annanarab wrote:

I agree. There's only 2 things you can do with possession - either score or lose it and I reckon good teams will have a ratio of 1- 99% (in favour of losing it) and teams like United will have a ratio of 0.1 - 99.9% so why put so much emphasis on having possession when it has such a spectacular failure rate.
  

 I agree with much of your post, but a simpleton like me is confused by what you are getting at with these statistics.

Generally I think you are saying possession leads to good teams scoring 10 times more than United by aiming for high percentage possession. 

On Saturday we played quite a few crosses right into the keeper's hands: maybe he got complacent, for that was a terrible error he made for Pavol's goal.

annanarab wrote:

I agree. There's only 2 things you can do with possession - either score or lose it and I reckon good teams will have a ratio of 1- 99% (in favour of losing it) and teams like United will have a ratio of 0.1 - 99.9% so why put so much emphasis on having possession when it has such a spectacular failure rate.

I'd also much rather see us playing the ball into the opponents box 10 (if not 20) times more than we do at present as doing so will increase our chances of winning, of scoring, of avoiding defeat of entertaining our fans. I'd definitely like to see less messing about at the back

I know its the modern way but I'm 65 (in a  couple of weeks) and have seen enough football in my time to know what I like and I hate the turgid non attacking stuff. Hopefully, the success of Aird's cross and Safranko's header will encourage the team back to a more entertaining and successful style. 
  

 https://youtu.be/L0MK7qz13bU

NB. I am NOT comparing the two managers, however ...

I remember an interview with McLean where he was going on about accusations that United often played boring defensive football. He explained how much importance he put on keeping possession even if that meant turning back and playing along the back 3 or 4 ... that said he would also sit back and hit teams on the break, particularly in Europe.
 

For a poor team like UTD possession will lose matches.  A very high % of goals are scored by the turnover of possession in your own half.
Get it forward quickly

Possession's good BUT it's not really any good unless it results in something. Hypothetically a team could have 100% possession but never score. So this is where your # 10 comes in (& preferably a # 8 too). When you get into their half then their third the killer pass is required, the threading the eye of a needle, the knife thro butter BUT that requires talent from both your # 10 AND the guy off the ball making the intelligent run. Ideally it could be almost psychic. And watching Champions League highlights last week there was some of that going on but like I say, it does require talent. Most stuff I watch possession peters out, ideas run out, the required ability is absent.

Tek wrote:

You know when I started to have my doubts about Csaba?

After his very first league game in charge (3-0 win against Falkirk).

It was widely acknowledged as our best display in months and most supporters there on the day said it was the first time Utd had been cavalier and took the game to a team for quite sometime.

We created something like 28 shots at goal and a fair few of them were on target. In other words we 'murdered' Falkirk on the day and they got off lightly with just 3.

Anyway I remember in Laszlo's post-match Arabzone interview when he was asked about just how many chances we had created he said something along the lines of 'I felt we actually had too many shots at goal and at times I think we should have held on to the ball a bit better'.

In other words he wanted more controlled possession. But he was willing to sacrifice it for chances created.

Mental, but true.

Can anyone else mind of that?

My doubts started 1 week later after the 1-1 draw at Brechin - Csaba said he didn't want his players listening to the fans encouraging them to go forward - he wanted them to keep the ball at the back away from the opposition. He has done nothing since to dispel my doubts 
 

To be fair, I didn't pay much attention to what Csaba ever said after games, and still don't, when we were winning in that small bracket of time. But started noticing his pish tactics and doubting him for his actions very early in his Tannadice career.

There is a thread on here, just before the 6-1 debacle to Falkirk, where quite a lot of the support were praising Csaba to the skies. Look for 'The Csaba effect' if you feel brave.

Finally, if he was getting results, I wouldn't give a toss what he was saying after games. Like I've often said, 'talk's cheap': this post cost me nothing.