Why Has Long Pass Become Increasingly Important?

Many teams are now filled with ball-playing GK and CB to build up from the back reliably. But with the growing number of high-press teams (especially with man-to-man press), playing through the press becomes harder (even for Pep Guardiola’s Man City).

One of the ways to counter this is by playing over the press because there is more space behind the backline. For example, Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton took advantage of that by sending a long pass from Steele to Mitoma, and suddenly Mitoma was already in a 1v1 situation with the goalkeeper (David Raya).

NBA teams usually do a full-court press in the last quarter, and in this example OKC Thunder need a quick two-pointer in the last second of the game. What did they do?

Steven Adams threw a beautiful long pass to Dennis Schröder who was ready to receive and score.

But it’s a risky approach…

That’s why winning the duels are as important as the pass.

Long pass can also help teams to sustain the pressure and pin the opposition back.

Make them suffer.

Mikel Arteta in 2020.

“When you go to the opposite side and you do the high press perfectly, they have van Dijk, and he plays a 60-yard pass to Salah’s chest and they are out, that is quality”

Now, what if this type of throw is the next evolution of goalkeeper, especially with teams trying to find ways to bypass the press.

Thank you for reading.