Why is our passing so garbage?

[NZT-One]

We just lack the players for it and no tactical set up is going to change that unless we actually start bringing players that are world class on the ball and know how make the opposing team play on their terms.

Its never "just the players". Mate, other teams can play a possession based system as well, even Wolves mostly looked quite comfortable on it as well. It not just the players, better players obviously help but its also the set up. When you attack and defense are as far apart as we were today and the objective seemed to be "first idea should always be a through ball" than even Prime Barcelona wouldn't have kept the ball.

Look at the best possession teams in Europe, look at City, look at Barcelona etc etc and none of them will be half as good if they didn't have the players that they've got.

You are right, if we want to get close to them and maybe even beat them, we have to bring in better players. But today and more often as not we are not playing teams as good at them. So the argument is a bit misleading. Look at Arsenal, look at Liverpool, look at Bayern, look even at Brighton - they all look more comfortable in possession than we do.

Eric seemed to have the right idea last summer by prioritizing perhaps the very best possession midfielder in the world but I genuinely have no idea what prompted him to change course so rapidly this season by pursuing mount who in my opinion his lack of world class ball playing and passing will not be compensated by his running and defensive work, I suppose we could make an exception for Bruno being so careless simply due to his sheer deadlines as an offensive threat and casemiro is pretty well suited to play possession based football given the right circumstances as we'd seen with real.

We still need a world class midfielder and we need it fast lest we waste bruno's and casemiro's peak and ending up having to buy 3 instead of one.

Won't try to stop us bringing somebody in but lets be real, we are hearing this thing since the days of Mourinho, certainly since Ole. If you act as if only new players could change the status quo than you make sure you will be in an evergoing rebuilt.

Today was bad, because most of our players looked off. Can happen. We looked like this last season too though. Can happen as well. Its players and manager. And he is giving you clues when he talks about being the best transitional team. That does mean, he isn't valueing possession as much as transition, which will reflect on his setups which will reflect in the things our players can do well and what they usually can't do well.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Was expecting Ten Hag to fix this aspect of our play. The fact he hasn't after a full year has been very disappointing.

 

[pcaming]

We signed Mount but in reality the first choice was a deep lying playmaker like De Jong who was out of our price range or didn’t want to come. Or both

Those players are so rare and we don’t have anyone in the mould. Bruno is basically doing his best deeper but he’s not the same level.

If there's only 1 De Jong, what explains the numerous teams out there that are also really good with the ball? De Jong being the be all and end all of a system means the system is dumb.

 

[justboy68]

It was not a promising sign but it was also the first game of the season. Let’s hope it improves.

 

[croadyman]

Yeah the passing quality leaves me exasperated

 

[croadyman]

Was expecting Ten Hag to fix this aspect of our play. The fact he hasn't after a full year has been very disappointing.

Hopefully we now pull trigger on Amrabat

 

[Kinky Melinky]

I realise the pace of the game is insane but I'm not a professional footballer. To see professional footballers pass the ball without looking, to imaginary players only to lose possession is beyond frustrating. It's grass roots shit that shouldn't be happening at this level.

 

[Devil You Know]

The formation was stretched way too far apart, imo. From back to front, left to right.

The word "compact" can be a bit of buzzword sometimes. But it's exactly what was missing yesterday.

By spreading out across the pitch, we made it really easy for Wolves to anticipate our passing lanes and make interceptions. They had the most interceptions of any team all weekend. I don't have any other stats to hand, but it wouldn't surprise me if the numbers for yesterday's match were historically high as well.

Team	Interceptions
1. Wolves	18​
2. Everton	13​
3. Sheffield United	11​
4. Liverpool	10​
5. Tottenham	10​
6. Luton	9​
7. Manchester United	8​
8. Nottingham Forest	8​
9. Brentford	8​
10. Arsenal	7​
11. Chelsea	7​
12. Newcastle	7​
13. Bournemouth	7​
14. Burnley	7​
15. Aston Villa	6​
16. West Ham	6​
17. Crystal Palace	4​
18. Manchester City	4​
19. Fulham	4​
20. Brighton	4​

Bring the defence closer to the midfield and force Bruno/Mount closer to Casemiro, and we'll make it all a hell of a lot easier for ourselves.

 

[kouroux]

Passing quality is terrible and passing decision making is even worse, like once Bruno had the possibility of sending Antony with an easy pass and he didn't, Antony did it in the first half with Garnacho completely left wide in the 1st half and Garnacho also did at some point It's like they're one upping each other in terms of bad decisions

 

[kouroux]

We signed Mount but in reality the first choice was a deep lying playmaker like De Jong who was out of our price range or didn’t want to come. Or both

Those players are so rare and we don’t have anyone in the mould. Bruno is basically doing his best deeper but he’s not the same level.

They're rare as long as you look at the same market and clubs, however those players are there. We're terrible at scouting. Newcastle landed Tonali without any problems.

 

[DevilRed]

Is it some sort of tactical instruction that when we have the ball, all 5 of our attackers need to be stood next to their back line. With everyone parallel.

It just seems very static and counterintuitive.

 

[Cantona in disguise]

Our passing has been rubbish for so long. Our lack of movement infront of the ball has been rubbish for years. Since the last year's of SAF Our midfield has been run over.

I remember a game against spurs where they literally ran through us. (Pretty sure that was fergies last year and we won the league). Ever since then we have been miles off in terms of intensity, movement, fight.

It simply cannot be every manager. There has to be something else. We can't blame the Glazers for it (as much as I'd love to). Smaller teams with lessers budgets and worse managers look better and more comfortable on the ball.

United have shown glimpses of changing it don't get me wrong. Spurs last season at home we were on it one of the best games we've had in years. In terms of movement and pressing etc.

ETH has credit in the bank but he needs to address the issues that are pretty clear to us mere fans. We don't have the answers even if we think we do but he needs to find them.

 

[Henandez14]

Because our fans think Bruno is a better midfielder than Odegaard

 

[Josep Dowling]

Our two best attacking players are Bruno and Rashford. Both are extremely erratic and very wasteful with their passing.

We had AWB at RB and Shaw playing as an inverted LB. It didn’t work at all. Surely the whole concept of inverted full backs is that both sides can do it? That’s a tactical mess which will cost us if Ten Hag persists. We had no width because of this structure.

Midfield of Mount and Bruno playing the same area of the pitch. And the less said about Antony the better, how we allowed Ten Hag to spend £90m on him.

It was a tactical mess last night and I hope we learn from our mistakes. I think Ten Hag is too stubborn though. Poor summer signings and another £175m spent. I thought we would go big on a CF and solidify midfield, defence and replace GK. How we started the season with Rashford as CF is unbelievable. Under Sir Alex we would have got Kane as priority, simple as.

 

[dinostar77]

One of the issues and biggest difference between us and arsenal/city is that we still play like a bunch of individuals, especially going forwards when we get near the box.

I think it was guardiola who said something like you, "As a player for me, you should get as much joy from an assist as a goal".

We are all about the goal, forget about passing it to a teammate whos in a better position and getting an assist. No i can do it myself. We've been like that for a while. How many times have we seen arsenal and city, do the by line cutback which leads to a goal? How often do we do it? Pretty much never for us. When players get in that position its a aimless cross or a impossible angle shot.

We also dont really have anyone other than eriksen to control the tempo of a game. Knowing when to slow it down, when to speed it up. This is something the likes of scholes / carrick etc did. Hopefully getting in someone like amrabat will give us that.

Lastly, Bruno just wants to pass forwards and try to create chances even when its very low odds. Instead of holding posession and recycling the ball, he'll try something that rarely comes off.

All of this comes down to coaching by ETH and his staff. If players arent following instructions or cant be taught, get rid of them.

 

[kouroux]

One of the issues and biggest difference between us and arsenal/city is that we still play like a bunch of individuals, especially going forwards when we get near the box.

I think it was guardiola who said something like you, "As a player for me, you should get as much joy from an assist as a goal".

We are all about the goal, forget about passing it to a teammate whos in a better position and getting an assist. No i can do it myself. We've been like that for a while. How many times have we seen arsenal and city, do the by line cutback which leads to a goal? How often do we do it? Pretty much never for us. When players get in that position its a aimless cross or a impossible angle shot.

We also dont really have anyone other than eriksen to control the tempo of a game. Knowing when to slow it down, when to speed it up. This is something the likes of scholes / carrick etc did. Hopefully getting in someone like amrabat will give us that.

Lastly, Bruno just wants to pass forwards and try to create chances even when its very low odds. Instead of holding posession and recycling the ball, he'll try something that rarely comes off.

All of this comes down to coaching by ETH and his staff. If players arent following instructions or cant be taught, get rid of them.

Gotta say there is something to that effect, specially where it's too obvious of a pass to attempt.

 

[dinostar77]

Our two best attacking players are Bruno and Rashford. Both are extremely erratic and very wasteful with their passing.

We had AWB at RB and Shaw playing as an inverted LB. It didn’t work at all. Surely the whole concept of inverted full backs is that both sides can do it? That’s a tactical mess which will cost us if Ten Hag persists. We had no width because of this structure.

Midfield of Mount and Bruno playing the same area of the pitch. And the less said about Antony the better, how we allowed Ten Hag to spend £90m on him.

It was a tactical mess last night and I hope we learn from our mistakes. I think Ten Hag is too stubborn though. Poor summer signings and another £175m spent. I thought we would go big on a CF and solidify midfield, defence and replace GK. How we started the season with Rashford as CF is unbelievable. Under Sir Alex we would have got Kane as priority, simple as.

We have bought a striker, hojlund. He has a back injury. Kane was always a impossible dream this summer.

The signings haven't finished. We may get pavard or todibo at CB, onana or amrabat for CM.

This has been one of the best windows in recent seasons. We are getting rid of players and bringing in ETH players for his system.

 

[AneRu]

Besides Shaw, Onana and Lisandro who else do we have who is an assured passer? There lies the answer to that question, our passing is garbage because we don't have the players for a passing game period. Look at Varane, AWB, Casemiro, Bruno, Rashford and even Antony. It's important that we pull our fingers out our behinds go for Amrabat, look to try Hannibal in the 8 (at least until Mainoo comes back) and have Mount floating on the wings.

We should prepare ourselves for the possibility that Casemiro is done or the best case scenario is that after he picks up fitness he wont be able to play three in a week. If the management doesn't see that we are in for a long and painful season.

 

[cyberman]

Because our fans think Bruno is a better midfielder than Odegaard

And they’d be correct.

 

[dinostar77]

And they’d be correct.

Odengaard all day over Bruno.

 

[Henandez14]

And they’d be correct.

And the management agrees with you.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Don't know if the passing was the issue, or if our play was to easy to read, but I had an issue with the first touch and controls of our players.

Is it physical ? But the players need to improve their first touch.

You never see so many bad touches at City or even now at Arsenal

 

[The Urban Goose]

Odegaard all day over Bruno.

Yep.

 

[arnie_ni]

Is it some sort of tactical instruction that when we have the ball, all 5 of our attackers need to be stood next to their back line. With everyone parallel.

It just seems very static and counterintuitive.

The front 5 formation. All static

 

[cyberman]

Odengaard all day over Bruno.

Depends what you want.
I wouldn’t put one season over Bruno nor would I ignore the midfield revamp Arteta is attempting over there.
Hard to say he values passing ranges etc Then watch him buy Rice

 

[Judas]

We treat the ball like a hot potato. We also have too many players who pass it for the sake of passing. Too many of our players aren't considered with the ball, always in a rush. Our general movement is still staggeringly static so often, which again,doesn't help. Decision making is baffling. Should at this point our players not know how to find space?

 

[Vernon Philander]

There was a definite uptick in our passing levels early on when Eriksen joined last season. He helped us transition smoothly which we lacked before him. I agree it’s gone downhill throughout this year though

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Am I going crazy or were we not better at this when Ten Hag first started here? I remember being impressed with us after the first few weeks. Although that may be because I was comparing it to the dogshit we delivered before he arrived.

The most annoying thing for me is when someone passes into space and the receiver just stays static, probably trying to stay in position, then they turn and realise an oppo player is going to collect the through ball, then they panic and move out of position anyway.

 

[fallengt]

Stop buying players with garbage passing skill is a good starter

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Because the footballers we have, and bought, for the most part, are generally shit under pressure.

It’s a hell of a lot easier to find the right pass with the right weight on it if you can evade the pressing attempt and get some time for yourself, or has an immaculate first touch that set the ball in the right direction of the pass, it’s no wonder that our best passers stand out in these regards.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I feel like I'm banging my head off the wall, season after season we are utter crap at passing, keeping possession and working phases of play. I haven't a clue what they are working on in training.

 

[arthurka]

This is getting beyond embarrassing now, we still look like 70's defenders on the ball. Hoofing it upfield into spaces nobody occupies. I also found it strange when ETH said in pre season that the players didn't follow the plan in second half, why is that happening? ETH still has my support but I would love to see us dominate a whole game not just glimpses here and there. This game was just terrible.

 

[dinostar77]

Depends what you want.
I wouldn’t put one season over Bruno nor would I ignore the midfield revamp Arteta is attempting over there.
Hard to say he values passing ranges etc Then watch him buy Rice

Wolves wouldnt have been tearing through our midfield if we had Rice last night amd casemiro wouldnt have been flogged to death with all the work he had to do.

 

[KD6-3.7]

We haven’t been a great passing side in well over a decade. Even Ferguson’s final few seasons it was often sloppy but you could put that down to our midfield but we were much more fluid in the attack then we are nowadays.

 

[Rossa]

This is getting beyond embarrassing now, we still look like 70's defenders on the ball. Hoofing it upfield into spaces nobody occupies. I also found it strange when ETH said in pre season that the players didn't follow the plan in second half, why is that happening? ETH still has my support but I would love to see us dominate a whole game not just glimpses here and there. This game was just terrible.

If the players continue not following the plan, then it's on ETH. If it is a one time incident, ETH calls them out for it and things change, then he should be applauded for it. It's a risky move though.

Overall, we were completely crap. The space they were left on the counter was absolutely embarrassing. Varane was brilliant yesterday with his positioning and anticipation. A more hot headed defender could have meant a complete disaster at the back.

 

[arthurka]

If the players continue not following the plan, then it's on ETH. If it is a one time incident, ETH calls them out for it and things change, then he should be applauded for it. It's a risky move though.

Overall, we were completely crap. The space they were left on the counter was absolutely embarrassing. Varane was brilliant yesterday with his positioning and anticipation. A more hot headed defender could have meant a complete disaster at the back.

Fully agree only three players came unscathed from this affair, AWB, Varane and Onana. The rest was terrible. Not only did we not look tactically there but we looked way behind in fitness as well.

 

[Rossa]

Fully agree only three players came unscathed from this affair, AWB, Varane and Onana. The rest was terrible. Not only did we not look tactically there but we looked way behind in fitness as well.

Then I think we are in complete agreement. They looked much faster and stronger than us all over the pitch. The three players you mentioned are the only ones who delivered.

Thankfully Wolves are vaccinated against scoring goals.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Most of our players just seem utterly terrified of receiving the ball anytime there is an opposition player within 10 yards of them. It's really odd.

 

[arthurka]

Then I think we are in complete agreement. They looked much faster and stronger than us all over the pitch. The three players you mentioned are the only ones who delivered.

Thankfully Wolves are vaccinated against scoring goals.

They scored 30 some goals last season so I think it's safe to say the vaccine worked.

 

[Banana Republic]

Just watch City and Arsenal’s ( ….and some other teams like Brighton) constant movement, so that from their own penalty area to the other end of the pitch, the player in possession almost always has 2 or 3 unmarked, nearby passing options open to them.
That’s how they keep possession of the ball and have their opponents stretched and struggling to cover where the forward ball might go.
There are no massive movements, just players constantly and quickly, moving, drifting or rotating into nearby space to make themselves available to the player in possession. They are drilled to do it.
Being an accurate and reliable passer is a pre-condition, no matter what your silky skills might be.
If your not a consistently accurate passer, your out.

By contrast we are far too often stretched as a team going forward and far too static.
The passing options are limited or poor, which leads to dithering on the ball when looking to make a pass, or making rash passing attempts.
The space we leave and the lack of constant movement, or just poor movement, means we are so easy to press and to intercept.
Players constantly getting in each others way, is another indication of having no idea.