⚫️⚪️ Team Analysis
▫️Newcastle - Brighton
▫️Eddie Howe pressing strategy and how did he annihilate De Zerbi’s build-up approach ?
THREAD ⤵️🧵
▫️Newcastle - Brighton
▫️Eddie Howe pressing strategy and how did he annihilate De Zerbi’s build-up approach ?
THREAD ⤵️🧵
I was talking about it before the game, De Zerbi never betrays his principles of play. For Newcastle, the key aspect of the game was not the press, but the TIMING of the press. Because if you press mate, Brighton can destroy it in two passes.
And the least we can say is that Howe totally understood that, and anticipated many Brighton back passes, the first part of their build-up process. Which means Newcastle players were already in a 5v5 situation, without letting any time for Brighton to pass the ball properly.
Which forced Brighton to move on the flanks, because of the excellent man-marking of the double pivot. No matter the players, Gilmour and Gross had to be marked at any cost. And they did it with the usual discipline Howe taught to his players through the season.
Thanks to this impressive high block, Brighton naturally took risks in their passes to break this high line of pressure. Unfortunately for De Zerbi, ball control hasn’t been as efficient as the Arsenal game, mostly due to this constant press from Newcastle.
Joelinton and Willock did an impressive job in their press yesterday, by constantly tracking Gross and Gilmour moves or drop-offs. Dunk or Van Hecke’s passes had lots of chance to be countered, and led to dangerous situations for Mapgies.
Another aspect of this Newcastle press : Almiron pressing, especially the timing. Almiron jumped on ball carrier at the right time, causing damages and forced Brighton GK to precipitate his passes.
A thing that I didn’t see in the last Brighton game: their goalkeeper has been pressed by Almiron. It could be seen as a risky move. However, this has been rewarded for Newcastle, because they recovered the ball much higher on the pitch.
The first Brighton box, normally fluid and devastating, has been stopped by a brilliant press, Newcastle players man-marking the double pivot, anticipating passes (2nd photo) meaning the timing of the press was great.
De Zerbi, seeing that press, tried to modify the approach by letting Gilmour and Gross in mid third, no drop deep anymore, and tried to apply long balls. A sign of success for Newcastle.
The big difference with Newcastle players, and I said it many times, they can repeat the press for 50-60minutes, with the same intensity and energy, thanks to huge physical condition. That made the difference and that’s why Brighton couldn’t take advantage in build-up.
To complete this thread, a brilliant set pieces analysis from @Edit_Kev , illustrating the offensive behavior of Newcastle all over the pitch yesterday.
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