Is Marco Silva all that?

Purely zonal (although we don't actually use only zonal) marking is no bad thing in itself (plenty of teams use purely zonal marking and concede remarkably few goals) - it's how you use those players that is the difference. Ours is shockingly bad, let me briefly examine our setup for our only corner conceded against Stoke - the one that lead to the goal. I do this exact thing weekly for Leyton Orient so have experience in this field, if you're doubting my qualifications!






Capoue and Carrillo are both man-marking Stoke players with 5 players on the edge of the 6 yard box, Deeney is a bit deeper pretty much standing next to Gomes whilst 2 players are ready for the short. That's all 11 players back defending, which should give us a huge advantage considering Stoke only commit 5 players (4 grouped together and one putting pressure onto Gomes) into the box. Zonal marking has one inherent weakness and that is runners. Zonal marking, as the name implies means each player is allocated a specific zone to mark. This means the defence are static. As the attacking team, running in from the edge of the box or penalty spot means you have momentum on your side, giving you a massive advantage, particularly as you can angle yourself better on the run-up. Having one single line of players on the edge of the 6-yard box like we have is asking for runners to attack that area, and it's no wonder that teams are effective against us when we line-up like this.

There are ways you can limit this disadvantage though and would be my advice to Silva:

Firstly, only commit one player across for the short - this should be the aerial weakest and fastest player - I'd go for Femenia or Carrillo for this duty for the potential counter-attack. Why? You withdraw the second player to the near post, ready to run out in-case the short is taken (creating a 2 vs 2). The second you bring 2 players out to defend against the short, is the time when they'll play the ball into the box (as you've weakened the area)

As explained before, runners are the main weakness to zonal marking, you can combat this by creating 2 walls of players in front of the goal instead of having just the one. Having multiple walls will impede the runners being able to attack key areas, i've done articles on both Man City (https://www.esdfanalysis.com/match-analysis/manchester-city-defensive-corner-analysis/) and Napoli (https://www.esdfanalysis.com/player-analysis/napoli-defensive-corner-analysis-1617/) who do this very well, which is reflected in their goals conceded % from corners.

So I'd line us up like this:




- Kiko would be the player with the 2 arrows, it's his job to either chase the short, counter-attack or close down the edge of the area

- The player near the front post is given the responsibility of closing down the short with Kiko *if* it's played short. Or guarding the near post area if the delivery is short.

- Putting a player on the player pressuring Gomes is pointless, high chance of him getting caught offside if anything comes near him.

- First wall of 3 players on the edge of the 6-yard box spaced out sensibly. One bang centre, one slightly towards the back post, one nearer the front post.

- Second wall of players in front of the first wall, guarding the gaps between players, this should seriously slow down the Stoke runners, giving us the advantage again.

- 2 players man-marking Stokes biggest aerial threats

 

Oops hit a nerve.

 

My name makes you laugh? It shouldn't. Get out of that bedroom, turn off the computer & don't get so uptight.

You call other people special, as it is an internal projection of yourself!

 

Spell check. Yes confidently.

You get angry far too easily, actually it's a common trait of a 10K+ forum poster. Would be interested to know if your good self & Going Down have ever met in the real world, you have a lot in common?!

 

You could have Roy Hodgson there. That's pretty grim.

 

Clive, I agree with most of you posts but the above seems to be written by someone who only ever watches us by Ceefax

 

I really like him, even though he makes mistakes, as he gives the impression he wants to learn from them and steadily get better.

I think he knows he has a lot to learn and, for that reason, I think he'll stay and do his two years.

And unbelievably, Mrs ZZ thinks he is better looking than me. She never has understood football.


But regardless of how good he is, there is no doubt his teams play a more entertaining brand of football than we've been served up over the last two years.

 

Not at all princess.

 

How the **** do you consistently spout out b0110ck5, boy?

 

I hope you're right, Topsy!

 

Avoidance noted.

 

‘Is Silva all that?’ - Yes

 

This forum appears to be going feral.

 

We've become a lot more reactionary than we used to be at times.

 

This is fascinating and insightful stuff. Thanks Reids.

 

I think we only have to look at the way teams such as West Brom and Stoke play if you really want to question Silva's style. We're not perfect, and I think Silva is far from the finished article (for now) but at least we go into games wanting to attack and without fear of the opposition. For me, that is what excites me most about Silva time here; the attitude and overall mentality of the team is night and day compared to the dying days of Mazzarri's tenure. We weren't great on Saturday, but you could see it in the players reactions after the final whistle how much they wanted a result - last season they simply did not care after January, and you have to give Silva massive credit for reinstating this winning mentality that last year was so bereft of.

 

The answer to this depends on your expectations. If you're one who thinks Europe can happen this season then No.
If, like me, its all about staying in the league (Silva says this also), with the bonus of playing football that isn't too bad on the eye then Yes.

 

I think you’re right there, many of us have been drawn into aiming for Europe based on our early form and league position. I think we should be aiming for a finish between 8th and 13th whilst keeping well away from the relegation zone.

Our squad hasn’t got the quality in depth to do that let alone compete in Europe and the Prem.

 

Silva is learning about his players and team every game and when we come up against teams that play a different style to what we have experienced so far in the league like the stoke game he will realise what went wrong and who in the team is right for certain situations in a game and how to set the team up. I as a supporter look to improve year on year and this year is a vast improvement on and off the pitch even if the points total is the same at this stage last season

 

You have to remember our squad isn’t that much different to last season when you consider who has actually played and when. Richarlison has been the one ever present addition that is a big improvement on last year, Peyrera would be like a new signing but he’s been injured twice, and Challobah didn’t get the chance to get going before he was injured too. Grey, well I think he adds something to the team with his pace but he’s scored one goal. The two positive consistent additions have been Kiko and Richarlison, the rest haven’t been available to him

 

Nothing ever good has come out of Portugal....

except...

Eusebio
Rui Costa
Paulo Sosa
CR7
Mourinho
Nandos

Other than that, nothing good has ever come out of Portugal

 

those little egg tart things you get in Lisbon are well nice.

in fact, lisbon is the greatest city in europe.

 

Dow's Old Tawny

 

Nando’s is South African?

 

Silva is good I like him, but he needs to bring in Reids as his no.2.

 

Yes but Nando's specializes in Portuguese style chicken dishes with various peri-peri marinades.

 

Haha I do set-piece analysis for Orient, but my next step is hopefully a club giving me full charge over set-pieces as football currently completely under-estimates them. A third of all goals in pro football come from set-pieces yet a majority of teams spend no longer than 25 minutes PER WEEK on them - it simply doesn't add up. Every club *should* have a dedicated set-piece analyst/coach (currently I'm only aware of Brentford in the UK that have that, other than Orient, although I'd imagine the big 6 have someone to do this as well), yet they don't and the gains they'd get from being one of the first clubs to sit up and do these things differently are massive, so I'm slowly trying to change that culture (whilst hopefully being at the front of the line when clubs do sit up and take notice!).

So Duxbury.....sign me up please.

 

Nice post, totally agree

 

Really impressed with the initiative shown here by you. Good luck with all your endeavours.

What kind of results are showing at Orient from set piece taking?

 

I only deal with corners but they've scored 3 and conceded 2 so far this season. Not fantastic (although a vast improvement from their 1 scored and 9 conceded from last season!), but I don't have much of a say what happens on the pitch. I recommend stuff, sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. Like most teams they only spend a minimal amount of time they day before the match practising them. If they were to give me full control and let me come in and coach them though then I'm confident there'd be a much bigger improvement, but obviously I'll have to work my way up to that!

 

Port

 

Yes

When I watch us this season we look really good , obviously we need to keep this going and not cave in like the last two seasons.

QSF looks good for a while but had no plan B and I got so disolutioned with Walt can’t rememer what the first part of the season under him looked like