Nuno Espirito Santo has seen his Nottingham Forest side into Champions League contention and go through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup playing a counter-attacking game (Mike Egerton/PA)
Nuno Espirito Santo has seen his Nottingham Forest side into Champions League contention and go through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup playing a counter-attacking game (Mike Egerton/PA)
Lawrence Ostlere
©UK Independent
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Possession is defined as “having, owning or controlling” and perhaps that last word best sums up the philosophy in football: if you have possession, you have control. “Maybe one day they will change the rules,” Pep Guardiola once said with a smile. “But I think to score a goal you need the ball.”
Yet in the Premier League this season there is growing evidence that the teams who really have control are the ones without the ball. They are the ones lulling their opponents into a false sense of security, who can pickpocket at any moment, who can turn a tackle on the halfway line into a shot on target in seconds.