These two things are not unrelated.
We pass out back continually now, so when teams press the back four he gets it repeatedly, & then has very few options.
This is when he fucks up a pass. We really need to find a balance between using the ball playing keeper we have & passing our way out of trouble.
I really do think it encouraged our attacking play last season, the fact that Ming or Karius was in goal. Our defenders considered passing back, saw either of those two and thought, 'Feck!!!' and preferred a gamble going forwards.
Now we trust Allison so much more it encourages a sort of warm and fuzzy faffing around that often leaves him having to blast the ball forward to avoid being embarrassed.
That's the thing about the whole passing around at the back ethos: yes, I like the
theory behind it, and yes, I know how it's
supposed to work, but I judge these things on outcomes, not theories, and - I'm not sure of the stats, but... - WAY too often this results in defenders almost hypnotising each other with their sideways passing, and then the keeper has to blast it forwards, where we lose possession.
I'm simply unconvinced it works well enough, often enough, to respect it as a tactic. If all you're going to get out of it is to lose possession in the centre circle following a long kick from the keeper, then do it earlier. If you want to avoid that, then the WHOLE team needs MUCH better movement, and we need faster passing to find the moment to pass it forward. This slow and laboured Chuckle Brothers 'to you, to me...er, quickly to Allison' process simply doesn't lead to anything positive often enough. Look at the practice, not the theory.
