Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Identitiy Crises and the Return of Direct Football
0 Plays2 seconds ago
Join your Global Sports Podcast Network team for your daily briefing on all things premier league – News, transfers, analysis and opinion – you’ll find it here on Daily Premier League part of the Global Sports Podcast Network podcast channel
Subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast and you can join the debate by emailing us at: dailypremierleaguepodcast@gmail.com
Our Sponsors
Bioniq - Don't settle for off-the-shelf solutions made for ANY body. Get what's right for YOU. Right now.
We’ve spent years analyzing blood markers to develop our patented algorithm, enabling us to create a 100% personalized supplement to support your health by optimizing your micronutrient status.
Follow the link and Use code GSPN2025 for 40% of your first month’s subscription.
www.bioniq.com/gspn2025
Zencastr
Built for quality - Designed for growth
A new era for creation is here.
The only complete audio + video platform to get best-in-class recording, intuitive editing, AI-powered growth features, and top-tier distribution tools — all in one place.
We highly recommend it!
https://zencastr.com/?via=ken
Global Sports Podcast Network - Creating the world’s first network of daily podcasts for the major teams in the world’s biggest sporting export, the English Premier League.
For advertising and sponsorship details or to learn more about the scale and demographics of our audience – email Ken Davies, VP Business & Development at:
ken.davies@globalsportspodcastnetwork.com
www.globalsportspodcastnetwork.com
Copyright | 2025 Global Sports Podcast Network | All Rights Reserved
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Daily Premier League Podcast
00:00:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody to the Daily Premier League podcast. It is the evening of Tuesday, the 23rd of September. My name is Ken Davis. His name is Nick Britton.
00:00:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
All-round good egg, football pundit extraordinaire. are you doing, Nick?
00:00:30
Nick Britten
I'm very well, thank you very much. i am very well indeed. It's great to be back as it is every day on the Daily Premier League podcast.
00:00:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is. This is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about the Premier League. on a daily basis. A very big thank you to everybody who makes listening to the Daily Premier League podcast part of their everyday routine.
00:00:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is great to have you aboard.
Man City vs Arsenal: Tactical Analysis
00:00:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
There are three things i want to talk about today, Nick, if you don't mind. First things first, and we talked about this offline the other day.
00:01:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
We both watched the Man City Arsenal game, interesting game, One of the most interesting aspects of it was after the City went 1-0 up, they had a very interesting formation.
00:01:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I'm interested in your take on what Pep was trying to achieve there and whether it was the right thing to do, whether this marks a change in the way people defend 1-0 Leeds.
00:01:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd like to talk about Arsenal, sorry, about Aston Villa. There's some breaking news on Aston Villa today in terms of their sporting director, their director of football, I should say. um But also...
00:01:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Unai Emery is talking about their losing of their identity at the weekend, part of their struggles in the early part of the season.
The Concept of Football Identity
00:01:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
This idea of football identity, yeah is it a real thing? It's something I keep hearing people talk about, here fans talk about it. The team has no identity and things.
00:01:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is it a real thing? Is it media fabrication? So wouldn't mind talking about that. And thirdly, The return of direct football. The return of lump it, lump it.
00:02:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then someone nods it on. Someone smashes it in from 18 yards. The good old days that we all grew up with. um Is there a return to direct football? Do we think that we're moving away from the...
00:02:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Dickie, daggy, daggy, daggy style that we kind of got used to in the last 15 years or so.
00:02:24
Nick Britten
it.
00:02:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
And is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? So that's the agenda. I'm going to play a little sweep and then we'll get into it.
Man City's Defensive Strategy
00:02:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, so first things first, Man City Arsenal won Man City, won.
00:02:47
Nick Britten
um
00:02:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Man City go one up, nice finish by Haaland.
00:02:55
Nick Britten
you
00:02:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah And then everything kind of changes formation-wise, like they're kind of, well, we're just going to stand there and we're going to make you go through us. what What was your take on that? and what yeah Do you think it's a shape of things to come?
00:03:08
Nick Britten
It was certainly an interesting tactic by Pep Guardiola. It was really in the second half this came to the fore, wasn't it?
00:03:14
Nick Britten
Because Arsenal, whether or not they started with their best team has been the subject of much discussion, but they threw on Saka, they threw on Eze for the second half, and they just attacked Manchester City at will.
00:03:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:03:25
Nick Britten
And City just dropped into a shape which, by the end, was pretty much formation. five zero formation And they were happy not just to clear the ball, but just to kind of kick it into dead space. And the Arsenal goalie, Real would come and pick it up and put it back into play. And then Man City would boost it up the pitch and Real would come and get it and put it back into play.
00:03:43
Nick Britten
It was just one of those. It was extraordinary thing to see. And Arsenal just had what? Well, City had 33.2 possession, which is the lowest share of any Guardiola team ever, ever in his entire managerial career.
00:03:56
Nick Britten
It really was extraordinary. And it nearly worked, obviously. It very nearly worked. ah But I think this is this is a difference that City have brought to their play, not just this season, but we we noticed, I think, last year, they started going a bit more
Adapting to New Football Trends
00:04:12
Nick Britten
direct. They started...
00:04:13
Nick Britten
playing playing a little quicker. There was less of the kind of possession-based football that we've seen already. But this is, if I'm honest with you, this is Guardiola having to react to what the market is doing, what everybody else is doing. Because last year they ended up trophy-less. They watched the way Liverpool play. They played a fast-paced, direct football.
00:04:33
Nick Britten
And they thought, right, OK, well, look, if that's the way the world is going, then that's what we've got to kind of do. And I think all City are doing ah are adapting to... the new footballing landscape of how teams play. And you said earlier on in your intro, I'm not going to try and repeat quite how you said it, but is this the end of essentially tika taka football?
00:04:54
Nick Britten
And it probably is. And there's lots of reasons why. And we can get onto the reasons why later on and why more direct football is coming into the into the fore. But to see statistics like that, to see possession statistics like that for Manchester City is extraordinary. It's not nothing that we've seen before.
00:05:12
Nick Britten
And but I think we might well see it again. but actually just And I will just put that in a bit but of context if people are wondering, well, is that bad? There have only been six times this season when teams have had less possession than that.
00:05:23
Nick Britten
Only six times or four of those side times have been with teams who have only just been promoted and you might not expect to have any possession.
00:05:31
Nick Britten
And even of those two, even of those four, twice it was because teams had 10 men. So that's the kind of ballpark we're talking about.
00:05:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:05:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's interesting. It kind of shocked me a little bit to watch the game because he it just seemed singularly unambitious for Man City. It wasn't a good watch. It just really became a attack against defence, really.
00:05:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
And...
00:05:51
Nick Britten
Well, was a good watch because it was Can Arsenal.
00:05:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was intriguing from that perspective.
00:05:55
Nick Britten
and Yeah, yeah.
00:05:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
You know, as a neutral, it was quite an interesting watch because of the set-ups. But, you know, was that a compliment to Arsenal that essentially Pep Guardiola had said, right, we've got our 1-0 lead.
00:06:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know We're going to defend that to the last man, but we have no interest in trying to get in the second. We think our defence is better than Arsenal's attack and we will keep them out and we'll settle for our one goal cushion and do everything in our power to do that. And we have no interest in doing anything else because that's kind of what it felt like.
00:06:28
Nick Britten
And that's kind of what it looked like, because when he took her Erling Haaland off and he took Phil Foden off, you know he took two of City's most creative players off. I think if we go back to a an interview that Pep did earlier on this year, I think the roots of it lie in that, because by then he'd realised that things had to change. And he said, today, modern football is the way that Bournemouth and Newcastle and Brighton and Liverpool play.
00:06:52
Nick Britten
Modern football is not positional, i.e. it's not based on possession-based football. It's based on, in brackets, much faster, much more direct football.
00:07:03
Nick Britten
So if he's thinking about that nine, ten months ago, ah think we're now seeing the evolution of that thought process.
00:07:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Interesting. One other the thing, just as an aside, I didn't mention it to you before, perhaps should but I'm interested in something because it's something I've
New Kickoff Tactic: Rugby Influence?
00:07:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
noticed this season. I've never noticed it before, which is the propensity of teams to boot the ball out of play from kickoff just to pin the opposition back, concede the throw in, if you like,
00:07:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
deep into in defensive territory and essentially give up possession, just if you like, like a rugby kicking it out ah just for positional territorial advantage.
00:07:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
I've never seen that in football, but I've seen it a few times this season where this work teams seem to be playing for territory.
00:07:57
Nick Britten
if clearly You've clearly never watched Sunday morning football down at your local park because that's been going on for years.
00:08:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, that's done by accident. That's done by accident.
00:08:04
Nick Britten
ah nos No, it isn't. No, it isn't. the the the know The kick-off, boot it in the corner, followed by cries of, box them in, lads, box em them in, has been going on for years and years and years. It's nothing new.
00:08:14
Nick Britten
ah But listen, we all know that we all know
00:08:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's new the Premier League. It's new in the Premier League.
00:08:18
Nick Britten
weeping we've been around football long enough, Ken, to know that Football trends are based on one team doing it and everybody else going, oh, that looks good. We'll give it a go.
00:08:29
Nick Britten
That's how it starts's how it all starts. It always starts with one team. And one team does it and it's successful. And then other coaches look at it and go, oh, yeah, we'll have a bit of that. And sooner or later, it just becomes the norm.
00:08:39
Nick Britten
That's all that's happened here.
00:08:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yep, that makes perfect sense. Right, as we know in football, as Pep Guardiola knows, it pays to get your team selection right. And here at Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery partner and we chose Zencastr.
00:08:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Zencastr makes it easy to bring your vision to life and share it with your audience everywhere they are. with 4K video recording, easy AI editing tools, and top-tier distribution all in one place. And that's the key thing, all on one platform.
00:09:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you've got a story to tell, tell it with Zencaster. Check the show notes for more details.
Aston Villa's Identity Crisis
00:09:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, second thing want to talk about today is Aston Villa. Villa becoming a bit of a recurring theme. I know when we raised the issue of Villa a few weeks ago, it was kind of, oh, look at Villa.
00:09:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
They've had a slightly dodgy start to the season. And now all you see now... in football commentaries and football analysis at the moment is what on earth is going on at Villa. Now, we don't want to do the deep dive in that sense.
00:09:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
But one of things that Unai Emery spoke about this weekend after the 1-1, I think it was this this this weekend, so hey, they scored a goal, is the team has lost its identity.
00:10:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, I keep hearing this, and I've heard it now for a couple of seasons, from fans, from managers saying, oh, yeah, we have a particular identity. Our team has an identity. They're not playing with their identity.
00:10:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
um so Do teams have identities, really? and Or is that just a media, because you're a media person, a media kind of fictitious fabrication?
00:10:33
Nick Britten
I think it helps managers to talk about it because it helps them try and get across to supporters and to other people what they want their team to do. So when they talk about their team's identity, it's more about the style of play and what they want to their team to do. And they use that term to help supporters perhaps understand what it is they're trying to achieve.
00:11:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
All
00:11:01
Nick Britten
I remember Gareth Southgate was very big on this when he took over in England. he wanted He wanted England to have an identity. And I started digging around because I knew we were going talk about this on the podcast today. And I came across something called social identity theory, which is a well-established psychological practice.
00:11:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
all right
00:11:18
Nick Britten
It's about how individuals define themselves based on their kind of group memberships and their self-esteem by how it improves, how they if they identify with ah ah groups of people and select something.
00:11:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:11:33
Nick Britten
and And if you and if you if you ah bridge that across to what Gareth Southgate was talking about, he wanted England supporters to be sort of part of the England set up, if you like, and therefore they would be more supportive of the England team
Social Identity Theory in Football
00:11:48
Nick Britten
if they felt they were included.
00:11:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
okay
00:11:49
Nick Britten
Does that make sense?
00:11:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
It does this make sense. It's a very interesting sociological theory. So what it's saying is the identity, ah okay, might be defined by the club, but it spreads outside the club. People can buy into that identity.
00:12:02
Nick Britten
Well, I think that's it. And i remember and then then my kind of thought process took me to, obviously, yeah as as you know, a big Derby County fan. It took me back to something that the former owner was talking a lot about. Mel Morris used to talk a lot about what he called the Derby Way.
00:12:16
Nick Britten
And what he identified as the Derby Way, nobody's quite sure. But I think think it's it certainly didn't involve financial collapse, yeah for relegation and administration, I don't suppose.
00:12:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, not winning after Christmas. i think that was the thing, wasn't it
00:12:29
Nick Britten
um But I think what it what it what essentially meant was something that the supporters could buy into, that they should expect there to watch their team playing in a certain way, which was all around, as far as Mel Morris was concerned, all around bringing youth through to the academy.
00:12:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
it?
00:12:44
Nick Britten
you wanted He wanted the the the academy to provide a a very clear pathway to the first team. He wanted players from the academy in the first team. And that the Derby way was promoting youth, getting the players, getting good football, attractive football and allowing the supporters to buy into that to create that sort of oneness of club that involves player, manager and fans.
00:13:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Interesting. Yeah, i it's just one of those annoying terms that I think people are using quite lazily now. it's just kind of and And reporters just suck it up. They kind of, oh, yeah, okay, then.
00:13:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Instead of saying, what do you mean, identity? Which I really wish they would sometimes. And then we'd really put them on the spot. do You know what the other yeah know the other term is that drives me nuts at the moment, that managers are always coming out with, is the word moments.
00:13:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
moments you hear all the time it was not our moment we are we you know we you know we we we just didn't have enough moments
00:13:45
Nick Britten
where's Where's his manager from?
00:13:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
oh yeah uh you'll see oh there's no in this day there's no in this manages so it's it's always yeah we had a very good moment we had a very good moment and then they had a very good moment and we couldn't create any more moments
00:13:48
Nick Britten
don't know.
00:13:59
Nick Britten
I think what, yeah. No, listen, what that refers to. and they're and And they're right. Look, when this when this popular phrase came out, and we're talking about a season and a half ago now, when suddenly people started talking about it, and you know what the football language is like.
00:14:15
Nick Britten
It just stuff gets introduced out of nowhere and then becomes, yeah, very much part of the football language.
00:14:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, randomly.
00:14:21
Nick Britten
And that when i when that first came out, I'm thinking, yeah, I don't really know kind of what they kind of what they mean, but not quite sure. But then when I looked into it, and indeed... I coached a lot of football and I had a team that played it the weekend.
00:14:34
Nick Britten
And I suddenly realized that actually they are right. Because when you watch a game of...
00:14:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Did you start using it? Did you start using it?
00:14:39
Nick Britten
Well, no, I never started using it now. I may have used it once or twice.
00:14:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Good luck. I bet you did. I bet you did. We had a very good moment, then they had a big moment, and then we looked for more moments.
00:14:48
Nick Britten
No, but what it means is that... And you'll see this. You go out and watch... Go up and well go watch watch watch any game on Saturday. I know that you and I will be watching the same game on Saturday, but from opposites, sides of the sofa.
00:14:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Come on, Rector. Don't
00:15:02
Nick Britten
and Not that we live together, but you know what I mean.
00:15:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
be laughing.
00:15:07
Nick Britten
Let me just make that perfectly clear. But no, what it means is that football games, are ah particularly at the top end, Premier League particularly, they are so close. And you can do all the tactics in the world.
00:15:20
Nick Britten
And this is perhaps what, you know, tie this back to what's going on at Villa at the moment. You can have all the tactics in the world. you can You can do as much work on the training ground as you possibly can. You can do as much work um in the classroom you possibly can.
00:15:31
Nick Britten
But actually, when during a game of football, Everything comes right until one moment. And it's one moment where a striker either does or doesn't put it in the back of the net.
00:15:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
I should.
00:15:41
Nick Britten
It's one moment when a player does or doesn't pass the ball to the right player to allow them to score. It's one moment when a goalkeeper pulls off a worldie. That's what they mean by moments. and And often games are decided by that.
00:15:52
Nick Britten
Now, you have to create those moments. You have to be able to supply the ball in the right areas for that to happen, but actually at that critical thing.
00:16:04
Nick Britten
And it is those homes those tiny little moments in football, those sliding doors moments where Harlem puts the ball in back of net, but Sesco puts over the bar, that decide games.
00:16:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
That makes sense. i feel I feel that you've answered my momentary question.
00:16:17
Nick Britten
Yeah.
00:16:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
So thank you for that.
00:16:23
Nick Britten
I'm very good.
00:16:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
At
00:16:24
Nick Britten
I think Ruben Amarin would be a perfect person to talk about that at the moment because prior to that at the moment yeah ah prior to their win against Chelsea, obviously we talked a lot about them on this podcast.
00:16:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
the moment.
00:16:36
Nick Britten
And as well as the fact we talked about the chaos and and general kind of stuff that's going on at Manchester United, we also talked about last week about they are creating loads of chances and they're right at the top of the Premier League for
00:16:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:16:50
Nick Britten
a number of touches in the board in the in opponent's area. They're right up there in terms of opportunities and chances created, but they're way down there, way down the bottom of the league in terms of goals scored. So that is that's what I'm talking about here.
00:17:03
Nick Britten
They create these chances. They have these moments in games where, exactly, yeah, where they should be scoring and they don't.
00:17:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
But their conversion rate is low.
00:17:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
That makes sense.
00:17:12
Nick Britten
But then you can't blame the fact that the conversion rate is low on everything else because actually you can say to the other players, you're doing really well because you're doing your job.
00:17:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:17:21
Nick Britten
You're ah like you know you are creating these chances for players. You're doing is exactly what we ask you to do. It's just that at that at that moment in time, things don't work out.
00:17:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Very good.
00:17:30
Nick Britten
That's what it means for you.
00:17:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Very good explanation. Every day is a school day on the podcast.
Impact of Villa's Director Departure
00:17:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
One final thing before we leave Villa ah News, Villa's director of football, Monke,
00:17:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Monkey. ah Goalkeeper as well. Not his real name, by the way. Real name, Ramon Verdejo. But a key ally of Unai Emery has left his position today ah expected to be replaced by Roberto Alave, who's the sport director of Real Sociedad.
00:18:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Monki, bless him, obviously has paid the penalty. Obviously, they thought Monki might be taking Villa to the championship.
00:18:17
Nick Britten
That's very good.
00:18:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:18:18
Nick Britten
That's very good. For you, particularly, that's very good.
00:18:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm. Thank you very much. Thank you. guys So actually the question, the serious question is, is the loss monkey actually damaging for Emery?
00:18:23
Nick Britten
he was
00:18:27
Nick Britten
Yeah, go on.
00:18:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah And does this start to add even more pressure on Emery? And we all know that he's under increasing amounts of that.
00:18:41
Nick Britten
Well, it might have him swinging towards the exit door. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.
00:18:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Do you think this will be a banana skin?
00:18:48
Nick Britten
It may well be a banana skin for him. Look, it's it's not ideal because he's an ally of Emery and Emery's under enough pressure already. So it doesn't help when you're those people who have influence in the boardroom and the decision makers depart.
00:19:04
Nick Britten
So it's look it's not ideal, but equally, we all know what the situation is at Villa. And we all know what Unai Emery needs to do. That's just to win a couple of games and then it'll all be o okay.
00:19:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here, find these identities. ah
00:19:22
Nick Britten
You'll find his identity again. yeah I don't know what the Villa identity is. Is it is it just being rubbish and not scoring goals? Maybe they're already on it, to honest.
00:19:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
How do I win today? At the moment it is. So, brilliant. Okay, Global Sports Podcast Network has partnered with Bionique, the world's most personalized supplements, because your body, and believe me, both my body and Nick's body are extraordinarily unique at the moment, because without knowing what deficiencies you have, taking off-the-shelf supplements mean you're probably getting not enough of the nutrients you need and too much of the ones you don't need.
00:19:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Bionique provides 100% tailor-made supplements designed to deliver precisely what your body needs at exactly the right level. So click the show notes, use the code GSPN2025, 40% off first order. forty percent of your first order
00:20:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, final part of
Return of Direct Football
00:20:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
the podcast. I want to celebrate, I want to reflect on and I want to embrace the return of direct football. I've never been a massive fan of ticky tacky, eight billion passes ah ah in in in a game for a team ah for no real benefit.
00:20:39
Nick Britten
you
00:20:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
And now it seems that we are starting to see the return of Graham Taylor, Wimbledon, Sam Allardyce era football.
00:20:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Someone belted up the field, little nod on, smack it in the corner, jobs are good. So ah Nick, do you remember direct football? Do you love direct football? And do you think it's still got a place in the modern game?
00:21:07
Nick Britten
ah Yes, yes and yes, I think. I mean, i remember the days of John Beck at Cambridge United, who was absolutely just famous for, you know, goal goalie to in the opposition net in two touches. The first one being the goalie and the second one being the striker.
00:21:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:20
Nick Britten
The courtesy of a ah whacking long ball up. So, yeah, it's... it's Everything has its place. I'm all for a bit of possession-based football if it leads somewhere. i' mean, watching the great Manchester City and Barcelona teams of the last 20 years, it's a joy to watch.
00:21:36
Nick Britten
It is brilliant. But as we also as we know and as we have just been talking about on this very podcast, teams follow teams. So when Pep Guardiola... I mean we're going back to the days of Arsene Wenger introducing new things into the into the Premier League.
00:21:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
It
00:21:50
Nick Britten
that everybody followed. Fast forward to Guardiola, bringing in Tikataka, possession-based football, everybody just followed. The problem with everybody is that they're not Pep Guardiola and they're not Manchester City.
00:22:01
Nick Britten
So I think one that...
00:22:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
doesn't work as well at Plymouth, does it?
00:22:04
Nick Britten
Well, this is my point. This is my point. And ah mate, if you were... I know you were in your hospital bed on Saturday, but if you'd join me at Pride Park to watch Derby and Preston, you Derby's attempts to play out from the back literally just had you looking through through your fingers, holding your breath, because...
00:22:20
Nick Britten
They're not, they just don't have it. ah So why do it, is my question. Well, we do it because Man City do it and it's cool. It's not really an answer, is it? I think part of the problem is, and we saw I mean, funnily enough, actually,
00:22:34
Nick Britten
actually One of the biggest victims of this, of this tiki-taka softball, have been Manchester City. Because if you think back to the game where they lost it to Tottenham at home 2-0, the first goal, I think it was, is it the first or the second, one of the goals certainly was caused directly by James Trafford taking a free kick, passing it to his centre-half who stood a couple of yards away from him on the six-yard area.
00:22:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah.
00:22:57
Nick Britten
yeah And within about, but ball back to Trafford, and within about two seconds the ball was in his own net.
00:23:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's high risk, low reward strategy ah when you have other players.
00:23:04
Nick Britten
And
00:23:08
Nick Britten
Well, I think the issue is when it was brought in, nobody really worked on what we now call, this just we're talking about this all the way through this podcast, aren't we? The kind of cyclical nature of football.
00:23:20
Nick Britten
now What we now call a high press didn't really happen. So you could get away with just knocking a ball short, building from the back, without a lot of... pressure from the opposition. Now, as that tactic evolved over the last six, seven, eight years, what we've seen is teams push up on defenders, realise that actually, if we can win the ball, if they're going to do that, if they're going to pass out a defence and muck around with it in their defensive third,
00:23:46
Nick Britten
We can win the ball there. And if we can win the ball there, we've got an excellent chance of scoring because we'll be in our attacking, they'll be correct in a moment, out of our attacking third.
00:23:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
content of a moment.
00:23:55
Nick Britten
And so more and more teams now, combined with the fact that modern day footballers are ah massive athletes, can run and run and run at great pace, means that playing around it out the back and playing out from the back and all of that has become a real risk.
00:24:10
Nick Britten
It's become a real risk.
00:24:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:24:11
Nick Britten
And we've seen over the last two or three goals, more and more, sorry, two or three seasons rather, in the Premier League, more and more goals given away by teams who try and play out from the back and can't. And eventually somebody's decided, forget this, forget this.
00:24:25
Nick Britten
Why don't we go back to how it used to be, which is get the ball up quickly, try and win the second ball and play in the opposition half.
00:24:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
It all goes back, I remember Graham Taylor in Watford getting a letter from a fan who, and this well documented, ah who so pointed out, he'd done a lot of analytics over seasons and seasons,
00:24:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
of lots of teams and said, do you realise, Graham, that most goals are scored with only three or less touches by the scoring team before the goal is scored?
00:25:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it actually makes sense just to lump the ball in there ah rather than try and play through teams because it's rarely successful because teams have got a chance to set themselves, Banks are four.
00:25:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's going to be hard to play through them. He adopted it. The rest was history for Watford. And you see lots of other teams then pick that direct style up. There was a lot of debate about it in the 80s, that it was an unattractive, prehistoric, dinosaur type of way to play.
00:25:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah And it is, in a way, because it it hasn't got a great deal of of ah theory ah behind it. It's not sophisticated football in that sense.
00:25:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
But you know what? It's effective. Do you think it's think it's a good watch?
00:25:43
Nick Britten
Do you think it's crazy? Well, I think you have to disassociate direct football with long ball football.
00:25:52
Nick Britten
So direct football is, look at Manchester City's goal on Sunday, for example. It goes up to Harland, I think from the goalkeeper, although I could be way through from infield, up to Harland.
00:25:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
okay
00:26:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, he was paid through from the midfield.
00:26:06
Nick Britten
But he's still in his own half.
00:26:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, three touches and goal.
00:26:09
Nick Britten
Yeah, and he just lays it off and then turns around and runs and runs and runs and runs, receive it and go. That was as direct as you could, unless he's taking it straight from the goalie in the final three. That's a direct...
00:26:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Funny enough, Martin Ellis wasn't that different.
00:26:19
Nick Britten
but it But equally, yeah, exactly that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Martinelli is a good example. Eze drops deep, receives the ball and then just pings it and over the top.
00:26:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's over.
00:26:31
Nick Britten
You need to have the players to do it. And I think that's very different. That's very different from long ball football where the goalie just whacks it up the pitch and it's a total lottery as to what happens next.
00:26:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
hi I love that though.
00:26:42
Nick Britten
I think, and we see that a lot. We see that a lot in a championship. Goalie clears it and you may get it, you may not. Who knows? Who knows what's going to happen? It's just a question of getting rid of the ball. and So I think if you're going to talk about direct football where there is a clear kind of aim, and Arsenal's a great, you've you've pulled out a great example there, and and that ball from Eze was directed towards Martinelli, he timed his run perfectly and he scored.
00:27:07
Nick Britten
That's fine. And that still requires as much skill and there as much talent as any possession-based football you'll ever, ever want to see.
00:27:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:15
Nick Britten
For Eze to ping the ball to the to the absolute... that Martinelli needs to run onto it and then for Martinelli to finish the way he did by lobbing it over the tower block that is Donnarumma, that's skill.
00:27:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Brilliant.
00:27:30
Nick Britten
People may look at it and not for the purists. I disagree. It is for the purists takes an enormous amount of talent to be able to both of those things.
00:27:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that. I suppose one day we may go to a football match and watch a goalkeeper receive the ball, roll it out to the end of his 18-yard box and kick it 100 feet into the air like the good old days for a goal kick.
00:27:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
i mean, it never happens now, does it? It's like he passes it out. He just kind of always just passes it 10 yards and they move it from there. Yeah.
00:28:07
Nick Britten
ah
00:28:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
so
00:28:08
Nick Britten
I don't know. I don't know. No, I think we're seeing more and more of it.
00:28:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
I haven't seen any.
00:28:11
Nick Britten
I'm certainly seeing more and more. No, I'm seeing much more of it the kind of lower league level. It's good to see that teams, apart from the Derby example I used, and they've got to learn from this. Just just don't bother, lads.
00:28:21
Nick Britten
It's good to see.
00:28:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Don't learn next week, learn the week after.
00:28:24
Nick Britten
yeah Well, no, no, let's do it for Saturday. I think we are just seeing more keepers. But the Preston goalie, I think on Saturday, from memory, didn't really worry too much about playing out. It went long. ah if you I think the rule is if you've got the players to do it, do it. If you don't, then just don't bother even trying.
00:28:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
That is a good place to finish the podcast. If you've got the skills, do it. If you don't, don't. That's why we do the podcast, because we've got the skills to do it. Hope you enjoyed that. That was the Daily Premier League podcast.
00:28:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Loved bringing it to you. We'll be back again tomorrow. And, yeah, ah enjoy the rest of your evening. If your team's playing, like mine is, in the yeah in the Cup tonight. you Is Derby playing the Cup tonight? Oh, no.
00:29:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
They got knocked out. I will...
00:29:07
Nick Britten
Mickey mos mic Mouse. miss It's a Mickey Mouse competition nobody's interested in. It's another game and I hope all your players get injured a Saturday and and then we'll beat you on Saturday. How's that?
00:29:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, on that positive and brotherly note, we will bring the pocket podcast to conclusion. Love to see everybody. Have a great evening and we'll see you tomorrow.