004   LIVERPOOL 0  - 3 REAL MADRID

(a masterclass in possession)

Liverpool got beat three nil last night in the Champions League, by Real Madrid. The truth is that Liverpool were dominated by the Spanish who could easily have scored six. Madrid attacked fluently and maintained possession with controlled ease, whilst the exciting Liverpool of Luis and last year seemed only to be a dream. Gerrard was slow and uninspiring and Baliotelli was ineffective. But a team is not based on individual players. Real play for each other and even with Ronaldo the world star on their side, their play was unselfish and humble, simple but imaginative. Contrastingly, Liverpool’s style of play seems to have regressed to the mediocrity and predictability of the majority of premier league sides, where team passing and possession take second place to relying on the skills of individuals. 

Last night, what I observed, when Liverpool gained a little momentum and attempted to counter attack, was that the players without the ball would selfishly, in an effort to find space, run away from the ball carrier. This mostly resulted in the player with the ball becoming isolated and then ultimately losing possession. Real Madrid do almost the opposite. Even when their players end up in confined and claustrophobic spaces, team mates converge on the ball and there is always, or more often than not, three or even four players nearby to support. Surely this basic (commonsensical) philosophic principle should be the aim of all soccer teams. Two players against one should always win. Three defenders against and an under-performing Baliotelli will almost always come out on top. It is essential that team players are close enough to support each other as play breaks down if possession is to be maintained.

But how do you get your players to stop running away from the ball carrier, in order to get ‘’on the end’ of a through ball. How do you change their mind-set so they saturate areas where the ball is, so that there is more of us than there is of the them? How do you help players to appreciate that when there are still four defenders in defensive positions, that may be a counter attack is not really on the cards and slowing down, keeping the ball and supporting each other whilst waiting for reinforcements is probably the best way forward? How do you reassure a player that retreating though not appealing is sometimes the best policy if not quite often essential?

Possession, as I have repeated ad nauseam (and I apologise if I am boring you!) is the key to increasing a team’s chances of winning. When you have the ball your opponents cannot score. It is simple mathematics. The longer you keep the ball the lesser your opponents have it and the lesser the chances are that they will score. If you have a good offensive philosophy and the correct players to implement it, the more possession you have, the greater chance you have of scoring. Therefore retaining/maintaining possession, whether from corners, throw-ins, free kicks or in-field play should be the aim, and the first thought of the team as a whole ALL THE TIME. The players in a team need to know and understand this. They need to believe too. It is the Manager’s role therefore is to create this belief. On the training ground, drills need to be designed and repeated regularly with not just emphasis on the actual keeping of the ball, but equal emphasis on ‘brainwashing’ the players into being convinced that keeping the ball is the right approach. Time in the class room needs to be a part of the daily routine too, to compliment these training sessions. All the players, the entire squad and indeed, ideally, the entire club need to be on the same wavelength with this type thinking, and when everyone is shooting in the same direction a greater rate of success is guaranteed.