Switching Play Key To Success

Assistant Head Coach Joe Gallen believes that balance in the team and an ability to switch play quickly provides the side with more options.

When asked if he believes that distribution from the defensive third has been good enough so far this season, Gallen replied: "No it hasn’t, definitely not.

 

"Sometimes, believe it or not, we’ve found that we play 4-4-2 and our distribution, we’ve thought was going to improve, but it’s actually got worse.

 

"And so we’ve been trying to be positive by putting two up there, but somehow it negated all our options.

 

"The 4-3-3, we seem to have a lot more options. And it works best when there’s a balance behind it.

 

"We should be able to switch play quickly. It was a feature of our performances at the start of last season where Lee Evans was switching play in a direct fashion.

 

"It’s certainly not a long ball, but a longer pass. If we can get back to that, and nail that, it gives us a lot more options."

 

That diagonal ball was a key feature of Wolves' 1-1 draw with league-leaders Burnley at Turf Moor before the international break.

 

And the Assistant Head Coach discussed the change in tactics approaching the Clarets game.

 

"We’d all agree if we had lost it was still a good, positive performance and high in spirit," said Gallen before adding: "There have been a couple of times this season where that hasn’t been right.

 

"The major thing we decided and did in training before the game was to keep our wide players Jeremy and Jed (Wallace) high and wide up the pitch.

 

"And as soon as we got possession, get it straight on the touchlines.

 

"What that does bring is, when we had possession or turned over possession, we had then a longer pass straight away and we, for the first time in a long time, had a number of longer diagonal passes.

 

"People think the passes always have to be to the centre forward, and down the sides.

 

"That’s certainly the case at times but the centre forward has two centre halves to contend with, whereas the wide player just has his full back, and so we’re trying to get into the team where the longer pass is

to the wide player, as opposed to the centre forward.

 

"That was the plan, either in behind to their feet and then get in at their full backs. Then we were able to gallop up the pitch.

 

"And we had a balanced team behind it – Danny Batth who can go right to left, Kortney Hause who can go left to right, Jack Price who were telling to ‘come on, find that longer pass’.

 

"And then there’s a balanced midfield of Conor Coady's right foot and George Saville's left foot.

 

"So the team is balanced. The only one who’s not is Matt Doherty, but he’s playing very well."