Playing it out from the back.

[Andrew - North Hill]

Just watching the Girona v Feyenoord match.

Girona have just given away a goal and a penalty within a minute through "playing out from the back". The penalty in particular was an absolute joke. They were in a really strong position in the game and on top of Feyenoord, but they've killed themselves through nonsense football.

We know only too well the pitfalls of it the last 3-4 years, seeing it be attempted time and time again to very mixed results. We've given tons of goals away doing it.

Pop MOTD or EFL highlights on every week and you'll see at least half a dozen goals given away through centre backs and keepers getting themselves into a tangle. Burnley got relegated last season because they were awful for doing this. Southampton look they're doing the same (not that we should be surprised, we know what Rusty is like).

I really do think this type of football has had its day. Unless you're City and a small handful of other teams who actually have the talent to succeed at it, to me it's become suicide football. Coaches know how to combat it now by pressing super high. But teams now seem to be perfectly ok with shooting themselves in the foot because they're "trying to play the right way".

I am not advocating bringing back Pulis or Allardyce or any of the dinosaurs, but surely the time has come for teams with limited resources and players to stop doing it and find a different way. It's getting a bit daft now.

What are others' views on this?

 

[3swan]

Agree as you say numerous teams attempt it, with less skilful players as it's been coached out of them. Players have become robotic and can't react to what's in front of them.
How many times has LW used the phrase something along the lines of we keep practising the actions.
It's all well and good on a training pitch but not when it can be easily telegraphed by opponents..

 

[Cooperman]

Girona had an incredible season in La Liga so they must have something about them.

We on the other hand tried it with Fisher and Cabango. There’s a big difference, and if the better quality teams can’t do it properly then you’re right to question why we stuck with it for so long.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

Chelsea got caught out on the weekend, and their manager said that fans would see more of it - because he wasn't changing the way he played.

 

[CygnusX1]

It speak volumes that when our opponents do it, we look to capitalise on it

 

[WentToSchoolWith]

It's a hard argument to make to modern day coaches because so much of the sport is about control now. If you have the ball, you're nearly always in control, and that's all that managers are looking for.

Guardiola's influence on football is immense, but it's as much bad as it is good

 

[cmajack]

Just watching the Girona v Feyenoord match.

Girona have just given away a goal and a penalty within a minute through "playing out from the back". The penalty in particular was an absolute joke. They were in a really strong position in the game and on top of Feyenoord, but they've killed themselves through nonsense football.

We know only too well the pitfalls of it the last 3-4 years, seeing it be attempted time and time again to very mixed results. We've given tons of goals away doing it.

Pop MOTD or EFL highlights on every week and you'll see at least half a dozen goals given away through centre backs and keepers getting themselves into a tangle. Burnley got relegated last season because they were awful for doing this. Southampton look they're doing the same (not that we should be surprised, we know what Rusty is like).

I really do think this type of football has had its day. Unless you're City and a small handful of other teams who actually have the talent to succeed at it, to me it's become suicide football. Coaches know how to combat it now by pressing super high. But teams now seem to be perfectly ok with shooting themselves in the foot because they're "trying to play the right way".

I am not advocating bringing back Pulis or Allardyce or any of the dinosaurs, but surely the time has come for teams with limited resources and players to stop doing it and find a different way. It's getting a bit daft now.

What are others' views on this?

Have a look at Bolton 0 Huddersfield 4 this season, and in particular Huddersfield 4th goal , it really is laughable , and sums up everything that you posted.

 

[TerryPHELAN]

Totally agree with everything you say. However it seems the fashionable and sexy way to do it these days.
You deviate from that, and you’re probably seen by pundits and other managers alike that you’re a dinosaur.

 

[T8AD365]

Totally agree with everything you say. However it seems the fashionable and sexy way to do it these days.
You deviate from that, and you’re probably seen by pundits and other managers alike that you’re a dinosaur.

There was a reference made during commentary last night to Chris Wilder saying he wants his teams to play football "the right way".
That phrase does my head in, there is no "right way" to play football. A good manager should be able to get their team to play whichever way it takes to win the game

 

[CurtessECarr]

There was a reference made during commentary last night to Chris Wilder saying he wants his teams to play football "the right way".
That phrase does my head in, there is no "right way" to play football. A good manager should be able to get their team to play whichever way it takes to win the game

It is a comical phrase. I would like someone to ask all these pundits to explain the ''Right Way'' as they see it.
The right way to fans is being successful. The right way to the owners is success. The right way to most pundits and managers is what we are witnessing. Is there another team sport that uses this terminology as much as our beloved game?

 

[Squarebear]

Presumably it's the Huw Jenkins Effect as they're trying the same ploy at Newport. Five League 2 duffers all playing hospital passes to one another. For a laugh someone should record the crowd's expressions. It'd be like filming the first people to watch Friday the 13th.

 

[monmouth]

Presumably it's the Huw Jenkins Effect as they're trying the same ploy at Newport. Five League 2 duffers all playing hospital passes to one another. For a laugh someone should record the crowd's expressions. It'd be like filming the first people to watch Friday the 13th.

The Jenkins that employed Garry Monk over Michael Laudrup? That Jenkins?

 

[TerryPHELAN]

It is a comical phrase. I would like someone to ask all these pundits to explain the ''Right Way'' as they see it.
The right way to fans is being successful. The right way to the owners is success. The right way to most pundits and managers is what we are witnessing. Is there another team sport that uses this terminology as much as our beloved game?

The right way is simply playing to your team’s strengths surely? You got a big lump up top, you play route 1. The sexy football ain’t gonna work for him. You got two out and out wingers, you play to get the ball out to them. The long ball route ain’t gonna do it for them.
I know the game has to evolve, but it’s being made fr more complicated than it should be

 

[JackSomething]

During one of our early PL seasons, I was arguing about our passing football with a Stoke supporting colleague. My argument was that ours was a very difficult style of football to get right and we'd only managed it by appointing mostly the right managers and making enough good signings to play that way.

He reckoned anyone (including Pulis' Stoke team of the day) could play that way if they wanted to. I think time has proven me right on that one.

 

[Neath_Jack]

They touch on this in the latest Overlap podcast.