I bore myself sometimes watching us shouting "just keep it" . Keep ball, keep ball etc etc then there's an easy ball to feet. A massive patch of pitch to drop it in for a runner etc. To say we create problems for ourselves is an understatement. It infuriates me. If you watch teams training they practice 'keep ball' in a small square. Thoughts ?!? Or is it just me?!?
Growing up and going to games with my Dad his most frequent outcry was "play the easy ball". As I've grown older, it's a phrase that I find myself using from time to time though like you I find myself frustratingly using it several times a game at the moment.
It’s one of my pet hates and happens too often. The time’s we’ve tried a pass and just kicked it to the opposition player standing two yards away as if they could pass straight through them is beyond belief and often time’s more than one or two occasions . Also we seem to have little ball control receiving a pass . The times it bounces off and rolls to opposition is so frustrating . I know this happens to the opposition as well but nothing nearly like how many time’s we do it each match .
Without prejudice, pick a Championship match choose one of the teams and see if the same thing happens. We're more attuned to it as it's our team. Most teams give the ball away a lot. Keeping the ball distinguishes the the best from the rest. But yeah, we give it away loads.
When I was manager of a team in the North Berks League (not the whole of Berks), I would remind my team of two things: 1. Always pass to a player with the same colour shirt on. This does not happen more often than you would think, even in the Premier League. 2. The further you aim a pass the less likely it will reach its target. Again you need only look at the Premier League to see the truth in this. Hence, to keep the ball teams should not make 40 yard passes too often.
I think the high intensity approach means that passes are made automatically I.e.without the heads up and have a look approach which I reckon is why so many find opposition players. effectively we are passing to where the brain has been trained to pass rather than the eye??
You would think so wouldn’t you, but if that was the case, surely the teammates would be in the vicinity to collect the ball. Look how many times we play a ball into an open space with no one to receive
I guess that’s my point. Maybe it’s not the ‘passer’ that is in the wrong but the ‘receiver’ of the pass who’s not where he’s supposed to be. Seems to have lost some of the old school techniques of getting your head up and picking a pass!!
I think confidence comes into it a bit as well for us at the minute. We don’t look confident at all, and that’s causing us to panic a bit on the ball. It speeds everything up and increases our error rate; we just need to calm down a bit.