- 13 minutes ago
Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City all seem to have been written off by several people previewing the upcoming Premier League campaign. But Archie Corbett is here to investigate what each of the newly promoted sides need to do in order to avoid the drop.From tactical adaptations to smart recruitment, there is always something that the Premier League newbies can do to help their chances of survival. Do you think that any of the newly promoted sides can stay up? Let us know in the comments below
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00:00Hi, I'm Archie, I'm 25 years old, and I suffer from Big Six Syndrome.
00:06Every season, three new football teams come up to the Premier League from this place called the EFL Championship,
00:12and sometimes I recognise them, but I think more often than not, I don't know who they are.
00:19But this year, I've made a stand. Enough is enough.
00:24No more blindly predicting these teams to go straight back down when I couldn't name you any of their starting
00:3211.
00:32No more pretending to know what Scott Parker's tactical setup is. I say no more.
00:39I've spent hours watching, analysing, learning.
00:44And I can now proudly say that I know where Ipswich is.
00:48I know that Frank Lampard is now rated as a manager, and I can reveal to you all that the
00:55fine city of Hull is actually not home to any Tigers.
01:00So strap in everybody for the fruits of my labour, for the results of my hard-fought toil.
01:08This is what you can expect from all three of the newly promoted teams this season.
01:15You're bloody welcome.
01:19Right, so let's get straight into it, and there's a lot to dissect here, but let's start with the championship
01:26winners, Coventry City.
01:27And let's take a look at their tactical setup.
01:30First of all, this was the 11 that played most commonly for them last season, and in possession, it kind
01:37of becomes this sort of 2-4 in build-up.
01:40It's always tricky to represent, but it becomes something a little bit like that, and it obviously gives them this
01:452-4 base that lends itself directly to kind of vertical passing through the lines.
01:51Being really direct, it gives you a lot of options when you're trying to play out.
01:55And this plays into the technical and physical profiles of the wide players that they've got in this team, but
02:01also the gold threats that are provided from the number 10 role.
02:04That's normally Jack Rodoni, but it's also been Brandon Thomas Asante at points as well.
02:09And you'll often see this actually become a 3-4 build-up shape.
02:13You won't necessarily see it from one of these players dropping in and therefore a midfielder going into the back
02:18line.
02:19You'll actually see the centre-back split extremely wide, and then their goalkeeper, who they've just signed on a permanent,
02:26Carl Rushworth, will actually join the build-up.
02:29And this gives them an overload whenever they're playing against a team that are trying to press, because normally a
02:34team tries and presses with two, normally maybe one forward.
02:38But if you've got three players in this back line, it makes it really tricky for the opposition to know
02:42who to go to.
02:43And this whole system is with a view of baiting a press. It's what Coventry really excelled at last season.
02:49This example here against Wrexham, you can see that both centre-backs have split incredibly wide.
02:54And then normally one of Matt Grimes, normally him, but sometimes Frank Onyeka, will drop in to provide that third
03:01option on the ball.
03:02And like I say, it normally means that teams who press with two forwards at most are left with this
03:07natural overload.
03:08And one quick bounce pass, and Coventry are out.
03:11And as I say, they like to get into this 2-4-4 shape.
03:15But in this game, you've got Josh Eccles in the number 10.
03:18And his movement's really interesting, because he drops deep into this zone here, and that provides a short option.
03:24And then it drags the holding midfielder of Wrexham with him, and it creates this space in behind for Hadji
03:30Wright to drop into.
03:31He then links up with Eccles, who finds Mason Clarke out wide, and he can go 1v1 against a wide
03:37centre-back, because Wrexham are playing a back three.
03:39And he beats that centre-back, and he nearly finds Brandon Thomas Asante with the ball in.
03:44But it's that principle of baiting a press, and then not messing around once you've beaten that press.
03:49It's being direct.
03:50It's finding players into feet who have made really clever off-ball movements.
03:54It's then working it into wide areas where you can be more threatening.
03:58Now, in this system, you might have been able to tell that the central midfielders are paramount to everything that
04:03Coventry do.
04:04And the one player you'll hear lots about is Matt Grimes.
04:07He's technically elite.
04:09He's really good in these deeper areas here, like I showed you, when trying to play out of a press.
04:14But he's also incredibly creative in and around the final third.
04:17He's got it all on the ball, at least.
04:19But there's actually a signing that Coventry made in the January window that allowed him to be even more creative
04:25going into the second half of the season.
04:27And it was that second half of the season form that found Coventry top of the table and having won
04:32the league with games to spare.
04:34Frank Onyeka was signed at a point in the season where Coventry hadn't won in three games,
04:39which might sound dramatic, but the championship's so mad that if you're a title-chasing team and you don't win
04:45in three, you could be in a lot of trouble.
04:47But he came in and in his first game, they beat promotion rivals Middlesbrough.
04:52And then they only lost one game between then and the end of the season.
04:55And it's safe to say that he certainly had a role in that.
04:59He excels when defending transition scenarios, when recovering into big spaces once that first line of the Coventry press has
05:07been beaten.
05:07And this is a scenario that Coventry do face quite regularly because of all the space they try and create
05:13on the ball.
05:14You often find that if they lose the ball, even in an attacking scenario, they're quite susceptible to being counter
05:20-attacked.
05:21But Frank Onyeka just loves to defend and he covers these spaces so well, so physically dominant, so intelligent when
05:29defending as well,
05:30that he kind of plugged a really worrying weakness for Frank Lampard's Coventry last season.
05:34Now, sure, that was a kind of whistle-stop tour of what Coventry are good at.
05:38Tactically, we've still got two other teams to get through in one video, so forgive me.
05:43But it feels like they're probably the most Premier League-ready and certainly the most settled of all three of
05:49these teams.
05:50They're physical, they're direct when they need to be, but they've also got the technical profiles to be comfortable in
05:55possession.
05:56And they'll need to adapt to the intensity, particularly of the pressing in the Premier League.
06:00And their ambitious style of press baiting might mean that, especially early on in the season, they'll get found out
06:07a little bit with some individual errors at the back.
06:09But Frank Lampard has proven that he's an adaptable manager and he's a high-quality manager at that as well.
06:14And it's a squad that doesn't really need a major overhaul this summer, so they're sort of the most settled
06:19team going into this season.
06:21So I fancy them to beat the drop. I think they'll do it relatively comfortably as well.
06:25Right, swiftly moving on to the runners-up in the Championship last season, Ipswich Town.
06:31And they come into this season as a bit more of an unknown quantity, with Kieran McKenna leaving the club
06:36earlier this summer.
06:37He's been replaced by Gary O'Neill, so let's have a look at their potential chances of staying up.
06:43And unlike Coventry, they've already made some pretty big transfers already this window.
06:48This is the list of their current additions at the time of recording.
06:51And you'll see they've already spent pushing £100 million since promotion was secured.
06:57And straight off the bat, looking at this list of signings, it really becomes clear to me that what they're
07:04trying to do is improve the physical profiles within their squad.
07:08They're trying to be stronger. They're trying to be quicker.
07:10They're trying to be not as easy to play through as they were the last time they were in the
07:14Premier League.
07:15And these signings, I think, do that.
07:18Let's start with Florentino from Burnley.
07:20He was the holding midfielder for them last season.
07:23And sure, they got relegated, but he was a really, really active defender.
07:27Like, here's his defensive profile from last season.
07:29And yeah, lots of tackles, lots of interceptions, lots of lovely defensive things.
07:34Actually, quite similar to the role that Frank Onyeka is going to be playing for Coventry.
07:39And then just quickly looking at the other signings they've made.
07:41Dyson Maeda from Celtic.
07:43He presses like an absolute madman.
07:46And as well as having a goal-scoring threat on that left-hand side and versatility across that front line,
07:52he actually gives you a lot out of possession as well.
07:55New striker Emerson, who I'm not going to claim I've watched any of prior to making this video, don't worry.
08:00But he has the physical attributes of a striker that's been bought in to be a bit of a handful.
08:07And now, Abdul Fatah, who's sure, he'll be the creative outlet, primarily on that right-hand side.
08:12But this stat's a bit nuts because he somehow led all championship players last season for ground duels.
08:19And he was second for ground duels one.
08:21Again, a player, despite his attacking talents, will give Ipswich a lot of cover, say it with me now, when
08:28off the ball.
08:30Oh yeah, and Issa Diop's been bought in, who I think's a really smart signing.
08:33He's got a ton of Premier League experience.
08:35And they've also bought in a goalkeeper who's 6'8", which is like a tiny bit taller than I am.
08:42So it's going to be tricky to know what Gary O'Neill's going to do specifically next season.
08:46But the aim's pretty clear with these signings.
08:49It's level up their physicality and, like I say, be much trickier to play through and much trickier to beat
08:55than they were the last time they were in the Premier League.
08:57And this physicality and off-ball intensity actually defined a lot of what Ipswich were good at last season.
09:04They led the league for shot and goal-ending high turnovers.
09:08Essentially, they had the highest quality of pressing in the league for that metric.
09:12So basically, they didn't press every time, but they were smart in their pressing.
09:16They pressed at the right times and really effectively.
09:19And they were also the joint leaders for Aerial Duels 1.
09:22Again, something that a lot of these signings are clearly geared towards helping.
09:27And this example here is a phase of play that actually combines these two strengths of Ipswich really nicely.
09:33The ball is back in the QPR third and it's being played between the goalkeeper and the right back.
09:37But they're kind of panicking a little bit because Marcelino Nunez is hunting the ball down with real purpose.
09:43And this high press forces the goalkeeper to go long, but it only goes as far as I believe that's
09:49Leif Davis who wins it back.
09:51The ball bounces around a little bit and then they win this really physical duel in the middle of the
09:56park.
09:56And it then breaks wide.
09:58It goes into the box and bang, that's 1-0.
10:01And that win actually sealed Ipswich's return to the Premier League.
10:05And again, it was a combination of pressing, aerial strength, commitment to winning duels that all led to that goal.
10:11So look, if Gary O'Neill's going to be a success, which I think he will be.
10:15He had a bit of a mixed time at Wolves, but overall, especially early on, he was really good.
10:19He solidified Bournemouth when he came in.
10:21He came in the game after they lost 9-0 to Liverpool and kept them up and has now set
10:25them on a path where they look pretty good.
10:28So if he can lean into this physicality and these energetic players off the ball,
10:33which he seems to be doing, like I say, with the signings that they're making,
10:36then I actually think they've got a really high upside.
10:39Maybe the highest upside of all the promoted teams, but they're such an unknown quantity, but it's really tricky to
10:45tell.
10:45I think they've got a very decent chance of staying up, but who knows?
10:50Again, how will these signings bed in?
10:52That will kind of determine how they do this season.
10:54And finally, on to maybe the most chaotic of the lot, playoff winners via the boot of Sir Oliver McBurney,
11:03Hull City.
11:04And, well, I have literally no idea how they've managed to do this.
11:10Every single metric, XG table, defensive numbers, attacking numbers, every single advanced number from last season
11:19said that they should have gone down or at least been in a relegation fight.
11:24And the season prior, they very nearly did go down.
11:27And on top of all of that, they had a transfer embargo for the last two windows.
11:32But, yeah, they're a Premier League team now.
11:34So how has that happened then?
11:36On the attacking side, they were clinical when they needed to be.
11:40I guess that's kind of the biggest compliment I can pay them going forwards.
11:44Because despite being firmly in the bottom half for overall shots last season, they were joint-top with their XG
11:51per shot.
11:52And that just shows that the quality of the chances that they created was actually at a really decent level.
11:57And a large part of Hull City's attacking game plan is playing the percentages.
12:02It's scrappy.
12:03It's bitty.
12:03It's never particularly pretty.
12:05But it caused a whole lot of championship teams last season quite a lot of problems.
12:11Take this example from the playoff final.
12:13The throwing goes down the line and the first ball's won, but then the second one's lost.
12:17But they win the ball back in this high area of the pitch once it comes out of that zone.
12:22And what they do is they work it wide really quickly and they get into a crossing position.
12:27And they actually create quite a decent chance out of it, despite the fact that the header nearly went out
12:32for a throw-in.
12:33Now, keep that example in mind because this next one's from the same game.
12:36It just comes from the goalkeeper.
12:37And the first ball's well and truly lost this time.
12:40But they keep scrapping again for the second and third ball.
12:43They lose it.
12:44But watch the reaction here to track the man with the ball backwards all the way back to the centre
12:49half.
12:50A highly pressured pass back out into that zone.
12:53And Hull once again have won the ball in an advanced area of the pitch.
12:57Now, it cycles around to get to this point.
12:59But once they do work the ball into, again, a crossing position, they create another really good chance from the
13:05ball that comes in.
13:06So fundamentally, it's scrapping around for those first and second balls.
13:10And then if they don't win either of those, it's quickly counter-pressing to keep it in that area.
13:15And then if they win the ball back, it's quickly getting it into a wide zone where they can then
13:20cross the ball,
13:21where players have hopefully flooded in from counter-pressing and trying to win the first and second balls.
13:26And look, it's not pretty.
13:28It's not consistent.
13:29In fact, it's not even really much of a plan at all.
13:32But it worked.
13:34And Hull City are a Premier League team.
13:35And Southampton, Middlesbrough aren't.
13:37So there you go.
13:38And if the onus tweets anything to go by, which is one of the more hilarious subplots of this summer,
13:43then they're in the process of investing a fairly decent amount into this squad.
13:48So the ultimate question is, will they stay up?
13:51And out of all three of these teams, naturally, I suppose,
13:54they're the ones that I've got the least hope in them staying up.
13:58But look, last season was miraculous enough in itself to even be here is completely mental.
14:04So I'm not going to tell them they can't.
14:07I'm not going to say they can't repeat another miracle.
14:10It would be an even bigger miracle if they were to stay up in the Premier League
14:13by comparison to even getting promoted to the Premier League.
14:17So it would take a lot.
14:19But, I mean, they could.
14:21I just colour me shocked if they do stay up.
14:24Put it that way.
14:25So, yes, that's my summary of all three of the newly promoted side.
14:30If you're a fan of any of those clubs and I've got something atrociously wrong,
14:35feel free to tell me in the comments.
14:36I'm sure you won't hesitate.
14:38But I like to think it was relatively well-researched.
14:41I did watch a hell of a lot of all three of these teams.
14:44So if you do like what we're doing here, please subscribe to ACFC with the button below.
14:49You can get me across all the socials at Arch Corporate.
14:53And this was a video that was specifically requested by people that watch the channel.
14:58I put a post out asking what people wanted to see.
15:01And most of it was sort of asking about Spurs, asking about the big teams.
15:05But quite a lot of you wanted to see what the hell these promoted sides were all about.
15:09So hopefully this video covers that in some level of detail for you.
15:14And if not many people watch this video, then it's entirely your fault and definitely not my fault for listening
15:20to you.
15:21That's it for this video.
15:22Like I say, please subscribe, like, comment, all that fun stuff.
15:25Follow ACFC on the socials as well.
15:27We'll hopefully get those back up and running once Adam's back.
15:30He's back next week.
15:31Hooray!
15:33And until next time, thank you all very much for watching.
15:37Goodbye, ACFCers.
15:38Yeah, we're getting better at those.
15:39We're getting better at those.
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