Not great at keeping the ball

[Wilson_6]

Just seen this article on Sky sports. This backs up the point i was trying to make in another thread. Yes when we play our attaching fast game IT CAN get us lots of goals and wins. but i think keeping hold of the ball against certain teams and in certain periods is massively important in the premier league something we aren't very good at. I do think Ranieri will look at this and sort it out.  I know this is only based on one match but its something i've been noticing for a while now. 

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9945106/man-city-completed-692-passes-against-west-brom-how-did-the-rest-compare? 

[MrSpaM]

I think we just give teams the ball so we can counter attack and score

[linemakers]

Yep Sunderland 347 to our 250, so glad we don't play like Sunderland.

[Wilson_6]

I think we just give teams the ball so we can counter attack and score

We cant do that for ever. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Agree, this is a weakness and we've shown we can do it in the Championship so why not in the Prem? We need more than one way of playing. People say possession is overrated but it does stop other teams attacking and allow us to build pressure rather than always relying on pace

[Molly]

It takes a long time for opposing teams to take the ball from the back of their net. And then they pass it around at the back so that they don't let in a 4th in 35 mins.

[Wilson_6]

Agree, this is a weakness and we've shown we can do it in the Championship so why not in the Prem? We need more than one way of playing. People say possession is overrated but it does stop other teams attacking and allow us to build pressure rather than always relying on pace

I'm just glad one person agrees with me for a second there i thought i was just going to get completely slated. 

It takes a long time for opposing teams to take the ball from the back of their net. And then they pass it around at the back so that they don't let in a 4th in 35 mins.

Ay?

[Frank to be]

It's not a problem while we're creating eight quality chances per game and have scored nine goals in our last two premier league games. There's no point in possession for the sake of it. If you can create a good chance, create a good chance.

[Wilson_6]

I just think although we played so well against Sunderland and yes i know its just one match and the first of the season. But every one keeps saying how dreadful Sunderland are...We still gave them 2 goals. there was periods in the second half when i felt like screaming at the tv just keep hold of the ball and play some simple passes we didnt need to score any more we just needed to not concede. Not trying to be negative just think its something we need to sort out to make us a more complete team. 

[Beliall]

actually, one difference i noticed in the first game, against last season, is how often we passed the ball out of defence rather than hoofing it clear. big improvement there that will surely get even better as the season progresses

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

Well I don't think we are technically good enough to retain possession for long periods, especially against the better opposition. Which is why I'm glad that Claudio hasn't taken us down that road, and we look intent on playing the high pressing and quick countering which brought us success last year.

[linemakers]

So we need a average of 62.5 passes to get a goal compared to Sunderland's 175, Man city's 230 . Nothing wrong with not passing it around the back all the time and attacking quickly

[Manwell Pablo]

I'm just glad one person agrees with me for a second there i thought i was just going to get completely slated. 

 

 

I can see the point your making it is always a plus point to have the ball but yes, we can actually do it for ever, it footballing tactic and it's worked for us well over the last 10 competitve games or so, we've lost one of them against the current champions of England.

 

It's now how much of the ball you have it's what you do with it. And our 19 attmepts and 8 shots on target and four goals show we are doing plenty.

[hornyhollthefox123]

It's not a problem while we're creating eight quality chances per game and have scored nine goals in our last two premier league games. There's no point in possession for the sake of it. If you can create a good chance, create a good chance.

 

 

Very simply put, this.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

It's extremely difficult to retain possession for long periods in the PL, unless you have the technical players to do it, I'd rather we just played to our strengths tbh

No doubt, in time, we will be able to sign the kind of players needed for that kind of football, but I don't see it as a necessity

[Wilson_6]

I can see the point your making it is always a plus point to have the ball but yes, we can actually do it for ever, it footballing tactic and it's worked for us well over the last 10 competitve games or so, we've lost one of them against the current champions of England.

 

It's now how much of the ball you have it's what you do with it. And our 19 attmepts and 8 shots on target and four goals show we are doing plenty.

I completely agree that its what you do with the ball not how much of the ball you have. i also agree that the counter attack tactic is something that works well for us and is a good tactic. I just feel like we need to be able to do both at certain periods. I'm probably looking too far into the future of how we might play if we ever manage to become a top 10 team season in season out.

[benpicko]

actually, one difference i noticed in the first game, against last season, is how often we passed the ball out of defence rather than hoofing it clear. big improvement there that will surely get even better as the season progresses

Yeah I noticed this as well. Also noticed how Benalouane in the U21s match literally just booted it as far up the field as he could at every opportunity

[Beliall]

Yeah I noticed this as well. Also noticed how Benalouane in the U21s match literally just booted it as far up the field as he could at every opportunity

 

thats not a good sign

[AKCJ]

That's not our game though.

 

We sit tight, nab the ball and peg it down the other end to score.

 

Works a treat.

[adam95581]

I do agree that we surrender possession quite easily at times but it is also worth noting that Palace, West Ham and Watford also make up the bottom four in this table and yet all picked up points. What would be more interesting is to see where the passes were played, how many were 'key' passes and what proportion of the passes went backwards v forwards as I think what you do with the ball is way more important than how often you pass it.  

[Dan]

I couldn't believe the possession stat after the game. I thought we kept the ball a lot better than we did last season.

 

Our chances created for the amount of time we have on the ball is impressive though, and that's more important.

[Kilworthfox]

It was 4 v 2 and the only side recently we have lost too were the eventual champions, so I think its fair to say that you can try to make a case for anything with statistics, but the only one that has and will ever count is the final result.

Football is a wonderful sport because there are many ways of being successful, having the ball or being well organised without it are just 2.

[Wymsey]

The problem of this is when the defence attempt to pass it out to others in front of them.

 

The midfield and strikers aren't really the culprits of this.

[ScouseFox]

rather be bad at keeping the ball and boss as scoring goals than the other way round

[RedSoxUK]

I'm so glad we're not a team who can and will pass it around needlessly at the back or in midfield to the back, back to goalkeeper, goalkeeper to back, back to midfielder, etc.

 

And better yet we don't need to. I can't watch teams like England, Bayern, Barca etc play football because it's boring, simply boring. Manchester City showed a different level of class vs WBA though, and that was the ease and lack of effort it takes to break a side down, and continuously break a side down, David Silva is just wow. So when you're sitting 3 - 0 up vs a poor opponent who can't get the ball off of you, who can't get back into the game, and are instructed to play longball bullshit football with two strikers, then yeah, Manchester City can quite easily get a thousand passes completed.

 

If you notice with Leicester on Saturday, Sunderland's pass / possession numbers often ended with Okazaki taking the ball, or our midfield sniffing it out and then playing a direct ball up to the corners for Vardy or onto the wings. That's how we play, that's how we win. The more teams pass around at the back and get these statistics against us, the more likely we are to take the ball from them and have a chance at a goal.

 

Possession is a different matter, and comes down to how the opposition are sitting against us and how our midfielders can compete. I have no problem having negative possession if we perform well and  create chances.