The Spanish approach to Football is well documented - possession is King - if you have the ball you can't concede but you can score. I thought the following stats from this years world cup illustrate the significance of passing accuracy within such a philosophy.
Figures in brackets are the Number of passes the % figures represent the success rate of each of the types of passes
| Attribute | Spain | Holland | Germany | England |
| Short passes Under 15m | 81% (948) | 70% (718) | 70% (712) | 74% (493) |
| Medium Passes 15m -30m | 85% (2627) | 80% (2030) | 80% (2094) | 80% (1248) |
| Long passes Over 30m | 64% (631) | 51% (618) | 55% (551) | 51% (435) |
| Passing accuracy | 81% (4206) | 72% (3366) | 74% (3357) | 73% (2176) |
As can be seen from the above the Spanish walk the talk regarding their philosophy.
This is further emphasised when each players passing stats are evaluated
Puyol 88%
Busquets 88%
Fabregas 85%
Pique 85%
Capdevilla 82%
Ramos 81%
Alonso 81%
Xavi 81%
Iniesta 76%
Pedro 74%
Villa 68%
Torres 48%
As can be seen from the above the front players operating in the final third understandably have the lower accuracy levels and conversely the defenders have the higher accuracy levels - seems to change the perspective regarding the big bruisers who can win it and clear their lines - incidentally England were 2nd in the clearence tables during this years world cup
1 comment:
great blogspot - Gail
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