In the League games so far our average possession has been 56% (let down only by the Wolves match) and incredibly stands at 60% in away games. Also we have completed more passes (2,113) than any other team in the Championship so far this season. Emerson Hyndman tops the rating with just over 90% accuracy - almost in Danny Murphy territory! However as one pundit said the other evening, "possession for possessions sake is no use, unless it's forward thinking and creates chances" (or words to that effect). Allied to that is getting more bodies moving into and around the box. We almost accomplished that in the first half against Cardiff. Hopefully the inclusion of Matt Smith will be the missing link.
Over the last few years, even though we have had good possession our build up has been too slow, under Jol we kept possession but a lot of the times it was across the back 4 and ended up going back to the keeper. During the Tigana Premier years we went down the route of possession football, attractive to watch but in the end there was no end product and we started to struggle. Even with Magath our possession is a slow process, allowing the other teams time to get back into defense, and harder to break down. If a team can make at least 16 chances on goal in a game while keeping possession then they should come out on top, but if they only create 3 or 4 chances their chances of getting a result is low. You've got to turn your possession into chances, and Fulham don't at the moment.
As you know, Ilove a good stat and 58 those are great stats. I honestly think FM has addressed the issue with Matt Smith. We now have a tested player to get the ball to. The other way to look at it is that we can only get better and that's the key for me. Last year I honestly couldn't see us improving, not with the players we had. This year it's different and very much highlighted by Hyndman, who for me has been outstanding. The other point is that this year our play has been forward in the majority and not backwards like last season. It just hasn't clicked in to place. It will though. The quality of the chances has been increasing game on game IMO. Cardiff Corners - 9 Shots on target - 2 (Cardiff 1) Shots wide - 9 (Woodrow had one that shaved the post and one hit the bar) Brentford - interestingly only 44% possession) Corners - 3 Shots on target - 5 Shots wide - 5 Derby - 52% possession Corners - 5 Shots on target - 4 Shots wide - 2 Wolves - 51% Corners - 7 Shots on target - 1 Shots wide - 5 Millwall - 66% Corners - 11 Shots on target - 8 Shots wide - 6 COYW
