Burnley latest team to have a ball by s surrendering possession for victory

Liverpool lost last weekend with a remarkable share of possession. The Reds had 81 percent of the ball in their Premier League away at Turf Moor, but hosts Burnley ignored the statistics to triumph 2- 0. This was the highest percentage of possession for a losing side since the figure started being recorded 12 seasons ago.

Champions Leicester City came 18th in terms of average possession in the Premier League last season – only West Bromwich Albion and relegation strugglers Sunderland were below them. The Foxes eschewed keeping the ball for getting forward at pace whenever they got the chance. It worked out OK for them.

Now, no one is suggesting that the key to success is copying Leicester, except for maybe Burnley. Rather, their winning of the Premier League is the symptom of a larger movement within the game.

At international level, the last finger of possession- loving Spain’s stranglehold on silverware was lifted this summer when their Iberian neighbors triumphed at the Euros. Not even the most patriotic Portuguese had fancied them to win in Paris before the tournament, let alone without the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo, once he went off in the final. But triumph they did and with exactly the same smash and grab tactics they had used all tournament – the ones Greece had exploited when they beat them in the 2004 final in Lisbon.

Given the relative success of Wales and Iceland, some have argued that Euro 2016 marked the end of posses- sion soccer, but the backlash has been a long time coming. Last season’s Champions League final was the direct Real Madrid against the equally direct Atletico Madrid, a repeat of the 2013- 14 final when both teams played in a similar manner.

Even Barcelona – the club who Alex Ferguson famously said “get you on that carousel, and they make you dizzy with their passing” – who won the year before, added a different aspect to the club’s blueprint under Luis Enrique, as the presence of Luis Suarez and Neymar ahead of Ivan Rakitic added a desperation to counter on top of the tiki- taka technicians raised at La Masia. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s possession- based Bayern Munich went out in the semifinals all three years.

The popularity of the gegenpress, where teams try to regain the ball immediately after losing it ( especially on the counter), plays its part here too. Using attackers as the first line of defense and winning the ball back as high up the field as possible are ideal for turning defense back into attack. But as gegenpress architect Juergen Klopp found out away at Burnley, it’s not a tactic that works all too well if your opposition are not that keen on the ball to start with.

Klopp is one of many managers, from title favorites to relegation certainties, in this season’s Premier League who favors the direct method. The notable exception is Manchester City idealist Guardiola. We’ll see who’s right next May. One thing is for sure, it won’t be dull.