There has been much comment about Cooper's distribution and Hazard's before him, this season. Much of the comment has focused on poor delivery and poor direction. Playing out from the back underpinned Lowe and Schumacher's 'playing through the thirds'. It might have been effective in League's One and two but it is far more challenging to achieve when Championship players are quicker, run further distances and are more physical in terms of aggression and height. i don't thin kit is a coincidence that Lowe has made North End one of the most physical teams and Schuey has abandoned his playing principles in thepursuit of points.
In theory, playing out from the back draws opposition players to the bal leaving room to expolit. To be most effective you need dynamic quick players in wide areas. The quality of the Championship has exposed our weakness in effectively playing out. West Brom executed the 'lock down' to perfection and ever since other teams are employing similar tactics such that we've only score one goal in six goals with few attempts at goal because we barely get out of our own half. with fluency or purpose.
Goalkeepers are pivotal in setting up play. The six-yard box 'to-me-to you' now rarely draws a forward to the ball to exploit space, The central ball into feet (normally Houghton) and out to the wing back is full of jeopardy and now easily read and thwarted apart from causing cardiac pressures to watching fans. It also requires the two or three CBs to be comfortable in possession under pressure. For all Scarr's virtues this is not one of them.
The result of all of this tactical imposition from opposing teams is a focus on the kicking accuracy of both of our keepers. Coops is the better kicker and thrower but both are uncomforable under pressure of a wayward back pass. Two of Dan Scarr's back passes on Tuesday were alarming. Some passes are also made to the less favoured kicking foot or even worse on goal.
This all leaves the options for distribution limited. Playing wide to the WBs on the half way line or thereabouts rarely results in posssion as the lack of height of both means an inevitable loss of the aerial challenge. The central ball into feet in fraught with danger. The long ball over the top is thwarted by the opposition sitting deeper. All of these blocked distribution outlets give the impression of poor distribution from the keeper when the reality is the lack of viable and deliverable options.
In my view, the temporary solution, until we can improve our recruitment in terms of physicality and speed in the close season, is to hit it long. I noticed that Phillips was pushed up against QPR to try and win the aerial challenge from some of Coops longer kicks out. He won some of those challenges and we played from there. Perhaps Gibson could do the same on the other side. At least we would be high in the opposition half rather than the poor execution of the tiresome 'tippy tappy' across the back three that often results in a kick up field from Coops as the default. I have not suddenly become a Warnock convert but I see it as a needs must, to set play in the opposition half, particularly against the fleet footed front line of Leicester and Hull. Otherwise we might be facing more of the same frustrations in the next two games at Home Park when points at home are an imperative to our salvation.
