Newcastle United have averaged less possession than their opponents during their three game Championship winning streak.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez explained how possession football is not something that he places much importance upon in the modern game, as quoted by the club’s official website.
The Magpies have recovered well from a poor start to their Championship season, recording three consecutive victories.
During that run of wins, the Geordies have averaged just 47.3% possession of the football.
Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez
With some pundits and former players claiming that the North-East outfit have to control games better with more possession, Benitez responded with a statistic-based argument, telling nufc.co.uk:
“It was interesting because in Nyon with the Elite Coaches Forum we were talking about possession. In the Champions League, teams with more possession are winning around just 30% of the games now. So the stats – you can analyse the stats how you want – but I’m not someone who says: ‘Oh we need possession to play well’.”
Possession is purely something that can give the watching public the perception that their side is in control, when in reality, for that to be the case, the possession needs to be in key areas of the pitch, accompanied by a level of ruthlessness and potency.
Rafael Benitez
Teams such as Atletico Madrid have mastered the art of winning football matches with minimal possession, and it is an aspect of the game which is slowly evolving away from the Barcelona style tiki-taka, which proved so successful from the mid-to-late 2000’s.
Benitez further enforced his opinion on the possession style game, highlighting how teams can play well without the ball:
“Sometimes you can play well with the ball, sometimes you can play well counter-attacking, and sometimes you can play well without the ball and defending well. Possession is not the main issue for me.”
Newcastle take on Derby County at the iPro Stadium today in the 17:30pm kick-off.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
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