Possession based football.

M

Middxile

Well-known member
Pool try to play it, as evidenced by their patience passing the ball along the back line and back. The idea of this tactic is to give the midfield players the chance to find space and “show” for the ball. They don’t seem to be doing too well at that, because the back line are eventually closed down without making that pass, and they have to play it back to the ‘keeper. He then hoofs it up the pitch 😳. Rinse and repeat every few minutes. It almost seems that Pool view this exercise, not as a means to an end, but instead the cornerstone of their afternoon’s activities; i.e. it IS their end ! They won’t score many goals doing that, and will eventually concede one. Oh, hold on !
 
It takes technically good players to make it work, it's all relative to the division you are in but our squad hasn't got the players to do it at league 1 level.
We can be good with the counter attack on occasion, but when we have extended periods of possession it usually ends up with a hopeful punt, which renders the previous possession pointless!!
 
I can't recall Crotchless's exact words(not going looking either) from an interview last week "If top teams send us players they know we play the right way"

All very well and good but it is regressing some of our players and costing us so would those teams want to send their players to a very poorly implemented system here?

To implement a system that has given such a shocking return away from home without the players our ability to change things when plan A isn't working is very narrow-minded to the point foolish.
 
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You cannot possibly play possession based football from the back when big Marv as one of your components, he's great as a ball winner and at covering forward runs etc, but he can't trap a bag of cement so he will make mistakes and cost you goals, also as pointed out by a couple of the guys what's the point of playing it around at the back and then go and hoof it 70 yards forward? The only reason you do it is to allow you to play the ball through midfield on the deck and then attack their defence by running at them and causing problems, big strapping centre halves don't mind an aerial assault especially if you've no Madine type striker to aim at and the ball is coming straight at them from distance.
 
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Raging_Bull said:
You cannot possibly play possession based football from the back when big Marv as one of your components, he's great as a ball winner and at covering forward runs etc, but he can't trap a bag of cement so he will make mistakes and cost you goals, also as pointed out by a couple of the guys what's the point of playing it around at the back and then go and hoof it 70 yards forward? The only reason you do it is to allow you to play the ball through midfield on the deck and then attack their defence by running at them and causing problems, big strapping centre halves don't mind an aerial assault especially if you've no Madine type striker to aim at and the ball is coming straight at them from distance.
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I've read on other threads Marvs non signing of a new contract means he'll be signed by a Championship club in the summer.
🤔 really.
 
Middxile said:
Pool try to play it, as evidenced by their patience passing the ball along the back line and back. The idea of this tactic is to give the midfield players the chance to find space and “show” for the ball. They don’t seem to be doing too well at that, because the back line are eventually closed down without making that pass, and they have to play it back to the ‘keeper. He then hoofs it up the pitch 😳. Rinse and repeat every few minutes. It almost seems that Pool view this exercise, not as a means to an end, but instead the cornerstone of their afternoon’s activities; i.e. it IS their end ! They won’t score many goals doing that, and will eventually concede one. Oh, hold on !
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You would think critchley would have learned by now that it isn’t working, whether we have midfielder players who can find space or not, our defenders don’t seem to be capable of finding them.
This has been the situation all season, yet he’s not changed it, he needs to be gone.
 
Possession football doesn't work when it's in your own half irrespective of ability. It has to move forward. Sometimes it just allows the other team to reset their formation and try to pick the ball off. They may as well pull up a deck chair and watch it happen knowing they'll get the ball back sooner rather than later.
 
So the possession based football at the back is to invite the opposition on, thus creating space further forward. The (bleeding obvious) issue is that we do it far too slowly. If you watch better teams playing the same as us, they are much quicker at it and can create the overloads needed. We simply never manage this as it's pedestrian and easy to prevent.
 
fcblackpool said:
Possession football doesn't work when it's in your own half irrespective of ability. It has to move forward. Sometimes it just allows the other team to reset their formation and try to pick the ball off. They may as well pull up a deck chair and watch it happen knowing they'll get the ball back sooner rather than later.
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Yes but it’s the moving forward beyond the halfway line that we struggle to crack. Personally I think it’s a lack of pace/speed or whatever you want to call it. We seem to be waiting for the opposition to make a mistake and create a gap to exploit, rather than pressing them into making an error and creating a gap. Hence the, more often than not, resorting to hoofball. And usually surrendering the possession you just thought was so important.

So yes the scenario in the op is very frustrating.

The other scenario i personally find very frustrating is when we finally do get momentum going forward, how often it just fizzles out. The solution is quite easy really. “SHOOT!!!!” Pepper their goal with shots. Wide, over the bar, out of the ground!!! I don’t care. If you can see the goal, kick the effing ball as hard as you can. It’s a numbers game. The law of averages and basic mathematics prove a good few will go in. It’s also a lot more exciting for fans.

We just need someone with a very loud voice at the training ground to constantly shout

ATTACK ATTACK, ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!!

And

SHOOT!!!!!!!!!!!
 
zico_bamber said:
So the possession based football at the back is to invite the opposition on, thus creating space further forward. The (bleeding obvious) issue is that we do it far too slowly. If you watch better teams playing the same as us, they are much quicker at it and can create the overloads needed. We simply never manage this as it's pedestrian and easy to prevent.
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Snap. Just said the same thing.
 
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