There are people out there that enjoy watching their team not have the ball. They exist. How do you wake up in the morning and look forward to chasing the ball? I can’t understand the mindset of a person who enjoys chasing the ball.

I understand the fascination with defending, especially the team aspect of moving as a group to hunt the ball as a pack. The organization in the press. The technique to tackle. When to jump, when not to jump. That’s beautiful, but defending is a necessity.

I want the ball. If I can’t have the ball, I want my team to have the ball.

I have to study Italian to speak Italian. That is defending me. To attack effectively, I need to defend because I need to take risks.

If I’m not taking risks, I am doing nothing with the ball, otherwise known as “defending with the ball.” The team in possession holds the game hostage. They don’t have to defend because they have infinite possession. They don’t concede possession because they take zero risk. It’s like selling all of your stocks, depositing the money, taking it out of the bank, and then burying it in the ground. You don’t lose or gain anything at that point; the game ends in a draw.

When I am in a rondo, I don’t enjoy chasing the ball as a defender in the middle. I want to be on the edges, passing.

Depending on others sucks. To enjoy defending, I have to depend on others.

The other team has to be bad at attacking or bad at maintaining possession. If they are good at either, my team will never get the ball.

I have to rely on my teammates to maintain my same high level of commitment to the press. We have to defend as a unit. We can’t let up. We have to chase as a group. If one person lets up, the entire team concedes.

When you attack, you don’t have to rely on anyone. You are independent. It doesn’t take a team to score. One person can create a goal.

When you rely on the defense, everything is outside of your control. When you chase, you expend more energy. You are in a reactionary stance.

It’s like going to work every day, but the time you leave for work changes every day. You learn of the time the morning of. That is what relying on defending feels like.

I’d sleep better knowing I was in control of how the game would play out. To determine when things happen myself.