Possession Possession

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

70% against Villa, Sunderland and Milwall. L L L

45% against QPR and Brum. W W

Interesting.

[king canary 8,763]

Sunderland was a poor performance no matter the possession stats - possession is only useful if you do something with it and slow, sideways passing is easy to defend against.

Today we used the ball to create a selection of very decent chances and got our rewards.

[lake district canary 4,836]

[quote user="lincoln canary Golden Coppel"]70% against Villa, Sunderland and Milwall. L L L

45% against QPR and Brum. W W

Interesting.[/quote]It''s a work in progress - the successful balance will be somewhere in between.

[Rogue Baboon 0]

The successful balance will not be in between. If you are having huge amounts of possession it''s normally because the other team is winning and sitting off the ball.

Let''s not forget Reading also had more possession than us yet we beat them 7-1.

Possession is pretty much the most irrelevant stat going

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

Indeed, Lakey. I posted a thread about Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago, after having watched them live. I noted that they used width more than we had done under Farke so far, and today we had more width and not just full/wing backs wide with everything else going through the centre. I also noted that they were happy to play ''intelligent'' long balls either into the striker''s chest/feet or into space, to take advantage of his close control/pace. While Nelson is a very different animal to Mounié, we were happy to put the occasional longer ball towards Nelson to mix it up a bit and keep Birmingham on their toes. Trybull and Tettey were both excellent and complemented each other nicely - while not quite the same standard as Billing and Mooy, they won a lot of ball and Trybull wanted possession all the time. Maddison also got stuck into his tackles, which was good to see.On today''s performance, there is much evidence of Farke doing what he needs to do and compromising some of his idealistic passing philosophy to learn to be a bit more ''streetwise''. Time will tell, but there were promising signs today. We should beat Burton, and if we can get at least a draw from Bramall Lane then I hope the corner may have been turned. Onwards and upwards.

[Horse Renoir 1]

The key thing is our possesion was almost always effective in creating chances or keeping the opposition at bay. When out of position we were extremely well organised, determined and focused on protecting the goal.

We conceded one chance very early on when the ball was slipped in behind our defence, we''re a Championship team assembled on a budget, it happens, but overall we defended superbly. Zimmermann has done so well considering where he''s come from, Klose showed what a good player he is today in an organised, well structured tactical approach. He looks class when not over exposed and left with for too much space to defend by a naive 2d gung ho approach.

As the team gels more we''ll have more possession overall and conceded even less chances and hopefully create more!...Theoretically of course!

[The Bristol Nest 598]

Good analysis. This is the point of being patient I suppose. I am optimistic.

[westcoastcanary 173]

Horse Renoir gets it. Farke''s approach is not based on possession as such, but rather domination. He wants us to dominate in possession, and dominate out of possession. Yesterday was a good example. We dominated the game from beginning to end, despite conceding Birmingham more possession. To quote HR: 

"our possesion was almost always effective in creating chances or keeping the opposition at bay. When out of [possession] we were extremely well organised, determined and focused on protecting the goal". 

Brum simply didn''t get a sniff,  apart from two free kicks for fouls just outside our box.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

67-33 in favour of sheff Utd today.

Farkes philosophy is to dominate possession, but every time we have this season we''ve lost, and in all three of our wins we''ve had less possession.

Funny old game.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

We can only have a 50% input into how a game is played. Where we have a big share of possession the opposition have allowed us possession in areas we can''t hurt them. We don''t choose to play in areas we can''t hurt them but are maybe being too patient. We are a work in progress and hopefully as the players begin to gel we will have the teamwork to break through quicker.

[lharman7 39]

Lets talk about our German players you wrote off at the beginning of the season lincoln???

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

Encouraging to hear Farke say that we controlled the game with our defending and therefore didn''t need the majority of possession.

He''s learning quickly as the results show, long may it continue.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="lharman7"]Lets talk about our German players you wrote off at the beginning of the season lincoln???[/quote]

No worries, Vrancic not good enough, Franke not good enough, Steipermann to be found out at left back as soon as we play a better side, Trybull looks decent but nothing special and there are many similar players who can do his Job - Reed is better, and Howson definately. Zimmerman is probably the best of the lot, but will soon be replaced by Hanley anyway.

Let''s not get carried away. Sheff Utd have been on a good run, but we''re missing two key strikers, and in any case when the dust starts to settle they will slip to mid table at the very best. And they were by and large the better side yesterday. Despite this, in our current position it was a good result. But there are much harder tests to come.

[PurpleCanary 6,391]

[quote user="lincoln canary"]Let''s not get carried away. Sheff Utd have been on a good run, but were missing two key strikers, and in any case when the dust starts to settle they will slip to mid table at the very best. And they were by and large the better side yesterday. Despite this, in our current position it was a good result. But there are much harder tests to come.[/quote]But we were missing our main striker, and Pritchard, And given how Farke wants us to play, the latter has been a crucial loss.

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="lincoln canary and Golden Coppel"]67-33 in favour of sheff Utd today. Farkes philosophy is to dominate possession, but every time we have this season we''ve lost, and in all three of our wins we''ve had less possession. Funny old game.[/quote]

[quote user="Fiery Zac"]Encouraging to hear Farke say that we controlled the game with our defending and therefore didn''t need the majority of possession.

He''s learning quickly as the results show, long may it continue.[/quote] 

As I pointed out earlier on this thread, Farke''s philosophy" is NOT "to dominate possession"; it''s to dominate or, more precisely, control the game "in possession and out of possession". His remark yesterday does not therefore show "he''s learning quickly"; he was simply correcting the widespread misinterpretation of his philosophy embodied in the comment he was responding to. He is learning, but has no need to learn that particular lesson. 

[Herman 11,136]

It''s really impossible for Lincoln to say anything positive about the club he ''supports''.

[ROBFLECK 134]

Good point Purple , ... Pritchard would add some technical ability! Nelson a goal with the form he has been in.

Confidence is a CRUCIAL factor in football and that''s what you get by winning games and keeping clean sheets. So when our players feel more confident they''ll perform better against the better teams.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="lincoln canary"]Let''s not get carried away. Sheff Utd have been on a good run, but were missing two key strikers, and in any case when the dust starts to settle they will slip to mid table at the very best. And they were by and large the better side yesterday. Despite this, in our current position it was a good result. But there are much harder tests to come.[/quote]But we were missing our main striker, and Pritchard, And given how Farke wants us to play, the latter has been a crucial loss.[/quote]

True. Pritchard has been a huge loss, but I suspect had he started the season like he finished the last he''d have been sold by the end of august. Teams like Middlesbrough and Birmingham would have been allowed over him I''m sure, as well as a few premier League clubs.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="Herman"]It''s really impossible for Lincoln to say anything positive about the club he ''supports''.[/quote]

I commented on a good win yesterday, is that not positive?

[westcoastcanary 173]

Deary me, Lincoln. You "suspect" Pritchard would have been sold. Personally I "suspect" he''s is a key player the club is going to do everything in it''s power to keep.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="westcoastcanary"]Deary me, Lincoln. You "suspect" Pritchard would have been sold. Personally I "suspect" he''s is a key player the club is going to do everything in it''s power to keep.[/quote]

Howson was a key player. I hope your right though.

[Herman 11,136]

Howson didn''t want to be here just to remind you.

[westcoastcanary 173]

Even if Howson had wanted to stay here, Lincoln is simply ignoring the huge difference between the two (Pritchard and Howson) when it comes to keep or let go. For one thing, Pritchard is what Parma calls "a weapon", which Howson, good player that he was, never quite managed to be for us (he was for Leeds at one time in his early days).

[hogesar 10,774]

Well to highlight Lincolns ridiculous pessimism when asked how our german players are, he includes a Bosnian.

Anyway, anyone who cant see Stiepermann is quality technically but also has the physical requirements of the championship I suggest doesnt watch football too closely. Not sure he will be LB all season as think he has lots to offer further up the pitch.

[lake district canary 4,836]

Thought Stiepermann was superb yesterday, cutting out nearly all the crossfield passes to their right winger and closing him down well when he did have the ball. Held firm along with the rest of the defence. Quality player imo.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Perhaps Farke is learning he has to adjust to the team he has and the teams he plays against. we are always going to be the pretty side with a soft centre if we pick our best players on paper as we have premiership standard players still and sadly for us the championship is very rock paper scissors.

Farke seems to have learnt this and the introduction of trybull in particular has transformed us into a more flexible outfit, able to mix it with the brawn of the league but still outsmart them. hopefully with a bit of luck we will put a run together and get into the promotion mix. we are only a couple of wins away from the pack.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="hogesar"]Well to highlight Lincolns ridiculous pessimism when asked how our german players are, he includes a Bosnian.

Anyway, anyone who cant see Stiepermann is quality technically but also has the physical requirements of the championship I suggest doesnt watch football too closely. Not sure he will be LB all season as think he has lots to offer further up the pitch.[/quote]

Come off it Hoggy, when asked about out German singings Vrancic was obviously meant to be included.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="Herman"]Howson didn''t want to be here just to remind you.[/quote]

And do you think Pritchard will want to be here when a Middlesbrough or prem club come calling?

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

Erm yes he is learning quickly.... we''ve gone from letting in 12 goals in the first 5 games to 3 clean sheets on the bounce.

I never said his philosophy was ''possession possession possession'' and don''t expect the tactic to now always be have less possession, I was merely saying he appears to be learning the league quickly and addressing early errors in our play, successfully so far.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="westcoastcanary"]Even if Howson had wanted to stay here, Lincoln is simply ignoring the huge difference between the two (Pritchard and Howson) when it comes to keep or let go. For one thing, Pritchard is what Parma calls "a weapon", which Howson, good player that he was, never quite managed to be for us (he was for Leeds at one time in his early days).[/quote]

Have to disagree. Howson was just as big a player just in a different way. Impossible to compare two very different players. But having Howson in midfield behind allowed Pritch to do his stuff. I''m staggered at how many fans failed to see or realise his importance to us. He was technically very good, had a great pass, good tackler and an engine to match Gary Holt.

The ironic thing is that Farkes brand of football would have suited Howson, and now he''s struggling to get a game at Boro who have an abundance of riches in that area. He''s gone, but it was a mistake by both parties.