Its not new.
Big teams do it, small teams do it.
Even ppl playing FIFA 08 or PES 2008 do it.

The scenario im talking about is teams keeping possession among the back line passing to each other.
Espcially when they are winning, or keeping a draw against a better team.

what is this shit? unsporting or playing within the rules ? OR "tactical"

as for me, if u wanna keep possession do it like arsenal here, not grouping in front of ur goalmouth



This post has been edited by EmperorMeng: Jan 14 2008, 10:27 PM

arsenal is very steady in ball bringing therfore good ball possesion :D

Truly Tactical, however, the opposition could take chance by put a lot of forward up front to tackle the defenders non stop, by that, it would kill the defense if they made a mistake...

by that time they already score a goal. is not like asking you to keep possession and never pass it to your team forwards..

the way arsenal playing the ball at the front is time wasting le ... dun result in anything le .. only frustrate fans watching lulz ....

playing among the backline is for defensive teams like italy .. or the old chelsea ...

some more its not unsportsmanlike .. its tactics .. like 1-0 up ... few minutes left playing at the corner flag ...

mostly this kinda of tactics used by teams that stay bottom of the table and against top teams... keep passing in their own area and do counter attack

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Added on January 14, 2008, 11:47 pmwill be difficult for the attacking team to get goals or attempt to shot the ball (shot on goal).. normally will be blocked...

This post has been edited by nizamhameed: Jan 14 2008, 11:47 PM

Keeping the ball possesion among themselves can avoid them being attack by opponent teams. At the same time, they can plan or find a way to score goals. It is better than losing possesion to opponents then waste energy to chase it back. Btw it is if oni u can play possesion football like arsenal. If a team can master the possesion futball tactic, u can see they alwayz lose ball easily. They dun have understanding among their own teammates. Thats y u see arsenal rarely buying many players in one time it is hard to achieve good understanding among teammates.

surely its very importance that teammates need to understanding among them... if not it will be difficult to do 1 2 passing...

its good to consider understanding between teammates but i'd say the most important thing to play possesion football is individual's own ability to hold the ball aka technical ability. they are confident and are not easily perturb when playing against players that marks vr closely.

Yeap like arsenal do. Even they play possesion futball, they dare to keep the ball under their feet eventhought the defenders play tight marking and sometimes body charge a lot. Unlike other teams that try to play possesion futbal, the simply pass the ball when defenders run into them and thus lose ball possesion + mistake which could lead to opponent scoring goals.

attacking possession football is kinda acceptable.
but passing around the backline ?

It's purely tactical but it doesn't work against good teams. And to be fair if a team is passing around the backline for long periods the fault is with the opposing team for preferring to defend deep and not do anything about it.

Hmm tats y arsenal gt player like hleb and cesc who are good in finding space to do passes and to run through. Sometimes playing a certain tactic u need certain players with suitable skills.

they trying to waste the time... when leading or near end match....

This post has been edited by nizamhameed: Jan 15 2008, 12:33 AM

Loz not juz arsenal la but i saw a few teams also do the same thing.

no matter how u try to attack, and pressure their defence,
they jz can pass to the keeper
and keeper use hand again.....

nkw1987?

What?? Keeper can't use his hands if u pass it back to him. It's not that hard to put pressure and close down really. Just push the strikers and wingers further forward if they insist on passing around the backline. Either they get caught out or they'll be forced into clearing the ball. Besides if this was a real issue u would see it happen more in top level games but that's clearly not the case. There's only once I have actually seen it happened and the game involved the Malaysian national team

i think he didnt mean arsenal, he said about the team that keep possession as passing around the backline.
this thread is about possession football not about arsenal as far as i'm concern.
Barca also play possession football

yeah i mean almost all the team... not arse only...

yeap, keeper can't use his hand for backpass.
it's a football tactical, passing around backline to make opponent to come out or to stretch them to find some space.
you dont want FIFA introduce backcourt violation or should i say backline violation in football rules, do you?

This post has been edited by Mie: Jan 15 2008, 12:59 AM

to backpass...
keeper can touch / stop 1st.
then use hand.

An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area, commits any of the following four offences:

* takes more than six seconds while controlling the ball with his hands before releasing it from his possession
* touches the ball again with his hands after it has been released from his possession and has not touched any other player
* touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate
* touches the ball with his hands after he has received it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/RulesAndRegulat...02/05/12117.htm

So, stop saying the keeper can pick up the ball which has been passed back to him by his own players. If the ball was headed or chested back to him, then it's a different story.

This post has been edited by Nostalgia: Jan 15 2008, 02:18 AM

what i meant was like this.
def pass to keeper
keeper stop ball with leg
keeper wait for enemy forward to chase
keeper use hand
keeper throw to team mate

i always see that la.
what u highlighted is straight catch the ball using hand from teammate without other contact by keeper 1st.

where got this rule? unless the ball is contacted with the enemy leg...there is no way the keeper can use his hand! thats why.. when the keeper is supress by the striker, he always kick tonggang langang one..heheh

Keep the ball in the team is the most important part in football... Not only in defence but in attack also u need to keep possesion in order to get the game goin... If not wat is the difference btw playin football and ping pong???

yalar me bodoh
enuf discussion on keeper handling ballz , me wrong

it's alrite... the rule, i mean, passingback to keeper and keeper can catch was allowed during the yesteryears of the game.. i think in 80s (or even early 90s), its still allowed.. mebe u watched the fa cup classic match on astro, that's y u think its ok to catch teammate's own backpass.. all clear now are we?

I don't see much wrong in teams passing the ball around their defence especially if they are defending a lead. The pressure to win and attain success these days is much higher as are the stakes. We can say what we want from our perspectives as fans but winning = financial gain = success. If I managed a team that was holding a lead, why should I attack? Why don't you come at me then? It's a tactical decision as well isn't it? I mean the opposition team pours forward trying to win the ball back, leaving gaps at the back for me to exploit.

Depending on how you look at it, a lot of people would think it's time wasting, but there's a tactical side of it.

By passing the ball amongst the backline, you are inviting the opposition to close you down, or to draw them forward, especially if you are leading. They cannot do anything if they don't have the ball, therefore, in passing amongst yourself, even at the backline, would make the opposition come at you, and if it is set right, you could hit them, especially if you have a good passer or a fast runner as they would be pretty high up and closing you down, that could bring another goal or at least threaten their play. This would put doubt into the opposition as to whether to attack you or to sit and wait, but with them going behind or the eagerness to score, they would come again, and then it could happen again, the team launching an attack.

Some of them, when passing between the backline, are sizing up where are the openings to take and see if there's any space for the midfielders to take advantagve of and "hurt" the team. We often hear the commentators say that the team is extremely "patient" when they pass around a lot and ended up scoring. this is because, when you pass around, between the backline and midfield, you are making the opposition midfield chase after you, and if you are like Arsenal, with good first touch and passing, you'll more than likely drag them all over the place, leaving gaping holes here and there for the others to take advantage of. Which also why people say that Arsenal are playing beautiful football, it's actually simple pass and move that drags people out of position for your team mate to capitalise.

The problem with a lot of teams is that they are either not patient enough to pass around and draw the opposition forward, resulting in them passing back to the keeper to hoof it up, which throws the ball into a 50 - 50 position which they might or might not win. Or they are not good enough to pass around when pressured, you just have to look at the way the Man Utd players hassle the backline of the opposition of how Torres or Ian Rush harrass the opposition defenders to put pressure on them, often getting the reward when the defence panicked or misplace a pass or had a bad first touch. We often term this as defending from the front, but it's a bit of a pressure that hope they screw up and get an easy goal.

There are teams who pass around in the last 5 mintues to wind down the clock, but it is a pretty risky thing to do, why would you want to draw the opposition to come at you when they would probabaly throw everyone forward (especially if it's a big game or cup final)? There will be players who would be shadowing every of your move, closing you down while you protect that slender lead, wouldn't it be better to bring the ball to the opposition corner flag where you can play "monkey" there and if you concede the possession, there are plenty of cover rather than the poor keeper? Even better, you might get a corner which you could try and kill the game off.

So to me, I don't think passing between the backline is a time wasting thing, rather a tactical move adopted by a lot of teams, but at times badly executed. it's either that or in some cases when the person in possession is Djimi Traore, have not got a clue on what to do with it, therefore, knocking it to a fellow defender to let him think.

Not every team is capable of playing possession football like what Arsenal and a few other big clubs are so good at. It can be frustrating to see smaller sides defending a lead by an odd goal or holding out a team much bigger then theirs to a stalemate by simply hitting the ball sideways around the park in their own half. However if you look at it from their perspective, getting a result is so important these days that heck, they're willing to sacrifice displaying entertaining football and reap the rewards then have a go and then be on the backfoot for the rest of the game and end up not getting anything.
One of the games in my mind that I can think of was the one between Italy and Mexico in the '98 or '02 World Cup, not too sure. Both teams were tied and chose to just keep possession in their own half for the last 5-10 minutes of the game because a point a piece would have meant qualification for both and one team losing would mean the end of the road.

I remember a game in 98 between England and Nigeria where both teams had already qualified for the next round. That has to be the MOST BORING game of football I have ever watched, and that's saying a lot given I'm a Liverpool fan and we played under Gerard Houllier.

i think its a tactic of the team.by keeping the possession,one player will hold the ball while the others finding space to attack.sometimes,keeping possession will increase the pressure to the opponent and this will leads to them leaving empty space for the attacking players to attack.

dont say just arsenal play possession football, there are lotsa big club such as man utd, liverpool sometimes, barca also.. if you wanna play possession football, a team need very good midfielders to keep the ball to their feet and also good passing accuracy..

passing along the backline even if you are 1 goal down has a tactical reason to it. It is meant to "open up play" like passing to flanks and changing sides, passing to the back and having the back line pass around "invites" opposition to come forward to attempt for possession creating space in the middle or even up front. if there is no space or things get to compact in midfield, sometimes passing to the back to "relieve pressure" in the midfield or use diff tactics like to suddenly launch the long ball by passing midfield when it is packed with ppl is another option. It is also useful for composure, imagine in epl the moment you get the ball in midfield in a split second the other players are at you. Those who play football would understand that the more touches you have and more time you have on the ball, the more assured and composed and more confident you are. hence the passing to each other at the back gives you time and space for the defenders to be composed and imposed themselves. This is important esp to the back four. Imagine getting the ball with you not touching the ball the whole match and suddenly u have it with ppl running at you. You will panick and prolly miscontrol the ball, make a blunder.

In the EPL, the team that imposes themselves and finds their composure first will have an advantage, thats why some lower teams adopt a "in your face" tactics very direct to prevent the top teams from establishing themselves or else once the top teams find their feet, they will definitely outclass them. I wouldn't say it is negative football. It's just like playing the ball to the corner for time wasting. If you're good enough, come get it. And some have captialized from the back passing intercepting it and scoring too. Those who take long to take a free kick / goal kick , however those are negative as they make no attempt to play the ball at all(and now rightfully refs are giving out cards for them) . In the end, each team will have to deal with each of the tactics they face (even including "parking the bus") or direct football, as long as it is legal (not crazy tackling, diving, time wasting taking free kicks etc) deemed by the ref, what ever "tactics" adopted by the team the other has to deal with it not sulk and say hey they are not playing football the way it should be played.

100% agree with u dude!

I love this

i have a problem with that statement.
if they play backline passing, only the defenders are touching the ball.
hence when a forward gets into position and have the ball, he rarely touch the ball the whole match also lar
same thing right.

But he's absolutely right. Composure and confidence on the ball is crucial for a defender. A forward doesn't really have to worry about a miscontrolled ball; he is closer to the opponent's goal after all.

ic.. hence defence as priority

then it boils down to how you want to win.
by goals scored or by goals conceded.
managers that claim to play attacking football, and when taken the lead resort to backline passing, shows that he has compromised his philosophy.
he wants to win afterall, and by any cost to the beautiful game.

arsenal can be dangerous when they're going forward.
good ball possesion and co-ordination.

I don't agree that an attacking team can't pass the ball along their backline. As someone has pointed out, it's like a boxer sizing up his opposition, jabbing away to find an opening and lay that killer punch on him.

keeping possession like the video is #1 post is tiring the player, ppl keeping possession on the line back to keep the stamina...

yeah, theres a fine line between time wasting and waiting for a chance.
its hard to tell, but isnt it too much just passing it for more than 5 minutes?
it can be argued that its strategy, but it certainly isnt a win-win one at that.
certainly not for the fans