Maher- Possession Football is Dead

[danburyshrimper]

I still want Kev to be our manager. However, football is evolving & thankfully it is being proven week in week out that the dead slow pedestrian possession football that Pep introduced & everyone copied is dead. Its so boring to watch, & look at the stats from this w/e - it doesnt work !!! Brighton 69% possession LOST 7-0. Man utd 67% possession LOST 2-0. Aston Villa 69% possession LOST 2-0. MAN C 55% possession LOST 5-1. Leicester 53% possession LOST 4-0. The stats for passes is even more telling.

Football is always so much more exciting when played at pace, high tempo ,with aggression & passion. This tippy tappy sideways backwards nonsense is total garbage and is dull as dishwater to watch.

Maher- You DO have the right players in your squad, just release the handbrake of slow build up, overly defensive lineups + encourage attacking play( Our squad is crying out to play 4-3-3) + our strikers will soon regain confidence .

We can still get into the playoffs, but we need to get on the front foot, attack in numbers & get us loyal fans on our feet & get back into the EFL .

UTB

 

[Swiss Tony]

I still want Kev to be our manager. However, football is evolving & thankfully it is being proven week in week out that the dead slow pedestrian possession football that Pep introduced & everyone copied is dead. Its so boring to watch, & look at the stats from this w/e - it doesnt work !!! Brighton 69% possession LOST 7-0. Man utd 67% possession LOST 2-0. Aston Villa 69% possession LOST 2-0. MAN C 55% possession LOST 5-1. Leicester 53% possession LOST 4-0. The stats for passes is even more telling.

Football is always so much more exciting when played at pace, high tempo ,with aggression & passion. This tippy tappy sideways backwards nonsense is total garbage and is dull as dishwater to watch.

Maher- You DO have the right players in your squad, just release the handbrake of slow build up, overly defensive lineups + encourage attacking play( Our squad is crying out to play 4-3-3) + our strikers will soon regain confidence .

We can still get into the playoffs, but we need to get on the front foot, attack in numbers & get us loyal fans on our feet & get back into the EFL .

UTB

Great post with some eye opening stats, I just hope Kev decides to have a go at the play-offs and take the brakes off.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Agree, we need to drive forward as per Dagenham - and to do so we need to be in possession of the ball.
BTW, WHY THE CAPITALS, lol?

 

[Wickford Blue]

I still want Kev to be our manager. However, football is evolving & thankfully it is being proven week in week out that the dead slow pedestrian possession football that Pep introduced & everyone copied is dead. Its so boring to watch, & look at the stats from this w/e - it doesnt work !!! Brighton 69% possession LOST 7-0. Man utd 67% possession LOST 2-0. Aston Villa 69% possession LOST 2-0. MAN C 55% possession LOST 5-1. Leicester 53% possession LOST 4-0. The stats for passes is even more telling.

Football is always so much more exciting when played at pace, high tempo ,with aggression & passion. This tippy tappy sideways backwards nonsense is total garbage and is dull as dishwater to watch.

Maher- You DO have the right players in your squad, just release the handbrake of slow build up, overly defensive lineups + encourage attacking play( Our squad is crying out to play 4-3-3) + our strikers will soon regain confidence .

We can still get into the playoffs, but we need to get on the front foot, attack in numbers & get us loyal fans on our feet & get back into the EFL .

UTB

With all due respect which Premiership or other side do you manage and assume you have all your coaching qualifications.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

I said this today watching the Arsenal game. Man City had 4 easy chances to cross the ball from really good positions near the edge of the box, and refused all of them. Going backwards every time. Eventually they got bored and put a cross in from a much worse position which caused no issues at all.

Arsenal kept doing the same, until about the last 25 mins when they looked more positive and drove forward with the ball and scored 3 goals, and should of had more.

Thankfully it’s being found out at the top level, hopefully it will filter down the leagues.

 

[Shrimper]

With all due respect which Premiership or other side do you manage and assume you have all your coaching qualifications.

People can only criticise if they have qualifications? Is that really what you're suggesting?

 

[Leeboy]

I said this today watching the Arsenal game. Man City had 4 easy chances to cross the ball from really good positions near the edge of the box, and refused all of them. Going backwards every time. Eventually they got bored and put a cross in from a much worse position which caused no issues at all.

Arsenal kept doing the same, until about the last 25 mins when they looked more positive and drove forward with the ball and scored 3 goals, and should of had more.

Thankfully it’s being found out at the top level, hopefully it will filter down the leagues.

I watched that and Gary Neville was criticising Arsenal for getting to City’s final third, stopping and going sideways & backwards.

I thought to myself Gary you should come down to Roots Hall mate.

Is Kev modelling himself on Arteta?

 

[JAL]

Our style of football also allows for defenders to ALWAYS get back, please tell me the last time you saw us break clean through a defence with a through ball on a dangerous attack? We always play with defenders in position, making it 3 times harder for us.

 

[LBBlue]

Our style of football also allows for defenders to ALWAYS get back, please tell me the last time you saw us break clean through a defence with a through ball on a dangerous attack? We always play with defenders in position, making it 3 times harder for us.

Trouble is we don’t have players who are very quick so to make sure they can get back they don’t go very far forward …..

 

[Boreham Blue]

The other associated tactic I find hugely frustrating is that when we get a throw close to their box rarely does Gus take a long throw, preferring to go short and keep position. Rather than a close to 100% chance of the ball getting into the box, the amount of time we get a cross in has got to be <50%. Sittingbourne weren’t great at picking us up and we had a few of them blocked for a corner but NL teams read it and we usually get nothing.

 

[HertfordshireBlue]

I still want Kev to be our manager. However, football is evolving & thankfully it is being proven week in week out that the dead slow pedestrian possession football that Pep introduced & everyone copied is dead. Its so boring to watch, & look at the stats from this w/e - it doesnt work !!! Brighton 69% possession LOST 7-0. Man utd 67% possession LOST 2-0. Aston Villa 69% possession LOST 2-0. MAN C 55% possession LOST 5-1. Leicester 53% possession LOST 4-0. The stats for passes is even more telling.

Football is always so much more exciting when played at pace, high tempo ,with aggression & passion. This tippy tappy sideways backwards nonsense is total garbage and is dull as dishwater to watch.

Maher- You DO have the right players in your squad, just release the handbrake of slow build up, overly defensive lineups + encourage attacking play( Our squad is crying out to play 4-3-3) + our strikers will soon regain confidence .

We can still get into the playoffs, but we need to get on the front foot, attack in numbers & get us loyal fans on our feet & get back into the EFL .

UTB

Proper post this. Football is all about trends, positions will come in and out of fashion including style of football. I don’t dispute the past few years, Guardiola style ‘possession football’ has dominated the scene but I firmly agree football is now entering a ‘counter attacking’ phase. 3-5-2 is dead defensive setups are dead. Return of the 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-3-3’s attacking football, Forest being a perfect example.

 

[southendkid]

Man City won 4 premier league titles in a row with possession football, possession football isn't dead just because they've had one bad season, especially since another possession side (Liverpool) is 6 points clear at the top with a game in hand.

City are doing bad this year because Rodri is injured and for some reason Guardiola didn't think it'd be a good idea to have a back up for him. Possession football doesn't work if you don't have a workhorse in the middle that can both protect the defence and turn over possession quickly (which is the bit we struggle with).

 

[Dave Smiths Love Child]

Man City won 4 premier league titles in a row with possession football, possession football isn't dead just because they've had one bad season, especially since another possession side (Liverpool) is 6 points clear at the top with a game in hand.

City are doing bad this year because Rodri is injured and for some reason Guardiola didn't think it'd be a good idea to have a back up for him. Possession football doesn't work if you don't have a workhorse in the middle that can both protect the defence and turn over possession quickly (which is the bit we struggle with).

Yes we need a Kevin Maher type player in the middle , broke up many an attack and commanded the middle

 

[Wickford Blue]

People can only criticise if they have qualifications? Is that really what you're suggesting?

"being proven week in week out that the dead slow pedestrian possession football that Pep introduced & everyone copied is dead."

You state this - where is it being proven?

 

[Strykr]

Yes we need a Kevin Maher type player in the middle , broke up many an attack and commanded the middle

Its a good point, its all about the talent around you and movement off the ball.

Kevs crab reputation comes from his first few seasons surround by crap players, as soon as we got better players surrounding him and decent wingers and outlets he was a very good midfielder, capable of doing all the dirty work, and also playing some superb attacking passes.

To compete imo for every 3 long shot up and coming young non leaguer we sign, we have to buy 1 very good proven player. Its gonna take some money as it always does.

 

[Barry.C]

I dont recall Kev as a centre attacking mid, or even central mid I remember his many classical sideways passes strongly retaining possession for us, when under pressure, at times not diving in either like say Cav

BUT king Kev made over 400 appearances for us, became team captain , then club captain ,and steered us to Promotion twice in successive seasons, including going up to the Championship. He knows how to get us promoted, been there , done it and no wonder a true legend

However his 533 overall league appearances only culminated in 23 goals and 22 of them were with us in 383 games , so not exactly prolific.

When was the last time we had a very good forward/striker coach incidentally and for any reasonable length of time, given the importance of the roil? Southgate had Alan Russell Who?

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Tora tora tora

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

With all due respect which Premiership or other side do you manage and assume you have all your coaching qualifications.

With all due respect, what a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[danbowen]

Trouble is we don’t have players who are very quick so to make sure they can get back they don’t go very far forward …..

Pretty sure there is a GIF of this...

 

[danbowen]

Man City won 4 premier league titles in a row with possession football, possession football isn't dead just because they've had one bad season, especially since another possession side (Liverpool) is 6 points clear at the top with a game in hand.

City are doing bad this year because Rodri is injured and for some reason Guardiola didn't think it'd be a good idea to have a back up for him. Possession football doesn't work if you don't have a workhorse in the middle that can both protect the defence and turn over possession quickly (which is the bit we struggle with).

Liverpool are much more direct than City and constantly play through the gaps for their attackers to run on to. Their style of play is hugely different to City.