It does. If you hold the ball, opposition team can't score.
But the counter argument is if you don't turn your possession into something note worthy then you won't score either.
Inter Milan yes, Chelsea no. How lucky did they get, the opposition created tons of chances against Chelsea in the semi and in the final. It was a lot down to luck, Mario Gomez missing chance after chance, you can't rely on that kind of luck (opposition not taking their chances) to win consistently at top level of football.
England need to work on keeping the ball, not chasing the ball around and being content with an average of 38% possession over a tournament, just above Greece, absolutely awful.
Oh and England also playing this way got lucky even to go to penalties against Italy, could of been 3 or 4 nil to Italy easily.
Hodgson either needs to focus on having more possession or he will do absolutely nothing again next tournament, you may do well against teams like Sweden/Ukraine playing this way, but against any opponent with real quality you simply can't let them have so much control over a game and expect to win. Or do what England done the other night, absolutely exhaust themselves because they were chasing the ball for so long and practically playing for penalties.
Again it was not luck, Gomez had about 2 decent chances and after that he did absolutely nothing. It was all mainly Robben making the wrong decisions which does not come under luck.
Exibit A on luck - The opposition side makes all 3 subs and then one their players has to come off through injury.
That comes under luck, not a side constantly missing chances!!!!!
They were actually in 3 games. They could have been easily gone in their game against Napoli. Do not tell me that you were not shocked when they got over Napoli. The win over Barca was a pure luck. Heck Milan played twice better than Chelsea, but did not have the luck. Bayern did not miss much although they controlled the game, however they missed a penalty and then Chelsea won on penalties - now tell me that is not based on luck...again.
Yup constructing attacks. Will be hard tough with this quick tempo, long balls style with which Chelsea won the CL. I would say that the current English pool was not good and soon with the new guys that are comming England could have some better success.
Penalties is about skill and nerve, once we scored once against Napoli i was fully convinced we would go on to win the game so no i was not surprised. Barca missing chances does not come under luck!!! Nothing stopped Barca from missing their chances apart from them. They had a 2-0 lead with Chelsea down to 10 men in their own back yard but their defensive frailties cost them dearly, not luck.
Maybe so, but you could argue that 9/10 of the times Robben was pure selfish and only looked to cut inside and do one thing. Also apart from the very good chances Bayern did have, did you count the penalties Chelsea conceded and the opposition (Messi/Robben) in both the semi and the final missed.
Hodgson needs to be more inventive rather than just a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2 rigid system. Lets try and be more adventurous and stop being outnumbered in the middle of the park, 4-3-3, Jack Wilshere, Tom Cleverley and Steven Gerrard as the midfield 3 for example? What's to stop us from having better possession anyway, I am sick of people keep saying we are not good enough, even the teams weaker on paper in this tournament had more possession bar Greece. We need to work on passing and moving and having more options in the middle of the park, our wingers/wide midfielders are not exactly anything to shout about.
That is not luck, both players have a chance to score but didn't, Messi didn't even hit the target. Is that luck or just a poor kick?
No I wasnt shocked against Napoli, because they exploited the holes in Napolis defence repeatedly.
Bayerns attacks wre completely predictable, go and watch the game again, and focus on Robben vs Cole. Stops him over and over in exactly the same place.
Chelsea and England dont play the same way...
Exactly what i was saying and i believe if they did set up more like Chelsea did then they may have got more out of the Italy game.
Sensational performance from Spain tonight even before the injury to Motta. It seemed that they had another few gears in them tonight and done the basics correct i.e stick tight to Pirlo!!!! Great to see Torres and Mata scoring and them combinding (get used to seeing that) and Torres winning the golden boot even though he only started 2 games!!!! Best national side ever, i am not sure as i was not around to see the Brazil's of the 70's etc but they are the best of my time without a doubt.