Background
I took the time to watch some of Tennessee matches on YouTube.
Tennessee (19-2) won the SEC tournament, beating Arkansas 3-0. However, Arkansas remained the conferences top seed, Arkansas won in the regular season 3-1. Tenn. also had a clinker loss to Vandy. They played no one of consequence in the pre season. 7 SEC teams made the tournament, only 3 survived the first round. The SEC has virtually no final four experience, one appearance as far as I can tell, the ACC and the Pac-12 traditionally dominate the tournament.
Talent
Tenn. has no "5 tool" elite players, they aren't tall, they aren't very fast, nor are they very athletic. Their work rate is average, but spacing and organization on the attack is excellent, Similarly, they play sound "back to the goal" defense. They are very similar talentwise to the South Carolina team we faced in 2019. I don't think their backs have the pace to match up with our attacking players on the break.
Tactics
They don't overly try to control possession. They try to attack in numbers and defend in numbers "up the field," trying to recover possession in their attacking half. Their MO is to spit the defense, with well timed runs and passes. In this area they have the a significant advantage.
Analysis
We are bigger, faster and more athletic, but were aren't the more skilled side. If we can isolate our forwards and central mid fielders on their backs with our long ball, direct style, they will struggle, particularly if their backs have a limited gas tank. We are simply bigger and faster. We will also have a significant advantage on set pieces because of our size and physicality. However, while they have no one with great ball skills, who can break us down individually, if allow them to to play in our final third, freely and unharried, sagging back on defense, we will be playing into their hands. Smaller players while generally slower on the run, are normally quicker out of the blocks and more adept in tighter spaces. It is something we must avoid.
Honestly, virtually every team we play tries to do what they do, so we are used to it. It is straight out of Women's NCAA Soccer 101. The question is, is their defense ready for a physical track meet. What we do is difficult to simulate is practice. What we don't have is a player with Morgan Weaver's seemingly endless gas tank. Our attack will need to be more varied to make up for it and we can't take our foot off the gas, which has occur at times this year. If we are resting they are recovering.
I took the time to watch some of Tennessee matches on YouTube.
Tennessee (19-2) won the SEC tournament, beating Arkansas 3-0. However, Arkansas remained the conferences top seed, Arkansas won in the regular season 3-1. Tenn. also had a clinker loss to Vandy. They played no one of consequence in the pre season. 7 SEC teams made the tournament, only 3 survived the first round. The SEC has virtually no final four experience, one appearance as far as I can tell, the ACC and the Pac-12 traditionally dominate the tournament.
Talent
Tenn. has no "5 tool" elite players, they aren't tall, they aren't very fast, nor are they very athletic. Their work rate is average, but spacing and organization on the attack is excellent, Similarly, they play sound "back to the goal" defense. They are very similar talentwise to the South Carolina team we faced in 2019. I don't think their backs have the pace to match up with our attacking players on the break.
Tactics
They don't overly try to control possession. They try to attack in numbers and defend in numbers "up the field," trying to recover possession in their attacking half. Their MO is to spit the defense, with well timed runs and passes. In this area they have the a significant advantage.
Analysis
We are bigger, faster and more athletic, but were aren't the more skilled side. If we can isolate our forwards and central mid fielders on their backs with our long ball, direct style, they will struggle, particularly if their backs have a limited gas tank. We are simply bigger and faster. We will also have a significant advantage on set pieces because of our size and physicality. However, while they have no one with great ball skills, who can break us down individually, if allow them to to play in our final third, freely and unharried, sagging back on defense, we will be playing into their hands. Smaller players while generally slower on the run, are normally quicker out of the blocks and more adept in tighter spaces. It is something we must avoid.
Honestly, virtually every team we play tries to do what they do, so we are used to it. It is straight out of Women's NCAA Soccer 101. The question is, is their defense ready for a physical track meet. What we do is difficult to simulate is practice. What we don't have is a player with Morgan Weaver's seemingly endless gas tank. Our attack will need to be more varied to make up for it and we can't take our foot off the gas, which has occur at times this year. If we are resting they are recovering.
