Sport
Short passing vs. long passing in football
One of the key advances in modern football is our ability to measure player and team statistics. In any given match, we can measure team possession, distances run by each player, challenges, dribbling, passing and much more. In terms of passing, we are able to break the statistics down further into successful and unsuccessful pass attempts as well as short passing vs. long passing.
A few months ago the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) conducted a study on ball possession and the number of short passes and long passes in football, comparing passing distances between winning and losing teams.
In the study, the CIES ranked Champions League teams according to the average length of the passes they had achieved in domestic league games so far this season.
Ball possession
Passing is an integral part of football. The purpose of passing is to keep possession of the ball by moving it between different players with the ultimate objective of advancing up the pitch. The team who manage to keep the most possession conserve more energy by passing the ball to progress rather than running, as opposed to their opposition who have to chase it.
Keeping possession can be key to winning. It’s one of the reasons that defensive midfielders have become so important in the modern era. The best passing teams dictate the tempo, conserve energy and score more goals.
Short passing
Maintaining possession via short passes allows the attacking team to move the ball, and their opponents, around the pitch and wait for attacking opportunities to emerge once gaps open up. Successful short passes usually lead to increased shots on goal and, therefore, their chances of winning the match become higher.
Short passing is important for defensive players too, as their ability to maintain ball possession via short successful passing is necessary until an attacking option emerges. Top defenders like Virgil van Dijk are now expected to be as comfortable on the ball as they are off it.
Looking at the average length of the passes achieved in domestic league games so far this season, the French Centre International d’Etude du Sport study showed that last season’s semi-finalists, Ajax, have the lowest average passing distance (15.96 meters), ahead of Paris St-Germain (16.17) and Barcelona (16.56).”
Long passing
At the opposite end of the table are Czech champions Slavia Prague who are the closest thing to a long ball side in the competition with an average passing distance of 19.82 meters, 24% higher than Ajax.
Title holders Liverpool achieved the fourth longest pass average among group stage participants with 19.45 meters on average. Their figure is significantly higher than fthat of Premier League rivals Manchester City (17.39).
The aim of a long pass is to switch play quickly or find a teammate in space. A long pass in football is generally more attacking than a short pass but it can depend on where you are on the field. A long pass allows players to switch the direction of the attack very quickly to create space, find a teammate or to catch out the opposition.
A mix is needed
Clearly, a mix of both short passing and long passing in football is needed during the game, however the balance chosen differs from team to team. It is interesting to see that, in general, the higher profile teams tend to make shorter passes. Apart from Liverpool, the only recent Champions League finalist with an average length of pass greater than 18 meters is Atlético Madrid. Surprisingly, Diego Simeone’s team achieved the third lowest number of passes per game (379), while Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund made the most (735).
This might not be a big surprise as more technical players are able to pass the ball around even if they don’t have much space around them, while less technically equipped players will choose for a long pass when under pressure.
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