After being accused of being a Liverpool fan for writing three pieces related to them, I decided to write on the team I support.

A deep dive into what makes ETH’s approach unsustainable for the Red Devils.

Any feedback would be appreciated guys!

by Fathalli13

6 comments

  1. I think you analyse it well. ETH seemed to start out being pragmatic which worked well for much of last season. this year though the tactics don’t match the qualities of the players that are available and he seems unable to make further pragmatic changes to adjust. The players are an incoherent group who don’t have complimentary skill sets or the right attitude. Its a mess. Is ETH the right person to fix it.

  2. The term “transition” is widely misunderstood and quite often misused. In your article, your explanation of what a transition consists of is basically when a team loses the ball / the other team wins it and then attacks.

    That is – *in part* – what can happen in a transition, but it’s only one part of a much wider picture.

    Essentially, there are two types of transition – T2A – Transition to Attack and – T2D – Transition to Defend.

    When ETH talks about United becoming a transitional team, he isn’t just about pressing – he is talking about being effective in both areas of transition. Pressing – and more importantly, knowing when to press – is a part of transitioning, but that its all.

    There are a number of other points that you make which are incorrect:

    >While some may associate transition-focused football with a strategy of sitting back in a deep defensive formation, inviting pressure, and then capitalizing on counter-attacks, this perception is **outdated**.

    It’s not an outdated perception, because playing a low block, defensive style that relies on counter-attacking is a tactic that many teams use and it is one of the ways to play T2A and T2D football. United used this tactic extensively last season to great effect.

    >Today’s transitional teams aim to regain possession as close to their opponent’s goal as possible.

    This is high press football. Again, it’s another way to play T2A but the mistake you are making here (as with low block football) is that you think that high press is synomymous with transition football and that low block isn’t transitional.

    Both assumptions are incorrect.

    I didn’t read the rest of the article because the basic assumptions you make at the beginning are widely off the mark.

  3. Not sure,  but damn its keeping me up at night .  

  4. The guy is getting sacked end of season regardless so I don’t see why it matters

  5. Thank you for posting something that’s had some thought put into it.

    Most of the stuff on here is trash tier, but I can tell you’ve put effort into this, even if your definitions of terms are debatable, it’s still a decent read.

    Posts like this should be encouraged not discouraged.

    Edit: Cue the downvotes because I was vaguely positive about something

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