Switzerland v Republic of Ireland - Geneva - 15th October 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[seanfhear]

Opposition teams are much better at keeping the ball than they used to be due to better pitches / technical players / tactics etc etc etc .

You will be seeing little or no ball if you keep giving it away easily these days . You’ll run your legs to stumps and have nothing to show for it .

[irishfan86]

I think there is something to what backstothewall is saying but I’d add in that there’s a difference between playing a purposeful long ball game, using the right players, vs just kick and run.

While you are right Seanfhear, I also think this move toward technical defenders can be a liability at times for those teams. If opposing teams are selecting ball playing CBs over the big tall athletes that Irish/British teams tend to favour, there can be a vulnerability there if you have the right players to physically overpower them.

Ultimately though, I think the backstothewall approach probably isn’t viable with the players we have. I’d add McGoldrick is not the battering ram you make him out to be & is actually quite a tidy footballer.

Mick has at times played a high press and that’s the closest we will see to the Charlton approach until we have a proper target man....I’m thinking Idah is the only obvious guy in the pipeline to become that kind of battering ram option but is probably 3 or 4 years away from becoming an established pro.

[paul_oshea]

I think Switzerland play the game effectively, to what backstothewall is saying, with the quality of player they have. They play long ball more often than most teams wed play against, but can also play in the middle. THere is merit in it, but not 90% of the time, not anymore, the game has evolved, we'd be chasing shadows all the time. Oh wait, we are already.

[backstothewall]

Playing a long ball doesn't necessarily mean you need a target man. It helps and I think McGoldrick has that in his game but with the way most full backs push forward these days the best space to put a long ball into is often the corners. Centre backs tend to hate going out there as it pulls their shape apart but if the striker they are marking moves out to pick up a ball played over the head of a full back who is stranded in our half they don't really have any other option.

There are limitations to how effective the approach can be. But that's the case with any tactical plan. The pitch against Switzerland would have been an issue given the amount of running needed.

No matter how we pass the ball, short long or intermediate, we need to do it faster. We take to many touches and need more urgency in our game.

[mark12345]

Playing a long ball doesn't necessarily mean you need a target man. It helps and I think McGoldrick has that in his game but with the way most full backs push forward these days the best space to put a long ball into is often the corners. Centre backs tend to hate going out there as it pulls their shape apart but if the striker they are marking moves out to pick up a ball played over the head of a full back who is stranded in our half they don't really have any other option.

There are limitations to how effective the approach can be. But that's the case with any tactical plan. The pitch against Switzerland would have been an issue given the amount of running needed.

No matter how we pass the ball, short long or intermediate, we need to do it faster. We take to many touches and need more urgency in our game.

A little bit of perspective on the long ball game. I played at a quite high level in Ireland before emigrating to the US (and I should say it was some 30 years ago). All we did in Ireland was play the long ball game and at one hundred miles an hour to boot. Within six months of lacing up boots in America I had learned more about technique and tactics than I was ever taught in Ireland. Reason being I came up against Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Brazilian, Colombian teams who put a premium on holding possession and constructing attacking moves. The long ball game was effective but only to a point. And it was nothing but a fools game when you played in high heat and humidity. The only thing I learned - and it was through trial and error - was that if an Irish style team wants to put more accomplished opponents under maximum pressure, it starts with sitting two or three attackers on the opponents' defenders for kick outs. This way the goalkeeper is forced to kick long which usually plays into our hands.

[backstothewall]

A little bit of perspective on the long ball game. I played at a quite high level in Ireland before emigrating to the US (and I should say it was some 30 years ago). All we did in Ireland was play the long ball game and at one hundred miles an hour to boot. Within six months of lacing up boots in America I had learned more about technique and tactics than I was ever taught in Ireland. Reason being I came up against Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Brazilian, Colombian teams who put a premium on holding possession and constructing attacking moves. The long ball game was effective but only to a point. And it was nothing but a fools game when you played in high heat and humidity. The only thing I learned - and it was through trial and error - was that if an Irish style team wants to put more accomplished opponents under maximum pressure, it starts with sitting two or three attackers on the opponents' defenders for kick outs. This way the goalkeeper is forced to kick long which usually plays into our hands.

Fair point. Might not be the best approach for a World Cup being held in Qatar. But for me that's very much one of those bridges you work out how to cross when you get there.

It would be a wonderful problem to have.

[tetsujin1979]

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