Guess it depends who you have up front, when we had morata and even costa, any long ball would just come straight back.
Its good to have variety though.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Ridiculous tactic.

Kepa

It's like the over arm serve in tennis. Half the time it doesn't even go in and players insist on using it. It even results in double faults pretty often meaning points to the opposition. What is wrong with a good old fashioned underarm serve? Then at least you're getting it in play and not risking a double fault.

That pass from Leno to Socrates was just ridiculous. He was next to him. What possible advantage is to be gained from that? Just asking to be pressed.

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I don't mind it per se, just don't fecking do it for every goal kick. It'll get to a point where attackers will just deliberately kick it out for an opposition goal kick.

I can see why you would play out from the back during regular play, but it is utterly idiotic to do so from goal kicks if the opposition are pressing up the field.

If you challenge for the second ball correctly then going long is an effective way to beat a high press. But if its aimless punts then what's the point.

Playing out from the back is great when you're good at it. The way Arsenal shape up at every goal kick seems a bit ridiculous to me it's very obvious where it's going and easy to press. If they mixed it up a bit and drew the press but went long into midfield, or a forward drops deep quickly and the keeper hits them it could work really well.

If it was a quick goal kick, fair enough. But Arsenal take an age to do it, letting the opponents push up and get set.

All Peps fault anyway

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 23 seconds ago
If it was a quick goal kick, fair enough. But Arsenal take an age to do it, letting the opponents push up and get set.
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Yeah exactly DJ and your defenders stand in the same spot on every goal kick inviting the press.

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 3 minutes ago
I can see why you would play out from the back during regular play, but it is utterly idiotic to do so from goal kicks if the opposition are pressing up the field.
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I think its ridiculous... Teams are putting themselves under pressure from the start.

While i get the ball coming straight back if you go long at times at least its further from your goal

comment by Shugs (U14253)
posted 34 seconds ago
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 3 minutes ago
I can see why you would play out from the back during regular play, but it is utterly idiotic to do so from goal kicks if the opposition are pressing up the field.
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I think its ridiculous... Teams are putting themselves under pressure from the start.

While i get the ball coming straight back if you go long at times at least its further from your goal
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So often the ball is punted to a forward who is surrounded by big defenders. And even if the forward wins it then there is no support to win the second ball.

Newcastle did it over and over again v us and we were back on the attack withing seconds of the goal kick.

That is one thing I would give Ole credit for. When Saints were pressing us in the first half when we were doing that penalty box passing out thing DDG launched it long and bypassed the press which I feel is the key to beating it unless you have four defenders all able to pass with skill and understanding which we (and definitely Arsenal) don’t have

To play long it you need a player like Firmino or Giroud who are technically good and can hold the ball up and link the play.

Burnley played some long balls against us but we have giants at the back who are dominant in the air and Fabinho to win the second balls.

Auba, Pepe will not work with long balls or you need a Vieira type to challenge and win the second balls.

When done right, you massively increase your possession, which will help win lots of matches. To get it right is very hard though.

Kola will win most headers against opposition right backs. We should be pinging them to him a fair bit.

This idea would work if the gk and the defence are capable of playing from the back thus easier to beat the opposition pressing high up the field, otherwise it would be suicidal to do so. It is not surprising to see that two best teams in the league apply such tactics.
Barca were/are successful in doing so for the past two decades. Not really that hard to understand.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 0 seconds ago
Kola will win most headers against opposition right backs. We should be pinging them to him a fair bit.
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I wonder what Pep says about Kola getting long balls down the wing

Barca in their build up plays a lot of diagonal balls to their fullbacks when Busquets is under pressure.

What is the actual rule though? Do you have to have two defenders in there? I know the opposition aren’t allowed to be there but could you have three players in there? One?

As many or as few as you want

It's like that Formula One car I tried. Doesn't bloody work. Just spins off at the first corner every time. Don't know why people would drive one. Clearly doesn't work.