Midfield Connectivity And Ball Progression

[jhunter 0]

is that the tesseract from Interstellar?

 

i'm pretty sure Super Ally is still trapped behind that bookcase.

[pete 2,499]

Funny enough after watching a programme yesterday I thought of writing a piece in the same direction but you have done it far better. What I will add is the Killer pass. Barcelona after a period of playing the ball round and giving the opposition a false sense of security all of a sudden try and play a killer pass. What do you need for this killer pass? Firstly players with the insight to see the runners virtually the second, and maybe even before, the runners make their move. They also have to be able to execute the pass with perfect weight and direction. Then you have to have the Runners. Barcelona often have multiple runners some linking up as in the Suarez goal against Seville at the weekend. After a series of passes Denis Suarez picked a perfect pass into the area, where Arda Turan pivoted to cleverly chest the ball into Luis Suarez's path for a typically clinical finish. That would have been 180 if they were playing darts. Three perfect passes into the goal.

Looking at the second goal you can also see the fantastic Messi holding the ball up in the midfield before threading a perfect ball through to Munir who only had to prod it home.

 

When playing the pressing game having players that can play the killer pass are essential but having players who can accept the killer pass is almost as important. When Kenny Miller drops deep then there is often no player left in the point. It is rare that McKay uses the room in the middle as he stays far to wide at times. So what we have is Miller dropping deep, McKay wide left and Forrester wide right and no midfielder making the effort to run into the space that Miller has left What is easier to defend than a team that is standing stationary. We do have the players who can play the killer pass but we miss the real runners. Holt is really the only player who knows how to exploit the room between the defending lines and in my opinion should be a first pick in the midfield when Burton and Rossiter are in the team as we need a runner in midfield. Halliday and Kranjcar are passers and not Runners. Forrester is a Runner and a passer so can fit both roles. O'Halloran is a runner but again as with McKay hardly ever makes a run inside without the ball. That leaves the only option of our full-backs being the runners and that while effective can also be a game of Russian Roulette as has often resulted in us putting a bullet in our brain.

In my opinion we have to get a better balance in the passer, runner, situation and hopefully a new striker will help balance that up. McKay must make far more central runs and also when the ball is going down the right flank he should be taking a far more central position so as he is a danger at the back-post. The same with O'Halloran.

 

I hope this makes sense.

Edited August 16, 2016 by pete

[barca72 440]

Funny enough after watching a programme yesterday I thought of writing a piece in the same direction but you have done it far better. What I will add is the Killer pass. Barcelona after a period of playing the ball round and giving the opposition a false sense of security all of a sudden try and play a killer pass. What do you need for this killer pass? Firstly players with the insight to see the runners virtually the second, and maybe even before, the runners make their move. They also have to be able to execute the pass with perfect weight and direction. Then you have to have the Runners. Barcelona often have multiple runners some linking up as in the Suarez goal against Seville at the weekend. After a series of passes Denis Suarez picked a perfect pass into the area, where Arda Turan pivoted to cleverly chest the ball into Luis Suarez's path for a typically clinical finish. That would have been 180 if they were playing darts. Three perfect passes into the goal.

Looking at the second goal you can also see the fantastic Messi holding the ball up in the midfield before threading a perfect ball through to Munir who only had to prod it home.

 

When playing the pressing game having players that can play the killer pass are essential but having players who can accept the killer pass is almost as important. When Kenny Miller drops deep then there is often no player left in the point. It is rare that McKay uses the room in the middle as he stays far to wide at times. So what we have is Miller dropping deep, McKay wide left and Forrester wide right and no midfielder making the effort to run into the space that Miller has left What is easier to defend than a team that is standing stationary. We do have the players who can play the killer pass but we miss the real runners. Holt is really the only player who knows how to exploit the room between the defending lines and in my opinion should be a first pick in the midfield when Burton and Rossiter are in the team as we need a runner in midfield. Halliday and Kranjcar are passers and not Runners. Forrester is a Runner and a passer so can fit both roles. O'Halloran is a runner but again as with McKay hardly ever makes a run inside without the ball. That leaves the only option of our full-backs being the runners and that while effective can also be a game of Russian Roulette as has often resulted in us putting a bullet in our brain.

In my opinion we have to get a better balance in the passer, runner, situation and hopefully a new striker will help balance that up. McKay must make far more central runs and also when the ball is going down the right flank he should be taking a far more central position so as he is a danger at the back-post. The same with O'Halloran.

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

Agreed, we're missing his running.

[calscot 0]

Pasta and vegetables sounds like a terrible diet for a footballer. High in simplex cards and ultra low in protein. If you want to be fat and weak, that will work well... ?

 

The veggies could be good for you depending on how you cook them.

 

As for the diet of fish suppers, sounds like bullshit. ?