Originally Posted by
Rock_Flock_of_Five
The world's best teams play the ball out of defence and pass it around instinctively at the back but with a purpose. They try to pull the opposition out of shape a little and when they do they seize the opportunity by hitting an incisive pass.
I watched the Forest game on iFollow. The Forest defenders were clearly under orders to play it out that way (their 'keeper hardly kicked all game), however, what they were doing was bordering on the comical at times. They heaped pressure on themselves, it often resulted in passes going completely astray and directly into touch. They couldn't think for themselves or the read the game as it unfolded in front of them. They felt they HAD to pass it for the sake of it because ... well, "that's what our manager told us to do".
City took a free-kick, they had Bamba, Morrison and Patterson up in their box, the Forest 'keeper comfortably collects and with us exposed at the back you'd think he'd try to exploit that by kicking long or at least trying to throw it long -you could see he even thinks about it for a moment but, no ... he rolls the ball square to his area, where their player immediately gets put under pressure from City players who were up for the free-kick - that's just unintelligent football and Forest were guilty of it all afternoon. They couldn't think for themselves.