as a team.
No doubt it could be something we can improve. Just need to know when to not make those risky passes. Mega frustrating to watch as you feel you can see it coming a mile off
 
What I dont get is, how the fuck we stopped playing our kick and rush style that seems to work so well? I get it, not all the time, but early last season and at times vs Arsenal and City at home especially, we took the piss.
 
I wonder if we're trying to play a bit more 'technical' football since we've been safe but the truth is that it a fairly predictable way to play and can be punished by an effective press.

The only sort of blind pass that should be played in most circumstances is the blind pass trying to behind their back line. Henderson is excellent at those. He reads the game very well and knows when a full pitch press is in effect and that a blind pass round the corner could get a pacey winger or forward right in on goal. We could very much benefit from doing that if we are going to invite the press playing the way we are just now.
 
It seems like conceding the odd goal, by fannying on at the back, is almost an acceptable scenario - as long as teams generally keep possession of the ball.

Not for me though. I prefer the old style of keeping it simple in your own half and take risks in the oppositions.

This is not just a Sunderland problem as everyone is copying what Pep started.
 
I just wish we’d cut this horrific tactic out of playing out from the back like we are Barcelona. We f***ing aren’t them.
I think its over rated at any level . Even in top games you see teams just flapping around until its in a safer spot .
I like to see passing straight through the play .The last minute bluffs and trickery less so . Good teams pass to marked players and progress
2 up top and forest knew it would be rolled to midfield and passed out to Alderete , as did we.
Crazy
I think Alderete is the least comfortable playing out like that .
It seems if he doesn't move it on quickly the % of a fluff escalates at some rate
 
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Ah it’s been a while since the last SMB let’s all play 442 and hoof it long thread. Like it or not, playing through the press is what 99% of modern football teams do now because it works. And players back their technical ability to not lose the ball. Those small movements of defenders helps the team massively to penetrate further up and creates space to attack. Brobbey can only get that ball into the channel because we’ve pulled the fullback forward first. Without that the fullback just defends the channel and mops it up and we end up having 20% possession in a game - which invariably results in losing the match.
Been saying a while, a team playing long ball 4-4-2 with a load of absolute monsters will win the league in the next few years
This is absolute delusional bollocks I’m afraid.
 
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