Week 20 Tactics

TEAM
-----------------------Pickford----------------------
-------Meunier---Cahill---Keane---Grimaldo------
-----------------------Castro------------------------
----------------Keita-----------Gueye---------------
-------------------------Alli--------------------------
------------Vardy------------------Mertens---------


BENCH
Mannone
Yedlin
Veltman
Arter
Cleverley
McQueen

INJURIES
ST Callum Wilson
WG/ST Johnathan Lookman
CB Alfie Mawson
ST Jermaine Defoe

TACTICS (150 words)
Must-win final game to avoid finishing bottom.

Defensively will be a test, I want the back four to be narrower than usual, let them have it wide but prevent Mkhi/Silva/Mbappe cutting inside or getting in behind. Let them have the ball higher up, but as soon as they come into our half press. Vardy chases everything down, and Gueye and Keita play slightly forward to pressurise Verratti and Nainggolan, overpowering them and not allowing them a foothold. With them pressing, Castro defends the space in front of the back four.
When we get the ball the first option should be the long ball, with our pace in attack. Both strikers to drift, always looking for space in behind. With Alli as well we can hurt them on the counter. Gueye and Keita to cover every blade of grass.

TLDR - Sit deep, rough them up, long balls over the top.

--------------Subasic-----------------
Bellerin—----Felipe—Rugani—----Gaya
Mkhitaryan-Nainggolan-Kessie-B.Silva
-------------Jesus—Mbappe-------------

Team Talk

Solid back line, push wingers outside & block crosses. Play deep to negate the speed of Mertens and close him down early. Kessie protect in front of the defence, niggle Alli early on. Nainggolan pull the strings looking for the movement of both the wings and the strikers.
When in possession play the ball out from the back and down the flanks, initiate counters, hit long balls if the opposition have overstretched as we can destroy them for speed with our forward four.
On the flanks double up in attack where possible to increase pressure, stretch their FBs and alternate between going wide and coming inside. Both strikers to harass their CBs from the off, chase down every ball and force mistakes.
We start with a 4-4-2 formation but if this is not proving fruitful then drop Mbappe to the left flank, Silva to RW and Mkhi to AM.

Subs: Marshall, Maguire, Winks, Dembele, Stafylidis, Antonucci, Sarr

-----------------Arrizabalaga
Smith --- Murillo --- Christensen -- Hernandez
-----------Iborra --- Parades
Gomez --------Yaya ---------Perisic
----------------Belotti

Bench - Boruc,Naldo,Daniels,King,Aspas,Stanislas

Full Backs to get up the pitch,whip balls in for Belotti, Look to force their wingers down the line

Christensen to use his physicalness to dominate forward don't let him turn, Murillo to cover with his pace

Parades sit on the AM if their is one otherwise sit and marshall putting tackles in.

Iborra look to control the play getting balls outwide & into Yaya and make late runs in box for pull backs

Gomez & Perisic look to take on full backs and link with Yaya and go in behind or cross balls in for Belotti.

Yaya look to drift about in the pockets of space and use your physicalness to get in box for crosses, hit balls in behind for wingers and link with Belotti

Belotti look to bully defense & making way in box for crosses into the area to poach

-------------------------------------------Randolph------------------------------
De Marcos------------Kimpembe--------------Pepe-------------Van Aanholt
------------------------------Boateng---------------Kimmich-------------------------
Pulisic--------------------------------Coutinho-----------------------------Rashford
------------------------------------------Aduriz---------------------------------------------------

Subs - Evra, Passlack, Carrick, Kluivert

GAMEPLAN
Play counter attacking football and try and hit Bournemouth on the counter. Defend as a unit. Rashford to target replacement right back as Valencia is injured for nando.

DEFENCE
Reliable keeper in goal. Pepe to mark their main striker and Kimpembe to do the covering. Fullbacks to make overlapping runs and get crosses into the box.

DefenceMidfield
Boateng and Kimmich main role defend and cut passing lanes and close down attackers. Boateng will look to use playmaking ability to create chances.

Wingers
Wingers bring pace to team. Get to byline and whip in crosses for striker to finish.

AttackMid
Coutinho to play quick passes with teammates and make runs into box.

Strikers
Aduriz to play as target man and is very good at scoring headers. Be aware if crosses into the box and use superior aerial ability to win the headers.

Subs Carrick on Boateng off 65MINS

Bournemouth v WBA - Bournemouth win

I think WBA need more of an option up front than Aduriz. He is very effective at what he does, but crosses into the box are bread and butter to Murillo and Christensen in particular, and I think they would have dealt with them easily.
After this, there wasn’t much threat from WBA. Coutinho would have had some joy up against Paredes, but he needed support or a forward running in behind, and without it, his work came to nothing.

I can see the Bournemouth forwards having a lot of joy against the WBA back four too
So sorry Nad, but easy Bournemouth win for me.

Sunderland v Hull - Hull win

Much closer than I expected this one to be due to the way Trebs has Sunderland set-up.

Hull were very strong down the flanks, with both FBs natural inclination to come forward, but lacked a bit of flair centrally, with Kessie sitting and Nainggolan providing plenty of energy, but not as much creativity. When the wide players tucked inside, Sunderland had high energy midfielders to deal with this. This led to Hull’s threat coming all from the flanks.
Similarly, the Sunderland’s tactic was to hit it long and behind, but Hull were playing deep, negating the impact of the forwards, meaning all their potential threat comes from midfield. Alli was being watched by Kessie, although there was plenty of space because of the deep defensive line, so he had some impact. Keita and Gueye were freer in attack and would cause problems with the space created by the deep line and Kessie focusing on Alli.

Tough decision, it’s Hull’s threat from wide versus the midfield space for Sunderland. Whilst I think the Sunderland CBs would deal with crosses into the box all day long, Hull did put in the proviso that they would switch to 4-2-3-1 if needed, and this gives them a win for me. Despite another tactical masterclass from Trebs , the threat from Keita and Gueye is not quite enough to swing it IMO

Sunderland - Hull

Sunderland are going to struggle in this one going forwards for me, their primary tactic is the long ball which suits their strikeforce but Hero has his side sitting deep which will negate it. With no width, there's a big reliance on Alli and I think he has the quality to offer the biggest threat despite the attention of Kessie.

Hull are set up to attack the flanks with two excellent FBs supporting two very good wingers, and this will be the area they have the biggest advantage for me, with Sunderland allowing them to have the ball out wide I think they risk giving up too many quality deliveries into the centre for their defence to deal with all game long, and their strikers have the lethal touch to win this

HULL win

Bournemouth - WBA

Both teams set up in similar fashion, with tactics more or less cancelling each other out. Rashford will have some success against Smith, but I also fancy the Bournemouth wingers to do well against the WBA FBs. This one comes down to Belotti for me, he's in top class form and I think he'll finish off the chances that come his way, Aduriz just doesn't have the same threat and in a game this tight I have to go with Bournemouth

BOURNEMOUTH win

Sunderland v Hull City - Hull Win

I like what Trebs has tried to do here but can see Hull, with the strength on the wings being a problem for him. The full backs arent even the problem here it will just be a case of being too much pressure out wide. Wouldn't be a huge win but would be enough to give Hull the 3 points today.

Bournemouth v WBA - Bournemouth Win

This is a much closer game but i can see Belotti having a lot of joy up against Pepe and Kimpembe. Coutinho will do some work but i feel like it won't be enough and this allows Bournemouth to just edge it for me. I like Aduriz but i feel Nadz needs better still.