| The death of possession football 07:47 - Apr 30 with 3020 views | QuakerJack |
Given the high profile examples in the last week where two teams (Liverpool and Bayern) dominated possession but were ultimately defeated, does this prove that the Rodgers/Guardiola plan A only tactics of death by passing will ultimately get you nowhere?
One thing we have to credit Laudrup with is his ability to set us up to have a plan B. Chelsea over two legs and arsenal away were the best examples of this. Our best performances last season were without the ball.
By contrast, until two weeks ago we were in a relegation scrap, yet we've had more possession than anyone in the league, imagine we'd gone down with that stat.
I don't want us abandoning that style, but whoever comes in as manager needs to be able to get the team to set up to shut teams out in the way we've seen Chelsea and Real do this week. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 08:04 - Apr 30 with 2539 views | monmouth |
Bayern did nothing with the ball and showed no intent....side to side and hopeless crosses unless Robben came inside to shoot. That's where Laudrup was spot on when he came here and made immediate improvements from where we hadstagnated under Brenno. You have to do something more with the possession.
Having said that I believe that the Scouse had an off day against Chelski....or maybe the pressure got to them, and it wasn't Chelsea 'brilliance'. It was Real brilliance though. They were just a better team than Bayern, although Bayern really didn't help themselves with their appallingly pedestrian approach.
So no, I don't think we need to change, rather revert to the initial Laudrup mantra of intent, and play the game with pace. I'm more worried that our passing has gone AWOL lately. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 08:31 - Apr 30 with 2458 views | quiff |
I can see what you mean, but would you really want to watch the Chelsea performance in the first leg of the CL every week? |  |
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| The death of possession football on 08:35 - Apr 30 with 2446 views | Darran |
| The death of possession football on 08:31 - Apr 30 by quiff |
I can see what you mean, but would you really want to watch the Chelsea performance in the first leg of the CL every week? |
No I wouldn't but nobody complained when we did it. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 08:35 - Apr 30 with 2443 views | Dewi1jack |
Bayern knowing at half time that they needed 5 goals as a bare minimum to go through, were very pedestrian.
They looked that they were the team defending a 4 goal lead.
I expected them to come out all guns blazing for the 2nd half. Maybe even chucking the keeper forward as early as the 70th minute for corners etc
Tiredness couldn't be used as an excuse, as it was reported when they wrapped the Bundesliga title up in record time, that they would be resting players to ensure their freshness for the CL.
Maybe Guardiola isn't as good a manager as we all think he is |  |
| If you wake up breathing, thats a good start to your day and you'll make many thousands of people envious. |
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| The death of possession football on 08:58 - Apr 30 with 2393 views | tomdickharry |
Barcelona had Messi,possibly his presence covered up some of the faults in the team. | | | |
| The death of possession football on 09:13 - Apr 30 with 2361 views | Drizzy |
Death by passing will get you nowhere?
Got Guardiola two Champions League medals.
I wouldn't lump Liverpool and Bayern together either. They've been the most exciting team to watch this season and the likes of Gerrard and Coutinho play long through balls all the time. They only looked like Barcelona on Sunday because Chelsea sat so deep there was no space in behind. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 09:17 - Apr 30 with 2354 views | Brockley_Jack |
Stick Suarez in a white shirt and our possession football would see us 15 points higher up the table. Add Europa football to liver pools calendar and we'd end up in roughly the same league position. |  | | |
| The death of possession football on 09:58 - Apr 30 with 2312 views | smellyjack |
Strangely enough, villa had more of the ball than us on Saturday... | | | |
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| The death of possession football on 10:02 - Apr 30 with 2299 views | JackSomething |
| The death of possession football on 09:58 - Apr 30 by smellyjack |
Strangely enough, villa had more of the ball than us on Saturday... |
We're no longer top of the possession charts for the season either, Southampton overtook us after Saturday.
Forget three points, we're fighting to win the possession table!  |  |
| You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help. |
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| The death of possession football on 10:23 - Apr 30 with 2245 views | SwansNZ |
Arsenal away without the ball?
Is that the game we won 0-2, had more shots on goal than them and had 56% possession?  |  |
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| The death of possession football on 11:55 - Apr 30 with 2129 views | Catullus |
It's as it has always been, possession by itself won't win you anything. You will eventually need another plan or approach to the game, depending on the opposition.
Mourinho is very good tactically, he can set Chelsea up in a number of different ways.
We need to be similar, keeping the ball is all very well but it will eventually be found out and with no other options losing will become the norm.
Under Monk we have been more aggressive in attack, lets hope it lasts! | |
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| The death of possession football on 11:56 - Apr 30 with 2127 views | Spratty |
| The death of possession football on 09:58 - Apr 30 by smellyjack |
Strangely enough, villa had more of the ball than us on Saturday... |
Yep that was pretty evident from watching
Although Villa even said Villa were poor, I thought they had some nice play and were generally out passing us for good periods.
I was interested how many started turning on Bren - run out of ideas etc. when he has done so well, of course Suarez is a massive factor. |  | | |
| The death of possession football on 13:04 - Apr 30 with 2035 views | vetchfan |
Whenever this style of football loses a game, everybody questions the whole tactic. If hoffball loses a game it takes months of bad form for somebody to question the style as the main fault. The fact is that Liverpool and Bayern didn't play the style well enough and lost. | | | |
| The death of possession football on 13:24 - Apr 30 with 2007 views | oh_tommy_tommy |
Possession is vital for us ,this subject is brought up every season.
Keep the ball & the other team can't score ,the key is taking your chances with possession . |  |
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| The death of possession football on 13:30 - Apr 30 with 1994 views | somersetsimon |
| The death of possession football on 08:35 - Apr 30 by Darran |
No I wouldn't but nobody complained when we did it. |
A "small" team setting up defensively against a big team full of more talented players in a one off match is understandable.
Choosing to do this when you have plenty of good attacking players and limitless resources isn't so great for football. |  | | |
| The death of possession football on 13:50 - Apr 30 with 1940 views | JethroJack |
| The death of possession football on 10:23 - Apr 30 by SwansNZ |
Arsenal away without the ball?
Is that the game we won 0-2, had more shots on goal than them and had 56% possession? |
No...he must mean this season's 2-2...we defended brilliantly after Wilf's 16th minute opener....and Routs was probably our best defender. |  | | |
| The death of possession football on 13:56 - Apr 30 with 1920 views | JackSomething |
| The death of possession football on 11:56 - Apr 30 by Spratty |
Yep that was pretty evident from watching
Although Villa even said Villa were poor, I thought they had some nice play and were generally out passing us for good periods.
I was interested how many started turning on Bren - run out of ideas etc. when he has done so well, of course Suarez is a massive factor. |
Quite a contrast to the away game wasn't it?
Up there we had 73% possession and 17 shots on goal, but only 3 on target and could only draw 1-1.
Last Saturday, we had only 48% possession and dropped to 11 shots, but had 8 on target and scored 4.
We probably played better overall at Villa Park, but couldn't convert our dominance into goals and a win. | |
| You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help. |
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| The death of possession football on 14:01 - Apr 30 with 1913 views | ApeShit |
| The death of possession football on 13:30 - Apr 30 by somersetsimon |
A "small" team setting up defensively against a big team full of more talented players in a one off match is understandable.
Choosing to do this when you have plenty of good attacking players and limitless resources isn't so great for football. |
At the end of the day it comes down whether you want to win the game or play pretty.
Obviously the best outcome would be to get a combination of both, which is rare. |  | | |
| The death of possession football on 16:07 - Apr 30 with 1819 views | A_Fans_Dad |
The "Possession" as an asset depends on what kind of possession it is.
1. Slow defensive sideways and backwards possession is just asking for trouble from interceptions and passing mistakes.
2. Very slow build up possession allows the opposition more time to prepare and makes them harder to break down, but is preferable to 1.
3. Fast attacking possession, getting in to the penalty area or around behind the defense is best.
But in all cases accurate shots on goal are still required because that is what wins games.
Unexpected shots like Shelvey's also makes the opposition wary of allowing too much possession by us in their half and is very demoralising for them. | | | |
| The death of possession football on 17:02 - Apr 30 with 1763 views | oldcob |
You do what you need to do to get a result. If you do it by playing pretty football so be it. I'd rather win ugly that lose pretty. Its a competitive game after all. Peoples livings depend on the results. | | | |
| The death of possession football on 14:31 - May 1 with 1546 views | C_jack |
There is no perfect formation or style, it is what makes the game so great. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 15:01 - May 1 with 1519 views | Cooperman |
Good article that. And it could well be the end, for now. These things move in cycles as teams constantly try to get one over each other. At a Euro level at least Munchen might have to re engineer. |  |
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| The death of possession football on 15:20 - May 1 with 1506 views | Spratty |
| The death of possession football on 13:56 - Apr 30 by JackSomething |
Quite a contrast to the away game wasn't it?
Up there we had 73% possession and 17 shots on goal, but only 3 on target and could only draw 1-1.
Last Saturday, we had only 48% possession and dropped to 11 shots, but had 8 on target and scored 4.
We probably played better overall at Villa Park, but couldn't convert our dominance into goals and a win. |
Agree. Our delightfully! mysterious team. Ever was it thus, but thank goodness for the win and some lovely goals.
Forgotten the Villa away possession was so high.
Paul was just reminding us of how we played Southampton off the park and lost 2-0.
Hey ho - beautiful to watch, but ineffectual at the end of the day. Same for Man City away, lost but were awesome. Sigh. | | | |
| The death of possession football on 16:51 - May 1 with 1453 views | waynekerr55 |
For me Pep's biggest downfall is his insistence on a suicidal high line, bloody hell even Wellbeck gave them problems in the space behind them.
What this week has proved is the importance of being able to adapt and play in a different style - both in and out of possession |  |
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