Shaun Maloney - Style of play

[Unseen work]

One thing that has been mentioned a lot is Maloney’s style of play and attacking philosophy and how it will differ from Ross.

I find it very interesting that he says when he was a player he was always interested in how the top teams play and knew there must be a certain way which is then what he learned under Martinez with “positional play” which opened his eyes.

Positional play is passed down from Cruyff etc which interestingly enough is where he done part of his coaching qualifications, I think it’s fair to say he will try and implement this at Hibs. Pep is the current one that uses this all the time but many too coaches use this.

For those that haven’t heard of it I strongly recommend reading up about it/watching videos as if he can get us doing it it has the potential to be brilliant. It will also help understand what we’re doing differently and why, it will hopefully make some be patient as they’ll understand what he is doing and how difficult it is.

Essentially it breaks the football pitch down into zones. There should never be more than three teammates on any horizontal plane, and never more than two on any vertical plane - this means that when the ball is in a certain zone players know where to move so that the person on the ball had more options. It should be instinctive for them, for example if Porteous has the ball everyone in our team will know where to be, as soon as he passes it to McGinn there’s a change with players moving into different zones. This might see some players popping up in positions you wouldn’t expect.

It enables the team to either overload the opposition or isolate players for 1 v 1 scenarios. One thing we’ll probably see a lot more of us decoy runs, players coming short and being missed out, only for them to spin and get it off of the person the ball was initially passed to.

That type of football is more for when we have the ball but it normally comes with the defensive side being a high line and winning possession back sharply by pressing the opposition quick and giving them little space.

For me it’s this type of football that we, and Scotland in general, are missing. Rarely do coaches in this county have much more of a game plan than playing at a high tempo, getting it wide or sitting back.

Ange uses this to a certain degree and is a big reason why they have so much possession of the ball and dominate. One of the full backs going into the centre of the park allows the rest of the team to go higher up the field and retain the ball in more dangers areas.

One thing under Ross when we had the ball I got frustrated at how it always seemed to need to go from front to back at 100mph. We would rarely play possession in meaningful areas and work the opposition defensively, we were nice at it along the back 4 but it done nothing.

If Maloney can pull this off it will mean we get our attacking players on the ball a lot more regularly and in better positions. We will attack with pace but I imagine we’ll pin teams back a lot more.

Do people think this is feasible in Scotland? Will our current players have the football IQ for this? There obviously a difference in what he’s coached with at Belgium compared to here.

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

[Frazerbob]

Can’t wait for the cries of ‘get it up the ****ing park’. It’s not the players’ IQ’s I worry about.

[heretoday]

Oh well that's interesting tactics. I just wonder whether we have players of the calibre and fitness required to carry it out.
Silk purses come to mind. Good luck to him though.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

The future is maybe with the kids.

[AlbertK86]

Patience is not a big feature of our fans.

Hopefully they give him time to implement. As he says it will take time.


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[worcesterhibby]

Just posted similar comments to the OP on the new gaffer thread..very exciting times. We can’t afford and couldn’t attract a manager like Pep, or Martinez, but in Shaun Maloney I think we might have found ourselves the next, best thing. He is obviously passionate about “Juego de Posicion” and seems so much more articulate and cerebral than the usual stamp of Scottish manager. I’m excited to see how he will change our playing style and find out who will take to it and who will leave the club. It will also be exciting to see who he brings in during the January window. Very excited by all this..Shaun is not part of the usual Largs mafia..he is a product of the Cruyff Institute…Hibs cass !

our new conditioning coach has some pedigree…Zuddas has two Bachelor’s Degrees; one in Exercise and Sports Science and another in Communication and Information Sciences. He also has certificates in Strength and Conditioning for Football, Advanced Sport Nutrition, and Neurobiology and Performance from the Barça Innovation Hub and a UEFA A Futsal licence.He speaks six languages as well as his mother tongue including English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hungarian ! That’s about as far removed from the average Scottish football coach as it’s possible to get.

[MWHIBBIES]

He simply won't get time. You cant spend 6 months/a year putting a style of play into place that may not even be any good. He has inherited a decent squad and should be hitting the ground running

[JimBHibees]

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Can’t wait for the cries of ‘get it up the ****ing park’. It’s not the players’ IQ’s I worry about.

Valid point. Get it forward why pass the ball back the way are regular shouts around me.

That style is totally dependent on time on the pitches coaching it day after day. Hopefully he is able to get that done to a degree in winter break.

[worcesterhibby]

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He simply won't get time. You cant spend 6 months/a year putting a style of play into place that may not even be any good. He has inherited a decent squad and should be hitting the ground running

That’s up to Ron..and Maloney is HIS man. I think he’ll get time and anyway I think we’ll see improvement and new players relatively quickly.

[JimBHibees]

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He simply won't get time. You cant spend 6 months/a year putting a style of play into place that may not even be any good. He has inherited a decent squad and should be hitting the ground running

A decent coach will be able to improve our play relatively quickly imo. Better movement more options on the ball I think will improve whether it gets better results time will tell.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Can’t wait for the cries of ‘get it up the ****ing park’. It’s not the players’ IQ’s I worry about.

spot on sadly.

[JimBHibees]

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Just posted similar comments to the OP on the new gaffer thread..very exciting times. We can’t afford and couldn’t attract a manager like Pep, or Martinez, but in Shaun Maloney I think we might have found ourselves the next, best thing. He is obviously passionate about “Juego de Posicion” and seems so much more articulate and cerebral than the usual stamp of Scottish manager. I’m excited to see how he will change our playing style and find out who will take to it and who will leave the club. It will also be exciting to see who he brings in during the January window. Very excited by all this..Shaun is not part of the usual Largs mafia..he is a product of the Cruyff Institute…Hibs cass !

our new conditioning coach has some pedigree…Zuddas has two Bachelor’s Degrees; one in Exercise and Sports Science and another in Communication and Information Sciences. He also has certificates in Strength and Conditioning for Football, Advanced Sport Nutrition, and Neurobiology and Performance from the Barça Innovation Hub and a UEFA A Futsal licence.He speaks six languages as well as his mother tongue including English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hungarian ! That’s about as far removed from the average Scottish football coach as it’s possible to get.

Hugely impressive cv Zuddas has great to see that sort of international background and range of knowledge and expertise coming into the club.

[MWHIBBIES]

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That’s up to Ron..and Maloney is HIS man. I think he’ll get time and anyway I think we’ll see improvement and new players relatively quickly.

It's not up to Ron. If results are bad he'll be hounded out.

[H18 SFR]

Really excited about this appointment. One word of caution however, I used to work with a Mancunian and he is a big City fan, ST holder etc. He will tell you he’d rather watch it shelled up to a big Niall Quinn than all this fancy stuff as he calls it.

The biggest change will need to be in the stand, Ross got chased away, this place will be full of the usual pish if we lose tonight saying the style doesn’t work, can win big games etc.

[hibsbollah]

It all sounds very positive. It sounds a lot like the Bielsa philosophy, create numerical superiority by constantly moving into adjacent zones. The tricky bit is finding more disciplined, more technical and fitter players than the competition can afford, to carry these instructions out. If we’d have played that way on Sunday I think Celtic would have destroyed us. It’s the same reason why Leeds are now getting found out when they don’t have their first choice XI available.

But exciting times.

[Brightside]

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Just posted similar comments to the OP on the new gaffer thread..very exciting times. We can’t afford and couldn’t attract a manager like Pep, or Martinez, but in Shaun Maloney I think we might have found ourselves the next, best thing. He is obviously passionate about “Juego de Posicion” and seems so much more articulate and cerebral than the usual stamp of Scottish manager. I’m excited to see how he will change our playing style and find out who will take to it and who will leave the club. It will also be exciting to see who he brings in during the January window. Very excited by all this..Shaun is not part of the usual Largs mafia..he is a product of the Cruyff Institute…Hibs cass !

our new conditioning coach has some pedigree…Zuddas has two Bachelor’s Degrees; one in Exercise and Sports Science and another in Communication and Information Sciences. He also has certificates in Strength and Conditioning for Football, Advanced Sport Nutrition, and Neurobiology and Performance from the Barça Innovation Hub and a UEFA A Futsal licence.He speaks six languages as well as his mother tongue including English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hungarian ! That’s about as far removed from the average Scottish football coach as it’s possible to get.

Apart from the languages there are plenty coaches in Scotland with qualifications like that. Even at youth level. The problem is the senior game if full of ex-players that don’t have that education. Intelligent coaches are generally frowned upon by “fitba folk” so it’s hard for them to make an impact.

[B.H.F.C]

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Really excited about this appointment. One word of caution however, I used to work with a Mancunian and he is a big City fan, ST holder etc. He will tell you he’d rather watch it shelled up to a big Niall Quinn than all this fancy stuff as he calls it.

The biggest change will need to be in the stand, Ross got chased away, this place will be full of the usual pish if we lose tonight saying the style doesn’t work, can win big games etc.

There does need to be a change in the stands, occupied seats. It’s up to him to get folk back in, then he won’t get chased.

[Green_one]

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It's not up to Ron. If results are bad he'll be hounded out.

Correct. Football is results driven. Fancy tactics mean nothing unless players can execute them

Score more goals than your opponents.

Let’s see what happens over the next few weeks Show me points on the board not a coaching lesson

[PPZPOL]

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Can’t wait for the cries of ‘get it up the ****ing park’. It’s not the players’ IQ’s I worry about.

If we keep the ball with a purpose and have movement and create chances then that’s the thing that should stop that happening. If we pass it about the back then into midfield, then back again and keep doing that till we all fall asleep, then that’ll be when people will be able to moan about getting it forward ASAP!!!!

[Silky]

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It's not up to Ron. If results are bad he'll be hounded out.

So, effectively, he can play this new style all he wants, if we don't get the results, what's the point. If results are great but the football is turgid, are we not just back at square one?

[Bostonhibby]

I wish him well, am impressed with his ambition and what he has to say and hope he gets the time and backing to do it.

However following all the recent changes I'm more interested in the deeds that actually happen on the pitch than the words that surround them.

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[MWHIBBIES]

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So, effectively, he can play this new style all he wants, if we don't get the results, what's the point. If results are great but the football is turgid, are we not just back at square one?

There aren't many managers who play great football and don't get results.

[neil7908]

I'm excited by this - but do we have the calibre of players required? I guess we'll find out but implementing this style is very different at our level, and when you can't just go out and buy better players whenever you want.

I think it's a positive step but it's a big difference between coaching De Bruyne, Hazard etc to us.

[timewilltell]

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It's not up to Ron. If results are bad he'll be hounded out.

I detect you are upset that JR is no longer here. Deal with it.

How about trying to be positive and give the guy a chance.

Articulate, keen, fresh, bright, hungry and with some exciting ideas about how to play.

What's not to like?

[PPZPOL]

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I'm excited by this - but do we have the calibre of players required? I guess we'll find out but implementing this style is very different at our level, and when you can't just go out and buy better players whenever you want.

I think it's a positive step but it's a big difference between coaching De Bruyne, Hazard etc to us.

Surely it’s all relative? We’ll never have those players but we’ll also not be playing against those calibre of players. He obviously feels he can level up the players we have through coaching along with additions to the squad over time. Some players will buy into him in this squad, some won’t, like any other manager he’d have appointed. There are no guarantees but glad we are trying this at least.

[timewilltell]

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Correct. Football is results driven. Fancy tactics mean nothing unless players can execute them

Score more goals than your opponents.

Let’s see what happens over the next few weeks Show me points on the board not a coaching lesson

Fancy tactics? Jeez, not one for moving with the times then!🙄

Just so you know, black & white TV's and linoleum are no longer fashionable 😏

[MWHIBBIES]

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I detect you are upset that JR is no longer here. Deal with it.

How about trying to be positive and give the guy a chance.

Articulate, keen, fresh, bright, hungry and with some exciting ideas about how to play.

What's not to like?

How about not posting nonsense? I'm not upset at all. There is nothing for me to deal with.

''give the guy a chance'', are you joking? ****ing obviously I will give the guy a chance. Like all Hibs managers he'll get my full backing. I go every week and defend managers and players on here more than most.

Yeah, he is all those things. He will still be hounded out if results don't go well. Like all managers at all clubs.

[Devonhibs]

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Fancy tactics? Jeez, not one for moving with the times then!🙄

Just so you know, black & white TV's and linoleum are no longer fashionable 😏

There not

[Lee Marvin]

It will be nice to actually have a style of play. Last time we had an identifiable one was a few years ago now.

[Nicho87]

Too articulate for some already

Can you imagine an interview where it was just yeah the players have to give me everything and that’s really it.

Maloney has a plan, give him time. I think this might be a golden nugget here. Mowbray-esque

If it’s attacking football he’s already beating jack Ross imo.