Is there any point of playing tippy tappy football in tier 5?

[jackal2]

The problem with these debates is that they often get simplified into 'tippy tappy' versus 'long/direct ball', but the solution is probably somewhere in between.

I've got no issue with the team playing football on the floor, and there have been spells in games this season when we've done it really quickly and well, but at other times we've looked far too slow and/or have taken excessive risks in areas of the field where you don't have recovery time if you lose the ball. The solution, surely, is to tell players not to overplay in their own half, but to be as creative as they wish in the opponent's half, whether that means quick passing movements or individuals taking defenders on. It won't always come off, but at least when it doesn't you have more time to recover.

The main problem with a style of play that is overly intricate, especially if it's in the wrong areas, is that it relies on most if not all of your players being on form and full of confidence. The reality at National League level is that most players are not as consistent, confident and gifted as those you find at the higher levels, which is why they're playing in this league. Therefore, it makes sense to adopt a more pragmatic style of play that can still grind out results on those days when some players are not at their best or most confident. My concern at present is that we play into the hands of teams who come to disrupt our rhythm, because we don't mix up our approach enough.

To be fair to IB, I've heard him say in interviews that he doesn't mind us playing a longer ball, say to big Kyle, if that's where the space appears when teams press us, so maybe he really is trying to develop a team that can mix up its approach to suit the conditions, but at present there are times when the players aren't spotting those opportunities and seem a bit over-programmed to 'build from the back' every time.

I do agree with anticlough's sentiments above, though. Maybe we simply do have to be patient while IB coaches and develops an intelligent team that can adapt to different challenges from different opponents. As long as the coach himself is not overly insistent on a single Plan A and does give the players the licence to go to a Plan B or even C, and wants them to develop the intelligence to make those decisions themselves on the pitch, then the eventual results could make the wait worthwhile.