It’s Monday! And the first Monday after my annual leave! So what better way to spend it than by noticing how my beloved Andoni Iraola lost to Manchester City!!!

So, yes. Here’s a thread on how Pep Guardiola used Bournemouth’s famous press against them [thread] Let’s start with some pressing theory: under Iraola, Bournemouth use a kind of press that I like to call “hybrid” pressing.

It’s Monday and so we’ve got some noticing to do…

And what a game we have at our disposal today with Newcastle’s first trophy win in 70 years which was achieved through Eddie Howe's creative use of this guy [thread] It was actually an incredibly interesting game on a number of levels but I think it can only truly be appreciated by viewing it through the lens of the 2-0 win Liverpool managed against Newcastle in the PL a few weeks ago.

It’s Monday, so we notice.

And today we’re noticing things about the Man United - Arsenal fixture which I thought gave us a new angle on some of Arsenal’s same-old problems in possession… [thread] Across the last few seasons, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about Arsenal’s ball progression.

The fact of the matter is, when they’re looking to build from the back, Arsenal have tended to play around the opposition block.

Ok. Ok. Settle down. I know it's a Monday afternoon and the transfer window is about to close but we are obliged to notice something before the day is out.

It couldn't be anything but Arsenal and let me tell you, I'm positively frothing to talk about their pressing [thread] Over the last few months, Arsenal have been quite interesting out of possession. Last season, they tended to defend out of a 442 shape (actually much more often a 442 diamond) with Martin Odegaard joining the front line next to the striker.

Dearly beloved. We are gathered here this Monday afternoon to notice something from the weekend's football.

And oh me oh my... today we're actually talking about Manchester City! Because I noticed how important Josko Gvardiol was to City's win against Chelsea [thread] Last season, Pep Guardiola trialled a system which used full backs in a more traditional way - as width providers higher up the pitch.

Ah yes! Another Monday afternoon on our gradual trudge into the future…

Which means we notice! And today I’m noticing something that has maybe gone largely unremarked at Spurs given the general misery of things recently… but Postecoglou has been evolving… [thread] During his time at Spurs, Postecoglou has been accused of being too tactically inflexible by a lot of people (myself included tbh).

Positional play simply refers to a playstyle in which the positions of the players are used to generate tactical advantages. There is nothing about this definition that precludes players from changing positions in a "non-ordained" way.

https://twitter.com/toni_Gagliardi/status/1880256351735353536

There's a concerted effort by a group of people on this app to persuade you that positional play is actually synonymous with the worst form of rigid structuralism you can find in football. They are doing this to give their approach more clout.

It’s Monday afternoon so we gird our mental loins and turn our minds to noticing things…

And today I want you to come with a bit of a thought experiment with me as we consider Arsenal’s FA Cup loss to Manchester United from the weekend… [thread] If I was a more flippant man, I might make some sort of glib comment here about how Arsenal try to turn everything into set pieces these days…

I keep getting @'d into a lot of online discourse about Ange Postecoglou and all kinds of things are being attributed to me so I thought I would just clarify a few things to save me having to reply to everyone: 1. I like Ange Postecoglou. I like him as a personality. I think he is a very good coach. I think the Premier League is a better league for having him in it. I hope Spurs keep him and he finds a way to make it work. I believe that he can. This is the context to everything I say.

Seeing as it's going under the radar a bit, just a few observations on how Chelsea pressed Spurs' build up. Think we saw a few things that a lot of teams are doing against Spurs to cause them problems. The principle is be bold and press up against them and have a FB solution. Here's some of the key points:

It's Monday. And on Mondays, we notice.

Today, we get to notice the impact that Enzo Maresca has been having at Chelsea which resulted in a 4-2 win from a 2-0 deficit vs Spurs yesterday... [thread] But rather than focusing on the obvious topic here - 'How did Maresca's tactical changes at half time influence the game?' - I'm aware that I've already done some noticing on a similar situation which you can read here:

https://x.com/Jon_Mackenzie/status/1853481651470307708

I’m back from some time away but if anything that has simply made me even more insatiable when it comes to noticing.

And boy did we notice things about Liverpool! Swatting away City and doing it in a manner that Jurgen Klopp would have been proud of! [thread] What really struck me was how spot on Liverpool got the out-of-possession side of the game against Manchester City.

While the rest of you are trawling through David Coote’s Liverpool fixtures, I’m here noticing things because on Mondays, we notice.

Today it’s the next chapter in the story of how teams are setting up against Chelsea - and this weekend it was Arsenal’s turn! [thread] Before we get into that, though, here's the link to the thread detailing how Arne Slot responded to Chelsea's in-possession shape in case you want to do your homework beforehand...

https://x.com/Jon_Mackenzie/status/1848407967994982753

It’s Monday afternoon and on Mondays, we notice. So buckle yourselves in for a discussion of Chelsea and Enzo Maresca’s decision to flip the system at half time in the game against Manchester United [thread] The thing is: Maresca completely flipped his system at half time and… it didn’t really work. So what went wrong?

Monday afternoon can mean only one thing… time to get noticing, you slugs!

And this week we’re noticing something about the baldest man in the Premier League, Arne Slot! [thread] More specifically, I want to talk about a change that the Dutchman made during the game against Chelsea that helped Liverpool to all three points…

...but first, let’s talk about out of possession structures!!!! (Trust me, it's fun!)

It’s Monday afternoon and on Monday afternoons… we notice!

And today we’re noticing how Manchester United keep conceding goals created by defenders running seemingly at will through their whole team… [thread] In the the last week, Man United have conceded a couple of goals that bore a certain degree of similarity. Both of them saw defenders carrying the ball long distances and causing problems which resulted in goals.

It’s Monday. We notice.

And this week we notice that City’s defenders put up 14 shots asking whether or not City should have been more dangerous when they were playing against 10 men…? [thread] After Leandro Trossard got sent off, Arsenal dropped off into a low block with five in the back line and four players in front…

It's Monday and so we are contractually obliged to notice. But that's a good thing because this weekend we had a relatively unusual and therefore interesting North London Derby so... strap in noticers! [thread] Arsenal arrived at the Spurs stadium with a fairly conservative game plan…

Because they were missing key players, Arteta decided to let Spurs have the ball for long spells, absorb pressure and look to hit them on the break…

On an episode of the @PlusDavePodcast recently, I speculated about how you can read Ange Postecoglou tactically into the history of Dutch football, and I'm increasingly convinced that this is the case. Here's what I mean by that... [thread] I'm going to be wildly reductive here - I can point you in the direction of historical sources that will fill the gaps in - but I just want to give you the broad brush strokes.

Johan Cruyff comes at the end of a tactical tradition that can be broadly defined as "positional"

It’s a Monday so you all know what that means. We notice.

And this weekend, we were noticing Liverpool’s defensive structure in their win against Manchester United… [thread] Lots of justifiable praise for Arne Slot so far in his first few games as Liverpool coach… But I wanted to dig into his out of possession approach a little deeper because this weekend I noticed his team were using a similar out of possession shape to Man United…

Just properly watching the Liverpool game vs Ipswich and in the second half, it's clear that Liverpool are looking to skewer the Ipswich hybrid press more than they were in the first. [thread] If you want to know what I mean by 'hybrid pressing', I wrote an explainer here...
medium.com/@jonmackenzie/…