[Football] The Second Coming Of Route One?

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Interesting article in The Guardian yesterday - the morning after the night before's Verbruggen-Mitoma masterclass in Route One football.

Tide maybe turning on the High Risk/Minimal Reward strategy of Dicking Around At The Back?

High-risk playing out from the back is at a tactical crossroads, but where to next? | Jonathan Wilson

Patient buildup from deep, Guardiola style, can no longer be an unthinking default so perhaps going long again is the answer

www.theguardian.com

 

[Van Cleef]

Route 2.0?

 

[jcdenton08]

There is a huge difference between playing for knock-downs on 50/50’s than direct incisive long passing. Verbruggen’s long ball was a pre-planned ball from a pre-planned run, one we’ve tried dozens of times and been successful with. It wasn’t lumping it up to Welbeck and hoping for the best. That was off the training ground.

So yes, there is a place for direct football definitely, but done to our strengths.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

In terms of percentages, I reckon hitting the goal from 40/50 yards out, when the keeper is hovering 15 yards from his goal, will yield more goals than tippy tappy slow build up.

 

[beorhthelm]

i always thought half the point of playing around at the back, drawing the press, is to create space in behind the opponent to run into. hence, every so often, one over the top should be expected. it gets muddled with possession obsession and the players dont take the long ball often enough when there's a great opportunity. mixing things up, keeping the opponent guessing, or lulling into false assumptions, has to be the best way to use possession?

 

[AlbionBro]

Foreplay is nice, but the climax is what you're after. Mix it up, and everyone can be happy.

 

[Hugo Rune]

There is a huge difference between playing for knock-downs on 50/50’s than direct incisive long passing. Verbruggen’s long ball was a pre-planned ball from a pre-planned run, one we’ve tried dozens of times and been successful with. It wasn’t lumping it up to Welbeck and hoping for the best. That was off the training ground.

So yes, there is a place for direct football definitely, but done to our strengths.

I’d also suggest that Verbruggen picked that moment to do the kick having waited for the first half hour or so to see their defence properly push up and give give Kaoru the space and time to run.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I was thinking of posting something similar around “has possession football had its day”?

We won with 30 ish percent possession on Friday and managed to have by far more possession when we lost 7-0 to Forest.

Of yesterday’s games Villa had 75% and drew 1-1 with 10 man Ipswich, Palace lost with 58.1%, West Ham lost with 58.5%.

Over the season rock bottom Saints have averaged 51.6%, Spurs 57% and City, having their worst season for a while 60.8%. Forest have averaged 40% and Bournemouth 46.2%.

Premier League Possession Stats | FBref.com

Check out Possession Stats for the 2024-2025 Premier League season.

fbref.com

It’s not an exact science but it does feel like teams have worked out how to defend particularly high possession but low speed. Block the lanes, stay compact and pick off the mistake or press high and win it near your opponent’s penalty area.

I don’t think anyone really thinks a return to Crazy Gang era Wimbledon is a good idea but there are certainly teams who are very good on the break or excel at the high press.

 

[Coach_Carter_92]

Pretty sure when Leicester won the title they averaged less than 40% possession that season

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

Graham Taylor would have creamed his pants if he had seen that goal.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

This next route could be season-defining.

 

[Sorrel]

Interesting article in The Guardian yesterday - the morning after the night before's Verbruggen-Mitoma masterclass in Route One football.

Tide maybe turning on the High Risk/Minimal Reward strategy of Dicking Around At The Back?

Because teams do the "Daatb" strategy the other team keeps more players high up the pitch, making route one more effective. You need to do both and keep the opposition guessing.

 

[el punal]

Foreplay is nice, but the climax is what you're after. Mix it up, and everyone can be happy.

F*** me! You must have enjoyed Valentine’s Day.

 

[AlbionBro]

F*** me! You must have enjoyed Valentine’s Day.

Looking for the hat trick, but ended up with a brace!

 

[albionalba]

There are some great quotes in that article (also in print in the Observer today btw).
Good to see "RDZ's Brighton" quoted as an example of how daatb was played to advantage. But have all seen how over-reliance on that can be learned and exploited very quickly. There's also the mention of big No 9s and Chris Wood too....

I think these lines from Jonathan Wilson in the article sum it up well:

"The paradigm is familiar: a team starts doing something, opponents react to stop them and then, for a while, a new consensus is reached before the next revolution. It feels as though what is happening now is that pressing structures are able to catch teams passing out from the back often enough that patient buildup from deep can no longer be an unthinking default."

 

[dazzer6666]

I was thinking of posting something similar around “has possession football had its day”?

We won with 30 ish percent possession on Friday and managed to have by far more possession when we lost 7-0 to Forest.

Of yesterday’s games Villa had 75% and drew 1-1 with 10 man Ipswich, Palace lost with 58.1%, West Ham lost with 58.5%.

Over the season rock bottom Saints have averaged 51.6%, Spurs 57% and City, having their worst season for a while 60.8%. Forest have averaged 40% and Bournemouth 46.2%.

Premier League Possession Stats | FBref.com

Check out Possession Stats for the 2024-2025 Premier League season.

fbref.com

It’s not an exact science but it does feel like teams have worked out how to defend particularly high possession but low speed. Block the lanes, stay compact and pick off the mistake or press high and win it near your opponent’s penalty area.

I don’t think anyone really thinks a return to Crazy Gang era Wimbledon is a good idea but there are certainly teams who are very good on the break or excel at the high press.

Man City had 62% and ripped Newcastle a new one

 

[BN41Albion]

In terms of percentages, I reckon hitting the goal from 40/50 yards out, when the keeper is hovering 15 yards from his goal, will yield more goals than tippy tappy slow build up.

Surely just mixing it up is the best way - keep the defence guessing. Doing one or the other and teams learn to play against you - RDZ had no plan b and got found out. FH doesn't seem to have a plan a let alone plan b in terms of style of play - adapts game by game

 

[Weststander]

Not a binary thing for me, mix the approach during games, be unpredictable. Some of our greatest goals over the last three seasons stemmed directly from wonderful 60 yard passes from (from memory) Estupinan, Dunk, Steele, MacA and Verbruggen.

 

[Wardy's twin]

i always thought half the point of playing around at the back, drawing the press, is to create space in behind the opponent to run into. hence, every so often, one over the top should be expected. it gets muddled with possession obsession and the players dont take the long ball often enough when there's a great opportunity. mixing things up, keeping the opponent guessing, or lulling into false assumptions, has to be the best way to use possession?

I sit close to the halfway line in WSU , its frustrating to see us being successful in the enticement phase and yet have no one to pull the trigger when we have Minteh, Adingra and Mitoma all waiting to go. Happens 10 times every game.

 

[Weststander]

I sit close to the halfway line in WSU , its frustrating to see us being successful in the enticement phase and yet have no one to pull the trigger when we have Minteh, Adingra and Mitoma all waiting to go. Happens 10 times every game.

Very often that is so obvious, ruined by one of CM’ers making a 5 yard lateral pass to their CM partner.