Not great at keeping the ball

[Len Finsbury]

Until the PL start awarding bonus points for possession%, I wouldn't worry about it.

[wolfgang amadeus]

Seemed to notice there was a reluctance from Drinkwater / King to come deep and collect the ball from our centre backs, Mahrez/Albrighton/Schlupp/De Laet were usually the targets which actually seemed to work quite well as it allowed drinky and king to occupy the space a bit further forward where their passes have the potential to be more dangerous.

[Christoph]

I don't think our problem is keeping hold of the ball. I think we struggle the most when teams sit back, soak up the pressure and counter on us. We seemed to struggle a lot last year when more teams were sitting back against us. We didnt have much ideas against teams that would put a wall in front of the goal. 

[lc4lcfc]

I see what the op is saying, its all well and good us not caring while we are on a high but what happens when plan A starts to fail? While what we do is exciting, we would all blast the team/tactics if we blow a 2 goal lead because we couldn't retain the ball

[Xen]

The bottom 5 there are

20. Crystal palace (won)

19. Watford (drew, good result for newly promoted side)

18. Us (won)

17. West Ham (won, away at Arsenal)

16. West Bromwich Albion (lost)

3 of those teams are currently in the top 4. Admittedly it's only after 1 game and against opposition of varying quality, but it shows that how many passes you complete has very little to do with the end result.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

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

 

Especially when Kaboul is your 'top passer' with 50.

[NotTheMarketLeader]

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.

This.

Why would we want to keep the ball without playing to our strengths - an attacking game?

Fans and managers, can over think things. This may be one of those occasions. Keep it simple do what we're are good at and we could blow away half of the division.

Slowing our game down would definitely be counter productive, as evidenced by last season. When Pearson started trying to 'match up against the oppostion' we were terrible. When we played our attacking football, as we had in winning the Championship, we were overall very good.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

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? 

 

Passing stats are overplayed and rated.

 

When you have quick and incisive players, ones that like to dribble, the key is to get them the ball as quickly as possible so they have more space/less players to beat. The other hand thing about going direct and then getting players around the ball is that if you lose it, the opposition is still a distance from the ball and will find it difficult to get clear controlled possession.

 

To be successful we have to focus on the strengths we have as a squad. Whilst we don't have the quality in both defence or midfield to pass teams to death, we shouldn't attempt to be something we're not - and personally, I wouldn't want to see us play in an Arsenal style anyway, I much prefer the pace and direct style as that is essentially part of this clubs identity.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

People are comparing us, after one game of a new season with a new manager, to last season

[st albans fox]

You play to your strengths and ours isn't keeping the ball at this level. If we have pretentious of making the top 8, that will probably need to change so that we are getting at least 50/50 against the bottom half sides. as we improve the standard of player in our side, that will happen.

[GingerrrFox]

I was actually really impressed with how Ranieri demanded Huth and Morgan split off and make the pitch as wide as possible on Saturday. The only thing I would like to see is a midfielder drop a little deeper in between them, it will make one of the opposition players come out of their shape and track him, which in turn will make more space for the likes of Riyad and Okazaki in the hole. If they don't track the deeper midfielder then he has the time and space to pick a pass or carry the ball into the opposition half.

[johnny the fox]

always remember we can't concede when the ball is 30 foot up in the heavens..

[shen]

Okazaki looked very composed on the ball against Sunderland, mostly under a lot of pressure too. Kanté looks promising in this regard as well. Mahrez has the ball glued to his feet, so we've got a decent amount of players that can help the team keep possession. You could argue that we are better equipped to keep the ball with the personnel this season than we were last season, also considering the change of manager.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

I don't think our problem is keeping hold of the ball. I think we struggle the most when teams sit back, soak up the pressure and counter on us. We seemed to struggle a lot last year when more teams were sitting back against us. We didnt have much ideas against teams that would put a wall in front of the goal. 

Yes and this is the problem - Norwich, West Brom etc will come to us for a point and keep it tight, and we'll need another way of beating these teams.

 

Palace are like an extreme version of us and can be neutralised if you sit deep against them, hence why they play better on the road. I want us to be more multi-dimensional than that

[Westerby]

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

Saves Kasper's getting slated for it!

[Molly]

I hate it when teams just pass around in their own half between their back four for 5 mins.

 

For us it would lead to a negative mindset.

 

We need to be all out attack whether we have the ball oe whether the other team has the ball.

 

Let Arsenal have the ball for 75% of the time but score at least 1 more goal than they do.

[Wilson_6]

I hate it when teams just pass around in their own half between their back four for 5 mins.

 

For us it would lead to a negative mindset.

 

We need to be all out attack whether we have the ball oe whether the other team has the ball.

 

Let Arsenal have the ball for 75% of the time but score at least 1 more goal than they do.

 

This is just so wrong on every level.

 

I never said we need to be passing it around the back 4 for 5 minutes. Grow up.

 

Cant see how keeping hold of the ball can lead to a negative mindset. surly not having the ball would lead to that.

 

No team in the world other than maybe Barcelona can be all out attack all the time.

 

For matches like man u, Chelsea, arsenal , man city than we need to use this tactic. Against teams like Aston villa, West brom, Norwich we need to be able to break them down, how can counter attacking football work against a team that's hardly going to attack? 

[cc_star]

Possession is one way of playing the game, Moyes tried that with a squad geared up to pacey counters at Utd and failed miserably.

 

trying that here won't work either without an overturn of personnel.

 

Possession game is not all it's cracked up to be, very overrated.

[Wilson_6]

Possession is one way of playing the game, Moyes tried that with a squad geared up to pacey counters at Utd and failed miserably.

 

trying that here won't work either without an overturn of personnel.

 

Possession game is not all it's cracked up to be, very overrated.

 

The key thing here that every one seems to be missing is. Yes we are set up for fast counter attacking football which is great. But we have to be able to do the other things well also like the strong challenges, keeping possession. If you can only play one style of football you will be found out unless you are Barcelona. 

[EnglishOxide]

The key thing with possession is retaining it in important areas. Ball retention is key.

By that I mean keeping it in play rather than over hitting long balls, having too many potshots at goal, keeping it away from a team that is pressing us hard too wear them out.

Passing it around the back is pointless if the opposition are sitting deep. Man City has exceptional possession stats last season but still lost the league.

I do think Ranieri will have us keeping the ball better, but when it becomes without purpose that's when it becomes a problem.

[RutlandFox91]

I think its a fair point and in the long run it would allow us to have a plan B and a second way of breaking teams down. 

 

However, of the bottom 4 teams in that table 3 won and 1 drew so as it has probably been suggested above, its not all about how MUCH possession you have, more how you use it which is important.

 

It will be interesting to see how that table compares at the end of the season to see if there is any relationship between number of passes completed and league position.

[Wilson_6]

The key thing with possession is retaining it in important areas. Ball retention is key.

By that I mean keeping it in play rather than over hitting long balls, having too many potshots at goal, keeping it away from a team that is pressing us hard too wear them out.

Passing it around the back is pointless if the opposition are sitting deep. Man City has exceptional possession stats last season but still lost the league.

I do think Ranieri will have us keeping the ball better, but when it becomes without purpose that's when it becomes a problem.

 

Couldn't agree more

[NotTheMarketLeader]

Yes and this is the problem - Norwich, West Brom etc will come to us for a point and keep it tight, and we'll need another way of beating these teams.

Palace are like an extreme version of us and can be neutralised if you sit deep against them, hence why they play better on the road. I want us to be more multi-dimensional than that

You have a point.

However of late - I mean since April - we have beat teams who have sat back. We have murdered virtually everyone we've played at HOME, so you can't say we are better suited to counter attacking away from home. We seem, at least short term to have overcome that problem.

[Guest Col city fan]

Man City exemplified how it should be done last night.

Keeping the ball and looking for the right moment to make the killer pass.

You can keep the ball all you like but if you don't attack with any gusto it's aimless.

Personally last season I thought we kept the ball for too long. As in, held onto it for too long, making sideways passes.

When we looked to play our best game, it all came good.

The only time you keep the ball for long is when the game is won.

The Italians used to be masters at that. If they went in front, they tended to stay in front.

[Stuntman_Mike]

This has always been a problem since we got promoted.

 

It's not too much of a concern when we play against lower quality opposition, particularly at home when we dictate the game, but when we play away against the stronger teams when we need to see the game out, or relieve the pressure we put ourselves under unnecessarily.

 

I wouldn't say it is a major concern, but certainly an area we need to work on.