re: Importance of possession in soccer vs. other sports

Beats me. I value shots on goal the most, myself. It’s rare a team wins when they’re outshot by a significant margin, but we see teams win all the time despite 40% possession.

Of course possession is important, and it’s easier to score and win when your team controls the ball most of the time. But we see all the time in the Premier League and in other leagues where a team has 60+% of the ball and struggles to do anything threatening with it. If teams can’t get the job done in the final third, that possession is useless beyond just keeping the ball from the opposition.

It’s much better to be a good counterattacking team that averages around 40% possession but scores efficiently than a possession team that struggles to finish.