Sam Allardyce believes that playing out from the back is a football ‘pandemic.’
As a result of tactical innovations, most goalkeepers are now expected to be capable on the ball in order to help advance other players up the pitch, and to make use of short passing from the defence to keep the ball and build attacks.
The change in style has resulted in some occasional embarrassments for keepers who miscontrol or fail to pass accurately, and former England tactician Allardyce has suggested that new managers adopt the approach by default rather than because they feel there are real benefits.
Allardyce discussed Middlesbrough’s recent loss to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup when talking about the matter, telling William Hill: “I love Michael Carrick, but I watched him on Tuesday night against Chelsea and I said, ‘Oh Michael, don’t get sucked into that.’ Don’t think you can express yourselves and play out from the back, because it’s 6-1 and you’re there to win.
"It’s an obsession with all young managers, that unless they play out from the back, they won’t get a job, because all the directors are brainwashed now. This is almost a pandemic in football now.
“If you’ve got the quality of player, it’s the right way to play to break down the opposition, and that’s why Pep [Guardiola] does it. In Ederson, he’s got one of the best passers of the ball in the Premier League, he’s a player that’s changed the whole concept of goalkeeping.
“Still number one is saving shots, but number two has become distribution. A young goalkeeper now has to spend as much time playing outfield with the players as he has to play in goal. Distribution is now almost more important than shot stopping. You’ll never guess who told me that, it was John Beck at Preston North End.
"This was the lad that sewed towelling on the front of apprentices’ jumpers and on their sleeves so that when the ball came to them, they could wipe it quickly and throw it back to the player!”
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