Cjay wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2024 1:34 pm
I think as I said it is important to remember it took Bamford by his own admission 12 months playing under Bielsa and 2 pre seasons (the 2nd one very intense) to be able to do what Bielsa wanted.
Does Piroe have the fitness levels for Farke? Possibly not, same as Bamford didn't for Bielsa at first.
But as I pointed out before, Pukki was no great presser, he gave the impression of one as he was nippy and ran a lot but it was mainly pointless.
Paddy is similar, it's very rare he actually wins the ball back.
As for the pressing side, I would change the dynamics.
So if it was Leicester for example, Rutter concentrated on Winks and Piroe was asked to press the two cbs.
So Hermansen passes to Faes who passes to Vestergaard and Piroe runs between them and generally Winks drops to give them a 3rd pass.
I would say to JP, "Faes is your man", if he gets the ball you press him. I would then say to Georgie you stand between Winks and Vestergaard and as soon as the pass goes to Vestergaard you leave Winks and go. At this point Winks is free but he is easier to press from Faes than it is for Piroe to run between the two cbs so you say to Piroe as soon as the pass goes to Vestergaard you go to Winks. So now you are asking Piroe to press two players but stood closer together.
So basically I'd try to make Piroe's job easier by using Georgie and his superior pace and energy.
Asking JP to press 1 cb and the midfielder who drops to provide a passing option should be easier for him than asking him to shuttle run between two cbs.
I'd also say to Georgie as soon as Winks gets the ball you race back and help Piroe, ideally this forces Winks to go back to one of the cbs and we start again. If it goes to Faes then JP leaves Winks and off he goes, Rutter takes up his half way position between Vestergaard and Winks and so on.
I'd try and ask more of the players able to do it if that makes sense.
As for how you want him to play I think it requires effort from both the tactics and Piroe.
Piroe needs to learn to play as more of a 9 again.
His instinct to drop is partly born from being asked to play deeper by various managers I'd imagine like Farke and Russell Martin and partly a desire to get involved in play.
Nothing wrong with dropping and linking and holding up, Bamford does it its part of the job.
But what JP needs reminding Is he needs to mix it up more, remind him that he is our focal point, and so we need him available for that forward pass.
I'd actually encourage Joel to speak to his idol and ex coach, Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
He had a similar issue early in his career and by his own admission saw himself as a 10.
He had to learn and adapt but he still had that 10 skills (he's unfairly remembered as a goal hanger but he got 70+ assists in his career) he was a lot more rounded than people give him credit for but like Piroe maybe not the best presser or whatever.
So I'd encourage Joel to do that and ask him how he adapted his game for the different roles.
Get Piroe to watch clips of Pukki or Bamford and things like that.
And simple instructions like you stay within 10 yards of the opposition defence, you can drift all along that line but be within 10 yard of the back line. If that means in training you get a coaching staff to stand with the defence and literally tie a rope to Piroe 10 yards long so he knows where he needs to be and can't move more then so be it.
If as can happen one of the cbs goes off on a run at present Piroe has to run back with them. I'd stop that. 10 yards from the back line, if one of the cbs goes further its no longer your problem, you let him go. If a midfielder is within the 10 yards he is your man, if he isn't don't worry about it.
And as a club we can help by getting the ball forward quicker maybe so JP doesn't feel as inclined to drop.
But largely I think coaching can fix the issue, most of what JP does is instinct from playing deeper, it just needs training out of him a bit and his responsibility changing somewhat off the ball.
It all takes time, Piroe hasn't had that yet.
But if you look at his youth videos he's much more 9 like so it isn't that he can't do it.
Yeboah against Liverpool 
