Possession has always been important in football but in recent years, with the emergence of tracking data and statistical information, managers and coaches have been wanting to keep hold of the ball more than ever. Essentially, if you have the ball, your opponents cannot hurt you and we see many managers in the Premier league attempt to employ this philosophy.
Pep Guardiola has led the way this season in changing the way the English press look at football and defenders in particular. The Spaniard, as he showed at his spells in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, wants his defenders and his goalkeeper to be comfortable with the ball at their feet, inviting pressure to find space elsewhere on the pitch. The other benefit that this tactic has is that it wears down the opposition, who are often left chasing the ball and getting no reward for their efforts.
Several Manchester City players feature on this list as you would expect but there are also a number of surprise inclusions in the top ten. Some of these players and team have been accused of playing too safe and keeping possession for the sake of it rather than to harm their opponents. Getting the balance right between keeping the ball in dangerous positions and simply playing the ball backwards and being too safe is difficult but if you can get that balance right then it puts your side in an extremely strong position.
Have a go at our difficult quiz below! We have not included the teams they play for to make it a bit more difficult so if you can get ten out of ten then you have done extremely well. We are looking for the top ten players who have completed the most passes in the Premier League this season.
Good luck!
