Minor adjustments needed
If you have the ball you can score, if you don't you can't and of course if you have the ball the opposition can't score. Argue that all you like, but statistics prove it. A football game is 90 minutes long, on average though the ball is only actually in play for around 60 minutes, the OPTA stats for 2011/12 revealed playing time was 55 minutes 6 seconds on average.
The two biggest reason are the ball out of play and fouls, you don't see many quick free-kicks now. Teams foul to allow their side time to get behind the ball, the referee takes an eternity as if it doesn't matter, it does. He should immediately put his mark where the kick is to be taken from, walk 10 paces and immediately put a mark there. If a player doesn't go straight back there immediately book them. As soon as those two lines are made the team should be allowed to take the free-kick at any time they like, that would add a bit of time back into the actual playing time.
A winning team will commit more fouls to use up the clock and referees unwittingly help them. Fouling is one strategy sides use to win points, plenty of touches around the box to draw fouls and try to score from a set piece. The other main method is slick passing and movement. We attempt the latter, but sometimes our passing isn't slick, sometimes we roll the ball and the receiver has to wait for it to arrive.
It's probably the biggest bugbear of how we play as that totally negates our style and it's the same players who do it. Mason doesn't, it is part of the reason he gets picked, he moves the ball on quickly and at pace, Dembele, for instance, is an artistic roller of the ball, as often is Vertonghen when playing the ball wide left. Watch how many time our left-back has to patiently wait for the ball to arrive, then watch the pace Mason puts on the ball.
When you only have the ball for 30 minutes artistic rolling is counter productive, we need slick passing to maximise the effectiveness of our system. Just for interest sake I'd like to see a statistic that shows the average speed a ball travels when passed by each of our players, it would highlight the slow coaches, just another little addition to improve our game or should we wait for others to do it first so it can become generally accepted and try to play catch-up having missed the boat?
There is a lot out there that can improve a football team if you have an open conceptual mind.
The two biggest reason are the ball out of play and fouls, you don't see many quick free-kicks now. Teams foul to allow their side time to get behind the ball, the referee takes an eternity as if it doesn't matter, it does. He should immediately put his mark where the kick is to be taken from, walk 10 paces and immediately put a mark there. If a player doesn't go straight back there immediately book them. As soon as those two lines are made the team should be allowed to take the free-kick at any time they like, that would add a bit of time back into the actual playing time.
A winning team will commit more fouls to use up the clock and referees unwittingly help them. Fouling is one strategy sides use to win points, plenty of touches around the box to draw fouls and try to score from a set piece. The other main method is slick passing and movement. We attempt the latter, but sometimes our passing isn't slick, sometimes we roll the ball and the receiver has to wait for it to arrive.
It's probably the biggest bugbear of how we play as that totally negates our style and it's the same players who do it. Mason doesn't, it is part of the reason he gets picked, he moves the ball on quickly and at pace, Dembele, for instance, is an artistic roller of the ball, as often is Vertonghen when playing the ball wide left. Watch how many time our left-back has to patiently wait for the ball to arrive, then watch the pace Mason puts on the ball.
When you only have the ball for 30 minutes artistic rolling is counter productive, we need slick passing to maximise the effectiveness of our system. Just for interest sake I'd like to see a statistic that shows the average speed a ball travels when passed by each of our players, it would highlight the slow coaches, just another little addition to improve our game or should we wait for others to do it first so it can become generally accepted and try to play catch-up having missed the boat?
There is a lot out there that can improve a football team if you have an open conceptual mind.
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