Week 6 Resultage

-----------------Frey
Yedlin - San Jose - Dominguez - Flanagan
-------------Keita - Pirlo
----Sigurdsson - Kagawa - Holtby
-----------------Origi

Subs: Julian Speroni, Julien Faubert, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, Sebastian Kehl, James Ward-Prowse, Zakaria Bakkali, Modou Barrow

Tough game today against Basel, playing 4-2-3-1 with roaming AM's and a powerful pacy striker. Ball retention is key but I want us to be more direct today, give Kagawa/Sigurdsson/Holtby the opportunity, the time and space to cause problems and utilise the space between their defence and midfield.

Defence: Frey to stay big for one on ones and distribute to Pirlo. San Jose to track their striker, beat him to any passes towards him and force him to drop deeper to frustrate him, Dominguez to be the first to any second balls. If they play a second striker, Dominguez to mark him and Keita/Pirlo to track any AM. In possession supply Pirlo. Yedlin and Flanagan to overlap the wingers going forward and get crosses into the front two. Make sure you get back into position ASAP to avoid being caught out. Defensively force their wingers wide and block the crosses. Don't let them cut inside.

Midfield: Keita/Pirlo sit infront of the back four, get the ball and look to supply the front four. Sigurdsson and Holtby will play wide so they are able to switch from playing alongside Kagawa when we're attacking but drop and form a midfield four with Pirlo and Keita when defending. People may consider the lack of pace with Keita and Pirlo but pace isn't needed sitting and protecting the back four, and their positional sense is still superb, proved by the fact both still play regularly in Serie A. Utilise Yedlin and Flanagan overlapping and use them to play them down the wing or use the space to cut inside. Kagawa to play as our AM, drift left and right and deeper to drag their DM out of position and look to supply Origi with plenty of opportunities. All three of the AM's have licence to roam and drag their defenders out of position.

Attack: Origi to mark the deepest Basel defender, use your pace and strength to worry their defenders, drift wide to drag defenders with you, to allow Sigurdsson/Holtby/Kagawa to make runs down the middle into space for Pirlo to pick them out. Both of you more than capable of scoring and assisting, so get shots in where you can and look for your teammate in a better position. Switch positions on occasion to keep the Basel players guessing and drag them out of position.

Subs 70 mins:
If winning: Kagawa off, Ward-Prowse on. Switch to 4-5-1 with Ward-Prowse playing at CM alongside Keita and Pirlo, and forming a midfield three, Sigurdsson/Holtby to wide midfield. Absorb pressure then look for Origi on the counter.

---------------------Frey
----Yedlin - San Jose - Dominguez - Willems
Sigurdsson - Keita - Pirlo - Ward-Prowse - Holtby
---------------------Origi

If drawing: No change


If losing: Flanagan and Keita off, Ward-Prowse and Bakkali on. Change to 3-1-4-2; Push for goals.

--------------------Frey
-------Yedlin - San Jose - Dominguez
--------------------Pirlo
Ward-Prowse - Kagawa - Sigurdsson - Holtby
----------------Origi - Bakkali

Subs: Salvi, Ajeti, Elneny, Adili, Sio

After a week of tinkinering, Basel have reverted to a diamond formation to allow the attacking players to concentrate on their jobs. Blind will hold the ball and break up play to allow Delph, Lallana and Frei to effect open play with clever running and passing, to create opportunities for Ade and Campbell

Overall
Simple gameplan today and we're going to look to get hold of the ball and control the tempo in the middle while attacking with pace on the wings.

Defence
Musacchio will man mark the lead forward with Kongolo on the other forward or mopping up players breaking from deep.
Full backs will be diligent in defence and keeping the line solid with the CBs.
Schneiderlin will be aggressive in pursuit of winning the ball in the DM spot with Pardon reading the play and looking for the interception.

Attack
Pardo will control the tempo from deep and look to spread the ball to the danger areas.
Canales will sit high and central and link the deep midfield with the forwards running on.
The wingers will be direct and look to work space to shoot or cross as well as carrying the ball past players.
Hernandez to be on the move in the box and spearhead the attack.

Formation: 4-1-3-1-1

--------------------Buffon
Veltman - Alderweireld - Vlaar - Caceres
------------------Marrone
Brahimi -------- Xavi -------- Bernat
-----------------Klaassen
------------------Berardi

Subs: Fernandez, Jedvaj, Gaudino, te Vrede, Streller

Overview: Soddy's good up front and in the middle, but I think we can get at his defence and, with Emenike out, they will be nullified a bit up front which will allow us to press forward more. Of course, we'll need to not get complacent at the back so I'm playing one out-and-out DM to help shore the defence up whilst looking to attack more than usual.

Defence: I think, with key players missing at the back and up front, Palermo will play a more orthodox formation this week. I don't want my CBs drawn to mark specific players, instead cover them zonally and make sure there are no gaps at the back for them to thread balls through the defence. Marrone will sit back and help track any roaming AMs/wingers and also look to break up play and spread it forward. He'll also cover the right flank when being attacked, and Bernat the left. We've got height to deal with high balls into the box and technique to deal with low balls too. I want the FBs to keep track of the opposition wingers by pressing them when they have the ball - either push them outside or drag them inside to Marrone.

Attack: I've got Berardi up front who has pace, power and swag, with Klaassen behind to supply him with cheeky balls behind the defence. I expect Xavi in the middle to set the tempo of the game. Get the ball out wide to the wingers who'll bomb forward and cross it in or, alternatively, pass to Klaassen who'll make things through the middle. When we're on the ball down the wings I want Klaassen and Berardi to essentially play as a front 2 with one man on each CB (Berardi on the less experienced man) and Xavi arriving late to thunder the ball in.

Subs: If losing on 50 mins, Marrone off and Streller on. 4-4-2

If losing on 90 mins: Vlaar to snap some ankles.

Subs: Jacobo, Marquez, Valdivia, Munir, Vukic, Talisca, Athansiadis

General:
We are up against a group of golden oldies so we want to play a high pace, quick passing and moving game. Press the ball and win it back quickly,when we don't have the ball. Keep it moving to stretch opposition, plenty of running into the spaces that creates.

Attacking tactics:
Gerrard to sit deep as the playmaker, picking the passes and switching play.
Grenier to play as attacking mid supporting the attack
Menez and Bellarabi to start wide, but get inside to support striker
Full backs to bomb forward and provide the width

Defensive tactics:
High pressure, pressing from the front, as soon as we loose ball
Rekik to pick up main striker, Stones to pick up second striker or play spare sweeping up.
Full backs to pick up any wingers, keeping them away deep and facing away from goal.
Gerrard and Can to sit in front of back four and provide cover to allow FBs to push on a bit
Grenier to drop onto the deep lying playmaker and deprive them of time.

Subs:
If losing, Can and Grenier off, Munir and Talisca on. 4-4-2 diamond


Giakoumis
van Rhijn---Stones---Rekik---Kolasanic
Gerrard
Bellarabi--------Menez
Talks a
Kruse---Munir

4-4-2 (Diamond)


We've gone a bit different today, Son on top to use his pace playing alongside Di Natale. We've got with three defensive players in midfield to break down attacks and Totti who plays furthest forward in midfield joining in with attacks. Fullbacks have to give us the width so I giving them licence to attack.

Sub 70 minute
Di Natale off Mirallas on

Sub 75 minutes
Totti off Berbatov on (fresh legs)

Injured Players
Sammir
Codina
Maggio

Subs
Naldo
Distin
Mirallas
Berbatov

Tactics:

Couple of lacklustre draws the past 2 weeks, I expect us to come out firing today in an effort to get back on track. Start with a high tempo, put our opponents under pressure and try and capitalise early on. Target the left side (conversely their right flank), whichever winger that is on that side should have the beating on his man.

Attacking:

Costa to hold the ball up, and look to get into the box at every opportunity following that, want you in and around the box when we have attacking positions. Sterling and Moses to swap flanks, we want to target their RB, but make sure to attack the left side from time to time to keep them honest. Henderson to drive the team forward from midfield, look to provide incisive passes, as well as running beyond the strikers. Diame to provide power, look to do some bulldozing runs from deep. FBs to push up and provide width when possible.

Defending:

Play a high line, our CBs have recovery speed, and this should help nullify some aerial weakness we have. Behrami to roam in front of the back 4 where possible. Diame to sit on Maher, try and dominate him physically, put him off his game. Henderson to be the legs in midfield, roam and break up play where possible. FBs look to push the wingers inside into traffic.

- - - - - - - - -Wolf - - - - - - - - -
Selassie - Prodl - Martinez - Cole
- - - - - - - Stambouli - - - - - -
Kishna - Kroos - Maher - Beister
- - - - - - - -Kießling - - - - - - - -

Today will be a tough match as we come up against GSC's Verona side. Today is all about organisation and concentration throughout and i believe we can get something out of this game if we just keep our focus and get stuck in.

Defensive Instructions:

As i said we are going to be organised today but i don't want us to sit back and be overloaded either. I want us to be patient as we may not always have the ball and i want us to use the possession that we get wisely. That being said i want us to try and get the ball as much as possible to be able to attack Verona. The 5 most defensive players in the team will stay back and protect and stand the ground in that area. Stambouli you will be in charge of distribution into the midfield areas and also protecting the back 4 from any pressure we come under. Cole and Selassie you will sit back and watch the wings and look to show Verona down the line instead of being able to cut inside and run at our centre-backs. Prodl and Martinez you will come under some pressure at times today i feel so as always i want you to stand your ground and be strong. Kroos at times i want you to drop deeper when you feel it is appropriate to add another guard to the defensive line.

Attacking Instructions:

In the Attacking sense today we will be patient and use the ball in a clever way. Maher you will move on at times periodically to provide attacking support for the wingers and for Kießling. Kießling i want you to look to get beyond the defensive line but you may have to be patient at times because as i said earlier, we want to be patient in our build up and careful in possession. I'm not asking to move the ball slowly i just want us to use the ball in a smart way. I mainly however, want us to work the ball out wide and try to get some crosses in the box as well as putting passes through into feet for Kießling. We want to use the width of the pitch whilst playing this style as i feel we can get at Verona down the wings and we have a great option to get on the end of crosses in Kießling.

75th Minute: Buffel on for Kishna.
80th Minute: Makiadi on for Kroos.
90th Minute: Di Santo on for Kießling.

------------------------Stevens-----------------
Rosales------Chambers----Subotic--------Durm
---------------Carvalho----Rabiot-----------------
Berahino-------------Calhanoglu------Balde Diao
--------------------------Paco---------------------

Team talk
Up against the tacticmeister this week in Trebs who's finally got rid of Welbeck on the week an Arsenal fan is voting... We therefore expect a lone striker in Ibra with a wider style of play being that he's brought in Insigne. Our tactic is to gain control of the centre of the pitch with them having Di Rossi out injured and then really target their slow defense especially their LB, Evra's up against form guy Berahino and I want him to run him ragged.


Defence
A back four with Subotic being brought in to lockdown Ibra, immediately let him know who's in charge this match. Play a high defensive line as he's often sloppy of offside positioning and ensure you close him down early to quash his long range efforts. Fullbacks to shepherd their wingers on the outside, no rash challenges and going to ground, slow their attacks down and block crosses. Rabiot main defensive of midfield trio, look to stay back when our FBs go forward.

Attack
Calhanoglu to play in the hole linking up defence to attack. Look to get some early shots in on goal and put their keeper under pressure early whilst Carvalho is given remit to go box to box when he builds up a head of steam. Main focus of attack though is down our right flank targeting their LB, Evra's not the player he was and can easily stray out of position or badly time a tackle, Berahino is to cut inside as much as possible and use the speed of our attack to punch through hard and fast.

----------------------------De Sanctis-----------------------------
-----Aurier-----------Dier---------------Barzagli----------Evra-----
----------------------Diaz---------------Lampard--------------------
--------Corchia-----------------Insigne--------------Chadli---------
-----------------------------Ibrahimovic----------------------------

BENCH
Koteles
Lascelles
Burn
Fletcher
Quaresma
Elia
Klose

TACTICS
We have had a poor start to the season but this is like a new start for us, refreshed and energised. We are going to attack them from the off, and we want the three behind the striker to play off Ibrahimovic, the striker constantly pitting himself against the weaker centre back. Chadli, Corchia and Insigne are all capable of quick passing and have good close control and have license to hover around and should look to run beyond. Lampard should make his trademark late runs into the box as well and look to smash home. Also look to test their goalkeeper who isn't the best, pressurise at corners, take long shots etc.

Defensively, it is critical that Calhanoglu does not have any time on the ball to create. Diaz should immediately get on him and pressurise him when he gets the ball, and our full backs should get narrow, so there is no space available for their wingers to cut inside. I am expecting Corchia and Chadli to work hard and track back to help out the full backs, but Insigne should stay high with Ibrahimovic to create a two vs two situation on the counter attack.

Substitutions:
If winning bring on Fletcher for Corchia, move Lampard to AM with more stability in midfield.
If drawing bring on Elia and Quaresma for Chadli and Corchia, change on the wings with fresh attacking legs.
If losing bring on Klose and Elia for Corchia and Lampard, move to a 4-1-3-2.