Is 'not passing to another team member' a tactic, or evidence of a lack of football ability ?

[dml1954]

As someone who has supported my club for over 60 years it goes against the grain to lay criticism at the door of a side that has gone on a tremendous run of form lately, yet our passing is so poor and almost universal, that I actually wonder if it is a bad as we're seeing it, or is MM telling our players - especially the back 3 - to just kick it anywhere so long as it goes upfield.
I can't imagine a scenario where passing to a colleague could be counter-productive, but then I'm not privy to the grand plan..

The thing is, you have been critical over quite a long period of time of the teams ability and standard of coaching. So therefore it is not a surprise to me that after an admittedly bad passing game like yesterday, you rather sarcastically raise the questions that you do in your post. This totally ignores the fact that for the previous 8 games under McCarthy the standard of our general play, including, pressing, passing and movement, has improved quite considerably and the end product has also improved greatly with 19 goals in the last 9 games and we are actually now second top scorers in the division. To pick on the team performance yesterday, in what was overall a poor game from both sides, is very unfair and to suggest that the manager would be instructing the players to deliberately pass to the opposition as a tactic, is ridiculous. McCarthy has to deal with the players at his disposal - Wilson is one of the best passers in the division, Hoilett, Vaulks, Ralls and NG are good on their day but the fact is that most of the remainder are not renowned for their passing ability overall and have other strengths such as tackling, heading and work rate. That doesn't make them bad players but to expect the manager to be suddenly able to turn them all into a passer like Bruno Fernandes or Lionel Messi is totally unrealistic.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

The thing is, you have been critical over quite a long period of time of the teams ability and standard of coaching. So therefore it is not a surprise to me that after an admittedly bad passing game like yesterday, you rather sarcastically raise the questions that you do in your post. This totally ignores the fact that for the previous 8 games under McCarthy the standard of our general play, including, pressing, passing and movement, has improved quite considerably and the end product has also improved greatly with 19 goals in the last 9 games and we are actually now second top scorers in the division. To pick on the team performance yesterday, in what was overall a poor game from both sides, is very unfair and to suggest that the manager would be instructing the players to deliberately pass to the opposition as a tactic, is ridiculous. McCarthy has to deal with the players at his disposal - Wilson is one of the best passers in the division, Hoilett, Vaulks, Ralls and NG are good on their day but the fact is that most of the remainder are not renowned for their passing ability overall and have other strengths such as tackling, heading and work rate. That doesn't make them bad players but to expect the manager to be suddenly able to turn them all into a passer like Bruno Fernandes or Lionel Messi is totally unrealistic.

Passing is probably the most basic of all football requirements - to to be able to pass the ball to another player in your side. Without passing a game would just be the ball going back and fore between two sets of players. My post had an element of sarcasm, but it was serious - [I think TOBW understood]. To put it another way, if our back 3, plus Vaulks and Bacuna could find another City shirt once in a while would it improve the side ? It's probably a rhetorical question because I think most would say yes.

[NYCBlue]

The thing is, you have been critical over quite a long period of time of the teams ability and standard of coaching. So therefore it is not a surprise to me that after an admittedly bad passing game like yesterday, you rather sarcastically raise the questions that you do in your post. This totally ignores the fact that for the previous 8 games under McCarthy the standard of our general play, including, pressing, passing and movement, has improved quite considerably and the end product has also improved greatly with 19 goals in the last 9 games and we are actually now second top scorers in the division. To pick on the team performance yesterday, in what was overall a poor game from both sides, is very unfair and to suggest that the manager would be instructing the players to deliberately pass to the opposition as a tactic, is ridiculous. McCarthy has to deal with the players at his disposal - Wilson is one of the best passers in the division, Hoilett, Vaulks, Ralls and NG are good on their day but the fact is that most of the remainder are not renowned for their passing ability overall and have other strengths such as tackling, heading and work rate. That doesn't make them bad players but to expect the manager to be suddenly able to turn them all into a passer like Bruno Fernandes or Lionel Messi is totally unrealistic.

You are the only person in this thread so far to have said this. You're right about it being ridiculous though.

[dml1954]

You are the only person in this thread so far to have said this. You're right about it being ridiculous though.

Perhaps you should read the original post and heading. It clearly suggests this could be the case.

[NYCBlue]

Perhaps you should read the original post and heading. It clearly suggests this could be the case.

No, it does not. Specifically, it says "is MM telling our players - especially the back 3 - to just kick it anywhere so long as it goes upfield".

The heading is: "Is 'not passing to another team member' a tactic, or evidence of a lack of football ability ?"

There is no mention or suggestion of the players being told to deliberately pass to the opposition. You made that up.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

No, it does not. Specifically, it says "is MM telling our players - especially the back 3 - to just kick it anywhere so long as it goes upfield".

The heading is: "Is 'not passing to another team member' a tactic, or evidence of a lack of football ability ?"

There is no mention or suggestion of the players being told to deliberately pass to the opposition. You made that up.

If I could interject. You are correct, I never implied that. Would MM prefer those 60 yard punts up the field go to another City player ? I can't think why not, so it's just confirmation that our back 3 especially are unable to play a long ball out of defence. Will Vaulks said you 'don't have to play the ball from the back', and he's right, but lately we don't seem to be able to even get to the point where we can get crosses into the box. Let's see what happens tonight.

[splott parker]

Be interesting to read the posts after the 9 game unbeaten run ends

[A Quiet Monkfish]

If I could interject. You are correct, I never implied that. Would MM prefer those 60 yard punts up the field go to another City player ? I can't think why not, so it's just confirmation that our back 3 especially are unable to play a long ball out of defence. Will Vaulks said you 'don't have to play the ball from the back', and he's right, but lately we don't seem to be able to even get to the point where we can get crosses into the box. Let's see what happens tonight.

OK. So it seems there must have been some tactical element to it. Last night the difference was startling - I even recall Morrison and Flint running past Derby defenders way up the pitch ..

[City123]

The thing is, you have been critical over quite a long period of time of the teams ability and standard of coaching. So therefore it is not a surprise to me that after an admittedly bad passing game like yesterday, you rather sarcastically raise the questions that you do in your post. This totally ignores the fact that for the previous 8 games under McCarthy the standard of our general play, including, pressing, passing and movement, has improved quite considerably and the end product has also improved greatly with 19 goals in the last 9 games and we are actually now second top scorers in the division. To pick on the team performance yesterday, in what was overall a poor game from both sides, is very unfair and to suggest that the manager would be instructing the players to deliberately pass to the opposition as a tactic, is ridiculous. McCarthy has to deal with the players at his disposal - Wilson is one of the best passers in the division, Hoilett, Vaulks, Ralls and NG are good on their day but the fact is that most of the remainder are not renowned for their passing ability overall and have other strengths such as tackling, heading and work rate. That doesn't make them bad players but to expect the manager to be suddenly able to turn them all into a passer like Bruno Fernandes or Lionel Messi is totally unrealistic.

There's a strange tendency on this messageboard to accuse anyone who wants us to pass the ball a little bit more of wanting us to play "tiki taka" or expecting world class play. None of us expect that, we'd just like a little bit more of the game on the floor and less head tennis

These are professional footballers paid thousands of pounds a week, they should be able to find a teammate