Tag Archives: high pressing

High pressing and squad rotation – a Brentford View of Uwe’s tactics: Part 1

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views, Other and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,
BillyDonaldson

Billy with top scorer Clayton Donaldson.

Has there ever been a manager of Wigan Athletic who has achieved a popularity rating as high as that of Uwe Rosler within just six months of taking over? The ex-Manchester City centre forward has lifted the whole club, introducing a new dynamic. After the disastrous reign of Owen Coyle there is once again light at the end of the tunnel.

Latics fans have a lot of faith in Rosler. He has a huge amount of support.

However, even his most faithful fans would say that he has made tactical mistakes, been unsuccessful with many of his loan players, and that his team selection and use of substitutes can be baffling. He espouses open, attacking football, but so often the team’s play has been scrappy.

It is true that Rosler has made mistakes. But fans appreciate his willingness to be upfront, acknowledge his mistakes and his desire to learn from them. Despite a tightening of the club’s purse belts being anticipated, there is a mood of optimism for the coming season with Rosler at the helm.

Like his team, Rosler is not the finished article. He recently commented on Radio Manchester that “I’m a strong believer that first you have to fail before you become a winner. Next year, we will be winners.”

Following Rosler’s appointment in December Billy Grant gave us a fan’s view of the German’s time at Griffin Park (click here to see the previous article). Six months later we have come back to Billy to give us more of his insight. Rosler is clearly involved in a work in progress at Wigan – he has come a long way towards changing the way Latics play, but there is still some way to go.

Billy writes for the Brentford fanzine http://www.Beesotted.co.uk (Twitter – @beesotted). He will also be travelling to his sixth World Cup this year, video-blogging his way around the country for All Mouth No Action’s ‘World Cup FanCam’. You can follow Billy by RSS linking http://www.worldcupfancam.com. Also follow him on twitter @worldcupfancam and @billythebee99. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldcupfancam.

So here is over to Billy to respond to some questions we composed for him.

First of all I would like to say we at Beesotted have a lot of time for Uwe Rosler. A lot of Brentford fans do to be honest. He came to us at a time that we needed to instil a new mentality into the club. Uwe was very much part of that new mentality. I do believe his work was instrumental in getting us to the Championship. Mark Warburton did a great job in picking up where Uwe left off. It could have gone horribly wrong at that point and Brentford fans would have no doubt felt a little bit more bitter about Uwe’s departure. But it all worked out right in the end.

We also have to realise that Uwe was also a relatively rookie manager when he came to Brentford. Yes he had managed clubs in Norway but he was an unknown force in the UK and was still learning on the job so to speak when he started managing us. And he’s still learning now. Wigan fans should remember that. He has taken a step up in division and has so far over-performed so give him a little rope.

High pressing is clearly the centerpiece of Uwe’s main tactical ploys. The pressing has worked for Latics in patches but when they have run out of steam they have stopped pressing and also surrendered possession too easily, inviting teams upon them. This is probably fatigue more than instruction, but how did it work for Brentford? Were his teams able to sustain the high pressing for 90 minutes, or would they enjoy possession for periods to “rest” or the break the opposition’s rhythm?

Yes Uwe’s tactic was to play the pressing game when he came to Brentford. He introduced playing the ball out from the back and pressing high to a team that quite frankly wasn’t quite used to it. It worked in patches but when it broke down, we were often punished. It was quite amusing as fans used to the blood and thunder of third division football would often be heard shouting from the terraces “Just bloody get the ball up there. Kick it. Forget the fancy stuff”. The players struggled to cope with playing that style of football naturally on an ongoing basis. But they were learning.

A couple of seasons later with a few personnel changes and more experience of playing “Uwe’s way”, the team had things pretty much sorted. The season when we lost out on promotion with the 94th minute penalty against Doncaster (2012/13), we often had games where we had over 70% possession. When we played Doncaster at their ground earlier in the season, apparently we had 82% possession at one point. We went 1-0 up but were beaten 2-1 with a Doncaster smash-n-grab. Even their manager Dean Saunders said at the time he had no idea how they won that game. We had loads of possession and were were creating loads of chances but unfortunately our finishing was letting us down. Uwe admitted that was an issue and looked to address that in the close season.

Uwe was a stickler for fitness. Last summer he took the team away for a conditioning week in Germany where they undertook an iron man session involving all sorts of body straining and team bonding exercises. The team was infinitely fitter at the beginning of this season as opposed to when Uwe took over. Fitness is a real key to the way he wants the team to play. It’s no co-incidence that he poached the conditioning coach Chris Haslam from Brentford and no one else (as yet .. Let’s see if he goes for one or two of our players in the close season). Chris was instrumental in installing a programme to get the Brentford team in ship shape and Uwe would think him as an important part of the jigsaw in getting Wigan to play the way he wants.

Of course Wigan will have some better players than Brentford to an extent. But overall, the principle remains the same. Uwe will no doubt be looking to bring to Wigan what he brought to Brentford. Without a shadow of doubt he feels that he is missing a couple of certain types of player to complete the jigsaw.

For Brentford our jigsaw was completed by adding a no nonsense player into the mix in Alan McCormack. a central midfielder-come right back. His impact on the team was phenomenal with him winning him supporters player of the year and Beesotted player of the year awards. And an attacking/wide midfielder option. For us it started with Conor McAleney from Everton but he got injured. Then it was Kadeem Harris from Cardiff but he got injured. Then it was Alan Judge from Blackburn (who joined after Uwe left). The third piece of the jigsaw was a striker and Will Grigg was bought in. Unfortunately, Grigg has not as yet lived up to his potential but we got away with it as we started scoring more goals from midfield.

But it’s all about time. A person needs time to deliver results. That’s the problem with football nowadays. There is no long term plan for most clubs. They want everything yesterday. That means there is no real scope for proper development. I’m a person that really believes that the best employees are ones who make and learn from their mistakes. For someone to really develop he (or she) has to be given time to find the right path forward.

Give Uwe a bit of time and Im sure he will get your squad in ship shape.

Uwe has clearly stated that he believes in squad rotation. Although some just don’t like it, most fans have accepted that it has been necessary because of the exceedingly long season Latics faced. Or is he just a serial rotator?

This was one of the biggest issues a vocal section of the Brentford fans had with Uwe if I had to be honest. His player rotation policy. At Beesotted we obviously get a lot of the fan opinion channelled through the website and can gauge the feeling out there. Many people were saying “We don’t know if he knows what his best team is” even at the beginning of this last season. Uwe felt that player rotation was essential to enable to squad to last a whole season. People agreed with him in principal but the argument many had was .. Couldn’t some players have a run of games .. Then get rested as opposed to rotating players constantly?

Things really went a bit awry when Uwe decided to rest practically the whole first team away to Derby in the second round of the League Cup. Many Bees fans Had their “let’s concentrate on the league” head on and were a bit dubious of getting into another cup run like we did the season before when we lost eventually to Chelsea. But we took a fair few fans up to Derby on a Tuesday night because we wanted to see Brentford give them a fight at least with a few regulars and some up-and-coming kids in the side. As it was, we went down 5-0 and the fans were really p!ssed off. Meanwhile, the rested players all came back into the side the following Saturday and huffed and puffed to grind out a 0-0 draw with a hapless Carlisle team – one which was getting knocked for 4 and 5 goals every week by the opposition. We then lost 4-0 to Bradford, 1-0 to Rotherham and, worst of the worst, 2-1 to a useless Stevenage side within the next 6 weeks or so.

To be fair, Wigan fans should be thanking Stevenage as if they hadn’t beaten us, Uwe would never have be managing their team. After that game, Uwe embarked on an excellent piece of man management. He locked the team in the dressing room for 90 minutes and everyone had it out. It was apparently a no holds barred two-way feedback session. Players could say what they felt about other players. About the manager. About tactics. Anything they weren’t happy with. And vice versa.

Whatever was uttered in that dressing room has never been leaked … But the following match, Uwe dropped fans favourite right back Shaelum Logan and replaced him with hard man central midfielder Alan McCormack. Logan was great going forward but could sometimes find himself missing in defensive positions, giving the ball away in key areas. But we were short on right back options and he was deemed too good to drop. More interestingly though, from the following game onwards, Uwe picked a team and stuck with that same team until he left for Wigan two months later. He never lost another match after that in his time at Brentford. In fact, he won them all except a 0-0 draw away to eventual title winners Wolves. What’s more … After Uwe left, we continued the no rotation policy as much as we could bar injuries. As a result, we went on an incredible 19 match 4 month unbeaten run seeing us win 17 games and draw 3 before being beaten by eventual champions Wolves. I can only assume that the right back and team rotation points were discussed at length in the Stevenage dressing room and, fair play, Uwe took them on board.

 

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QPR 2 Wigan Athletic 1 – a spirited end of an era

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Reports, Other and tagged with , , , , , ,

 

Hoilett goes down under Caldwell's challenge for a penalty.

Hoilett goes down under Caldwell’s challenge for a penalty.

Charlie Austin’s extra time goal heralded not only the end of the season, but the end of an era for Wigan Athletic.

The failure to beat the Londoners over two legs means another year in the Championship for Latics and a likely exodus of many of their most skilful players. This was a brave performance, full of spirit, against a strong QPR side.

Uwe Rosler kept the same lineup that played in the first leg except bringing in James McClean for Marc-Antoine Fortune. He was to use a tactic that had worked before in producing some of Latics’ best results of the season away from home – high pressing to disrupt the opponents’ play, followed by dogged defence. But defending a 9th minute goal for the remaining 81 minutes was always going to be a mountain to climb, let alone a team was playing its 62nd game of the season having to play extra time.

James Perch typifies the Rosler approach. He has been one of the mainstays of Wigan’s revival under the German, with his willingness to run himself into the ground for the cause. Just as he did at the Etihad, Perch got himself into the six yard box to convert an excellent 9th minute cross from the lively James McClean. QPR had been bamboozled by Rosler’s tactic of using McClean and Callum McManaman to high press their centre of defence. The result was the QPR defenders hoofing long balls, gobbled up by the Wigan defence.

McClean could have added a second as he ran on to O’Neil’s backpass, but instead of trying to round goalkeeper Rob Green he chose to make a theatrical dive. A good chance went begging and the Irishman got a yellow card from Mark Clattenberg for his actions. Not long after Shaun Maloney had a shot blocked by Green, but then QPR gradually got themselves back into the game. The high pressing had gradually disappeared from Wigan’s game and Harry Redknapp moved Kevin Doyle from right midfield to support Charlie Austin up front. Moreover James McArthur, who had been excellent in the midfield pressing, had to go off with an injury after 36 minutes, Roger Espinoza replacing him. It was a different contest now.

A shell-shocked QPR were gradually getting back into the game. Carson made a fine save from a fierce drive from Niko Kranjcar and McClean cleared Austin’s header off the line. But Latics went into the dressing room at half time with their lead intact.

McClean had another fine chance after the break, going through one on one with Green, but he did not have the control to convert it. Green blocked his first effort and McClean’s effort from the rebound hit the post and went wide. Although the home team’s attacks lacked coherence, Wigan became besieged. They could not hold on to the ball, the defenders hoofing it over the midfield to forwards who had little chance of retrieving it. Wigan’s three central defenders – Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell and Rob Kiernan – had been superb in defence, repelling Rangers’ attacks.

Redknapp had brought on Korean left back Suk Yun-Young after 50 minutes for the combative Clint Hill, who had been lucky to survive the first leg after his deliberate elbowing of Kiernan. The pattern of play continued, with Latics unable to hold the ball and QPR applying pressure, but not convincingly. However, Redknapp’s substitution of big target man Bobby Zamora after 65 minutes for Doyle was to change the course of the game. Zamora’s striking rate is comparable with that of Fortune, but his physical presence and experience was to make the difference.

McManaman was replaced by Martyn Waghorn in the 71st minute. A couple of minutes later Zamora interchanged passes with Junior Hoilett who was brought down by a reckless challenge by Caldwell just inside the penalty box. Austin converted the penalty with ease. Moreover Caldwell had been injured in the challenge and had to be substituted by Leon Barnett. Zamora continued to cause problems and almost sealed it for QPR near the end of normal time, but his lob passed over Carson’s crossbar.

The game went into extra time with Latics playing with spirit, but the hoofing continued. The decisive goal came in the 96th minute when Zamora helped the ball through to Austin who got to it much quicker than Barnett to beat Carson. The final minutes of extra time saw Barnett pushed forward as Latics pumped in high balls. In the final minute a deflected shot from Kiernan passed narrowly wide of Green’s goal. It was not to be Wigan’s day.

The Good

The energy and passion shown by a Latics team playing its 62nd game of the season was truly exceptional. It was cruel that the game went into extra time, but those tired legs kept running to the bitter end.

The backline of Boyce, Caldwell and Kiernan had been immense in repelling the waves of QPR attacks until the penalty. It looked like Rosler’s gamble of starting Caldwell, who had played less than a handful of games in a year, was going to pay off until that fateful moment in the 73rd minute.

Rosler’s tactic of blitzing QPR from the start worked well. High pressing and a high level of physical fitness are key elements of the German’s approach to football and the players responded well, at least for the first quarter of the game. Starting without a centre forward was a brave ploy that almost came off.

It was sad to see Caldwell so visibly distraught on the sidelines after giving away the penalty and having to be substituted. It looks like his Wigan Athletic playing career is over. Up until that 73rd minute he had looked like the great defender and leader that he was in the closing part of the 2011-12 season when Latics ensured Premier League survival through beating the elite. He has also had some calamitous moments for Latics over the years, making rash tackles such as the one that turned this game. For some fans he has been a hero, for others a scapegoat.

Uwe Rosler deserves immense credit for the way he has lifted the club since the dark days of Owen Coyle. Reaching the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the Championship playoffs has been a great achievement.

The Bad

Roberto Martinez would have scratched his eyes out if he had seen his team throw away possession as Latics have done, not only in this match, but in many others over these past months. Rosler has cut out the excessive sideways and backwards passing that could be so frustrating during the Martinez era. He has also tightened up the centre of defence. But he has not cut out the hoofing that started to rear its ugly head under Owen Coyle.

When a team “parks its bus”, as Latics did after scoring, it is important to hold on to the ball as much as possible. QPR did it fairly effectively at the DW last week.

In this match the Wigan defenders were once again prone to the big hoof, none more so than the goalkeeper. Carson is a fine ‘keeper, with a very powerful kick. But during Coyle’s reign he was making those long, speculative clearances and under Rosler he continues to do so.

The hoof is a part of Wigan’s play that needs to be cut out if Rosler is to maintain the continued support of Latics fans who have an expectation of good football.

Player Ratings

Scott Carson: 8 – a terrific defensive display. He made some fine saves and inspired confidence in his defence. Distribution poor.

James Perch: 8 – an excellent display. Took his goal well.

Emmerson Boyce: 9 –superb in his reading of the game. The best player on the pitch.

Gary Caldwell: 8 – excellent until the rush of blood for the penalty.

Rob Kiernan: 8 – excellent in defence.

Jean Beausejour: 6 – has not been at his best in recent weeks. Has a long summer ahead with the World Cup.

James McArthur: – led the high pressing with expertise. Badly missed when he went off after 36 minutes.

Jordi Gomez: 7 – not at his best, but got through a lot of work.

Shaun Maloney: 6 – still not at his sharpest.

Callum McManaman: 7 – worked hard closing the opposition down, but never received the service to make him more of a threat. When he was taken off after 71 minutes it dulled the Latics attack.

James McClean: 7.5 – an enigma once again. Worked so hard closing down the opposition and his powerful running was a constant threat to the QPR defence. His fine cross led to Latics’ goal. With better finishing he could have won the game for Wigan. What a pity.

Substitutes

Roger Espinoza: 7 – came on after 36 minutes. He was his usual energetic self, always involved, playing at high tempo.

Leon Barnett: – came on after 73 minutes. Has not been able to regain his previously good form since his injury at Ipswich.

Martyn Waghorn: – came after 71 minutes. Retrieving high balls is not his forte.

 

 

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Callum, Jordi and Maloney ready for QPR

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews and tagged with , , , , , ,
Callum McManaman
Will Jordi Gomez be willing to take a pay cut to rejoin Latics?
Shaun Maloney

 

Some football managers are predictable. Their teams are built around a nucleus of players who play week in, week out. Their tactical plan is the same every match, but it is well defined and players know their roles within it. Given information on injuries and suspensions an astute fan can practically name the manager’s lineup for the next game.

Over these past six months we have learned that Uwe Rosler does not fit that model. One would need to be a clairvoyant to predict his team selection and its shape. Added to that is the unpredictability of the way he uses his substitutes.

Rosler is an advocate of a rotation policy, frequently citing the example of Alex Ferguson who he says never picked the same team twice. Given the sheer volume of games Wigan Athletic have had to play over these months the rotation has been a necessity, which the German has handled with skill.

However, some players have rarely been rotated out and have remained almost permanent fixtures. James Perch and Emmerson Boyce have played with a lot of different partners in defence, but their almost constant presence has provided stability. The same can be said of James McArthur, who has had a myriad of partners playing with him in central midfield.

At times Rosler has had to rotate in too many players producing a lack of cohesion. The end product has been occasional poor performances and results. But now with only two or three games left he can rotate his squad as he wishes, not as a matter of necessity.

Rosler has varied the team’s shape at will, switching for instance from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3. However, there has been a common theme to Latics’ play – that of high pressing.

When Rosler first arrived his players really struggled to adapt to his demands for the high pressing. However, as physical fitness levels improved so did his team’s ability to disrupt the opposition’s game through energetic pressing. Results moved in an upward spiral. But as the games kept coming in thick and fast, key players started to look jaded and the pressing was not so effective.

Substitutions have been paramount to Rosler’s game plans. Playing with such intensity takes a lot out of players, both physically and mentally. The message to the players is clear – start to flag and you will be replaced. Moreover the German is not afraid to take off a player who has not played at all badly, if he feels a need to change the team’s shape.

Sometimes his hand has been forced. Having to think of the next match coming up just a few days later he has had to take off players who were performing close to their best. Rosler has tended to make his substitutions much earlier than what we were accustomed to during the Martinez era. More often than not his substitutions have made a difference, those fresh legs helping to raise a flagging tempo.

Earlier in the season it looked like QPR were going to get automatic promotion through finishing in the top two. On paper their squad is far superior to those of Leicester and Burnley who succeeded in securing the top two spots. Harry Redknapp’s team have learned to their cost that there are teams in the Championship division who are willing to scrap it out to get a result and are no respecters of the Premier League quality players that QPR possess.

Rosler’s approach to the QPR games will surely be to put in a solid defensive line, relying on the individual brilliance of his flair players. Jordi Gomez has been a revelation over these past months complementing a very high work rate with a great temperament and goals at crucial times. Callum McManaman is approaching the form he had near the end of last season and is a real danger to the Londoner’s defence. Rosler has carefully nurtured Shaun Maloney following his return from long term injury and the Scot is a potential match winner.

With high pressing and a solid and well organized defensive line QPR’s more talented players can be neutralised. It will then be a matter of Latics’ flair players breaching the London team’s defence.

Paramount to Latics’ chances will be the ability of the players on the pitch to press for the full 90 minutes. So often we have seen them struggle in the closing minutes as tiredness sets in. Rosler is going to ask for one final push from players who have played so many games already, often defying niggling injuries.

Wigan Athletic have had an awful record in playoffs over the years. So often they have fought to get there, but let themselves down.

However, they have had an amazing amount of success in difficult cup ties over the past two years. The cup runs have given them the kind of experience and belief that is going to be needed to get through the Championship playoffs.

The players at Rosler’s disposal have the ability to go on and beat not only QPR, but go all the way back to the Premier League. Things are going to be tight and a moment of brilliance or a controversial refereeing decision could tip the balance.

But the crucial question is whether his key players will have the energy levels at the end of this marathon season to consistently produce the high tempo football the manager seeks.

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Sheffield Wednesday Preview

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews, Other and tagged with , , , , , , ,

In mid-December a Wigan Athletic team in transition traveled to Hillsborough to play Sheffield Wednesday. Uwe Rosler had just won his opening Championship match, with a tight 3-2 win over Bolton, following an unfortunate dismissal from the Europa League at Maribor.

I noted in my match preview of the time that  “..not only will it be Latics’ third match in a week, but they are also adjusting to a new style of play. The high pressing that Rösler expects is physically demanding for players who have not managed to keep up such a pace up till now. The question is whether the lineup Rosler puts out will be able to do what he wants most of the time.”

In the event Wigan’s high pressing game proved a powerful weapon against a Wednesday team that was struggling near the bottom of the table. Wednesday were relieved that the rain caused the match to be abandoned early in the second half with Latics a goal up. Since that day their fortunes turned. Wednesday have now lost only one of their ten matches since then. Their victories include a 2-0 win at promotion candidates Reading on Saturday and a 6-0 thrashing of Leeds United on January 11th.

Wigan Athletic too have had a better run of results since then, losing only two of the nine league games in that period. However, although fitness levels may be improving many players are still finding it hard to keep up the pace needed for Rosler’s high pressing game.  The ability of a player to perform the high pressing role clearly comes into Rosler’s thinking prior to choosing his starting lineup, as Callum McManaman found on Saturday, losing his place to Martyn Waghorn, despite looking sharp in the previous game against Charlton.

It will be interesting to see Rosler’s tactical approach to the rematch tomorrow. Wednesday will be ready for the high press and full of confidence following recent results.

The German tends to go more cautiously into away games and he might well opt for his solid midfield trio of James McArthur, Chris McCann and Ben Watson in front of a flat back four. He is unlikely to be able to call upon Ivan Ramis, Thomas Rogne and Markus Holgerrson in the centre of defence, the first two only recently having returned to training and the Swede not having played since the end of his MLS season in November.  That means Emmerson Boyce continuing to partner Leon Barnett at centre back, with James Perch on the right and either Stephen Crainey or Jean Beausejour on the left.

Rosler will have to decide whether to start with his two pacy wingers, McManaman and McClean, or to play with just one. Given Waghorn’s promising performance at Huddersfield it would not be surprising to see him start, possibly in his more natural role as a central striker.

There have been concerns among fans about the lack of flair in Latics’ play over recent games. Latics certainly have flair players but the chemistry has been lacking. It is unlikely that Rosler will risk Nick Powell tomorrow and Josh McEachran is still not one hundred percent fit, although he could come off the bench. However, the mouth-watering prospect of Powell moving on to McEachran’s incisive passes is something we hope to savour fairly soon.

When Rosler has all his players match fit he will have a very strong squad and be able to operate with a flat back four or three central defenders. Other teams might be geared up to deal with his high pressing tactic, but he will be able to alter the shape of the team at his whim. He will continue to rotate his squad, but will still have a very strong bench whichever starting lineup he chooses.

It promises to be a fascinating contest tomorrow – playing Wednesday on Tuesday at Hillsborough.

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