Pep Guardiola has already shown that critics of Manchester City's possession-based style of play are completely missing the point.
Not many managers are publicly critical of Guardiola, never mind coaches of international teams. But that didn't deter Morocco boss Walid Regragui from taking a swipe at the City manager's playing philosophy in a recent press conference.
Speaking ahead of Morocco's World Cup semi-final showdown with France on Wednesday, Regragui hit back at his team's critics. Morocco have made history by becoming the first-ever African team to reach the last-four of a men's World Cup, but they have received criticism for their so-called 'conservative' style of play.
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Morocco had just 23 per cent possession in their last-16 draw with Spain before progressing on penalties, and enjoyed just 27 per cent in their quarter-final defeat of Portugal. When questioned about his side's approach the manager went on the offensive, labelling possession as "extraordinarily misleading" and that Guardiola's possession-based philosophy "drove me crazy."
Guardiola is one of the most successful managers in the history of the game, but there have always been critics of his methods. Whenever City lose a game they are quick to point out that possession doesn't mean anything unless you turn it into goals.
While that is undeniably true, such arguments are ignorant at best, disingenuous at worst. As Guardiola explained in 2015 during his time as Bayern Munich manager, the point in keeping possession is that it increases your chances of scoring and reduces the chances of conceding.
"People say that ball possession might not be the most important thing but for me, it is the most important thing," Guardiola said after his Bayern side humbled Arsenal 5-1 in the Champions League in November 2015.
"It’s the first step and then the second, third and fourth steps can come after. With the ball, you have more possibilities to create something and to concede fewer chances.
"I have a lot of respect for my players and when they decided to become footballers, they wanted to play with the ball. It's not only about running. It's all about having the ball, playing and dealing with the ball. Because we have had the ball, we have scored a lot of goals and haven't conceded a lot."
Some chose to label a high-possession style with lots of passes 'tiki-taka'. In Pep Confidential by Marti Perarnau, Guardiola was clear about what he thought about the reductionist term.
He said: "Tiki-taka? Total shit. It's a meaningless concept which basically describes passing the ball for the sake of passing. Aimlessly, with no aggression or particular plan."
In another section of the book he elaborated: "In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak. And when we’ve done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That’s why you have to pass the ball, but only if you’re doing it with a clear intention."
When City come up against defensive opponents that sit deep they can appear to do just that. Patient and side-to-side passing is designed to combat that by dragging defences this way and that, disorientating and tiring defenders and creating gaps to exploit.
Fast, direct attacks against compact defences would result in more turnovers in possession and more chances for the opposition to counter-attack and score themselves.
As Spain's recent World Cup elimination at the hands of Morocco showed, it can be easy to criticise possession-based approaches when they yield no results. The reality though - as Guardiola has explained and shown - is that they often do.
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