Nothing produces an appreciative ripple of applause from a Barclays Premier League crowd than the famed ‘Hollywood ball’.
Indeed, after the fallibility of Barcelona’s tiki-taka was so exposed by Bayern Munich, Sportsmail thought it only proper to herald the good old English long-ball game and those players who can turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye.
Frank Lampard seems to like to keep it neat and tidy, the Chelsea midfielder cannot even make the top 10 when it comes to picking out a team-mate with a pin-point pass of 35 yards or more.
Liverpool’s talismanic skipper Steven Gerrard has attempted the most raking balls in the Premier League, 393, and possibly because of the sheer volume of attempts his success rate is just 77.1 per cent, also keeping him out of the top 10.
As the statistics show, the league’s leading exponent of ‘going long’ is Tottenham’s deep-lying playmaker Mousa Dembele with an impressive 99 of the 108 long passes he has attempted finding their target.
Liverpool’s Joe Allen runs him a close second but perhaps the two most interesting names amongst the top 10 are Arsenal’s Michel Arteta and Santi Cazorla, the Spanish midfield pair obviously eager to get the ball moving a little longer than you might expect for an Arsene Wenger side.
And while Manchester United fans like nothing better than singing: ‘It’s hard to believe it’s not Scholes. It’s Carrick, you know’, the latter’s long passing has been almost as dodgy as that chant when compared with his predecessor.
As for those who don’t make the list, get some practice in over the summer. After all, why make 15 passes when one will do just as well?
Player must have attempted at least 100 long passes to be included on the list
[UK Mail]
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