Sideways Passes...

[Real_madyidd]

What is it with this forum hating Sideways passes? I frequent a few forums and this one stands out as the one that really hates possession football and spreading out the play. Why do you all appear to want to play kiddie football / punt and run/ or counter attacks?

I much prefer to see us spread the play out, tire out the other teams and win games by leaving them dead on their feet (hence loving these late goals recently).

So, oh wise folks of Spurs Community, why do you stigmatize the sideways pass?

 

[Monkey boy]

It's not the sideways passing that bothers people it's the lack of forward passing and the general fact that we never look like we will carve out an opportunity at any point when we pass from side to side.

 

[Col_M]

its because the players are passing instead of shooting on the edge of the area. it's what Arsenal were criticised for several years ago,

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Well if stuff isn't happening at 100mph we are not being entertained.

Apprently

 

[Nocando]

It's not the sideways passing that bothers people it's the lack of forward passing and the general fact that we never look like we will carve out an opportunity at any point when we pass from side to side.

Don't be so obtuse.

 

[punky]

As @Monkey boy said the problem is that the sideways passing is due to a lack of creativity and movement ahead of the ball forcing the sideways pass rather than it being part of a game plan

 

[riggi]

Good old Parker.

 

[Lufti]

I'll answer this by referring to some Guardiola quotes

"I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka. It's so much rubbish and has no purpose. You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal. It's not about passing for the sake of it."

"Be yourselves. You need to dig into your own DNA. I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it's pointless.

"Don't believe what people say. Barça didn't do tiki-taka! It's completely made up! Don't believe a word of it! In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.

"And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That's why you have to pass the ball, but only if you're doing it with a clear intention. It's only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch. That's what our game needs to be. Nothing to do with tiki-taka."

At the moment we're not passing with purpose, it looks like there isn't a plan, we just pass and hope something opens up, at least that's how it goes with Dembele, Capoue and Paulinho anyway.

 

[Dinghy]

It's the static nature of the players when they pass sideways seemingly for no reason. We are the side that invented 'push and run'.

 

[MattyP]

I defer my response to a certain Danny Blancflower

"The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and
beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom."

Sideways passing is, to a certain extent, sympomatic of our very slow play with very little coming out of it. It can be boring to watch, more so when we are playing teams with 11 men behind the ball.

 

[Gbspurs]

What is it with this forum hating Sideways passes? I frequent a few forums and this one stands out as the one that really hates possession football and spreading out the play. Why do you all appear to want to play kiddie football / punt and run/ or counter attacks?

I much prefer to see us spread the play out, tire out the other teams and win games by leaving them dead on their feet (hence loving these late goals recently).

So, oh wise folks of Spurs Community, why do you stigmatize the sideways pass?

Its the new " Gareth Bale, he plays on the left".

 

[Yid-ol]

Sidewaysand backwards passing is needed in the game, yes we want to go forward as quick as we can, but if we get to a point where there is no room or player available then a sideways or backwards pass will keep us the ball to be able to move thier players about to create the space needed.

 

[Jimbo78]

Its not so much the side ways pass that grinds my gears its the pace of how we do it.

We are just so slow!!!!

 

[Donki]

Sidewaysand backwards passing is needed in the game, yes we want to go forward as quick as we can, but if we get to a point where there is no room or player available then a sideways or backwards pass will keep us the ball to be able to move thier players about to create the space needed.

This is the bit that isn't happening though, we dont attept enough through balls to feet or into space unless its going its a dead cert to be successfull. Retaining the ball and pass completition is important but we should be able to carve out an oppertunity from out own indever instead of relying on a quick break or opposition mistake. When we have the ball its clear we don't really know what to do with it, there always seems to be a huge gap between midfield and attack.

 

[Jimbo78]

Just speed it up FFS!!

 

[L-man]

Well this shows we're not looking to sit back and pass for the sake of it

Bottom of backwards passing

 

[Krafty]

"Sideways passing" basically means a lack of creativity in general play. There is nothing wrong with passing it short, moving the ball back or sideways, however like everything it needs to be done in moderation.


We don't really have anyone who can switch the play, hence when we go down one flank, it takes us sooooo long to get the ball to the other flank that the opposition has been able to check their emails, watch a box set of 24 and then move over to other side to close us out.


We can also lack width high up the pitch, meaning we drive down the middle, where the opposition will group in numbers, and then when we go wide the opposition has 10/11 men behind the ball, has tripled up in the middle and doubled up in the wide positions, and because we do not put too many balls into the box (and why would we when we have so few players in the area), we end up with too many men behind the ball just to keep possession, without ever changing the tempo or our plan of attack.

When we do pick up the tempo we can look very dangerous, but we have an issue breaking down very defensive teams, especially at home, and we have struggled to look effective with two strikers (playing as strikers) on the pitch since Redknapp was in charge. It's a work in process, and a lack of a dominating CM/deep lying playmaker hinders us still, but it can be very frustrating when we fall back into bad habits.

 

[nicdic]

I like a possession game. No problem with sideways or even backward passing for me. Just need a higher tempo occasionally.

 

[Larryjanta]

Agree with others who say the lack of tempo is why we don't like sideways passing. I love a sideways ball if it is moved quickly and helps us then get up the pitch. That's why Mason and Bentaleb are so important, they move the ball so much quicker that any other CMs we have.

 

[camaj]

I was listening to The Spurs Show yesterday and they were going on about AVB and sideways passing, yet they (and most of SC) didn't seem to mind when it was happening under Redknapp. I don't mind it a bit but if it's because everyone is afraid to shoot, as was the case back then, then I don't like it. Likewise it can be the case that it's the result of poor positioning, we had that problem when Jenas used to play, he'd stand to the side of the player rather than behind the defender