The over-passing game

[Cerberus Blade]

I thought it was interesting yesterday that both our goals came from quick balls forward and first time attempts on goal. The ball down the flank, from Baldock I think, was superb and Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace, then a first time cross for McGoldrick to slide it into an open net. And the second goal, a beautifully weighted pass from a free kick by Norwood, and a stunning downward header by Billy to make it 2.

In between those incisive moments, we had plenty of the over-passing game, particularly in that turgid first half. Even just looking back at a few seconds highlights on Sky you can see it. Duffy has the ball on the right, Enda makes a great run down the left and shouts for it. Duffy puts it on his toe. Enda surges forward, dummies his man, who thinks he's heading for the by-line, and cuts inside. Will he shoot? Will he try and go past another man and get to see the whites of the goalies eyes before pulling the trigger? No. He'll pass it to someone with their back to goal, who will pass it back out of the penalty area to another player, who will then switch play to the other side, and we'll try and work it back in to the box again, and if that doesn't work, we'll pass it back out towards the half way line and start again.

I have to be honest, I get really frustrated with all this over-passing at times. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing good passing football and I value that much more than route 1 stuff. However, there's progressive passing football, where you are passing the ball with a view to getting near to goal and having a bloody pop at it, and there's the other type, the type that we play far too much imo, where you are passing the ball because no one seems to have the bollocks to have a go at goal with it and would rather give it to a teammate than take responsibility for it.

The first half was dreadful yesterday. As bad as I've seen them. Pass, pass, bleedin' pass, and get nowhere.

Second half Chris had obviously told them to speed the f*ck up and start aiming at that big white rectangular thing at the end of the pitch. And the goals came because we upped the tempo and simplified the passing.

More of the same please!

 

[georgebernardshaw]

Well, there doesn’t seem to be much else worth moaning about at the moment, so it’s as good a subject as any.

 

[Westran]

Are you trying to summon Pinchy with statements like that?

 

[diode_blade]

Well, there doesn’t seem to be much else worth moaning about at the moment, so it’s as good a subject as any.

Yes there is...where's Roy...can't have mi brekkie till i read view from....grrrrrrrr

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

It’s not over passing, it’s trying to stretch and pull the defence out of position to create space.

Sometimes it doesn’t work, like today, because of good defending and/or packing the box with bodies.

The fact our best chances today were from long balls was more indicative of the game and how the opposition set up rather than a failing of patient football.

Most of our goals are scored in space created by our “over passing”

Well done United for mixing it up when needed

 

[Brian Deane]

But but but but If we are in possession the opposition can't score some would say. I do agree though that we do over pass at certain times. Then there is the other option of Gerrit in early while there's no fecker in position. Maybe some of our players haven't got the nous to know which pass to pick in certain situations and don't want to lose possession and be blamed for there mistakes.......like that would happen ...............

 

[Bladezz]

Billy’s goal against Norwich was from us “not gerrinit straight into box”. We worked the angle until we had space for the cross and there saw options.

Our strikers link play so what’s point letting them link and then launching it in as they are not there.

These are footballers and managements staff miles ahead of us fans they know when they feel like it’s right to cross or pass.

 

[S64 Blade]

Was it the QPR game where we won 1-0 and got our goal as a result of some very patient and intricate build up play?

You have to be able to mix it up sometimes, agreed and we did that yesterday to get the win, but don't underestimate our considered approach.

 

[ben1987]

You can’t play the same way all the time in football. You have to mix it up and be unpredictable. Players are so well trained and drilled now you score when someone makes a mistake or your catch them by surprise. We’re lucky that we’ve the players and system where we can mix it up and be unpredictable. We can either pass teams to death or we can play an early ball and catch them by surprise. If we didn’t pass teams to death, the odd quick early balls wouldn’t catch teams out as well.

 

[Fanny magnet]

Sorry I thought it said the over posting game

 

[Sheffsteel]

Understand what you mean but I disagree

The passing game is the basis/ foundation of developing an excellent team that can easily cope at PL league level.
The direct game can flourish in the lower leagues but in the PL those types of teams will struggle badly.

If you think the 1st half was dreadful then it proves how much our fans have become accoustomed to watching great football.
I used to dream about watching a Blades team all comfortable on the ball playing a patient passing game.
When we keep possesion it demoralises the opposition and stops them from building a head of steam.

Wilder always used to say he makes his team play positive “on the front foot” football and a pattern last season was in the 1st half we would always start quick and try to blow the opposition away, then towards the end of 2nd halves we would tire badly and concede late goals.

I’ve noticed in recent matches, we seem to play 1st half’s in 2nd gear and just manage them out playing a steady game.
Then we up the tempo and efforts 2nd half, usually changing out tactics slightly and loooking much better.

Personally think we should stick with the passing game, thst’s out bread and butter and will serve us well in the PL.
But mix it up with her odd direct balll and quicker play when needed
The problem yesterday was Bolton sat back, defended well denying us space, so the passing gsme become really difficult.
In the PL I can’t see any teams coming to BL and parking the bus, so we’ll have much more space to play our passing game.

 

[Sheffsteel]

You can’t play the same way all the time in football. You have to mix it up and be unpredictable. Players are so well trained and drilled now you score when someone makes a mistake or your catch them by surprise. We’re lucky that we’ve the players and system where we can mix it up and be unpredictable. We can either pass teams to death or we can play an early ball and catch them by surprise. If we didn’t pass teams to death, the odd quick early balls wouldn’t catch teams out as well.

Exactly, play 80%-90% passing game with the odd bit of surprise hoofball to catch them out. Mx it up and be unpredictable is best.

 

[Trigger Blade]

Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace

That’s one way of describing it. It was a good old fashioned shoulder charge and some referees wouldn’t have let it go. The defender wasn’t in control of the ball, which is what used to define a legitimate shoulder charge. Not complaining and nor did the defender, but Billy was bound to beat him for pace, he was sprawled on the floor

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

The ball down the flank, from Baldock I think, was superb and Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace

I didn’t see it that way. I don’t think Bill beat him for pace - I’m not sure he beats anybody for pace - and it was more a combination of good anticipation (of the pass) and good movement but mainly sheer strength and determination. He wanted it more than the defender. It was a good ball by Baldock, though. Agree with that.

 

[Rodley]

Disagree. We move the ball around to create fewer, better quality chances. We just moved the ball too slowly first half.

 

[Chali 2na]

I thought it was interesting yesterday that both our goals came from quick balls forward and first time attempts on goal. The ball down the flank, from Baldock I think, was superb and Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace, then a first time cross for McGoldrick to slide it into an open net. And the second goal, a beautifully weighted pass from a free kick by Norwood, and a stunning downward header by Billy to make it 2.

In between those incisive moments, we had plenty of the over-passing game, particularly in that turgid first half. Even just looking back at a few seconds highlights on Sky you can see it. Duffy has the ball on the right, Enda makes a great run down the left and shouts for it. Duffy puts it on his toe. Enda surges forward, dummies his man, who thinks he's heading for the by-line, and cuts inside. Will he shoot? Will he try and go past another man and get to see the whites of the goalies eyes before pulling the trigger? No. He'll pass it to someone with their back to goal, who will pass it back out of the penalty area to another player, who will then switch play to the other side, and we'll try and work it back in to the box again, and if that doesn't work, we'll pass it back out towards the half way line and start again.

I have to be honest, I get really frustrated with all this over-passing at times. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing good passing football and I value that much more than route 1 stuff. However, there's progressive passing football, where you are passing the ball with a view to getting near to goal and having a bloody pop at it, and there's the other type, the type that we play far too much imo, where you are passing the ball because no one seems to have the bollocks to have a go at goal with it and would rather give it to a teammate than take responsibility for it.

The first half was dreadful yesterday. As bad as I've seen them. Pass, pass, bleedin' pass, and get nowhere.

Second half Chris had obviously told them to speed the f*ck up and start aiming at that big white rectangular thing at the end of the pitch. And the goals came because we upped the tempo and simplified the passing.

More of the same please!

Without wanting to sound patronising, you should pay closer attention to the positions of our opponents and the space available to our forwards during periods of "over-passing".

We don't it for fun, or for the purposes of flattering stats at the end of the game: players interchange (seemingly) pointless passes between eachother to bait the opposition into pressing and breaking shape. When the opposition press, it creates gaps for our forwards.

You have a point that I the first half we could have been more ruthless and urgent, their was an element of over-passing but that was as much an issue of poor movement and a lack of tempo as it was in passing for the sake of it.

You say you want "progressive passing football, where you are passing the ball with a view to getting near to goal" - for that to happen, you have to have spells where you work to create that opening in the first place.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Well, there doesn’t seem to be much else worth moaning about at the moment, so it’s as good a subject as any.

I knew it would get a response like this, so thank you for not disappointing me.

That's why I thought I'd post it after a win, rather than a defeat, because then I'd have been accused of just over-reacting to the defeat. If you read it again you might see that I'm not moaning, I'm pointing out something that I think is apparent and frustrating in many of our games, and it's something we could improve on. There's nothing wrong with pointing out things that we could and should be doing better and the best time to do that is when things are going well, not when they are going badly.

The contrast in the game yesterday, between first half and second half, was significant - and this is an observation on the contrasting styles and fortunes that we saw in two very different halves of the same game.

I do appreciate though that this will be WAY over the heads of some to understand, and will just seem like "a moan".

 

[blade too long]

Shows we have a plan b doesn't it

We wear teams out chasing the ball off us then catch them with a sharp thrust of the blade

It's not over passing it's possession

 

[Snowman]

I thought it was interesting yesterday that both our goals came from quick balls forward and first time attempts on goal. The ball down the flank, from Baldock I think, was superb and Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace, then a first time cross for McGoldrick to slide it into an open net. And the second goal, a beautifully weighted pass from a free kick by Norwood, and a stunning downward header by Billy to make it 2.

In between those incisive moments, we had plenty of the over-passing game, particularly in that turgid first half. Even just looking back at a few seconds highlights on Sky you can see it. Duffy has the ball on the right, Enda makes a great run down the left and shouts for it. Duffy puts it on his toe. Enda surges forward, dummies his man, who thinks he's heading for the by-line, and cuts inside. Will he shoot? Will he try and go past another man and get to see the whites of the goalies eyes before pulling the trigger? No. He'll pass it to someone with their back to goal, who will pass it back out of the penalty area to another player, who will then switch play to the other side, and we'll try and work it back in to the box again, and if that doesn't work, we'll pass it back out towards the half way line and start again.

I have to be honest, I get really frustrated with all this over-passing at times. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing good passing football and I value that much more than route 1 stuff. However, there's progressive passing football, where you are passing the ball with a view to getting near to goal and having a bloody pop at it, and there's the other type, the type that we play far too much imo, where you are passing the ball because no one seems to have the bollocks to have a go at goal with it and would rather give it to a teammate than take responsibility for it.

The first half was dreadful yesterday. As bad as I've seen them. Pass, pass, bleedin' pass, and get nowhere.

Second half Chris had obviously told them to speed the f*ck up and start aiming at that big white rectangular thing at the end of the pitch. And the goals came because we upped the tempo and simplified the passing.

More of the same please!

You must sit behind me. Did you also have a pop at McGoldrick all game until he scored?

Yes it was frustrating in the first half, but we simply hadn't turned up. Fast accurate passing opens up teams and doesn't allow the likes of Bolton to pack the final third. We were just turgid. Fortunately, a couple of times in the first half it was noticeable that a "long ball" had Bolton's defenders in trouble. It was also noticeable that Billy was getting free of the centre backs but no one was delivering to him. Second half we started to hit the lines and the channels and by doing so moved it quicker into their territory.

You are right, there were examples (as you have given) of what seemed to have been passing for the sake of it, but be happy CW/AK recognised the problem and got it sorted.

 

[tomtheblade]

Any team which plays the same way all the time becomes predictable and easier to counter. This isn't always the case, particularly with teams rich with attacking talent (eg. Man City, Liverpool), but mostly it holds true. The more varied our attacks are, the more dangerous we become.

Patient build up play with the occasional long ball thrown in can work very well as now they have to guard against both, so i understand what you are getting at. Generally speaking though, I think we are very much a 'method' team, rather than simply relying on individual brilliance to win us games, and this method is working very well so-far, so I wouldn't be so hasty to criticise our overall style.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I'm confused, do we 'fanny about' with it or not ?

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

We've been 'over passing' our way towards the top of the Championship for a couple of years now!

 

[iBlade.]

The ability to pass the ball well is a very effective way of running down the clock when holding onto a lead, particularly when playing at high levels of football. Bolton were surprisingly good at this yesterday, they had players who looked comfortable on the ball and passed it about well keeping us off the ball,it was obviously their tactic as they never looked like getting forward while having good periods of possession,but that kept us at bay for long periods of the game.

 

[Longtimesupporter]

The long ball direct approach is like a bouncer in cricket, overuse it and it is not effective.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Billy did really well to get goalside of the defender and beat him for pace, then a first time cross for McGoldrick to slide it into an open net.

Billy also did well to get away with a foul that would be given 99% of the time. McGoldrick didn't even celebrate as I'm sure he was expecting the foul to be given.

 

[Sheffsteel]

The contrast in the game yesterday, between first half and second half, was significant ".

This has been a pattern of Wilders management, can’t remember the last time we were equally good or equally poor in both halves.

Remember the West Brom home game, we dominated them and looked impressive first half, then we run out of steam and we’re well beaten 2nd half. After that game I felt dispondent as we clearly couldn’t keep up our high tempo pressing game.

Then since that game (including the Reading away game) we seem to have played within ourselves 1st half.
It’s like a game of poker and we deliberately hold back not showing our best hand until the 2nd half.
Apart from Swansea away we’ve changed impetus and now always seem to up our tempo and play much better 2nd half.
It makes me wonder if it’s a deliberate tactic or just coincedence.

 

[Rob86]

The first half was flat, credit to Bolton for stifling the game. I also think that it is also down to us managing energy levels more this season. In contrast to last year where we would have every player sprinting up and down the pitch in the first half and then burn out in the 2nd, clinging on for dear life.

Anyway, slight deviation from the topic in hand. Even in the 1st half we did play some through balls and nearly created opportunities but the final ball just didn’t quite come off. There were a few missed opportunities as well.

2nd half much better, but again there were chances to put them to the sword.

Nit picking at its finest and to be honest not as much of an issue as we are looking solid defensively.

 

[Harrisblade]

But but but but If we are in possession the opposition can't score some would say. I do agree though that we do over pass at certain times. Then there is the other option of Gerrit in early while there's no fecker in position. Maybe some of our players haven't got the nous to know which pass to pick in certain situations and don't want to lose possession and be blamed for there mistakes.......like that would happen ...............

The 'nous' you describe, when a player knows instinctively when and where to pass, whatever situation he's in, is usually reserved for the Messi's, Curries and Beckenbauers of the world.
We don't have 16 of those in our squad, so obviously it has to be 'WILDER OUT!'

 

[Sheff de party]

Stunning downward header?

I find it amazing Billy gets in those positions, seemingly losing defenders with ease when they’re stood next to him seconds before.

But from that position I honestly would have scored that.

 

[Rodley]

Bolton’s strikers dropped off into a midfield 6 and their defence stepped up as we lack a bit of pace for the ball over the top. There was little space, all the play was around the halfway line and the aggressive press worked. Nevertheless we didn’t move the ball quick enough.

There’s no way they could have kept up that work rate for 90 mins, in the last 10 they could barely run. Second half we moved the ball better and quicker.

I do get frustrated with the “GERRITFORRARD” gang near me. Then when we do bang a speculative long ball up to Sharp to contest with Wheater, and we surrender possession, the same fuckwits moan about it.