Originally Posted by
wanderlust
BWFC have exactly the same problem ATM playing attractive fancy stuff with no end product and Tuesday's game against a crap Burton team exemplified it perfectly. After the opening exchange where we were running rings round them, they started time wasting - from the 8th minute! They fouled, dived, packed their defence and stopped play at every opportunity. One goalkick took 52 seconds to take. When they got a corner on the left, the right back strolled over to take it and ball-in-play action totalled no more than 20 minutes in the first half. Second half was the same and they scored from a corner. As time ticked away Evatt threw on 2 big strikers and we equalised via our goalie hoofing it the length of the pitch, one bounce and a left foot volley across the goalie. Got the winner in the 98th minute (although if the ref had added the right amount we'd still be playing now) - when a striker managed to get a shot through a crowd and they had all 10 outplayers in their own box so it was a miracle it got through.
Point is with possession football, teams set up to frustrate you and whilst the likes of City have the quality to play through packed defences it can be 90 minutes of watching great stuff in front of a brick wall of a final third if you don't have that quality - so you have to mix it up, break quickly and be more direct from time to time.