Why don't teams just clear their lines!?

Players and teams are more often playing out from the back this season, making keepers good with their feet even more valuable than ever.

So why don’t teams just clear it at any opportunity of danger?

Alex Barker explains.

Follow Tifo Football:

Listen to the Tifo Football podcast:

About Tifo Football:
Tifo loves football. We create In-depth tactical, historical and geopolitical breakdowns of the beautiful game.

We know there’s an appetite for thoughtful, intelligent content. For stuff that makes the complicated simple.

We provide analysis on the Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, World Cup and more.

Our podcasts interview some of the game’s leading figures. And our editorial covers football with depth and insight.

#football #premierleague #tactics

[GoosebumpsSessions]

Ed Sheeran clearly has some ball knowledge

[StevieObieYT]

Maguire and De Gea combo is how not to play out from the back! 💀

[danielbateson]

Man city are using the long ball a lot more with teams pushing up and haaland up front as well as using edersons long kick

[libby]

Imagine having your mentor as your assistant

[memestrous]

I get that but it just reduces my anxiety when they clear it

[juniormynos]

Growing up I always wondered why football teams always kick out the ball. Never made sense to me

[drewglover]

Sure the quicker out the quicker it comes back, but you now have more players and distance between the ball and the goal if you turn over. I like building out, but there is a point where it’s counter productive and the risk is too much

[ifan]

Long ball works if you have Didier Drogba at the top

[aakarmamtora]

Situation changes when you have 6'5 haaland up top though

[fraac]

probably true at the top level. lower level teams should NOT be passing out from the back

[MrStuartp]

Great take, and so true. Long Balls are no guarantee you will keep possession. Its a good weapon when used unpredictably, and when you have big, tall, strong players who can shield off opponents and win the aerial duel.

[leonmeyers]

Wow! Best answer to my FIFA squad problem right now 👍

[TheRealPingu]

Long ball is great. Just be good at it 😂

[matthewdempsey]

I'm out of touch, so this might be old news, but good to see this lad on.

[jacobfrye]

Not really. Depends on the tactics you use.



Ederson hoofs well planted but very steep long balls to either of the corner of the wing, and rest of the team swarm up to that to win it immduately using the 5 second rule.


Ljverpool does it too using gegenpressing.

[geraldgillespie]

Some times you just have to clear your lines even for a moment to regroup. GKs and backs used to be able to make long ball passes that were effective but today’s a different game.

[ajez]

Sending it long basically requires you to commit to a tall target man, at least. But he nees someone to support him, so that means two at the front. Otherwise you just risk getting your team pinned down in your half.

[JMEAUS]

Not if you win the 50/50. Hence the Target man changing the odds to more then a 50/50.

[cmd]

Just like with American Football, it's a simple game of possessions. You will only have the ball a certain number of times during the game, so to win you need to maximize each possession you have.

Launching long balls from the goal kick is the equivalent of punting on first down. Sure you might win the ball every now and again, but the vast majority of the time you just lose possession and hand the ball right back to your opponent.

[bzilla-di]

You need a strong target man if you're just going to hoof it up the pitch, Chelsea could do it because they had Drogba upfront. FC Twente/PSV/Celtic had Jan Vennegoor of Hessilink who was an absolute monster as well and in his prime at the time, he was like a much better version of Weghorst. Christian Vieri could also do it but he was alot more direct as well and could fulfill mutliple roles as the main striker.