Stops Play Preferred Move

Can someone tell me exactly what this is how it is used and give an example of a player that uses it in real life?

Holds the ball, reduces tempo looking for prospective passing opportunities.

It's a PPM that can be useful for central midfielders, in a team that plays a slow tempo, short passing game. It's counterproductive if the team plays a counter-attacking style or a high tempo game.

Pros and cons:

- Good for DMC who is told to Hold The Ball. Players sees more options for passing.

- Slows the game down. Effective closing down of such player can result in a ball loss.

Claude Makelelé is the widely used real life example of this. Especially when he played for Real Madrid.

Zidane said it best when Makelelé left the club under a hail of criticism from its President.

"Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?"

The layer of gold paint, was in reference to their new signing, David Beckham.

I don't think Makelele has anything in common with this PPM. This PPM means holding on to the ball for longer than normal when in possession. It's "stops play" as in delays play for a little in possession, not as in stopping the opponents from playing.

I must admit, I've never really known what this PPM is. All I know is that primarily it's given the Defensive Midfielders, and even then, not many have it so it usually doesn't bother me. I sort of figured it means 'breaks up play' so the player might commit fouls to break up the oppositions rhythm. I'd suggest that king jericho's suggestion is more likely though, but it's a bit similar to 'Dwells on ball'.

it's a bit similar to 'Dwells on ball'.

The 'dwells on ball' PPM is a bit different. Think of Balotelli, he often receives the ball and takes a look around him with the ball on his foot, not really running with it. If he doesn't have anyone close to him then he'll proceed with the ball. That's dwelling on the ball, the player looks for his teammates while keeping the ball at a slow pace.

In the 'stops play' PPM the player stops and waits for his teammates to get near him. I think a good example of this is a target man that receives the ball from a goal kick and then holds it until his teammates can receive his pass.

I've always thought it was the "Makelelé role", I of course could be wrong, Ive had a Def Mid player with that PPM before, I'll be honest, I didn't see how it made him any better to be fair.

Holding up the ball is what a target man does to bring others into play, especially if he has his back to goal when recieving the ball, pretty much means they slow the game down to wait for support from team mates.