League 2 General Chat Thread

[E10rifle]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340592989916282880

Always good to have it confirmed that Orient are as pishly mediocre as I think we are.

 

[BarraMatt]

The stats suggest we should be comfortably mid table and I'm hoping under the new manager we can achieve that. We've scored a far greater number than those around us but we've been leaky at the back. Yesterday showed if we defend well enough we're capable enough to keep breathing space between ourselves and the drop zone.

We've had a number of high scoring games, 4-3 and 4-2 defeats, a 4-2 win, 3-3 draw. Yesterday we had a back three that played together all of last season and their understanding was clear to see.

 

[GTFCfish]

Ian Holloway on Soccer AM on Saturday.
Expect him to tell them that he’s staying for the full show, only for them to come back after the first ad break and find he’s fucked off home already.

 

[GEORGE]

Ian Holloway on Soccer AM on Saturday.
Expect him to tell them that he’s staying for the full show, only for them to come back after the first ad break and find he’s fucked off home already.

He's Gas through & through . But that time as a manager with us has gone now.

 

[GTFCfish]

He's Gas through & through . But that time as a manager with us has gone now.

Despite the shite team he built and the horrific performances week after week the majority of our support were still really right behind him, then he goes on Twitter saying he is not going anywhere and waxing lyrical about how amazing our fans are and then a few days later he does a runner.

Twat.

 

[Bottega Don]

How the hell are Carlisle doing so well when they pass the ball to the other team half the time

 

[Casey]

Re Carlisle; From watching one game on iFollow so it's not gospel.

They play the ball long into channels and press high up the pitch. Obviously it doesnt work every time so the ball gets passes amongst the opposition side before Carlisle win it back and play it long into the channels.

When it does work. They win the ball high up the pitch and put in a through ball or cross for the forwards to attack. Its obviously working for them.

Casey

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Yeah Wycombe got themselves up to the Championship doing much the same, in terms of not being that bothered about possession or even keeping the ball. Ive noticed Rotherham play similarly.

Seems to be becoming a bit more prevalent after a little phase where every manager wanted to be playing it out from the back despite not having the players to do so. If it works, it works I guess.

 

[Casey]

I dont like it when a team wastes possession by whacking the ball upfield for the forwards to compete with the defenders. I also don't like it when a team plays the ball along the back line five or six times with no movement ahead of them and no real clue how to get it forward (points to possession stats to show how wonderful they are).

Somewhere between whacking it and playing keep ball a decent standard of football lives.

Casey

 

[Alain]

I dont like it when a team wastes possession by whacking the ball upfield for the forwards to compete with the defenders. I also don't like it when a team plays the ball along the back line five or six times with no movement ahead of them and no real clue how to get it forward (points to possession stats to show how wonderful they are).

Somewhere between whacking it and playing keep ball a decent standard of football lives.

Casey

Something we agree on !!!!

 

[Casey]

Something we agree on !!!!

Probably loads we agree on and just a few things we disagree on.

How boring life would be if we all agreed on everything.

Casey

 

[BarraMatt]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1346190254341033989

 

[valefan16]

Fuck sake thought I’d get a few weeks off from the stress of it all!

 

[The Terminator]

Does this mean Devon Lad is going back to the Cayman Islands?

 

[Carver]

Football is football.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Does this mean Devon Lad is going back to the Cayman Islands?

Good point. Where is the rogue?

 

[shoddycollins]

Good news at least that elite football can continue. Not sure what Port Vale are gonna do though.

 

[shoddycollins]

How the hell are Carlisle doing so well when they pass the ball to the other team half the time

Other teams' passing accuracy is bumped up by defenders playing safe balls across the line. We don't, and I imagine that if you were to remove passes backwards and sideways passes from this chart then we'd look much more like an accurate passing team. We take more shots than anyone else, shown below, and inevitably when you take a shot you're handing possesion back to the opposition, either because you score and they kick-off from the centre spot, it's saved/blocked or you miss and they get a goal-kick. We also have, I think maybe still, the lowest percentage possession in the division.

Hope it's OK to share this here. Produced by Paul Riley at Paul Riley, Differentgame Analytics is creating League Two Analytics and Player Scouting Reports | Patreon and behind a paywall, but you only have to pay a quid a month to access this and other really interesting analysis you can't get anywhere else.

This is our pass map, from back in mid-November (arrows represent passes played between areas of the pitch and circles represent passes played within the same area). Plenty of passing around the opposition half but next to nothing that isn't towards the opposition goal. In the full back areas, we don't pass it at all, only dribble then pass from a midfield position. Then where other teams treat that 'in the hole' position as the end goal of their passing game (and presumably then dribble it into the box) we treat it as the beginning of our passing game.

Compare this with the same map for FGR who are at the other end of the passing scale and arguably Carlisle are more of a passing team in the attacking third. In fact the pattern of sideways passing at either end of the pitch and forward passing in the middle is pretty common, FGR seem to be best at it but Exeter and Cheltenham shown below have similar shaped maps.

And again, because if I'm gonna use the guy's analytics in a public forum, the least I can do is give him a shout-out, this is all from Paul Riley at Paul Riley, Differentgame Analytics is creating League Two Analytics and Player Scouting Reports | Patreon He only covers league two as well.

 

[Topher]

Good news at least that elite football can continue. Not sure what Port Vale are gonna do though.

rent free

 

[Casey]

From those analytics I'd say the FGR full backs and wingers have had a tiff.

No passes from full back to winger doesn't seem credible.

I would also point out that a lot of the passes between defenders happen when the team is trying to slow the game down. Either to run the clock down or when under the cosh. You hardly ever see it when 1 down in the last minute.

I would also point out that the analytics confirm what I said about the Carlisle style of play (posted earlier). They get the ball forward quickly and pressure from there. Anyone need a scout? I've just been furloughed again.

Casey

 

[Super_horns]

Just come up on Sky that 112 players have tested positive in the EFL.

 

[shoddycollins]

Just come up on Sky that 112 players have tested positive in the EFL.

None from us thankfully

 

[shoddycollins]

From those analytics I'd say the FGR full backs and wingers have had a tiff.

No passes from full back to winger doesn't seem credible.

I would also point out that a lot of the passes between defenders happen when the team is trying to slow the game down. Either to run the clock down or when under the cosh. You hardly ever see it when 1 down in the last minute.

I would also point out that the analytics confirm what I said about the Carlisle style of play (posted earlier). They get the ball forward quickly and pressure from there. Anyone need a scout? I've just been furloughed again.

Casey

Not totally certain whether it's what the maps show, but it would make more sense if the positions indicate where the ball is being passed from and to not necessarily the position in the formation of the player doing the passing.

If a team plays with wing-backs, as I think FGR do then they won't pass it out of the full-back position very often, if a wing-back picks the ball up in the full-back position, dribbles it up the line and doesn't release it until they're in the attacking third then it would show up as a pass from one of the wings, which all the clubs I've looked at have, mostly in the form of the large circles in the wing positions indicating that teams are passing it short from these positions.

So a gap in the map could mean the team don't move the ball through that channel, but it could just as easily mean they dribble rather than pass it through that channel.

 

[masi51]

112 players from 66 EFL clubs tested positive during the last set of tests including 2 from Bolton who are now in isolation and will be missing Tuesday against Exeter

 

[shoddycollins]

112 players from 66 EFL clubs tested positive during the last set of tests including 2 from Bolton who are now in isolation and will be missing Tuesday against Exeter

The way I heard it, it wasn't 66 clubs who have had positive tests, but 66 clubs who have taken part in testing with the other 6 having not done it yet.

 

[Casey]

Fair enough Shoddy.

Just goes to show that a quick look at a map can lead you astray. Watching FGR the other day their centre backs seemed to enjoy galloping down the wing. One game but that may account for it.

Casey

 

[masi51]

The way I heard it, it wasn't 66 clubs who have had positive tests, but 66 clubs who have taken part in testing with the other 6 having not done it yet.

Yes some will have zero and others 4 or five

 

[valefan16]

We had one.

Notice Sincairs lad at Mansfield us one of theirs so could be Frank I guess not sure if they live together.

The case rate is about the average expected overall, they reckon one in 50 roughly have it now.

 

[northstandexile]

112 out of 3507 tested, I have read, so 1 in 31, a bit above the country average of 1 in 50.

 

[chipmunx]

112 out of 3507 tested, I have read, so 1 in 31, a bit above the country average of 1 in 50.

it'll be all them London clubs - the London average was 1 in 30....

as with Carlisle Barrow had no positive results from 35 players and staff.