' Possession is overrated '

' Possession is overrated '

By Glen Williams



The style of play under Harris was more possession based, with more of an emphasis placed on keeping the ball and moving the opposition around the pitch with a lot of passing as the manager tried to implement a different philosophy.

City’s average possession under Harris for the 2020/21 season was 47 percent, that’s compared to 39 percent under new boss McCarthy.

It must be mentioned that in McCarthy’s first two games, his side averaged 54 percent possession, but they drew both of those against Barnsley and Millwall respectively and still looked a similar side to what they were under Harris.

From then on, though, City have adopted a counter-attacking style which has sacrificed possession for a much more direct approach, one that has proven to be remarkably effective.

They now look far more comfortable without the ball and far more purposeful when they do have the ball, which is a noticeable and positive change.

Under MM we are a defensive team that can soak up a lot of pressure, when we get the ball back we are quick on attack and great at set pieces, don't make good reading on the stats, do i give a dam...no we are getting results and that's were it counts..

Man City or Barca are not too shabby playing a possession-based game, it works very well if you have the players, what can be better than starving your opposition of the ball.

We never had to players to play a possession-based game in the championship, if we played Nuport or Merthyr I would expect us to be technically and physically superior to them to play it well.

We had a successful Warnock squad of athletic giants or speedsters and tried to play a possession game against championship teams and wonder what went wrong.

MM came in set them up to do what they were bought to do and hey presto we steamroller teams again

Just be better at what you want to do than your opposition. If we want to soak it up and counter and play for set plays then be good at it, and we are

Possession stats are the most stupid and pointless stats in football. Anyone who knows anything about the game know they mean nothing.

Possession can be the result of having no adventure in the team and knocking it about pointlessly in your own half.

A few years ago I was watching Swansea playing Newcastle on tv and they had 80% possession in the first half. In that time it took them 35 minutes to get a touch in the Newcastle box and they had one shot- and that went about three yards wide.

Possession stats are the most stupid and pointless stats in football. Anyone who knows anything about the game know they mean nothing.

Possession can be the result of having no adventure in the team and knocking it about pointlessly in your own half.

A few years ago I was watching Swansea playing Newcastle on tv and they had 80% possession in the first half. In that time it took them 35 minutes to get a touch in the Newcastle box and they had one shot- and that went about three yards wide.

Agree at the end of the day - People look at the end result .

It depends what type of possession obviously.

Man City keep possession wonderfully and when they lose it they immediately fight to get the ball back.
They steam roller most teams most of the time.

Teams like us on the other hand haven’t got the skill to keep possession with an end result so we usually kick the ball upfield and get rid of it quickly as if it’s a hot potato.

I bet but for a few exceptions Those teams that have won the league would have had more than 50% of the possession So it is hard to say possession is over rated Maybe Leicester are the only team in the last 50 years to win the top league with less than 50%

Number of goals, the only Stat that matters.

Possession stats are the most stupid and pointless stats in football. Anyone who knows anything about the game know they mean nothing.

Possession can be the result of having no adventure in the team and knocking it about pointlessly in your own half.

Totally agree. They need to be linked to other stats such as the shots on goal at both ends of the pitch. Some teams like Man City can use possession to run teams ragged and often score later in the game as their opponents get tired from closing down, others try to do the same, but are far less effective while some seem to try to hold the ball to just bore the pants off everyone.

Number of goals, the only Stat that matters.