Re: Pressing from the front

I think – as Ryan Deeney so excellently showed in his tactical review of Saturday's game – that the issue is that we actually press too much* away from home, which leaves big gaps for opponents to exploit. We were still overdoing that tonight at times; I definitely remember seeing Cashin bombing forward up the left to press on a couple of occasions, only to immediately get caught out by a ball lumped into the space behind him. Not his fault, but a structural issue in how we're setting up away.

The funny thing is that we completely got away with that tonight. It was the classic 2025-26 Blues second phase hoodoo that did for us again. That and playing shit for the best part of 96 minutes.

I think there is a lot to be said for playing a proper midfield three in games like this too, with someone like a Doyle asked to be a creator and ball-carrier. (Or, dare I say it, Kanya Fujimoto – if there is actually a player there rather than just a haunted mop).

*Apologies for the overuse of bold tonight. I've had two barrel-aged gins to take the edge off the result. Bluecoat. Highly recommend.