Possession Team Or Counter-Attack: How Are the Hounds Best?
July 17, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release
To possess or not to possess? That is the very nuanced question.
In global soccer, teams like Barcelona's star-studded sides of the past decade-plus and Premier League champion Manchester City have set the standard for winning games while making opponents chase them all over the field for the ball.
Yet, time and again, teams also show possession isn't everything. Just look at Chelsea - with 42 percent of the ball - in their win over Manchester City in this year's UEFA Champions League Final.
That brings us to our Riverhounds, who have had the ball for an average of 48 percent of their 13 matches thus far. But that very middle-of-the-road number doesn't accurately illustrate the radical highs and lows in individual matches this season.
Interestingly, of the Hounds' three best games for possession - vs. Austin (73 percent), at Charleston (69 percent) and the first meeting vs. Charlotte (57 percent) - the team earned only one point out of a possible nine. While the Charlotte match comes with the caveat that the Hounds had a man advantage for the final 24 minutes, both the loss to Austin and draw at Charleston followed the same pattern: The Hounds fell behind by an early goal and were slow to get ambitious searching for an equalizer.
"It's easy to pass the ball around in front of them, but at some point, you have to get behind them," Hounds coach Bob Lilley said after the Charleston game.
To Lilley's point, the Hounds in those three matches had a combined eight shots on goal, scoring only in the Charleston draw.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Hounds three lowest possession games - at New York (37 percent), and both matches at Tampa Bay (37 and 31 percent) - yielded two wins, but that is deceiving as well.
The Hounds opener at Tampa Bay, a 3-0 loss, saw the side get outplayed in just about every facet of the game, including mustering just one shot on goal. The 3-0 win at New York was a match the Hounds were able to sit back after getting an early lead, while the 2-1 win at Tampa Bay saw the Hounds nearly blow a lead because they were unable to hold on to the ball late.
While every coach wants their team to hold the ball more, and in turn, defend less, something more than running out 90 minutes has to be done with that possession.
That brings us to the July 3 match against Charlotte, a 1-0 Hounds win. In that match, the Hounds were able to put the pieces together - 55 percent possession and a season-high nine shots on goal - against a fellow Atlantic Division playoff contender.
Not only did the Hounds have more of the ball, leading to a season-high 10 corner kicks, they made it very difficult for Charlotte to get anything in attack, holding the Independence to one shot on goal.
It's matches like that, where all the boxes are checked in terms of possession, chances and territorial dominance, the Hounds need more of as they approach the midpoint of the season.
The Charlotte match two weeks ago shows the team is capable of it, and hosting Loudoun United FC at 7 p.m. today in the first home match since then, the question now becomes, can the Hounds replicate that performance on home turf?
United Soccer League Championship Stories from July 17, 2021
- Late OKC Energy FC Scores Downs FC Tulsa 2-1 - FC Tulsa
- Forward Nick Moon Continues Solid Run of Form with Second Goal of Campaign - Indy Eleven
- Early Cicerone Goal Makes the Difference in 1-0 Win over Loudoun - Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
- McLaughlin Opens LouCity Account with a Bang in Win over Atlanta - Louisville City FC
- Greens Take the Black Gold Derby with Stoppage Time Stunner - OKC Energy FC
- Miami Closes Gap on Rowdies with Victory - Miami FC
- Battery Score Three in Big Win over Hartford - Charleston Battery
- Atlanta United 2 Suffers 2-0 Loss at Louisville City FC - Atlanta United 2
- Toros Earn Big Road Win over Orange County - Rio Grande Valley FC Toros
- Athletic Suffer Setback as Charleston Take Three Points at Patriot's Point - Hartford Athletic
- Rowdies Rally But Come up Short in Miami - Tampa Bay Rowdies
- Memphis Extend Unbeaten Streak to Three in Draw with Indy - Memphis 901 FC
- Loudoun United FC Lose 1-0 against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on the Road - Loudoun United FC
- Academy League Side Notches First Win vs. Kings Hammer, 2-0 - Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
- Switchbacks FC Fall in Five Goal Game - Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
- Real Monarchs Travel to Austin Bold FC - Real Monarchs
- San Antonio FC Earns First Road Win of the Season, Defeating Switchbacks 3-2 - San Antonio FC
- Possession Team Or Counter-Attack: How Are the Hounds Best? - Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
- Charlotte Independence Acquire Adam Armour on Loan from Charlotte FC - Charlotte Independence
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