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Long passing

90sSpursBook

90sSpursBook

Erik Edman
Having seen Hoddle live at the Spurs Show on Tuesday and watched the montage of clips from his career it struck me how many (successful) long passes he made. Now clearly he was in a league of his own but aside from Carrick, Redknapp and Huddlestone I cant recall many Spurs players who have had the ability to pass a ball over a distance. Daws has got the diagonal ball from right to left wing in his locker.

Come to think of it I wouldn't be able to name any of our existing midfield players who have that ability to change the direction of play or turn defence into attack and drop a ball in behind defences. Cant ever remember Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho, Bentaleb, Capoue, Holtby or Eriksen doing this - for this reason I think we really made a mistake letting Hudd go. Just putting it out there but do you think this is tactical thing or is that we just dont have any players with the ability to play that way?
 
The game is different these days. Defences are far more organised and sweeper keepers are a new factor.

Long passing just isn't as effective as quick short passing in the modern game. It's a bit like crosses, they just don't really trouble teams anymore.

Modric and Carrick etc are the modern breed of ballplayer.
 
Something we lack in our overall play is someone who is willing to switch the ball to the opposite wing early to a man in space. We saw it work very well under Redknapp when we had Modric, Huddlestone and BAE who would try to find a winger in space.

However, I'd question whether it would work so effectively with us now. Opposition teams tend to play so deep against us so we rarely have our wingers with space to really be found. If we were willing to sacrifice more of the pitch or perhaps defend a bit deeper ourselves to encourage the opposition out then we might be able to benefit.

To me what we're lacking isn't a player who can play long balls but a player who can play smart throughballs in congested areas like a David Silva. I think players like Eriksen, Sig and Holtby are capable of playing in a similar manner (not to the same standard obviously) but we also need smarter and quicker movement from our strikers too.

Whoever is in charge next season has a midfield with so much quality in it to work with, I don't think we need any new signings, but they need to find a style with will allow these players to shine instead of the mish-mash that we have now or rigidness we had under AVB.
 
Ryan said:
Something we lack in our overall play is someone who is willing to switch the ball to the opposite wing early to a man in space. We saw it work very well under Redknapp when we had Modric, Huddlestone and BAE who would try to find a winger in space.

However, I'd question whether it would work so effectively with us now. Opposition teams tend to play so deep against us so we rarely have our wingers with space to really be found. If we were willing to sacrifice more of the pitch or perhaps defend a bit deeper ourselves to encourage the opposition out then we might be able to benefit.

To me what we're lacking isn't a player who can play long balls but a player who can play smart throughballs in congested areas like a David Silva. I think players like Eriksen, Sig and Holtby are capable of playing in a similar manner (not to the same standard obviously) but we also need smarter and quicker movement from our strikers too.

Whoever is in charge next season has a midfield with so much quality in it to work with, I don't think we need any new signings, but they need to find a style with will allow these players to shine instead of the mish-mash that we have now or rigidness we had under AVB.
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I think you've hit on the key point there.

Since we've established ourselves as a top club, we do now spend most of our time trying to break down 2 rows consisting of 9 defenders. We're not plucky underdogs who can catch teams of the break anymore. We're having to learn to play like contenders.
 
Gutter Boy said:
The game is different these days. Defences are far more organised and sweeper keepers are a new factor.

Long passing just isn't as effective as quick short passing in the modern game.
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Steven Gerrard has played a massive part in Liverpool's near perhaps even winning title season. His ability to ping a long, early pass is a major threat in their armour and has led to several of their 99 league goals.

It most certainly has not become less effective, it's just they are few and far between especially in England.
 
I still think there is a place for it in the modern game, but I think it requires a lot of good movement to draw a fullback out of position before said pass can be played.
 
Interesting topic. The 5 PL midfielders who hit the most long passes this season were Gerrard, Barry, Huddlestone, Carrick and Medel, in that order (according to WhoScored*), with 5.9 to 7.5 successful ones per game.

Dembele hit the most for Spurs, with 2.6 per game.

Modric hit 6.3 per game for Real this season, and 7.6 per game in his final season for us.

It's definitely something that we're lacking. I have some hope that Capoue could be an upgrade in this respect though - he's shown signs of good passing range, and hit 7 long passes per game at Toulouse last season.

*Defined as a pass of more than 25 yards.
 
elltrev said:
Interesting topic. The 5 PL midfielders who hit the most long passes this season were Gerrard, Barry, Huddlestone, Carrick and Medel, in that order (according to WhoScored*), with 5.9 to 7.5 successful ones per game.

Dembele hit the most for Spurs, with 2.6 per game.

Modric hit 6.3 per game for Real this season, and 7.6 per game in his final season for us.

It's definitely something that we're lacking. I have some hope that Capoue could be an upgrade in this respect though - he's shown signs of good passing range, and hit 7 long passes per game at Toulouse last season.

*Defined as a pass of more than 25 yards.
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Really? From what I've seen of him in a Spurs shirt his long-range passing has been every bit as woeful as his long-range shooting.

Edit: did a google search and found this data on his passing ability whilst he was at Toulouse -

Capoue is a good passer but he needs to be more efficient. What lets him down is his long ball passing, which he only completes 52.7 percent of the time.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...comparing-etienne-capoue-to-yann-mvila/page/3
 
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Gutter Boy said:
I think you've hit on the key point there.

Since we've established ourselves as a top club, we do now spend most of our time trying to break down 2 rows consisting of 9 defenders. We're not plucky underdogs who can catch teams of the break anymore. We're having to learn to play like contenders.
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Having players that can play quick and accurate long passes is important in this. It allows you to switch play from one side of the pitch to the other and expose space that has been left there by teams pushing across to cover.

Have a look at the first Modric video in the Modric thread over in general football for examples.

There's also a very real benefit to counter attacking, and also for when we have to play through pressure.

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Long pass success as a stat in isolation isn't all that informative imo. So much depends on playing style.
 
PLT said:
Steven Gerrard has played a massive part in Liverpool's near perhaps even winning title season. His ability to ping a long, early pass is a major threat in their armour and has led to several of their 99 league goals.

It most certainly has not become less effective, it's just they are few and far between especially in England.
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I've not watched all of liverpool's games but I'm struggling to remember any of their goals coming directly from one of Gerrard's hollywood hoofs.
 
Lost Mango said:
I've not watched all of liverpool's games but I'm struggling to remember any of their goals coming directly from one of Gerrard's hollywood hoofs.
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Why do goals always have to be the direct outcome? Surely the point is his long passes switch the play into forward areas where there is more space for attackers to run at the defences and create chances? I don't have stats either but I'd be surprised to discover data that shows Gerrard's long balls are always ultimately futile.
 
Lost Mango said:
I've not watched all of liverpool's games but I'm struggling to remember any of their goals coming directly from one of Gerrard's hollywood hoofs.
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Sturridge (?) goal against Fulham (?) where he slipped (ironically) then played an absolute wonder ball with the outside of his foot.

There is still a place for it in the modern game, especially now that it's more possession based. Playing tiki taka in areas of the field draws opposition players to the ball, creating space in other areas of the field. Keep the ball, draw them in then get the ball to your long passing expert and quickly exploit the space you've created.

We miss it. Players like Lennon would benefit greatly from it IMO
 
Judging by this article, the ability to accurately ping long passes appears to be a common trait in many of the best central midfielders... If only Levy had managed to sign Joao Moutinho in the summer of 2012 when we had the chance...

StatsBomb | Visualizing Midfielders – Steven Gerrard, Aaron Ramsey, Arturo Vidal, and Andrea Pirlo
...Speaking of average, this is what statistical production looks like for your average “midfielder”. I found this slightly surprising, as your average midfielder looks like a mediocre DM. What that tells us is that most midfielders across the big leagues perform defensive duties and act as recyclers, but don’t have a big impact on the offensive end. That leaves the bulk of the scoring work to be done by forwards and attacking mids.

...Now this is what a player who scored in the 75th percentile in all stats would look like. We’re getting quite a bit more offensively here, as key passes are over 1.6 per 90, scoring contribution is over a goal or assist every 4 matches, and you have some dribbling as well. However, it still doesn’t push out to the halfway point in the circles.

What this means is that top 25% of all midfielders contribute a ton on offense, and drag the whole population toward the boundary with them. A player that has good contributions in both attack and defense and plays midfield? Enormously valuable.
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https://twitter.com/mixedknuts
 
I think City ended up with the second fewest long ball passes this season.

They were incredible at working closely together when they had the ball. It worked extremely well on the flanks, with 3 or 4 City players within 10 yards of each other forming little passing triangles to great effect. It's often how they managed to work in a decisive through ball with Silva or Toure coming over to one side to overload an area of the pitch and send in a much more effective cutback to someone in the 18.

Long passing is however extremely important for our counter attack and I think that's where Hudd and Modric shined
 
VolSpur said:
I think City ended up with the second fewest long ball passes this season.

They were incredible at working closely together when they had the ball. It worked extremely well on the flanks, with 3 or 4 City players within 10 yards of each other forming little passing triangles to great effect. It's often how they managed to work in a decisive through ball with Silva or Toure coming over to one side to overload an area of the pitch and send in a much more effective cutback to someone in the 18.

Long passing is however extremely important for our counter attack and I think that's where Hudd and Modric shined
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One thing that strikes me about City is how well they use their full-backs. Zabaletta makes fantastic, well-timed runs off the ball in and around the box.
 
Gutter Boy said:
The game is different these days. Defences are far more organised and sweeper keepers are a new factor.

Long passing just isn't as effective as quick short passing in the modern game. It's a bit like crosses, they just don't really trouble teams anymore
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wrong
 
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