right, this is my biggest, number 1, most huge **** problem with the british attitude to football. it has been the problem with our national side forever, the problem with how we coach kids, the main reason we don't encourage or produce technically gifted players too.
for **** sake, KEEPING THE BALL IS DOING SOMETHING WITH IT. keeping the ball for it's own sake means YOUR TEAM HAVE THE BALL AND THE OTHER ONE DOESN'T. they cannot score without the football.
if he gets a chance and all he does all season **** long is KEEP THE BALL FOR OUR TEAM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK. he will be an invaluable asset.
don't normally shout with caps lock, but i hate people sputing all this bullshit about "tippy-tappy ineffective football". all the best sides in the history of the game back to puskas' hungary have kept the ball well. once you make sure you can keep it, then you can start thinking about scoring with it. much harder to score without it...
Bang on.
We need him back.
Even looking at Swansea, would they have finished as high as they did unless they kept majority possession most of the time. They pass it around and if no one is available going forward they will keep it in the middle a bit or go back in order to keep possession so the other team don't have the ball thus meaning they can't score.
Watching Germany against Holland and focusing on Schweinsteiger in particular, he marshals their play in the opposition half, always looking for the return ball and playing back if need be but in the attacking half and with the intent of going forward and creating an opening. We need someone like that.