Allowing the Opponent the Ball

[mufon234]

"Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake. 
Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake. 
Whoever has the ball has fear. 
Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger."  
Jose Mourinho 

A similar Mourinho quote (when manager of Inter):
“We didn’t want the ball because when Barcelona press and win the ball back, we lose our position – I never want to lose position on the pitch so I didn’t want us to have the ball, we gave it away..."

When you hear the phrase "allow the opposition the ball" or "give the ball away" what is really meant by that?
Is it basically just sitting deep--not actively trying to win the ball--and waiting for a mistake in order to counter-attack?

[NotSoSpecialOne]

I think this is worth a watch if you've never seen it and the thought process should help answer your question.

[lfds89]

12 hours ago, mufon234 said:

When you hear the phrase "allow the opposition the ball" or "give the ball away" what is really meant by that?
Is it basically just sitting deep--not actively trying to win the ball--and waiting for a mistake in order to counter-attack?

Yes, pretty much. Stay organised, let them play, because they won't find any spaces to break through, eventually they'll make a mistake with many men forward and then "we" hit them on the counter. If it works, it ends in pretty much 2 ways: either the other team will fear losing the ball so they won't take any risks and so they will have minor chances of scoring; or they keep trying and commit even more and it'll be easier to break on the counter. Easier said than done, though. Giving the ball to a team as good as Barcelona, for instance, is always tricky. One mistake on defence and it all falls apart. And if it does, you tear up everything you have worked on, because now you need to score.

[DimitrisLar]

mourinho, like so many other people who haven't played football or can't feel it like a way of seeing something from life, don't understand how a possession hungry opponent attacks the mental state so aggressively. Having the ball attacks a core, fundamental piece of this game. Football is played with the ball. I can't really describe how important it is for the soul of everyone who goes on a pitch, from amateur to professional lvl. Playing the Total football way is the bravest way, the most attacking way it can be. I've seen in this forums also some saying that keeping the ball is the defensive way of total football teams, well..rubbish. Mourinho way is the fear way, no wondering why he flourished in the early 00s.

[Falahk]

1 hour ago, DimitrisLar said:

mourinho, like so many other people who haven't played football or can't feel it like a way of seeing something from life, don't understand how a possession hungry opponent attacks the mental state so aggressively. Having the ball attacks a core, fundamental piece of this game. Football is played with the ball. I can't really describe how important it is for the soul of everyone who goes on a pitch, from amateur to professional lvl. Playing the Total football way is the bravest way, the most attacking way it can be. I've seen in this forums also some saying that keeping the ball is the defensive way of total football teams, well..rubbish. Mourinho way is the fear way, no wondering why he flourished in the early 00s.

No it's not, possession football is defensive football, if you want to play whitout fear then try to emulate Zdenek Zeman or Co Adriaanse, not Pep Guardiola 

[NotSoSpecialOne]

I think it's a mischaracterization to suggest that it's about sitting back and waiting for the opposition to make a mistake. Maybe that was true once upon a time, but for the likes of Mourinho it isn't. His sides have often defended in a low block, but they still aggressively press to win the ball back. It's just that what triggers this press occurs much deeper than your tiki takas or gegenpressing. Take the Inter vs Barcelona match for example; What triggered Inter's pressing trap? Whenever Barcelona committed to a flank for the attack. That's more letting your opponent lay his cards on the table before reacting rather than passively waiting for a mistake.

[DimitrisLar]

4 hours ago, Falahk said:

No it's not, possession football is defensive football, if you want to play whitout fear then try to emulate Zdenek Zeman or Co Adriaanse, not Pep Guardiola 

i hope some day you find someone who's played against a team which holds the ball like that and you'll get an opinion beyond the fm "reality" and the gegenpress firework.

 

3 hours ago, NotSoSpecialOne said:

I think it's a mischaracterization to suggest that it's about sitting back and waiting for the opposition to make a mistake. Maybe that was true once upon a time, but for the likes of Mourinho it isn't. His sides have often defended in a low block, but they still aggressively press to win the ball back. It's just that what triggers this press occurs much deeper than your tiki takas or gegenpressing. Take the Inter vs Barcelona match for example; What triggered Inter's pressing trap? Whenever Barcelona committed to a flank for the attack. That's more letting your opponent lay his cards on the table before reacting rather than passively waiting for a mistake.

i agree on some points wwith how you see football. on a tactical point of view everything goes around 1) the height you choose to set traps, 2) the way you built them and 3) the way you exploit space. About mourinho there's a certain way why he chooses the deep blocks though and it doesn;t just happen to be deeper. He has said it again and again that when an (every) opponent is on the attacking phase it's a fact that they make the most mistakes. It's part of his philosophy. That's where comes what Pep said in his early days that football should be, as a philosophy, be again seen as something that offense has the first say and not defence. A lot of people can't even come close to this principle and the others that support it.