snolly, just want to make sure you knew my comment in the scissors thread was just a joking jab. Nothing snippy meant by it. Cheers!
Here's a good section from the UEFA technical report on the 07/08 Champions League. I figured that I would share it with you - given my love for the counter-attack. :) “Quick transition is the most important aspect in the UEFA Champions League - quickly restructuring to defend, or exploiting the opponent with speed when the ball is regained. Of course, set plays matter, but transition speed is vital,” said José Mourinho, a previous winner of the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto. Although there was a slight drop from the previous season in the percentage of goals in open play resulting from a counter-attack/fast break (from 32% down to 30%), the value of fast transitions from defense to attack and vice versa continued to gain significance. Once again, the four types of counter-attacks were in evidence - classic counters from deep (often directly after a corner against), collective counters emanated from midfield, advanced counters as the outcome of forechecking, and solo counters when an individual action (often running with the ball) produced the goalscoring opportunity and the successful finish. Tarik Sektioui’s brilliant solo effort, which was launched from inside his own half of the field, was a wonderful illustration of the latter in FC Porto’s 2-1 victory over Olympique de Marseille. With defences becoming more sophisticated and openings sometimes difficult to create, Sir Alex Ferguson summed up the need for fast breaks when he said:“You must capitalize on the space in front of you.”
