The Overlap Breakdown: Maresca's Chelsea Revolution And What's Going On With INEOS?
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Hello everybody, welcome back to the Overlap Breakdown podcast. As always, I'm joined by my co-host Umair, who's a professional football tactical analyst and scout. And if you're wondering what's on the board next to me, this is the outcome of the review of the Tottenham Chelsea game, which is out on the channel on Monday. But we're going to get straight into the overall topical Premier League talk, and we are going to start with this game because it was the biggest talking point of the weekend. So even though we have done the tactics and the review of it,

I want to speak a little bit more in depth about it. I think Chelsea have been the team that surprised everyone, not just in terms of the way they play in football, because I think Moresca had a style, but we've always spoken about him being a bit more versatile and adaptable.

But I think for me, the thing that's blown me away so much is kind of how he handles himself around the players. And he seems to have the assertiveness, but the tactics, but he's so young in his head. But you get the sense that he's a lot older, a lot more mature, cool, calm customer. What have you been impressed about the most with Maresca? Because I think for me, he's just been wicked, really, really good. Yeah, you know what? I thought...

Maresca's Leicester was a bit more rigid. And I was worried that that would have been the case with Chelsea. I think the biggest compliment I can give Maresca is the way that I see football, the way that I think good coaches, good managers, good analysts work is by maximising people or team strengths and minimising the weaknesses by getting people in optimal situations, whether that's like on the pitch or, you know,

in the training ground or around teammates, et cetera. And what Maresca has done is got this really like global holistic picture of where individuals are best suited. Um,

And then, you know, of course, at the beginning, in the transfer window, I assume it was because of the high-ups, but he had to make big decisions or at least be the face of big decisions that he didn't necessarily make. And at that time, he received some criticism. I didn't love the way that he handled some of the senior players, Chilwell, Sterling, et cetera. Yeah, Sterling, Cardinal, Gustafsson. Yeah, exactly. But I think that might have been something beyond him. The fact that that's a non-issue at the moment, he's got a young core group of players. The fact, look, he's not the oldest, most...

experienced manager in terms of having accolades under his belt that drive home that respect but one he speaks really well two he's got a good understanding of what the club should be three he's getting the players motivated and using them in a way that they want to play Sancho off the left again playing with separation Cucurella playing in that back three but with the freedom to come inside so you take all of that on board and yeah he's

I think he's set up to do really well for a long time. I think this kind of team suits him as well. I think how assertive he's been in terms of the squad, when he came in and he was doing the press conferences and he was talking about the size of the squad he had, the way he handled that whole circus that was Chelsea at the time and how much criticism not only he received, because he was the brunt of it or the face of it, the club, the manager, but in terms of how he's reacted to that, played football, got the players...

so well gelled together and I think the way he's handled Nani Madowake for me has probably been the thing that I've been quite like wow that just shows how test of a good manager he is and I think it was because he has good games Nani Madowake and then

He's never shy to be like, oh, he's had a good game. But he always backs up with the next line is always, but he can do better, he should do better. He's not trained as good as he can be. But it doesn't sound harsh. Yeah, it's never harsh. But I think, yeah, I just think he's got the makeup of a really good coach and you've seen him now go head to head with a few good coaches. They played well in the start against Manchester City at the start of the season. Yeah, I'm so glad we played them well. I know, I know.

I think everyone was impressed with him in that first game, but doing what they've done now, they accumulated midweek the highest XG of an away team in Premier League history since Opta began recording XG in 2008. So I know the model's changed and everything, but that is huge. To do what he's doing, the rotation of the team, especially midweek, they played Tosin and De Sassi at the back. It's funny because it feels like they've got two teams, doesn't it? No, it does. And then suddenly he's getting promoted from the B team into the Los Angeles...

but it was true to Chelsea fans they're always like oh he's doing really well in the B team he should go in the A team instead of like it's like in Serie A when you have like a reserve team and a first team and it's like oh they need promoting from that team but I think the conference league has almost helped them with that the conference team is like it's often enough and it still feels important

but you can play like you don't need to play all of your best players in there and it's just like if you perform really well in the B team you get a chance in the first team like there's your own Felix yeah really getting there so no I think he's the way he's rotating the squad the way he's put his foot down the assertiveness but also the way he's galvanised a young core of players even since the first week I think me and you have been really high praising him so moving on to Tottenham

Andrew Postakoglu's side has kept just one clean sheet in the past 22 Premier League home games a run which started with a 4-1 loss against Chelsea last November 4-3 coming

We've already covered this on Monday and we thought that it was one of Angie's weaker games in terms of what went on throughout the game. But I think the centre-half decision to start Romero, Van der Veen and then both being subbed off with injuries in the game was one of them where it was like, wow, nothing's going your way. The thing is, with a team like that and in a situation like that, it mirrors the city a little bit in the sense that

We'll probably get on to it, but Manchester City, we didn't play Grealish and we didn't play Doku, even though with both of them in the side, it looked like that was a good solution to the problems that we've been having. Now, with the fixtures coming in as often as they are,

How do you mitigate that? Because look, if you play them and you win your game, cool, that's fine. But by playing them every three days and they get injured, you're potentially setting yourself up to have two months, three months without a good run of form. So with Ange, he's under pressure. Did you see the clip where it was, let's hope he went up to the fans and they were all booing him? Yeah, the Bournemouth game was really tough to watch. The Bournemouth game and...

Iriola's a brilliant coach so we're not taking anything away from him. It's funny how different they are in terms of especially opposition but I think it's really it's really touchy right now in the Spurs fan base because I think fans are looking at the transfer window in the summer

I loved the transfer window before I was young exciting but then when we come into the season I was like oh you realise the flaws a little bit yeah it's like they've not actually improved us when the first team come out and I was like they've not added anyone in there it felt like Kulosevski was a new player because he was playing central but then after the few weeks gone by I was looking at the team and I was like even when Odebeer's now not playing and Berg, Val and Gray aren't ready and it's like they've not really improved this team at all I've read the thing before where it says if

If a top team is going to sign players or build or rebuild, you're trying to look for players who...

can come in and displace the starters and then your starters almost become your bench players. Obviously, that's just, it's not a hard and fast rule by any stretch of the imagination, but it feels like Spurs could have done with that more to take them to that next stage rather than raising the floor for two or three years' time. That's what it is. Especially when you've got a manager who plays such high-octane football and it's like, all it takes is two months of bad results and...

that process is over kind of thing. Well, yeah. And with how physical the league is, with how often the fixtures do come in, you need players who are first team quality to rotate with the ones that are playing right now because that midfield two or three

The amount of games that they are playing themselves, I mean, they're going to be struggling in a few weeks for sure. Yeah. No, it's going to be a really rough... It sounds like you're saying this every week, but it's going to be really rough for Spurs. I really hope we can get through to the summer. I think Daniel Levy has got a massive job on his hands in terms of the way he's going to recruit moving forward. I think he has to learn...

he has to learn from the window he's just had the manager I've seen this a lot in the press I'm not sure how true it is but it does seem like Postacoglu isn't really putting his foot down too much with the signings and demanding stuff which can be seen as a good thing when you look at how Antonio Conte handled it very very different stuff like that you kind of need results to force a hand a little bit and

It's like you can't go up to the board. But you can't get results if you don't have to play, isn't it? It's just like a never-ending cycle for Postacoglu. So I'm really worried that moving forward, I think they've just entered a really tough run of fixtures as well, Tottenham. So, yeah, really not looking good, especially with the injuries. But we're going to move on into Manchester United 2, Nottingham Forest 3.

Well, not that, just the past week of Manchester United. It's interesting. No, yeah. What performance did you think was better? I thought the Forest game wasn't bad. I thought the Forest game was decent. But I just look at this team and I just go, the individuals making mistakes, the mental, the lapses in concentration, some of the emotional...

showing of the team Manchester United have had this thing for like a decade now where I think because they've never really been a stable club post like 2013 the heightened emotions this is why we were playing this is why we always played so good on the break is because you can just like spring so fast and I think Ruben Amorim's coming in the first thing he's gone is we need to slow down like everything's so fast paced but because they're so trained in this idea that they need to go first fast always so transition heavy

It's like when the ball's turned over and the game becomes just a little bit frantic for like five minutes. And they don't watch up with that. Yeah, it's like if an opposition has two shots against you, they might not even be high-quality shots, but if it's deflected, gone for a corner, the away fans start cheering. The squad...

panic so quickly and it's like as soon as that happens it's like the inevitable is coming we're going to concede one we're going to chase the game we're going to concede another chasing the game and then someone's going to get booked for kicking out and it's just like I said it after the Forest game I think you can talk about your technical your tactical and all that stuff but I just think some of the emotions and the mindsets when playing for a club of this size is

scary bad because I'm just watching players make these stupid stupid I'm watching players dribble across the top of the box and take a shot from 40 yards out when we've just recycled the ball for five minutes looking to you know find little holes in the shape and it's like what are we what are we doing like it just makes no sense yeah um and if that wasn't enough director of football was just left after five months I know that was what did you make of that that was

I've been really quiet on it because INEOS hit a couple red flags early on. Because everyone was really excited by their appointment. Well, I was. And the names that they kind of went for appeared to be abroad. For example, Man City, Ashworth, Newcastle. And they've all been parts of big projects.

I don't know whether or not Dan Ashworth's influence was probably a little bit overstated in the sense that perhaps he was working for establishments that did good work rather than being the one... He was a background man, wasn't he? Yeah, maybe he did good work but maybe he wasn't the sole proprietor of that good work. People are saying Ratcliffe,

kind of leaving quite individually on things and making decisions himself as well. So I don't know. Yeah, it's just like, I think when a new ownership of at least the footballing side of the club comes in and they make all the cuttings that they have done in terms of the costs and they back that up with...

some very, very speculative decisions in the summer, in the window, the 10-hard stuff, letting him stay but then sacking him after X amount of games, giving him players that again didn't really make sense in terms of addressing the overall picture of the squad. It was just really confusing for me and I'm in a situation now with Ineos where it's

I think for me to believe in them and trust them they have to get the next big one right. They have to handle the next situation right because what I've seen as a United fan is since they've come in we've won an FA Cup but it was the worst Premier League season in the history of the club. They then kept the manager which is completely fine. I had no like I wasn't yes or no with it but it was the worst season in Manchester United's Premier League history. We had to be realistic. They didn't extend him. They

They just did the option. Yeah, and they took some time as well. Yeah, and they took some time, weeks and weeks, after looking for loads of new managers. And now I'm sat here in a position where I'm like, well, you already weren't confident in him. We're going into a season, you've spent 200 million. On players that kind of suit him a little bit more than you'd expect probably. Yeah, and it's like now we're four months in and they've sacked him, they've brought a new manager in.

I think Amram brings them some goodwill back though, because I do think he's a good appointment. Yeah, it's always going to be a circus, Manchester United at the moment, so I'm just not even... But Chris Wood obviously scored in this game, shout out Chris Wood. He's now the top goal scorer for two Premier League clubs. Only Alan Shearer is the other player in Premier League history to have done this or to have maintained it. So Burnley and Forest, he's now the top goal scorer for both them clubs. There was a stat, I think, was it last season?

The amount of non-penalty goals that he got for his minutes played, I was talking about it at the time when Tony was rumoured to be moving clubs and things. And everyone said, Tony's a brilliant player, 50 million pound player, 60 million pound player. I think Chris Wood was like,

or on more non-penalty goals in like half the minutes and no one ever talks about Chris Wood as that kind of it's sort of in the same mould as you know Ivan Toney or the likes of those mid-table Premier League players who get touted as moving up Mitric for example but I think Chris Wood fits into that as like Premier League player really high quality the way he attacks the line I think his movement really impressive so

So yeah, I think he really deserves his roses more than people really let on because the Forest performances this season, in playing as...

kind of pragmatic as they have been doing it's not an easy job and by the way he's benching Awuniyi who's such a good player Anulanga yeah so I've got a stat here that says the most valuable goal scorers in the Premier League this season so it's the amount of goals they've scored and the amount of points that them goals have won yeah so Chris Wood has scored 10 goals which have won Forest 12 points which is tied with Haaland who's also won 12 points so

And he's basically the only guy. I'm going to get on to you, don't worry. The only guy who's scoring. But yeah, I think securing 12 points pretty much, not on your own, but you're putting the ball in the back of the net. As a primary attacker, yeah. 12 points for Forrest. If you took 12 points off Forrest, I don't even know where they'd be. But they're not anywhere near the top. And I think to do what he's doing right now at the age he's doing it at, with the confidence he's doing it, do you know when you listen to him talk?

he just like does not care but he talks like he belongs in that top of the goalscorer thing he has done it all his career it's the reason why he's the top goalscorer for two different clubs but it's like but he has the aura of someone who's played in those clubs he's like a 25 goal season champion fair enough you are yeah he's like I can't even dispute that fair enough so yeah we've just done a little bit of research so Nottingham Forest if you minus the 12 points that Chris Wood has scored them would be 17th in the league which um

Yeah, I mean, you can certainly put other strikers in there who don't get about maybe three or four goals and you're still sort of bottom half. Yeah, to put it into context, the players below him, Haaland 12 points, Mohamed Salah 11 points, Visser 8 points, Mbwemo 8 points. So the Brentford duo have got 16 points between them. And do you know what? We'll move on to Brentford. So Brentford...

after their win over Newcastle have now won more home points than any other side in the Premier League this season with 22 22 points after these amount of games is their most obviously in their league history and it's their first win against Newcastle in Premier League history which is crazy in itself but on the flip side of that they are 19th in the away table so

I think they're parallel. So they're better than Liverpool at Anfield and they're about as bad as Southampton in their away form this season. And I think, as we just mentioned there before, Visser and Mbwemo have won Brentford 16 points. And I don't know what the phrase is called, but they've left Ivan Toni behind and got better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just feels like... Ewing Ferry. Yeah, the Ewing Ferry. And it's...

Yeah, you see these videos of Thomas Frank on social media galvanising the players after the game. Yeah, just top coach, top team. I just don't understand the away form. I might really have to do a deep dive. Do you know the home thing? It's like you would understand it if they were like a forest. Massive following, big stadium,

but it's not they just feel at home kind of thing they're like oh we like it here maybe they get travel sick yeah a bit shy away so they've got a minus 9 goal difference with one point away from home Southampton are the only team worse than that but to give you an idea Southampton have got a minus 11 with one point Brentford have got a minus 9 with one point so they're virtually the same away from home it's Liverpool and Southampton if you're going home and away

But Brentford are clear at the top. Eight games played, plus 12 goal difference, 22 points. Liverpool and Arsenal are below them with a game in hand. But even if they both win the game in hand, they still don't eclipse Brentford's form at home. When your espresso martini needs that perfect touch. Made with a bittersweet blend of 100% specialty-grade coffee and vodka, Mr Black brings bold, smooth flavour. Elevate your espresso martini with Mr Black. Coffee crafted for the night.

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Hi, it's Gary Neville here. Join me and the team every week on Stick to Football. Semi-final, Villa Park sent off for a stamp on Gareth Southgate. Yeah, and he deserved it. You've never cooked a chicken? No, I've never cooked anything. Oh, my God! I think there are a few teams that we play against that weren't clean. We thought it at the time. So I've changed it over to X Factor. I've hit the re-roll, so he's come back in. Treat most overrated things in life. Priorities. Smiling.

And fireworks. Catch Stick to Football every week, wherever you get your podcasts. I feel like everyone got a lot off the chest there. So we're going to move on into the Arsenal game, which is a very interesting one-all draw. I mean, Arsenal in general, I think at the moment. Yeah. Very... I mean, we were actually lyrical about them in the tactics piece just gone about probably a week ago now. And...

and we focused in on that right hand side the rotations between that side and it was very sort of Timber's involvement was very important to those movements where you're tucked inside but it also allowed Saka to move inside or the guy to pick the ball deeper and then often you know one of George Junior or others did move to that flank and

become a plus one and they were very right-sided heavy the left side is showing problems in terms of one a chemistry between the players and then two just generally finding solutions for that I think a lot of people are blaming Martinelli but I think

it's probably harsh to blame Martinelli alone. For this one, yeah. Obviously, when Calafiori does come in, that side looks quite strong. You have Declan Rice often playing on that side and I don't think he's as inclined to be a scorer or contribute to the attack like Odegaard does. And in the game that we just saw, Timber played on that left side. I assume, obviously, you've got the injuries involved

Zinchenko probably not preferred on that side but I do think by moving Timber onto that side you've got three right footed players so you lack angles in terms of recreation I have got a stat here Arsenal haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last six Premier League away games their joint longest run without one during Mikel Arteta's time which is quite scary because they've gone from being this

I'm not going to say they aren't defensively solid still because Fulham had virtually, I think he had three touches in Arsenal's box for the entire game and the finish from Jimenez is ridiculous. I know. I said I love these finishes where it's like a right side, right foot. He's not even like... The left side, left foot. He's so high on the box. I don't know how he's got it in. And like, yeah, just them finishes where they take it from... Rashford used to do it all the time. Yeah, same side into the four poles. Yeah, and it's just like I don't know how they squeeze it in angle-wise. Yeah, so...

But also, Arsenal have now scored 20 goals from set pieces excluding penalties in the Premier League in 2024. It's their joint most in a calendar year in the competition. They also scored 20 in 2009. So obviously everyone's saying, oh, the old Arsenal would be terrified of this team. But yeah, they're tied with 2009, which is the Wenger team. What do you make of that? As in...

Because I think it would be foolish to say that Arsenal...

are fine in open play chance creation no i don't think they are i what i've said and i said this a couple years ago actually but i said the way that arsenal as a as a team and their game model has trended is in reducing variance my point is essentially that by having really strong players who win jewels across the pitch and by having a team that holds the ball for 70 of the game yeah

In theory, you're going to have one or two breaks where you score. And especially if you maximise the fine margins in terms of set pieces, you don't need to be brilliant in terms of unpicking a defence because by having so much of the ball, by giving virtually nothing up in your own box and by having really strong set pieces and shots from around the area, you're going to

ideally in theory forced to issue at least once in 90 minutes yeah for sure um and it's focused on not losing rather than being very good at breaking down the team um because you lose some of that balance for example manchester city let's say we've got a lot of players who are good at picking you know the opposition's defense apart from number 10 areas when uh you do play some of those players perhaps you're more susceptible to giving big chances away so it's a system that's

focus on reducing variance reducing chance but we're probably seeing the negative parts of that now when when some of your attacking um chances don't fall fall your way basically don't you think

I think they're probably the most risk-averse I've seen a title challenger in the past few years in the Premier League. I don't really have a complaint about it because I understand that I think this is one of the highest quality average Premier Leagues we've ever seen. I think the average Premier League team... I was looking the other day and I was looking at my team and I was going, I'm watching Fulham and Bournemouth and Brentford and Brighton.

and we're just better than us. They're just better than us. And I know it's outcome bias and recency bias in terms of how bad we are, but we've been this bad for about a year. So, like...

Yeah, I think just the standards. I understand why he's being more risk-averse and why he's, as you said, there. In theory, I think it makes sense, yeah. Yeah, it makes sense. And I think at the moment... Over a 38-game season, especially. Yeah, I think at the moment, Arsenal have got some absolutely unbelievable players. They've got Saliba, they've got Urdegaard, they've got Saka. Declan Rice is a very special player. I think...

We've said this so many times. I think Arsenal are just missing that firepower attacker. Saka is absolutely brilliant, right? Everyone knows this, but he can not keep doing this. There has to be another player in the forward line who can just create something out of nothing. I thought when it was Zinchenko, Xhaka and Martinelli, even though individually there's not that much

it worked a lot. Zinchenko was really good at sort of arriving in those areas and also build up, like his technical security was top in those areas. Great at finding players in those small spaces. Xhaka could always pop in with the goal and also have the legs to drop back in. Yeah. And I really liked him higher up. It was almost like that Gundogan kind of role. And then you had Martinelli who, I feel like he had a bit more sort of brightness and spark to his game until the crash in the box. Yeah.

So I don't think, so I do agree, you need some more just star quality. That left eight position, I know Declan Rice is good in there. Yeah, eight, nine. And he's a brilliant footballer, but I think you need a player who can create something, and I'm not saying get rid of the duelling nature of that player, but have a player who can create something and especially sort of move out to that left flank and bring Martinelli inside a little bit because I think...

Yeah, I thought Shaq had done that quite well. I will say this, I don't like Declan Rice, isn't it? I think it's not borderline useless. I think it's, I think it's,

massively, massively disrespectful to what he's actually good at. I know why they do it. I know to have a Jorginho at the base is a lot better in terms of circulating the ball and receiving the ball back to goal and knowing what to do in them situations. And he's pushing Decon Rice on, yes, because he can win duels high. Theoretically, you think he could crash the box well. Theoretically, you also think he could aerial. Good shot from the edge of the box as well. All of that. But I think you just lose so much of the team's dynamics when you're doing all this. I think if you had...

Even a Mourinho, I know he's just come in, but even if you just had someone like that who can get a goal consistently, I'm not talking about Decon Rice. I know it doesn't make sense, obviously now he's gone anyway, but a peak Smith-Rowe, for example. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Someone who can offer just a little bit of different dynamism, different goal-getting quality. I think the ability to rotate to the flank is important because you've got Odegaard who can do it on this side,

Timber as well when Calafiori's in there and obviously he's been injured so that's another sort of negative to that side's configuration but you do have that ability for someone to attack those half spaces but also rotate out to the flank and it's harder for teams to kind of

match up on that but yeah a left footed player they need some left side angles the left eight is going to be such a hard player to identify moving forward for Arsenal because in theory from what we've seen a Mikel Arteta team use there it's like they need to be strong

fast like a second pivot player who can also score goals consistently or create goals consistently and that is like it's made such a hard profile to find them and like even if you wanted to say how they're doing right now they'd have to be like above 6 foot 2 so it's like how do you find that anywhere in Europe and he's like he puts Kai Havertz there but he looks absolutely toothless in that position Kai Havertz is better

it looks better in the nine but yeah you lose some of that sort of box dominance don't you yeah I think it's worrying I don't think it's worrying for Arsenal but I just think they are I think long run they'll be fine yeah because even if you're they're not losing games I said that they're the hardest team to beat in the league that's what I've said but they're drawing games they're drawing games in in

I think Chelsea are losing more than them Liverpool are losing more than them but obviously they're winning more because they're playing in a more risky fashion and perhaps that risk over a longer period of time will cause those teams to fall off a little bit and also can be in with the chance but I think yeah I think there's just like a psychological aspect you don't want it to become a point where it's like you're drawing too much and you're getting hard on yourself and you know what I mean

Right, we're going to move on to the last game and we're only going to touch on this briefly. Yeah. Sorry, mate. Painful. Crystal Palace 2, Manchester City 2. I think I draw. From the stats I've got, they had the same shots as you. Yeah. Which is pretty scary. I found out there. No, you can't doubt the details. But it's 1.34 expected goals to 1.45 despite you having 69% of the ball. Yeah. You had the same shots. Yeah.

just really worrying for you isn't it I think expectations for the season have to be so much more reserved yeah like Guardiola's mentioned it in the South because I think the quote was this is a season to suffer somewhere like that and then

Well, one, I thought the red card was harsh. I thought the red card was really, really harsh. In fact, I think Rico probably got kicked out a bit. I know. I think Rico didn't kick up anywhere near as much of a fuss as I would have. I think it's crazy how you can't VAR second yellows or send someone off. Yeah, I know. I don't understand. I know why. Because you can't VAR a yellow, all that. But for that one, it

so obviously not a second yellow card the thing is our game was still flawed irrespective of that yeah of course I think we're certainly improving since the bad run of form

But a lot of our team decisions... Sorry, since the bad run of form. I mean, yeah. You're still in it. Yeah, literally the whole season. The one week. We got a draw. I mean, our fortunes are turning. Sorry, carry on. So yeah, I think in theory, we've got ideas in terms of how we can play. But they're all dependent on personnel and...

Doku, Grealish, both of them didn't play, even though they were really impressive. Grealish in central midfield, Doku on the wing midweek, but they'd just come back from injury. I think Pep said, well, the players who came back, played the game, went straight to the massage table,

been recovering and I'm not going to put them back in straight away the week after so look if Grealish had played there if Doku played on that flank I think it would be a lot better Nunes for his good quality on the flank when he first came into the team this season and

slows things down a little bit especially against Palace good ball for the cross sorry good cross for the ball good cross for the goal sorry so yeah no no I think his final ball is only him and De Bruyne kind of have that in their locker this season for City but yeah it's very personnel based you've got Akanji who isn't fit Ake who was brilliant again not fully fit

Who else is out? Rodri's out. Kovacic is out. So, good ones playing every game. Grealish, not fully fit. Doku, not fully fit. Foden. Foden, out as well. So,

Injuries are basically taking the toll I think and perhaps in retrospect we should have rebuilt a bit more in the summer. But you can't predict these things. Every injury increases the amount of minutes another player has to play and then it's a domino effect isn't it? Got a stat here that says in the Premier League since September 22nd you are second for big chances conceded but the three teams around you are Southampton, Leicester, Ipswich...

which is so poor so you've conceded 37 in that time Ipswich have conceded three less than you okay so that's a start yeah you're not that bad but you've joined with Leicester and Southampton have got six more than you right so I think it's everything we've just said is just kind of compiled into one I think poorish squad building in the summer whether or not that's because of financial reasons we don't know like PSR stuff like that yeah

Obviously the squad got a little bit older in the summer, wasn't freshened up enough, the injuries have caused a massive domino effect for the entire team. I think Pep is trying to stay with the same shape and structures and principles so the team don't lose the rhythm of what they're trying to do. But he's also been assertively aggressive in his approach game on game and I think

It's very... It's not worrying because I think even you've got to the point now where it's like you're not expecting much. Yeah, it's like you've got... This is how the past four seasons have been for me. You get with ten games in, you're like, go again next year, lads. So...

Believe me, I know how you feel. I just want to see an interesting solution because Guardiola has always come up with a nice solution. And he's had more plays at his disposal than he's had this season, obviously. When Grealish came in, I was really impressed to see him in that midfield and him perform really nicely in that midfield.

when Foden's back in the team. There's certainly solutions. I think Foden has good physicality, good legs. I think Grealish does the same thing. Nunes on that flank is an option. I think Kyle Walker's

at a point where he's surplus to what we need and he's playing because there's injuries it's just getting worse every week though it's really sad he's just playing himself further deeper into the bad form I think he's playing the best of his ability and the only position he can play is in that right over three position

but that's such a dangerous position to be in if there's not that cover in midfield and he's losing his legs himself as we've seen over the last few weeks so look it's tough in general I think with everyone fit there's solutions to put a put a winning run up but yeah right now I think I think every solution that we've come up with I always in the back of my mind I go but that's why he's not doing it and that's completely like fine do you know what I mean like the only thing I'm thinking now which is like

it sounds foolish but like can you put Nunes in right back if Kyle Walker's not playing yeah get him to go inside yeah or just have him overlap yeah completely because I think even we said I mentioned to you the Akanji thing about going inside and he tried it against Liverpool but then I watched the Liverpool game and was like nah

Yeah, well to be fair, Liverpool were really impressive at Preston. Yeah. Maybe you can get away with it against another team, but last, the game before the Palace one, Kanji playing right back looked good. Ake and Diaz in centre-back looked good. Guardiola as the left back, I think that as a back four is probably the best we've got. You've got the moment. I mean, we don't even have it at the moment, but like in theory, yeah, exactly. Or John Stones, but you know, his injury forms again, hit and miss, so...

Yeah, I don't think there's much we can do besides wait for the players to come back, except maybe try Nunes on that flank. Yeah, just to get back in. Yeah, maybe try folding as one of the second midfielders rather than in the forward four. At least you've got an easy game next week.

Oh yeah. The only other team who's worse than you at the moment. I always look at our table and I think we've played so badly. And you're just not dropping because no one else is picking up points. Yeah, why are we still there? And then I'm thinking like, God, how bad was United B2B? Do you know when Spurs were going to Bournemouth, right? They were still in bad form. Obviously they're in very bad form now. But if they would have won the game against Bournemouth, I think they were like four for fifth. And I was like,

How? How? And even if you look at us now and you look at the table, you go, we're not out of this shit. We've lost so many games. That's what I mean. Everyone's just beating everyone and the Premier League's at a standard where it's like... Just a quick one. I think, like, so I saw, I can't remember who it was now, but someone mentioned almost every team is trying to build up from the back super deep. Everyone's trying to go man for man, high pressure. Everyone's trying to use their individual superiority to get the best of...

those 1v1 duels they're all playing on these set pieces it's almost in the same way that how the Bundesliga transformed while Guardiola was there it's kind of the same way where like how the Bundesliga and its tactics generally were implemented that's how the Premier League has kind of gone and I think the only thing that differentiates those when the game models are so similar only two things differentiate or three things if I say one injuries

Two, find margins. So throw in routines or set pieces. Yeah. And three, player quality. I know you were going to say the player quality one. Because aside from those three things, if everyone's playing in a similar style...

There's no difference. But it's like, even when we went away to Ipswich, Ruben Amarim's first game, and it's like, I've watched Ipswich a couple of times this season, even they're trying to do the good things, right? Yeah. The things that everyone tries to get down. It's like, we're going to go 3-2-5, we're going to go man for man, we're going to press high.

everyone's got the same yeah the only thing I mentioned is in that fine margins thing I would include like just getting the better of individual players tendencies so like if Cucurella jumps and you're playing Chelsea have someone running behind or if the minimal in-game stuff do you know what I mean like the little just going up to a player and going you get

you do that, you do this. I think that's a really good point. I think you're spot on, honestly. Because when Ruben Amarim come in, I mentioned this, we talk about suboptimal structures in and out of possession, weird pressing shapes and all that. But in some of the games, you've already seen Ruben Amarim try to go to more of a 4-4-2 just by having players reference points a little bit all over the place just to make a 4-4-2. And it's like, even though we're playing 3-4-3 on paper and everyone makes it a 3-back,

We're 3-2-5 on attack. We're 4-4-2 out of possession, which is literally every single other club in the Premier League right now. And we're going man for man. So everyone's doing the same thing. And this is why, if you've got a coach who can... Well, I think every Premier League coach...

even Championship League 1, League 2 can coach good structures in and out of possession but it's just what you're saying there which is about the variances that's all I'm putting you in mentioning player quality I'd say like platforming that player quality so for example if I've got De Bruyne I don't want to put him in the double pivot like you've done for Belgium yeah profiling yeah I'll put him in the right half space or I'll get him overlapping or I'll get him playing with the left wing winger

That's why Vareska's been so good, isn't it? Exactly. Because he's come in and he knows exactly where every player's going to go. He's got the play quality, no injuries, and...

individual tweaks and then also profile level well and I think even that takes like 10 games until managers lock it down do you know what I mean like Remy Amarant is still chopping changing in his shape but you know eventually he's going to fall on something and he's going to have a profile for each position and they don't budge do you know what I mean but I think with United they're lacking some of that individual quality yeah no no it's a really good point I think Bundesliga-fied is the Premier League and not in the way where

I know City won the league four years in a row kind of thing, but I think I'm talking about it more from like a global trend in the tactics. Well, it's even in the pyramid. Yeah. If you think about it, it's even in the pyramid, like championship teams are doing the exact same thing. I would say innovation comes from like,

second division third division fourth division abundance leaguer two series b series c i don't know too much about football in terms of sort of league one league two yeah so i don't know if that's happening in those in those divisions but everyone in league one leagues not everyone but like most of the teams who have gone up from league two and league one when i when i was always always played a free like either a three or a five yeah so like on paper because i've

I've always spoken about this, if you play a three or a five, it is so much easier to go to your in-possession, out-possession shape, because you're running really only down to your wing-backs. So if you've got young, energetic wing-backs who can go last line and then transition back to a three and a five, theoretically you can set up a three-five-two and then a two-three-five so easily. It takes about a couple of games. Yeah, just a couple of games for your full-backs to run up and down. And...

And then the defensive shapes are not as difficult to break down, I assume. The problem, obviously, with the 5-2-3 shape is your wing-backs are the ones who are supporting the counter-attacks. So then you lose a bit of that. If your midfielders are, they get there quicker, but your wing-backs find it harder to get there. And the fingers as well, because the physical flooring of them leagues are lower. It's like...

when your players do go to the... When they do transition, it's like there are moments of just complete rest in the games. So you can account for, if I make a 50-yard sprint, that player's going to be unaccessible for a minute. But everyone on the pitch is at the same level. Do you know what I mean? So, yeah, it's just various. But I think, yeah, it's getting to a point where everyone's doing the same thing and it is just the minimalistic tweaks in games from managers. And that is why...

When Ruben Amarim's come in and I looked at the structures and stuff, I was like, how is he as a person? How likeable is he? How well does he communicate? And I feel like when you look at throughout English football, the company went from English to German League and he looks to have done the same. Yeah.

Right. Beautiful chat. Thank you very much. Yes, boss. As always, if you did like, please do like, comment and subscribe. And we'll be back next week for more Premier League reviews. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed the show. Make sure you subscribe to the Overlap Breakdown so you won't miss a single episode. And if you want to support the show, please leave a five-star review and help others find it too. See you next time.

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