Top six Vs bottom six

What would you say is the reason for this? Anytime I've watched you it has been v a top 6 side and I felt you played really well, and were set up well. Like you played football in midfield, it wasn't, to me anyway, a case of sit in and counter.

When teams allow us to play our game, as the better teams do, we have proven to be a very good team. Arguably as good as the teams 3rd to 6th. But when teams like Brighton, Huddersfield, Cardiff etc set out to stifle our play by packing the defence and midfield we have struggled to find the way to open them up. It’s a conundrum we will have to find the answer to if we are to match or better our position next season

comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 9 minutes ago
What would you say is the reason for this? Anytime I've watched you it has been v a top 6 side and I felt you played really well, and were set up well. Like you played football in midfield, it wasn't, to me anyway, a case of sit in and counter.
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Both the chelsea games were very much sit in and counter imo. They have a very good game plan agains the better teams and can break at speed, but probably don’t have the quality to break down teams who sit deep. It’s a problem a lot of teams have atm(chelsea, arsenal, Utd)

I think you've summed it up well there Nick. Nuno is a defensive minded coach at the moment, but with one or two more quality players who can maybe break down teams who sit back and defend, we will more than likely do better against those types of sides next season.

We switched from a 3-4-3 system to 3-5-2 midway through the season and I'd like us to play with 3 up front more often against the lesser sides. We have pace, so that's not the problem.

Very pleased to have achieved so much this season and like I say, a few more additions in the summer and we could do even better.

Here are the stats for those who interested in that kind of thing.

Against the top 6
P11 W4 L3 D4 Pts16 F16 A16

Against the current bottom 6
P11 W3 L6 D2 Pts11 F8 A12

Against the current mid table 7
P13 W7 L3 D3 Pts24 F20 A15

The second game against Chelsea is one i really hope we don't see the like of again, it was just cowardice and a throw back to our plucky efforts of yesteryear and we have no need to play that way anymore as we have seen plenty of times this season.

It's down to the fact that against bigger sides, you defend deep and mount counter attacks in which you were successful in scoring. I've watched you at Brighton, sat in the hospitality seat, and saw your side practically dominate the game and watched Nuno on his feet sending orders etc but Wolves didn't get what their dominance deserved. When you have possession which you do invariably against lower sides, you were wasteful. I feel that's why you do so well against the top sides.

Its not entirely true to say that we sit deep against the big sides, although we did in the Chelsea game that Cinci refers to above.

It's true to say that we are organised defensively when we haven't got the ball and are very happy to let sides have possession in front of us and we are very organised and hard to break down generally.

However against Arsenal on Wednesday we pressed Arsenal in midfield and around their own penalty area. It was Jota's pressing breaking up play in the middle that led to our third goal.

The major thing for me though is how we react when we win the ball back, we now have players who are tactically astute enough to spring in to space quickly, switching from defence to attack in an instant and have the pace to counter very quickly and effectively.

The match threads are more exciting against ‘the bigger’ clubs for sure

I do think its too easy to generalise about what the approach is against different teams. Against Chelsea we sat deep because they don't have the players to break open the crowded defence as long as you keep Hazard out of the penalty area. Against the likes of Spurs and Arsenal its more important to press them in midfield because that is their strength, and given time to play they will find a way through. Each game has to be looked at on its own merits, its not sensible to just say this is how we play against top 6 teams.

What gives Wolves the extra factor that causes good teams problems at the other end of the pitch is that we have Neves and Coady who can set up attacks from deep, we have wing backs that support the attack, and we have strikers that have good movement and ball control. At the end of the day the quality of player is much more important than the style of play