Finnatic wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:19 pm
I noticed the blunts used that “bus queue” tactic at corners which mean we had a few spare bodies instead of man to man.
Maybe that helped the defence track their man from five or six yards
instead of grappling them and losing out (which has been the main problem)
That was the problem with that goal conceded against Fulham when Andersen scored. Ayling to Meslier's right, had Andersen standing directly behind him , with the corner coming in from the opposite direction, so Ayling couldn't watch Andersen and the flight of the ball at the same time. At one point Ayling turned around to glance at him, and then quickly turned back to watch the corner coming in.
There was a large gap of several meters between those two and a gaggle of about 6 players to Meslier's left with our defenders all man marking. The ball then soared at least a couple of meters above the heads of this group of players and was at a headable height in that gap with nobody there to clear it with a header. When the ball finally arrived low down close to Ayling, Andersen moved to Ayling's side at the last moment, stuck his leg out and put the ball in the back of the net.
That's what happens with man marking when you are grappling with attackers and are not sure which way to look. Every single Leeds defender was rooted to the spot and unable to position himself so as to be in the right place on the pitch to head the ball when the ball was at the right height to do so. Creating that big gap in front of the goal with the corner soaring over the heads of our gaggle of defenders was probably a deliberate Fulham tactic nearly all our defenders at that moment were taken out of the game.
