Quicker passing is the focus for next season, and that will force teams to overload the center more because you need numbers in close proximity to make those quick passes work.

Every team wants to be positive with the ball, but teams progressed more slowly and methodically last season. Pragmatism is a word often uttered. The main reason for slow play was the increase in the number of games; tired legs don’t want to run, and the managers pray for control. Control possession, and you both control the game and you save the player’s legs. Defend by keeping the ball, but there must be no mistakes.

In theory, slow progression should help with fatigue during a game. In practice, it does not help because it is hard to create enough space to penetrate and get off a high-quality chance if you have a clear quantitative advantage. You make one error, and not only does it halt any progress you made over that period of slow progression, but it also forces the team to run in transition to defense.

The team becomes fatigued because they are constantly defending transitions in a neutral stance. Neutral stance means that you attack slowly, flat-footed, facing towards the opponent’s goal, and have to shift the hips to sprint in the opposite direction. Walk, sprint, walk, sprint. The sprinting team, the defending team, has the momentum and the impetuous. They are the ones creating the most chances. They save energy in defense, waiting for the mistake or the turnover; it comes, and then they sprint on the front foot with momentum to attack the goal in transition as the attacking team backpedals.

The team with the better players should be fighting fire with fire. Play quickly to force the defending team into a negative stance, chasing the ball. Use your qualitative advantage to overwhelm the defense quickly, forcing them back, forcing them to face their own goal. Increase the number of defenders facing their own goal to avoid having to face a large number of attackers in transition.

If you can match their momentum in defensive transition, you get numbers back to defend, and then you have the qualitative advantage in defense. Therefore, you can force a bad shot or turnover, and then you get to counter with the inferior team defending the transition.

The attacking team constantly has the momentum, and you don’t want to give the defending team time to breathe. The only thing that should save the defending team is halftime and the full-time whistle.

Overloads central will need to become more aggressive to make that happen. More attacking players, midfielders, and forwards will need to contribute to the play in the center to play quickly. Fullbacks hold width to facilitate that and attack the half-space on the underlap and wide areas on the overlap, as they traditionally would.

What is the point of having a qualitative advantage if you are not going to use it, if you can ensure that you won’t make any mistakes in possession? If you can’t ensure you will make no mistakes in possession, then you have to play quickly to maintain that advantage because playing slowly has too many cons and less upside.

Embrace the fact that football will be a game of many transitions because there is not a team in football right now that can ensure they will make zero mistakes.