Jimmy Phillips Has Exposed Lennon's Coaching Ineptitude

A while ago on this site I wrote a piece entitled: 'We Should Blame Lennon For Our Defensive Woes'. You can read it by clicking on the title but the message was simple; our poor defensive performances stemmed from a lack of work on the training ground. The goals starting tumbling in after Johan Mjällby left Wanderers; we lost defensive shape, discipline and tactics without the ball became non-existent.

In recent games there has been a very palpable change in Bolton's performances. In both the games against Middlesbrough and Cardiff we took the lead, defended far better than in recent weeks and gave an overall pleasing performance. Then we have Hull City. Promotion chasing Hull City, whom we beat 1-0. What has changed? Jimmy Phillips and Peter Reid have been doing their work on the training ground.

In the first piece about defensive shape, there was a real problem with conceding 2 types of goal. Goals resulting from through balls and goals that came from long range shots. This stemmed from Wanderers not taking the correct shape when a team would attack. They'd stay wide with large gaps to run through instead of narrowing and making covering runs. Often central defenders would charge out of the line to stop a shot attempt leaving a nice large gap behind them to play the ball in to. As you can see in the picture below, David Wheater has charged out leaving a nice large gap to play a ball in to. The defence is wide meaning only Prince had a chance of making a tackle.

There are a few more images demonstrating this problem in the first piece. So what has been done to combat this defensive naivety? Phllips and Reid have made two very big changes that get right to the crux of the problem. It has taken a while for the drilling to sink in, but it appears it finally has.

Derik In Defensive Midfield

This change has really paid off in two ways. 1. Derik is a perfect fit for the position. 2. It has stopped gaps appearing in the defence.

Dan made the point the other day that there was more to Derik Osede being like Ivan Campo than just the hair. He was on the money. Although the Spaniard always looked 'alright' as a centre back there were questions over his physicality. Then you had the issue of wasting such obvious talents on the ball in a position where it was hard to effect play. So in a mirroring of the Campo move, Jimmy Phillips and Peter Reid have moved Derik in to midfield to sit in front of the back four. It is in this position that we are really playing to his strengths. He can read the game well and is free to do so and make interceptions. His calmness on the ball is allowing the defenders to play a ball to him and save hoofing and hoping. His tactical awareness allows him to slot effortlessly at the back when needed. In the Hull game he made the second most tackles on the field, he made 2 interceptions, made 3 clearances, had a tackling success rate of 100% and had a passing success rate of 84%.

This switch has also stopped gaps appearing in the defence. As seen in that picture above our defenders are prone to making the wrong call and charging out, leaving nice gaps behind them to exploit. Since Derik has moved to defensive midfield we've seen these gaps instantly plugged. His tactical awareness is on another level to what I've seen in a long time, he just naturally drops wherever a space opens up, it appears to be second nature to him.

You can see in the photos below how this works. Rob Holding charges out to close down a ball, Derik takes note and drops in to the space Holding vacated. Basic defending, but something we haven't done all year.

Holding comes out, note the space behind him that on another day would be exploited.

Derik fills the space preventing any ball being played in to the space. Holding successfully deals with the threat.

This display shows the difference this move has made. As previously stated, we conceded too many from through balls and from long shots. By enabling players to go out and close without leaving gaps behind them, this position switch has combated both.

The Defensive Drilling

The other half of this equation is the drilling that has obviously taken place on the training field. Where we used to be out of shape and lacked discipline; we now have a good shape and are difficult to break down.

Again if you look at the previous article, you see how wide defenders were when the ball was coming at us. This was space to run and pass in to. We also saw little cover from the midfield when it came to defending giving the attacking team all the time in the world. What we needed to do was narrow up and having two banks of players in front of the ball to make attacks nigh impossible. I think the following photos do the improvement shown more testament  than my words could.

A narrow defence, Derik, Pratley and Danns to get in the attacker's face's and stop any passes or shots. No way through

Defence in shape, Derik ready to drop in and cover when Garratt goes wide.

Derik forcing play out wide, Garratt in position to intercept. Defence narrow organised again.

I was unsure if getting rid of Lennon would make the blindest bit of difference. It was the players not the coaching. The truth of the matter seems to be, this squad has been capable all bloody year. Although results have been broadly similar under Phillips, the work above takes time on the training field. If we had made this change sooner, could we have seen a different Wanderers at this stage of the season?