I watch a welsh amateur league team that have started to implement a passing style and pressing high up the pitch.
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There has been one goal about a year ago and one goal at u23 level.
We're talking about Rochdale here!
If I was pulling out a Man City goal from the weekend then I'd understand.
I guess my point is that we don't pass the ball like that at all and I'd like to know the longest spell of possession we have in a game!
As much as people like to blame Warnock I think during a match the players have to take responsibility.
Yes we undoubtedly have a direct tactic but does that mean they can't ever take the ball down and pass when in space, that they can't be told they have space and have the confidence to take a touch.
Sometimes it's on them to assess the situation as it unfolds and if the pass is on then use it.
I don't think that's the case though mate.
I watched Warnock go bananas recently when Bennett attempted to overlap.
My memory is a bit vague too but I'm sure in one of his recent press conferences he alluded to something along these lines regarding players not listening to his instructions (ie they didn't get the ball into dangerous areas enough)
That Brighton goal is an unusual for us for more than just the obvious reason. Looking at it again, I was struck that there were plenty of chances for the ball to be played back to Etheridge for him to boot it up the pitch that were not taken. Often, if one our defenders has the ball just inside their own half, they will play it back to our keeper who will kick it long and the ball is invariably given back to our opponents - I have assumed that we do this to try and draw the opposition further up the pitch because, otherwise, it's a ploy that makes no sense to me.
There is plenty of criticism from supporters, myself included, about our the poor technique of our players, but, while I would say that they are probably not as good as many of our opponents as a squad when it comes to skill. I don't think they are as bad as they sometimes look - the way we play is responsible for that.
I've watched Blaenrhondda play seven or eight times now since moving up here and last season they were promoted to the Premier Division of the Highadmit South Wales Alliance from Division One. That tells you what sort of standard I'm talking about, but I can honestly say that they will try to play the sort of game seen by Rochdale in that clip more in a single ninety minutes than City would in a month.
Well if it works at that level I can't see why it wouldn't work in the premiership or championship.
Unbelievable !
Could we score a goal like that. Of course there is nothing complicated in what was done it's not like it was tight passing around the box. Knocked it arou Nd the back made the pitch big by sitting deep knocked a ball out wide and ball in for a tap in.
Everyone has this obsession of trying to play like this. The ones who have had success are the ones who started doing it earlier than everyone else bournemouth Swansea etc..
When everyone is a carbon copy of each other what wins is better players. We probably won't score a goal like that but the ball.hitting the net is the most important thing.
Teams aren't playing against what we do week in week out which is why so many struggle.
Yes the season hasn't been great but it's very early and the last 2 were as good as it has been.
Your last but one paragraph may have applied the morning after we won promotion, but we've played forty four league matches since then and while "so many" of our opponents may have struggled with our approach, far more of them have beaten us than been beaten by us.
The greater the space between you and the person you are intending to pass to, the less control you have in general terms.
Shorter passes and good movement would mean more control. If you can control the ball, and do it well, that would potentially mean more opportunities, more goals and more points.
So yes, “more passes” or controlling exactly where the ball goes CAN increase goal scoring and points accumulation.
Passing with purpose is what I want to see from a City team, allied with a dogged determination to better our opponents, which is where NW's strength lies.
We will never establish ourselves in the way Leicester and others have playing a hit and hope game. There has to be a better and more sustainable way of building a football team. It may take a little while to do this after NW has left the club but this is surely the way to go.
Unfortunately most clubs with ambition will have the same blueprint to elevate their teams to the next level so we will have a battle on our hands to compete with them.
For every goal I've seen with this kind of passing up the pitch, I can also remember a defender losing the ball outside his own box that leads to a goal conceded. Look how much trouble we gave Arsenal at home last season when they tried playing out from the back and they have some fantastic footballers.