We haven't lost our style , we've just become more clinical and with a more cutting edge Prem Lge this season so far - total passes: Swansea - 2442 Chelsea - 2324 Man City- 2250 Spurs - 2218 Arsenal - 2186 Man Utd - 2086 Everton - 2018 Liverpool 1855
To be fair you have just proved the point most of us already knew. We are better under Laudrup and out passing Brenda's Liverpool and Wenger's Arsenal. Laudrup is the best manager we've ever had. We are more complex and unpredictable than before but the main ingredient is still possession. Good post, interesting facts.
Great numbers. Now even more interesting would be completion rates. Interesting to note .... Martinez goes into Everton and gets them out passing 'Pool after just 3 months or so, despite Rogers having over a year trying to change 'Pool. What does that tell you. It would be interesting to see the seasonal stats for the last two years for Wigan, Everton and 'Pool.
Passes do not matter. Last season in some matchs we tend to have alot of control (passes) but the other team scored 1-2 goals on counterattacks and we scored none. It all comes down to how effective we are. What Laudrup has improved is our ability to be effective.
They do matter in the overall scheme of things imo , the point i wanted to make was some of us may have thought we had abandoned our passing style and became more direct but we appear to have combined the two facets of play more effectively and not forgetting the amount of changes to the squad it would appear the new boys have fitted in seamlessly
We are clearly still a tika-taka team. Even when we switch to plan B we are still loyal to our basis concept. We play Tika-taka because it is more effective then how our opponents play. As long we get better results then the teams we compare ourselves with, we will keep using it. The Champions League semi-finales in april/may showed that the best coaches are starting to find a way to counter it. But this evolution of football is one of the most interesting things about Swansea. We are 10 years ahead of most british teams.
Surprised with our more direct passing we still top the passing total chart. Don't think we really do tika-taka anymore, we are now more tika-ataka.
You are still playing Tika-Taka when you passes forward instead of sideways. Tika-Taka means to keep the ball in possession most/all the time as an defensive and as a offensive measure. What have given Tika-Taka a bad name, the last few years, is that some teams only play sideways, because they are more interested in defending then scoring (Swansea sometimes had a tendency toward that, when Rogers was manager). Swansea still has massive control against most teams (almost 70-30 against Liverpool in the second half) and passes all the time. We just Tika Taka more forward/direct now.
Laudrup is able to mix the play better than we ever have before. tiki-taka is fine to a point as we have seen from Arsenal (who have been doing this at a higher level for longer of the last 7-8 years) but without the ability to spring meaningful, quick attacks (rather than walking the ball into the net) the top won't be there for the taking. What I'm saying is that in terms of football puritanism Arsenal should have won the league most years under Wenger. The difference was that they didn't have the cutting edge sometimes to turn a draw into a win. Rodgers was often (rightly) criticised for lacking a plan B, Laudrup has seen this and introduced different methods of play. tiki-taka is a 'pure' way to play when it works (plan A), but some times you have to play a long ball to the target man*gulp* or hit a 50 yard across pitch ball to switch play. As a player Laudrup could see the value (better than just about any footballer ever) to see when the short pass worked best, where the through ball was most damaging and where the individual dribble was the best option. He translated that 'Laudrupness' into our play. We can now play in different ways to get better results. Nothing is sure to win but having these shifts in play allow us a better chance of doing so.
If you consider the amount of goals scored though the middle just in the last 4 matchs it is the waste majority. How many of our 9 goals in the last four matchs was scored playing a long ball (over the defenders). The passes especially Shelvey make firing a high ball to the other side of the pitch (30-40 meters) is not tika-taka because it is not short-passing. But it is fantastic. Agree Laudrup have made smaller ajustments to make us more lethal. Passes into the box made by our backs going outside is also a none tika-taka way (but fits Michu and Bony perfectly). But those two example do not define our basis game. It is still massive amount of passes. You have a great example with Arsenal. Often the problem with the style of players you need to play tika-taka. You need very technical gifted players. The problem with those kind of players are, they are very rearly great strikers (players like Routledge, Pablo and Dyer) are example of that kind of player. They wanna do thing with grace. They will rather try to place the ball just under the crossbar in the corner, rather then just making an easy flat ball near the post (Arsenals players are also perfect examples of that kind of players). Michu and Bony on the other hand don<t give a **** about how they score. They just wanna get the ball in the net. That is why Swansea desperated need a real striker this summer.
According to this http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8938219/Premier-League-Numbers-And-Stats * Swansea have the best pass completion rate in the PL this season at 87.3%. * No outfield Swansea player registered a pass completion rate below 80% v Palace on Sunday. * Swansea have conceded just one goal in three away games so far this season. Routs had a 98% completion rate according to this site http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/stats-stoke-dominate-arsenal-busy-mignolet-champs-failed-comeback-and-more
Sick. All though I thought that Michu would have the best completion rate. That guy is rock solid, don't think I have ever seen him make a mistake. I'm always at ease win he's on the ball
Anyone got stats for miles covered in a game. Ah what the hell who needs stats! All I need to see is Michu - the way he attacks the way he tracks back the way he closes their keeper, his enthusiasm when he scores his genuine upset when he doesn't. A player with heart and effort - how do the stats show that - it would be a cool measure!
