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There is no way we have only had 35% possession in our opening 4 games this season.
The reason our possession stats are so low is cos it's measured by the amount of passes made.
We have more ball carriers in the team and get the ball from back to front quickly whereas most other teams will opt for a more measured build up.
I've been thinking exactly the same. The wag possession is worked out doesn't really make sense to me.
It favours needless passing in areas that aren't dangerous, exactly like Villa and Wolves were doing and exactly what we ended up doing under Trollope.
Changes created, shots on target etc are much better indicators of how a team are performing in my eyes.
Possession bases football is good if done in the right way but possession for the sake of it masks team's deficiencies when looking at the stats and gives a good excuse after losing imo.
I think possession stats to gage who is most likely to win a game of football was a trend or fad that has now died out.
The craze was born out of the success enjoyed by Spain, and Barcelona under Pep, but they were extraordinary teams with extra ordinary players.
The philosophy was the more time you have the ball it means the less time the opposition have it and therefore less time to score a goal.
However, I think the last few years, both domestically and in Europe with Madrid dominating, has seen a shift to more of high press or counter attacking game.
Sides with pace are happy for the opposition to have the ball so they draw themselves out and then bang, hit them on the counter.
Possession stats should be seen as a small part of the big picture, but they never are. They're normally presented on their own and that way they tell you very little about the game, certainly not enough to guage who 'deserved' to win.
A more complete indicator would be possession in different parts of the pitch. "Total" football is generally played >85% in your own half.
City, with far less possession had more total shots and shots on target than any of the teams we have played so far, even though the stats show we have had only half their possession.
We are more direct, and we don't Ponce about with possession as much as other teams, so it look like we have less possession
Anyone know Wales possession stats for the Euros? We played great counter attack football and it clearly worked.
In the course of the last few years we had regular spells where we have been been shy of possession.
It even became a standing joke on here, where the would be ironic celebratory comments if we were actually 'winning' on possession stats on some rare occasion. Not so long ago.
We were fairly dire in those recent times.
We are very, very far from dire -currently.
Clearly, possession doesn't tell the story.
It's not the size of your dick, it's what you do with it.
Sorry, wrong Fred
Nobody reads much into possession stats these days, at least not in terms of who has played better, as there are more than one way to win.
It can tell you a bit about how the team is trying to play I suppose, but by itself not very useful.