MoodyBluebird wrote:103 Barmy Army wrote:MoodyBluebird wrote:DeepBlueFC2 wrote:MoodyBluebird wrote:Whilst friendly results really don't mean anything, it would be comforting to know that our glaring weaknesses from last year, ball control, ball retention and passing had been addressed, so I can to some degree understand the concerns raised in this thread.
Why do we care about our weaknesses? We've improved on our strengths. We've finally got a suitable physical striker in Collins who appears to know where the goal is. Out of everything last season it was apparent the main thing we needed was competition for Moore's position, which we do now have. We didn't have much pace last season, and Wilson & Ojo weren't faster than Murphy, Whyte or Giles, not to mention the young wingers we have coming through who could be faster.
My point is, under Mccarthy last season this was our record
10 wins
9 draws
3 losses
Are we seriously suggesting we care about ball control, retention and passing when we're getting results like that from a manager who hasn't even had a full pre season with them yet.
We'll be fine
Based on your penultimate sentence I think you must be a wind-up merchant, so no point me trying to enter into a debate with you over the benefits of ball control, passing etc. Good try though !!
I think it’s a fair point in all honesty. If the tactical approach or style of football are yielding the results mentioned above, it’s not a bad problem to have. When Leicester City won the Premier League as recently as 2016, they had a lesser average percentage of possession than their opponents.
Having said that, I wouldn’t go as far as saying who cares about our weaknesses, as if players have a willingness to learn and highlight areas of improvement, it’s only going to be beneficial.
A friendly match is also an unfair reflection of a players competitive nature and I hate watching them for that reason alone.
We are not talking about a style of football here, we are taking about the ability to control and pass the ball, in effect the essence of the game.
There are several different ways to play a successful brand of football but if you can't control and pass the damn thing, you're going nowhere as a team, well backwards perhaps.
You refer to Leicester City and in particular their possession stats when they won the league. That stat is a direct result of their preference to play on the counter-attack, using Vardy and Mahrez as a spearhead up front. It has nothing at all to do with an inability to control and pass a football.
I only provided the Leicester example as you originally mentioned “ball retention” as a weakness last season, which naturally links to possession statistics, hence the 2016 reference.
If our players aren’t great at “controlling a football” or “passing,” but compensate in several other aspects such as individual work rate, team cohesion, speed (
), aggression, ariel prowess, dribbling ability etc. then I’m happy as long as the results are as previously mentioned.
In a nutshell, they can play with one leg tied to the other for all I care, as long as the results mirror those mentioned above as I’m success driven and I’m not bothered how it’s achieved or I’d watch Barcelona on at TV. We all have different views and opinions and I respect yours.